It cost over $6,000 to rescue roughly 1,500 Americans who unexpectedly floated into Canadian territory Sunday.
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Hit with sudden rain and winds, the Americans veered off course to Sarnia, Ontario.
The City of Sarnia has said the total cost of the rescue and cleanup was $8,181.77.
“I think we can use this to boost tourism from our neighbours”, said Sarnia Mayor Mike Bradley.
The mayor says numerous visitors were “over-refreshed” and chanting “USA, USA” as they washed ashore in Sarnia.
He says the city will cover the costs incurred to deal with the visitors, which included shipping them back across the border in city buses.
Bradley said, “1,500 Americans showed up on our shores and we welcomed them”.
“They were pushed over pretty quickly, and because they had no control over these dinghies and the wind was basically directing them and the current, they ended up over here”, Sarnia Police Constable John Sottosanti told CTV Network.
“I want as much transparency as possible in this whole thing to reassure everybody the funds are going exactly to what I specified”, Wiedenbeck said.
On Monday, city workers spent several hours picking up trash – beer cans, coolers, rafts and even picnic tables.
The Port Huron Float Down, which has no official organizers, posted a message on its Facebook page, thanking Canadian authorities.
T-shirts popped up to mark the accidental Canadian invasion with slogans like: “Sarnia: The Best Designated Driver Port Huron Could Ask For”.
One man unaffiliated with the event started a GoFundMe campaign that vows to pay Sarnia back. “But they deserve to be reimbursed”, wrote the campaign creator, Joe Wiedenbeck.
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Hundreds of people got on their favorite floats with their favorite drinks on Sunday to float down the St. Clair River. The campaign had raised a little over $3,000 as of Thursday morning.
