San Francisco spared no expense on President Joe Biden’s party at the Exploratorium during November’s Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit, spending almost $8 million to wine-and-dine a who’s-who of Democratic Party and foreign leaders before a Gwen Stefani concert and massive fireworks show.
Stefani, a pop superstar whose top hits include “Hollaback Girl” and “The Sweet Escape,” commanded a $1.1 million fee to perform a small set of songs for the Nov. 15 event, according to a rough breakdown of costs the city provided to The Standard. The tab for food and drinks ran to $300,000, while the pyrotechnics and fireworks show cost $167,000.
All of these bills were paid by a special nonprofit created for APEC, which raised more than $20 million from private donors that included Graton Casino and Resort, Ripple, Salesforce, Apple and others.
Maryam Muduroglu, the city’s chief of protocol, said in a statement that the president’s party and other events during APEC were designed to “help San Francisco shine on a global stage.”
“As host city of this historic international event, the State Department and the White House tasked us with specific requests to make sure we welcome these dignitaries and their delegations in the most hospitable and memorable way, specifically with the Welcome Reception,” Muduroglu said.
Other expenses for the president’s $8 million party included:
- $2.6 million on production (staging, equipment, talent support, operations, security)
- $1.7 million on union/vendor Labor
- $1 million on the “leaders entrance/decor”
- $420,000 to rent out the Exploratorium children’s museum venue,
- $415,000 on video and digital app production
- $235,000 for the dance group Bandaloop
The party’s guest list not only included foreign leaders, including Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, while prominent members of the Democratic Party mingled with local officials and business leaders.
President Biden and First Lady Jill Biden were billed as hosts, and they were preceded on stage at the end of the evening by Vice President Kamala Harris, California Gov. Gavin Newsom and Mayor London Breed.
Other notable figures in attendance included Golden State Warriors coach Steve Kerr, who introduced Biden, and Ripple co-founder Chris Larsen, Yelp CEO Jeremy Stoppelman and Y Combinator CEO Garry Tan, all of whom have become deeply involved in San Francisco’s political scene. Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, and Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi also were spotted at the party.
Supervisor Aaron Peskin, who attended the early part of the event before leaving to celebrate his wedding anniversary, said he thought the event was nice but was blown away by the total price.
“It sounds like a bunch of rich people spend too much money on a nice party. It wasn’t an $8 million party from my scant review of things,” Peskin said. “I mean, the hors d’oeuvres were nice, I guess. But I mean, $8 million? Shit, they could have built affordable housing with that money.”
He added: “Some number of individuals and organizations are laughing all the way to the bank.”
City officials said they received high marks for their handling of APEC, which required more than $11 million in overtime costs to mobilize San Francisco police and other departments for the weeklong geopolitical summit.
“We are extremely pleased with APEC’s success,” Muduroglu said. “Our goal was to highlight the creativity, vibrancy, beauty, and diversity San Francisco represents to the 21 heads of state from APEC member economies and their delegations. We are thrilled to report that we received overwhelmingly excellent feedback from dignitaries, their staff, journalists, and event attendees.”