Anyone strolling through Trinity Bellwoods Park on a Tuesday evening this summer might have come upon a rare sight — hundreds of drummers, dancers and fire-spinners moving to a common beat in the city's largest outdoor drum circle.

Tonight would have been the second-last gathering of the season, but organizers have called for a "drumless Tuesday" instead to discuss the group's uncertain future.

Their event permit is in jeopardy as the city's parks and recreation department cracks down on crowds, drug and alcohol use at the drum circle.

Organizer Dev Britto says they might not even apply for a permit for next year. It could be the end of a unique event that has survived for 10 years.

"I've reached the stage of resignation," Britto says. "The drum circle became its own worst enemy in the end, and collapsed under its own weight."

Earlier this summer, increased attendance had prompted organizers to rent two portable toilets and to hire two security guards to help with crowd control. They raised funds from members to cover the costs, which pushed their budget from less than $1,000 to about $5,000.

Then the drum circle of Aug. 17 happened. It was the biggest of the summer, drawing 800 to 1,000 people. At least half were there looking for a party, not drumming, Britto says.

It happened to be the same evening that city officials, including Mary Battaglia, general supervisor for park operations, came to check out the circle. They witnessed widespread consumption of drugs and alcohol, Britto says, as well as at least one intoxicated person being loaded onto an ambulance.

"They were grim-faced and tight-lipped," Britto says of the parks officials.

Battaglia sent the drum circle a letter, stating they would have to increase the number of security guards and portable toilets to six each in order to continue the biweekly event.

Aside from the cost of these new measures, Britto isn't sure how to make the drum circle work. Because it happens outdoors, there's no way to keep out those who come to "get wasted and be really loud."

"The openness is its greatest virtue and simultaneously contains the seeds of its destruction," he says.

"You have hundreds of people in a state of revelry, some of it is chemically induced, and intoxication and bad behaviour comes out of that. There's also a seedy element that's been slipping in, like drug dealers, sketched-out crackheads. And what are we going to do, put a fence around it? It would violate the spirit of the event."

In response to inquiries from OpenFile, city spokeswoman Wynna Brown emailed this comment: "Staff is working with the group to ensure that permit guidelines and the parks bylaws are followed. The permit for this season comes to an end shortly. We'll be meeting with the group before next year to review their application and to see if we can work together to address any concerns."

As in previous years during the winter months, the circle will continue indoors, likely at the Annex WreckRoom at Bathurst and Bloor St. Holding the event in a bar, Britto says, avoids the problems of an outdoor venue.

"Unlike a public park, there are walls, so it's not this completely porous, borderless entity," he says. "People have to pass the doorman to get in. You can't bring your case of beer and all your drug paraphernalia."

The drum circle originated in 2000, when a small group of drummers and fire spinners started meeting at Trinity Bellwoods Park on Tuesday nights. By 2004, hundreds of people were gathering without a permit, drumming well past 11 p.m. and garnering complaints from neighbours. Police came to shut down the group every night that summer, says Britto.

In 2005, after a few noisy circles, police arrived with half a dozen cruisers and a helicopter, and told the group they had to leave and weren't welcome back. A small group continued to meet at Queen's Park but didn't give up hope of a return to their home park.

In spring 2006, they canvassed the Trinity Bellwoods neighbourhood for support. Armed with a stack of approving signatures from area residents, the group applied for and got a permit to hold monthly drum circles at the park. By 2007 their permit expanded to every two weeks. Once again, the circle started to grow and so did the problems.

Britto describes 2009 as "a pretty bad year in the park ... Police came down almost every night. There was a fight or two, really awful stuff, people getting kicked.

"We're a bunch of peaceful drummers and these infiltrating people just don't give a damn. Some of them love the event; they just don't behave very well."

Although he expects smaller drum circles to continue meeting across the city, Britto says, it may be the end of the large Trinity Bellwoods gathering.

"I think that's what is going to disappear, the enormous drum circles where you have 100 drummers and 300 dancers all just churning up this energy.

"It's an amazing thing and brilliant and beautiful, but I think that's a thing of the past. "