Know-It-All: What Happens to Coins That Get Tossed into Fountains?

This column appeared in the May 2026 issue of Vancouver magazine. Get your free print subscription here—it takes two minutes.

There are many benefits to living in a primarily cash-free society (bills are filthy, the old men depicted on those bills are actually not very hot, et cetera). But one thing we did not consider when we traded in our coins for cards was that our opportunities to have our wish granted by a magic fountain would be diminished. Is this why fascism has returned? Not enough people flicking quarters into water features with a wish for world peace in their hearts? It certainly can’t have helped!

Tossing a coin into a fountain to make a wish used to be a common occurrence, arguably the reason anyone would build a fountain at all. As far as I can tell, in post-war North America, it was the main source of entertainment before news blooper compilations existed. Were wishes the real reason so many people back then were able to buy a house for, like, $40,000 on a single income? Should millennials have stopped spending money on avocado toast and started throwing that money into Queen Elizabeth Park’s Dancing Waters fountain ( “The Bellagio of the North”—Fountains Quarterly)? We’ll never know because I don’t have any coins on hand to go wish for a time machine so I could check.

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Though the parks board operates 24 decorative fountains, at least one of which involves a steampunk crab sculpture that is just begging to be pelted with loonies, the current amount of money collected by the city from those fountains is so low that it isn’t even reported. Commercial or private properties with fountains often donate tossed coins to charity, or put the increasingly sparse payment toward maintaining the fountain, but the odd coin that does make its way into a city fountain is just considered trash. “Coins are often corroded and rusted due to the chemicals used in the fountain water. Our service teams that maintain the fountains don’t sift through debris and may periodically vacuum coins up,” said a representative for the Vancouver Board of Parks and Recreation, suspiciously not mentioning how many body-swap incidents have been initiated at the Aquarium’s orca fountain by an ill-timed wish during a lightning storm over the years.

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So to the hopeful reader who asked what happens to coins that get tossed into fountains, the answer is: the rare coins that wind up in these waters are either thrown in the garbage or, perhaps, in a best-case scenario, a mercifully un-rusted quarter is pocketed by someone from the cleaning crew who is hankering for a vending machine treat. Either way, an uninspiring fate for a piece of legal tender infused with someone’s deepest hopes and dreams, but maybe an appropriate metaphor for these demoralizing times.