San Francisco Events
The list below is only a selection of some of the many events taking place in San Francisco every year.
January
The arrival of the Sea Lions: the return of the herd of sea lions to Pier 39 is a fun annual event to watch with your family.
Chinese New Year: enjoy the extended Chinese New Year Festivities in Chinatown including a parade and a street fair.
February
The Pacific Orchid Exposition is the annual display organized by the San Francisco Orchid Society at the Fort Mason Centre around the third week in February.
Annual Bon Appetit Wine & Spirit is an annual gala taking place at Fort Mason’s Festival Pavilion based on crab dishes paired regional wines.
The California Antiquarian Book Fair is the world’s largest rare book fare including manuscripts and other materials such as maps.
March
The San Francisco Jazz Spring Festival runs from March through June and includes concerts at various venues and family matinee performances.
The Street Performer Festival is a unique show that takes place on the last weekend in March at the entrance of Pier 39 and includes jugglers, slack rope walkers, unicyclists and many more street artists.
San Francisco International Asia Film Festival is the largest exhibition of Asian and Asian-American films in North America and takes place in the middle of March at the AMC Kabuki 8 Theatres.
April
San Francisco International Film festival with 200 films screened from more than 50 countries.
The Spring BBQ and Wine Tasting features 13 wineries and a combination of food tasting; festivities include live music, dancing and wine barrel rolling races.
May
The San Francisco Bay to Breakers Footrace is the largest footrace in the world with over 70000 runners in costume starting from the Embarcadero heading to the Great Highway.
June
Haight Street Fair takes place on the 2nd Sunday in June and is the recreation of the Summer of Love with thousands taking part.
Gay Pride Parade takes place every year on the last Sunday in June. It starts from Market and Beale Streets and is accompanied with a lot of celebration activities.
July
The Filmore Street Jazz Festival takes place in July between Jackson and Eddy Street and includes three stages with nonstop jazz performances with more than 300 artists.
August
The AfroSolo Arts Festival runs throughout August at the San Francisco Convention and Visitors Bureau: with bay area artists of dance, theatre, music, visual arts and the spoken word exhibiting.
September
The Chocolate Festival takes place in Ghirardelli Square, around the second week of September and is the celebration of all types of chocolates; the sundae-eating competition is a lot of fun and the winner will get his/her weight in chocolate.
Folsom Street Fair is one of the craziest festivals in town. It takes place every year on the last Sunday in September when 300000 people crowd the stretch between Folsom Street and 4th and 11th Street to assist to concerts and bold parades, mainly groups of young people with body piercing, gay hardcore and sadomaso.
The beer Festival on the 3rd week-end in September in Berkeley offers concerts, food stands and lots of beer.
October
The Castro Street Fair on the first week in October is a colourful annual celebration in San Francisco’s gay district offering arts and crafts, street vendors and performers.
November
The Tree Lighting Ceremony at Ghirardelli Square includes Carols and a visit from Santa and Mrs. Claus before the actual lighting of the 50-footChristmad tree.
December
The Great Dickens Christmas Fair takes place at the Cow Palace and revives the English Victorian Christmas including theatres, music halls, parties shops, stalls, food and street vendors with period costumes.