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2011 Autumn Moon Festival | Outer Sunset

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Saturday, September 3, 2011 - 11:00 am to 6:00 pm | Cost: FREE
Irving Street | Irving Street and 22nd Street, San Francisco, CA

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This year, the Festival will be held Saturday, September 3rd from 10am to 5pm on Irving Street, from 22nd to 25th Avenues.

The event will include lion dances, arts and crafts, traditional performances, delicious food and product vendors, and exhibitors from community organizations and government agencies. Many of our Festival attendees enjoy the unique on-stage artistic demonstrations and superior cultural performances so much that at the stage area, there is barely an empty seat at any given time, and always with a standing-room-only crowd. The program has been dubbed by Festival-goers as “the best in the city, bar none” among cultural festivals.

What is a Moon Festival Celebration?

Moon Festival celebrations, though still relatively new to the U.S., have been held throughout Asia for well over 1,000 years. This holiday is a time to reflect upon the bounty of the summer harvest, the fullness of the moon, and the myth of the immortal moon Goddess, Chang O, who lives in the moon. The Moon Festival is often compared to a sort of “Chinese Thanksgiving” because of its spirit of gratitude and its inclusion of abundant food – including the popular moon cake. Moon cakes are flaky, round, semi-sweet pastries often filled with bean or lotus-seed paste and topped with a duck egg, echoing the shape of the full moon.