2023 SF’s Chinatown “Autumn Moon Festival” (Sept. 23-24)

Get ready for the 35th Annual Autumn Moon Festival. This highly anticipated event will take place on Saturday, September 27, and Sunday, September 28, 2025, from 11:00 am to 5:00 pm. The festival will take place on Grant Avenue, between California and Broadway, where attendees will see a variety of exciting activities, including arts and crafts vendors, delicious food stalls, live music, local contemporary entertainment, mooncakes, lion dancing, and more. 

The festivities will kick off on Saturday (9/27/25) with a grand parade at 11:00 am, led by Mayor Daniel Lurie, beauty queens, cultural performers, and lion dancers. Following the ribbon-cutting ceremony, the Yau Kung Moon Association will present a lion dance and martial arts performance, setting the stage for a day filled with diverse and exciting entertainment. 

The 2025 theme is Monkey King to celebrate this mythical character known as Sun Wukong. The Monkey King will make a special appearance at this year’s Autumn Moon Festival along with acrobatic followers of the Shaolin monks on both Saturday and Sunday. The Monkey King, a central character in the 16th Century Chinese novel Journey to the West, is a powerful, mischievous, and rebellious figure. Born from a magical stone, he possesses supernatural abilities, including immense strength, shapeshifting, and the ability to travel vast distances in a single bound. His presence at the Autumn Moon Festival is a celebration of this rich cultural heritage. 

In addition to these activities, the organizers will host their second annual Dumpling Contest, with the winner taking home a luxury stay at Graton Resort & Casino. The contest will take place on Sunday at 4:30 pm. The festivities will culminate with the famous White Crane dragon on Sunday at 4:45 pm.