SF’s “Barbary Coast” Roller Skating Festival

Grab your inline and roller skates and come out to the annual 2016 Skate San Francisco: The Barbary Coast Experience, a 3-day celebration of roller skating and inline skating in the greatest city in the world – San Francisco.

It is a destination event that will bring skaters from far and wide for an unforgettable skate vacation. It begins on Friday, July 8, 2016 with the San Francisco Friday Night Skate. They will roll into Saturday with an event expo and roller disco party at the Church of 8 Wheels Roller Disco. On Sunday, they will present the only 26.2 inline marathon race on the West Coast. The event ends on Sunday with the Skaters’ Showcase in Golden Gate Park.

2016 Skate San Francisco: The Barbary Coast Experience
July 8-10, 2016
All over San Francisco

Friday, July 8, 2016,  – The San Francisco Friday Night Skate
Meet at 8 pm. Take off at 9 pm.
Meet at the Ferry Building at Market and the Embarcadero, SF
FREE (There are no skate rentals available, so you must have your own. Bikes are welcome.)

Kick off Skate San Francisco with The Midnight Rollers on San Francisco’s Friday Night Skate. This rolling skate party winds through a 12-mile loop through the City. Their route will take you to Pier 39, Fisherman’s Wharf, Aquatic Park, the Marina, the Palace of Fine Arts, Union Street, the Broadway Tunnel, the Stockton Tunnel, Union Square, the “Concrete Canyons” and back to the Ferry Building where we began.

What began with a small group of skaters rolling on the earthquake damaged Embarcadero Freeway in 1989 grew into over 700+ skaters rolling through the streets of San Francisco every Friday night. Their example spread to other cities like Los Angeles, Amsterdam, London, Frankfurt and more cities in the U.S. and abroad.

For a great many people, the San Francisco Friday Night Skate is the greatest time you can have with wheels on your feet. It’s always a funky good time.

Saturday, July 9 – The Church of 8 Wheels Skating Expo & Roller Disco
– Skating Expo | 11 am to 5 pm
– Roller Disco | 7-11 pm
554 Fillmore St., San Francisco
$5 when you mention Funcheap, otherwise it’s $10; $5 skate rentals. Expo is free for marathon skaters.

At the daytime expo, you’ll meet with lots of skating companies and get free lessons. At 4 pm, witness the proclamation for Roller/Inline Skate Day in San Francisco.

Then at 7 pm, be a part of a gathering of the congregation for the best old school funk and roller disco services of The Church of 8 Wheels, Holy Rollers Roller Disco. A church is not a building, but is a fellowship of people, who form a spiritual community. The Church of 8 Wheels is a fellowship of people that celebrates life on wheels, 8 wheels in particular. They love skating. They are a caring, sharing and giving community of people that loves life with wheels on their feet – and now they have a building too.

The Church of 8 Wheels, (Burning Man‘s Black Rock Roller Disco) has been looking for larger venues to serve their growing skating congregation and they have found one – an actual church – formerly Sacred Heart Church.

Sunday, July 10 – The Barbary Coast Roller Marathon and Half Marathon
Race starts at 7 am. Skaters meet at 6:40 am. Registration starts at 5 am.
Start location: Great Highway at Judah St, San Francisco
FREE to watch; Registration to skate is $60-$95.

Finally, inline and roller speed skating has come back to San Francisco. The Barbary Coast Roller Marathon is a 26.2 mile skate race along San Francisco’s Ocean Beach. There is also a 13.1 mile half marathon with the event. With the Pacific Ocean as a backdrop, skaters will race along the four (4) mile road course along San Francisco Pacific coast on the Great Highway.

There is a little something for all. It’s great racing for the hard core racers. It’s a high mark of accomplishment for the fitness skater or pro. It’s an absolute blast for the recreational skater. You can wear 4 wheel blades, 5 wheel blades or even “quad” conventional roller skates.

Sunday, July 10 – Skatin’ Place Sunday
12 noon to 5 pm
6th Ave. and Kennedy Drive, Golden Gate Park, SF
FREE

On Sunday, July 10, after the race at the beach, they will hold the awards ceremony at Skatin’ Place, officially dedicated and recognized as the home for outdoor roller skating in the San Francisco, and heaven for skaters who like to boogie to the funky beat on wheels.

Finish an epic weekend of skating at a place that is an example of what every city should have in its parks. Skaters have been rollin’ here since the roller disco days of 1979 when it was common to see 15,000 to 20,000 people flocking to the park to skate on Sundays when there are no cars. The closed roads become a safe recreational paradise for runners, walkers, skaters, cyclists and others who were looking to escape the pressures of the fast paced city lifestyle and enjoy themselves in a lush, green, sylvan park environment. It was and still to this day is an absolutely wonderful scene and a great way to spend the day in San Francisco.