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San Francisco’s Spring Festivals & Street Fairs (2024)

Look forward to St. Patrick’s Day festivities, Holi, Easter, Cherry Blossom festivals, and more!
By - posted 4/22/2024 No Comment
Union Square Alliance

Spring is blooming! Here’s a round-up of fun and fabulous spring festivals, street fairs, and the best events you can look forward to this Spring 2024.

> Please note that we’ll be continuing to update our Spring Festivals & Street Fairs Guide for 2024.

MARCH 2024

APRIL 2024

MAY 2024

The Union Square Alliance

Ocean Beach Bonfires Return for 2024

March 1 – October 31, 2024 – SF (Ocean Beach) – FREE – Gather your friends; beach bonfire season is back. For the first time in four months, it’s finally legal again to have a bonfire at Ocean Beach.

nps.gov

San Francisco Giants FanFest 2024 at Oracle Park

March 9, 2024 – SF (Oracle Park) – FREE – Giants fans are invited to Oracle Park to visit often restricted ballpark locations, including the field, clubhouse, broadcast booth, and dugout. Meet-and-greets, autograph opportunities with Giants alumni, Lou Seal, and photo opportunities with the trophies will also be available.

Reynaldo Garcia/The Skyline View via Flickr / CC BY 2.0

80,000 Free Tulips Are Coming to SF’s Union Square

March 9, 2024 – SF (Union Square) – FREE – More than 80,000 tulips will cover Union Square in San Francisco and you are invited to visit the square and pick your own bunch of tulips to take home for free.

Flowerbulbs.com

2024 Pi (π) Day Celebration at The Exploratorium

March 14, 2024 – SF (Embarcadero) – $39.95 – Exploratorium invites you to celebrate its own homegrown holiday which commemorates the never-ending ratio that helps describe circles of all sizes. Explore math-inspired activities and presentations, then join the Pi parade and eat a free piece of pie.

Exploratorium

2024 Oakland Restaurant Week

March 14-24, 2024 – Oakland – Special Restaurant Deals – Take advantage of some amazing specials from your favorite local restaurants featuring unique pre-fixe menus, new menu items, or various lunch and dinner deals.

Visit Oakland

26th Annual Mexica New Year Festival in San Jose

March 15-17, 2024 – San Jose – FREE – Join the largest Azteca Mexica New Year Ceremony & Celebration in the nation with Native traditional dancers, a sunrise ceremony, arts & crafts market, and delicious food.

Calpulli Tonalehqueh Aztec Dancers Danza Azteca

SF’s St. Patrick’s Day Parade & Festival

March 16, 2024 – SF (Market Street to Civic Center) – FREE – San Francisco celebrates St. Patrick’s Day with a festive parade that begins at the corner of 2nd & Market Street, marches down Market Street, and will make its way to Civic Center Plaza for a huge celebration of dance, live music, arts, and food.

David Yu

SF’s “Brides of March” Wedding Dress Pub Crawl

March 16, 2024 – SF (Washington Sq. Park) – FREE – Don a wedding dress and join the Brides for this annual San Francisco tradition at the 24th annual Brides of March. Our party will begin with a gathering in Washington Square Park, followed by a bridal procession up Columbus Avenue, and DIY wedding receptions at the bar and restaurant parklets on Grant Avenue.

Felipe Buitrago via Flickr / CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

Dublin’s 40th Annual St. Patrick’s Day Festival & Parade

March 16-17, 2024 – Dublin – FREE – Where else but Dublin would you want to celebrate St Patrick’s Day. Celebrate with a festive parade; three stages of Irish music and dance; a drone show; authentic Irish food and beverages; more than 250 fine arts and commercial vendors, including an Irish Marketplace; roaming leprechauns and bagpipers; carnival rides; and an Irish Tea Cottage.

City of Dublin

2024 “FOG Holi” Festival of Colors

March 23, 2024 – Fremont – $4 – Join over 5,000+ attendees to come out to Fremont and celebrate Holi, a grand and unique festival of colors.

FOG SV

Penumbral Lunar Eclipse Night Over San Francisco

March 24, 2024 – Bay Area – FREE – March brings the first eclipse this season, with a penumbral lunar eclipse which occurs when the Moon passes through the Earth’s partial shadow or penumbra.

NASA

SF’s “Bring Your Own Big Wheel” Race on Easter Sunday 2024

March 31, 2024 – SF (Potrero Hill) – FREE* ($10-20 donations are requested) – Watch dozens of contestants risk humiliation and serious injury racing their big wheels (those giant plastic tricycles from when we were kids – no rubber wheels allowed) down the crazy curvy Vermont & 20th streets – the actual curviest street in SF – on Easter Sunday, all for glory.

Nicki Dugan Pogue

SF’s Easter In the Park & Hunky Jesus Contest 2024

March 31, 2024 – SF (Dolores Park) – FREE – The Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence host their annual Easter in the Park to crown their new 2024 Foxy Mary and Hunky Jesus.

Jere / Wikipedia
Non Stop Bhangra

2024 St. Stupid’s Day Parade

April 1, 2024 – SF (Downtown) – FREE – Noon – A weird and wild DIY street parade through downtown. If April 1st is on a weekend, this “wonderfully idiotic tradition” (Broke Ass Stuart) typically starts at the “pointy building” aka the Transamerica Building (if it falls on the weekday, then it starts at Embarcadero Plaza) often with a doggie diner head floats, chants of “No More Chants” silly costumes and an all the meaningless fun you’d expect from a city filled with fun weirdos.

Edward Holmes

2024 Renegade Craft Fair Market at Fort Mason

April 6-7, 2024 – SF (Fort Mason) – FREE* ($5 suggested donation) – Shop from over 250 artists at Renegade San Francisco featuring the best craft designers, artists, and creatives from SF and beyond, plus food trucks on site.

Provided by TasteTV

San Francisco Chocolate Salon and Festival 2024

April 7, 2024 – SF (Golden Gate Park) – $25 – At the International Chocolate Festival, enjoy tastings from a wide array of artisan, gourmet & premium chocolate, plus demonstrations, chef and author talks.

Provided by TasteTV

2024 Holi Festival at City Center

April 7, 2024 – San Ramon – FREE – Join the family-friendly Holi celebration with its traditional throwing of colors, plus all the fun activities that make for the many pleasures of the day: live music, traditional dance performances, henna tattoos, and much more.

Bishop Ranch

Partial Solar Eclipse Over San Francisco

April 8, 2024 – Bay Area – FREE – Take a moment out of your day to look up and see a partial eclipse over the San Francisco Bay Area. It will look like someone has taken a bite out of the sun.

NASA

2024 Cesar Chavez Day Parade & Festival

April 13, 2024 – SF (Mission Dist.) – FREE – Be a part of the largest event honoring Cesar Chavez in Northern California with a big festival and parade.

NON STOP BHANGRA

SF’s 2024 Cherry Blossom Festival 

April 13-21, 2024 – SF (Japantown) – FREE – One of the largest Cherry Blossom festivals in the country, San Francisco celebrates for two weekends, April 13-14 and April 20-21, culminating in a grand parade on the final Sunday of the festival.

David Yu via Flickr

Free National Parks Day

April 20, 2024 – All of USA – FREE – Enjoy free entry to all national parks and monuments including Muir Woods and Yosemite National Park, and free admission aboard all of the historic vessels at the Hyde Street Pier of SF’s Maritime National Historical Park.

Yosemite National Park

SF’s 420 Celebration at Hippie Hill – CANCELED FOR 2024

CANCELED FOR 2024 – April 20, 2024 – SF (Golden Gate Park) – FREE – 420 at Hippie Hill is a well-known San Francisco tradition, bringing tens of thousands of people from all over to Robin William Meadow (formerly Sharon Meadow) in Golden Gate Park to celebrate the right to use cannabis. The festival has evolved from unpermitted and unofficial to a full-blown free festival with DJs, yoga, guided meditation, ecstatic dance, a stretch session, sound healing, and more.

https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/58b7bc5017bffc11f23fe90c/1515200044283-B77M5A5V0Z5G1B54HLTP/420-ig-4.jpg

SF’s World Naked Earth Day Bike Ride 2024

April 20, 2024 – SF (Rincon Park) – FREE – Be on the lookout as The World Naked Bike Ride rolls through San Francisco.

World Naked Bike Ride

2024 Lyrid Meteor Shower Peaks Tonight

April 21, 2024 – Bay Area – FREE – Look up for your chance to see The Lyrids which are known for their fast and bright meteors.

Canva Photo Unlimited License

2024 San Francisco Earth Day Festival

April 21, 2024 – SF (Bayview Hunters Point) – FREE – Celebrate Mother Earth with hands-on Earth Day workshops on ways to reduce waste, create organic gardens, eat clean, and much more plus multi-cultural music performances all day long.

Earth Day SF

Free Drive-Movie Night

April 25, 2024 – San Jose & Concord – FREE – The West Wind Drive-In Theaters in Concord & San Jose offer a Customer Appreciation Night with music, games, and of course, free movies.

SFKingsDay

17th Annual DogFest

April 27, 2024 – SF (Duboce Park) – FREE – DogFest 2024 is a mutt-tastic festival at one of the most dog-friendly parks in the city and the biggest dog event in San Francisco.

Cupertino-Toyokawa Sister Cities, Inc

2024 “Opening Day On The Bay” Boat Parade & “Blessing of the Fleet”

April 28, 2024 – SF (Marina Green) – FREE – The annual Opening Day on the Bay kicks off with a Blessing of the Fleet followed by a parade featuring over 100 historic workboats, fireboats, towboats, and classic and contemporary craft.

Pacific Inter-Club Yacht Association

Golden Gate Park Band’s Free Symphony in the Park

April 28 – October 1, 2024 – SF (Golden Gate Park) – FREE – Golden Gate Park’s 30-piece symphony has been playing free concerts in Golden Gate Park since 1882. Many concerts feature music of specific nationalities or cultures, including costumed guest performances from dancers, singers, and speakers, who will enlighten and entertain.

David Yu
David Yu

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SFMOMA Free Community Day

May 4, 2024 – SF (SoMa) – FREE – Free Community Days offer free museum-wide admission to all visitors, combined with a wide range of immersive activities and performances inspired by the latest SFMOMA exhibition.

Henrik Kam / SFMOMA

25th Annual How Weird Street Faire

May 4, 2024 – SF (SoMa) – $25 – The longest-running dance festival/street parade on the West Coast returns with 9 stages of DJ music, art, and weirdness with this year’s theme: “Star Weird” May the 4th Be With You.

2024 de Youngsters Day Out

May 4, 2024 – SF (Golden Gate Park) – FREE – Bring the family to de Young Museum for their annual free all-day celebration of the arts with a museum takeover of art activities and hands-on activities.

de Young Museum

2024 Yerba Buena Gardens Festival

May 4 – Nov. 2, 2024 – SF (SoMa) – FREE – Yerba Buena Gardens Festival hosts a full lineup of free outdoor music, theater, circus, dance, poetry, and children’s programs. The Festival kicks off on Saturday, May 4 at 1 pm with Cuban soul from Pedrito Martinez.

Yerba Buena Gardens Festival

2024 Taiwanese American Cultural Festival

May 11, 2024 – SF (Union Square) – FREE – The West Coast’s largest celebration of Taiwanese American culture features tasty Taiwanese cuisine in the festival food court, show-stopping performances, fun, cultural activities and crowd-favorite vendors.

TAP SF,

Hawaiian May Day Festival

May 11, 2024 – Hayward – FREE – Join the family-friendly festival dedicated to perpetuating Native Hawaiian and Polynesian culture through arts, language, music, and dancing.

Vincent Camacho via Unsplash

The Exploratorium’s Free Admission Day

May 12, 2024 – SF (Embarcadero) – FREE* (Pay What You Wish) – The Exploratorium opens up its doors to everyone each year to celebrate Mother’s Day. It’s typically the only “pay what you wish” day all year.

© Exploratorium, www.exploratorium.edu / Gayle Laird

The Bay’s Huge “626 Night Market”

May 17-19, 2024 – Pleasanton (Alameda County Fairgrounds) – $5 – Inspired by the famous open-air nighttime bazaars of Asia, come ready to feast and explore 200+ food, merchandise, crafts, arts, games, music, and entertainment attractions.

626 Night Market

SF’s “Sundown Cinema” Film Night in the Park

May 17 – Oct. 18, 2024 – SF – FREE – This free outdoor movie series, the only one of its kind in the Bay Area, will feature seven films in seven parks across San Francisco, beginning on Friday, May 17, at Dolores Park with a Selena sing-along.

Sundown Cinema

Bay to Breakers 2024

May 19, 2024 – SF (From Howard & Main to the Great Highway) – FREE to watch or ‘race’ unofficially – Welcome back to “Bay to Breakers,” the crown jewel of San Francisco events since 1912 with 20,000+ people racing (and 100,000+ watching) from the Bay to the Breakers at the western end of Golden Gate Park in a costumed mass of everything we love about San Francisco.

Bay to Breakers

2024 San Francisco Carnaval Festival & Parade

May 25-26, 2024 – SF (Mission Dist.) – FREE – San Francisco’s Carnaval features a free, two–day festival covering 17 blocks in the Mission District, with five main stages, 50 local performing artists, and 400 vendors, plus its Grand Parade which boasts a 60-contingent lineup, with over 3,000 artists representing the cultural heritages of Brazil, Mexico, Panama, Bolivia, Cuba, Peru, Puerto Rico, Nicaragua, Colombia, Trinidad & Tobago, Guatemala, El Salvador, and more.

David Yu via Flickr