SF-born Bay Area radio and TV personality Chuy Gomez announced he’ll be co-hosting the first-ever live broadcast of SF’s Lowrider Parade and “King of the Streets” Hopping Competition with local reporter Sara Donchey on September 20 from 1–3 p.m.

As the Instagram account Bay Area TV writes, the parade’s inaugural September 20 broadcast will be aired on CBS Bay Area’s KPIX as part of San Francisco’s official National Latino Heritage Month celebration, which runs from September 15 through October 15, according to the event’s website.

In addition to the parade and hopping competition, over 300 low riders will be on display as part of the Class Car Show. According to Bay Area TV, hundreds of cars will be cruising in from across the West for the event — many from women-led clubs.

Although the deadline for the parade has passed, interested participants can still sign up for the hopping contest through August 31. The winner gets a $10,000 cash prize.

The event is put on by the San Francisco Lowrider Council and Cultura y Arte Nativa de Las Américas (CANA), celebrating the city’s Latino roots and resilience while uplifting neighborhood businesses, artists, and cultural traditions.

Image: San Francisco Lowrider Council/Facebook

Related: Video: Watch Mayor London Breed Riding In The LowRider Council Car Show

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• Sen. Amy Klobuchar said authorities believe suspected gunman Vance Boelter remains in the Midwest following a politically motivated shooting that killed Rep. Melissa Hortman and her husband Mark and critically injured Sen. John Hoffman and his wife. The Hortmans leave behind a son and daughter, and Hoffman's wife Yvette reportedly jumped in front of the couple’s daughter to protect her during the shooting. [MSNBC, People]
• A hit-and-run driver was apprehended by San Francisco police Saturday afternoon after allegedly striking a pedestrian near the city’s massive “No Kings” protest. While NBC News initially reported that multiple protesters may have been hit and that the act could have been intentional, SFPD has so far confirmed only one victim and described the incident as isolated. [SFGate]
• A Fremont man who vanished during what was supposed to be a two-day hike in the Himalayas has been found alive after nine days. Samuel Vengrinovich, 44, left his tent and belongings at a campsite near Dharamshala before setting out with a group of hikers he just met, unprepared for the harsh conditions. [SFGate]
• One person was killed and two others were injured in a shooting early Saturday in the East Bay’s Bay Point, with the fatal victim found in a front yard on Mendocino Drive. [Bay Area News Group]
• A small fire in the Mission District Saturday evening was sparked by a charging scooter using an aftermarket charger, with the homeowner treated for smoke inhalation after trying to move the burning device outside, according to SFFD. [KRON4]

Stay tuned for more No Kings coverage!

Image: Leanne Maxwell/SFist

• Ben & Jerry’s 46th Annual Free Cone Day is nearly upon us. Get your free scoop of any flavor between Noon and 8 p.m. at the Haight Ashbury and two Fisherman’s Wharf locations in San Francisco and at Jack London Square in Oakland. Be prepared to stand in line, naturally.

Wednesday

• Comedy nights are a dime a dozen these days, but now you can get roasted by some of the Bay Area’s top comedians at Comedians Roasting the Crowd at The Function — where you’re the main course! We recently witnessed audience members at a local show get called, “Cop-faced motherfuckers” who smelled like fleece and resembled “living Patagonia jackets.” So, be prepared to clutch those pearls.

Thursday

• An impressive roster of Bay Area comedians, storytellers, and transit enthusiasts will take the stage at the Rickshaw for Muni Diaries Live: The Wayfinding Show as they share their transit-related experiences. Thursday’s theme is “judging, being judged, choosing a path, moving on, and more.”

Saturday

• Enjoy live performances, arts and crafts, a lowrider car show, and much more at the 2025 Cesar Chavez Holiday Parade & Festival, the largest event honoring the late civil rights and labor movement activist in Northern California. The parade will begin at 11a.m. at Dolores Park and will travel along Mission to 24th and Folsom, followed by the free, day-long festival.
• Vintage fashion and nostalgia buffs will descend upon Fort Mason for West Coast Craft’s WAVES indoor show, featuring 120+ fashion, design, and housewares vendors working in the world of vintage.

The news wasn’t all bad coming out of Oakland this weekend, as the 14th annual Oakland Pride brought a parade, concerts, dance pavilions, and tens of thousands of people to show Oakland being “Rooted in Pride.”

While San Francisco holds its giant annual SF Pride Weekend festivities at the end of the Pride Month of June, other Bay Area locales do their own Pride Weekends at different points in the summer. Down in San Jose, Silicon Valley Pride is generally the last weekend of August. And over in the East Bay, Oakland Pride was this past weekend, in the part of downtown Oakland between Uptown and Lake Merritt.

KPIX estimated 50,000 people would attend, and KGO’s pictures from Oakland Pride indicate they did indeed draw that many to the street party whose theme was “Rooted in Pride.”

You can watch the Oakland Pride 2024 parade above as it was broadcast on KGO. The Chronicle notes the parade lasted an hour (far more efficient than the SF Pride Parade!). But like  SF Pride, the parade’s first contingent was Dykes on Bikes. The Chronicle adds they were “followed by about 80 contingents, including community organizations, school groups, marching bands, political clubs, city leaders, drag queens and everyday folks, many parading their pets.”

For the city of Oakland, this was a welcome antidote to the chaotic sideshows and fatal shootings that marred the weekend. And unsurprisingly, there were plenty of politicians showing up at Oakland Pride hoping to capitalize on the good vibes.

"In a period where there is so much acrimony, this celebration is bringing together diverse communities,” Oakland City Councilmember Carroll Fife told KGO. “This is something Oakland needs, and it's beautiful.”

Main Stage acts featured Chicago-based rapper Da Brat, hip-hop artists the Conscious Daughters, and the Oakland Interfaith Gospel Choir. There was also a Latin Stage with Mexican vocalist Wendy Guevara and Puerto Rican drag queen Jessica Wild, plus a Community Stage with the more family-friendly stuff.

This was the 14th annual Oakland Pride, as the Oakland version was established in 2010.  

Related: Reminder: Oakland Pride Is This Weekend, With Deborah Cox and Block Parties Starting Friday Night [SFist]

Image: @kpnorcal via Twitter

It’s Fernet-Branca shots, Peronis, and parade floats all around on Sunday, as the “oldest continuously running Italian heritage parade” in America returns to North Beach, amid another weekend chock-full of activities.

Unless you’ve been living under a pair of noise-canceling headphones the last 24 hours, you know that Fleet Week is back in town for the weekend. But that’s not the only big traditional to-do this weekend, as North Beach will once again be hosting the Italian Heritage Festival & Parade on Sunday, to render the neighborhood and its streets in a sea of green and red.

"This is our 154th parade,” the parade’s president Bill Mastrangelo tells KPIX in the preview video above. “It started in 1869. We are one of the longest continuously running parades on the west coast."

It’s the same parade route as it has been in most recent years. Per the official route announcement, “The Parade begins at 12:30 p.m. at the foot of Jefferson and Powell Streets in Fisherman’s Wharf, proceeds south through North Beach on Columbus Avenue and ends in Washington Square in front of Saints Peter and Paul Church. Parade viewing is available throughout the entire route."

And we have some sort of Fernet-Branca promotion! Though it appears it’s just encouragement to do a shot at each of the above-named North Beach bars. Can you do nine shots of Fernet over the course of the day? They want you to!

This does of course mean street closures and Muni reroutes. SFMTA has a full list of parade closures and Muni reroutes, and notably, The F Market and 30 Stockton have some significant reroutes in effect.

And yes, this is the former Columbus Day Parade, though they dropped that name in 1994, long before it was cool to do so. The parade does retain the tradition and naming of a “Queen Isabella and her royal court,” named for Isabella I of Castile who paid for Columbus’ famous/infamous voyage. Though ironically, Queen Isabella was Spanish, not Italian.

And as a related reminder, kids are off school Monday for Indigenous Peoples’ Day.

Related: Parades are Back, as Italian Heritage Parade Returns to North Beach in October [SFist]

Image: Geri Koeppel via Hoodline

The nation’s “oldest continuously running Italian heritage parade” returns October 10, the first major parade to float the idea since COVID hit.

We have not had a proper, official parade in San Francisco since the pandemic arrived in early 2020. The Chinese New Year Parade was held in February 2020, but drew nowhere near the tourism of a normal year. Since then, the closest thing to a parade has been a few informal marches on Pride weekend, but without floats and bands and such.

But one parade has received the city’s blessing, as the Chronicle reports the Italian Heritage Parade is back on for Sunday, October 10.

"We’re happy to be back in person,” the parade organization’s president Bill Mastrangelo told the Chronicle. “With the guidance of the city and other agencies we feel we can celebrate our Italian heritage safely in North Beach again. This event covers about a mile and a half. We have the ability to have the crowd spread out and distance."

Billed as “the oldest continuously running Italian heritage parade and festival in the United States” (and dating back to 1868!), this is an exceptionally old-school traditional parade. You’ve got your floats, marching bands, and “royal courts” of budding teen queens with sashes and crowns. The Grand Marshal this year is Bimbo’s 365 owner Graziano Cerchiai, as that club turns 90 this year.

The parade kicks off at 12:30 p.m. that Sunday. The parade route originates at Jefferson and Stockton streets in the Wharf, then moves west and southeast to end in North Beach at Washington Square.

This is, of course, the former Columbus Day Parade, though they dropped that name in 1994. They retain the references to “Queen Isabella and her royal court,” named for Isabella I of Castile who financed Columbus’ voyage. Though ironically, she was Spanish, not Italian.

Related: Columbus Statue On Telegraph Hill Vandalized in Honor of Indigenous Peoples' Day [SFist]

Image: The Parade Guys via Facebook

While tension and violence have marred a lot of demonstrations and celebrations around the world in the last year — most notably the Bastille Day massacre in Nice last year, and this past weekend's overreaction by Istanbul police to LGBT Pride demonstrators there — Pride 2017 in San Francisco came off without a hitch, much to the relief of those of us in the media who didn't want to have to leave a party on Sunday to cover some mindless act of violence.

The weekend began, as it has for 14 years, with Friday evening's Trans March, which has grown into arguably the largest annual demonstration of trans rights, recognition, and equality in the world. Despite some hubbub prior to the event over a directive from organizers to not acknowledge or high-five any police officers, the mood at the actual march, tinged with resistance protest as all of the weekends marches were, was by all accounts pretty happy, inclusive, and celebratory. Says local queer artist Leo Herrera on social media, "[This year's] Trans March renewed my faith in Queer culture. Realizing most of our community infighting really comes from boredom and loneliness and mainly thrives on social media. Marching, actually existing in a space with the bodies of all our trans family and every shade of the rainbow, there's nothing like it and it was pure f**king love."

On Saturday, the lesbian community and their brethren gathered in Dolores Park for the annual rally and Dyke March. The march itself, at least the portion that headed along the prescribed route up to Market Street and through the Castro, appeared smaller than in previous years, but it's unclear if that's just because splinter factions went elsewhere in the Mission, or many just decided to linger in the park instead — amidst the chaos it can sometimes be unclear when the march actually kicks off.

And for the big annual parade up Market Street this year, the lead contingent — following, of course, Dykes on Bikes — was a diverse group of protesters with the common theme of Resist. They were followed by a group of veteran LGBT activists and heroes from the 1970s, and then by the largest ever SF Pride parade, with a record 250 contingents, many of them, as usual, large groups of employees from local companies like Apple, Google, Salesforce, Lyft, Twitter, Facebook, Airbnb, and Wells Fargo.

The daytime festivities in Civic Center were followed by large migrations of revelers to SoMa and the Castro, and various afterparties all over town.

Did everybody have a swell time? You be the judge.

Related: Resist-Themed Pride Draws More Than A Million To Downtown SF, Avoids Major Violence

The Champagne is beginning to dry, the hangovers are wearing off, and the Mission Street mayhem has subsided from Monday night’s Golden State Warriors NBA Finals championship win, which naturally means it's almost time for a championship parade. The city of Oakland had their Dubs in a row and released the full parade route and schedule in the wee hours this morning, and the parade will be the morning of Thursday, June 15 — yes, the day after tomorrow —with a noonish rally afterward at the south end of Lake Merritt.

KRON 4 has the specifics, and the parade will begin at 10 a.m. Thursday at Broadway and 11th Street in Oakland. (You can begin lining up to get a good view at 5 a.m., and people probably will just like they did two Junes ago). Following the parade, there will be a 12:15 rally at the Henry J. Kaiser Convention Center, on the south end of Lake Merritt. The rally will be closed off once it hits capacity, but there will be a viewing area at Lake Merritt Boulevard and 12th Street.

Related: Warriors' Draymond Green Super Wasted On Camera, Dissing Cavs, Likely Drinking Since Last Night

Despite San Francisco United School District entreaties for students to be cool, and to stay in school the day of the SF Giants World Series victory parade, thousands of kids played hooky that day, losing their schools six figures in dough.

“SFUSD is in session tomorrow," school board member Rachel Norton reportedly wrote on Facebook on October 30.

"If you’re a teacher, we need you in the classroom! If you’re a student, you need to be at school! My own daughter is pleading to be allowed to go to the #sfgiants parade. Her education is more important.”

Then there was SF School Superintendent Richard Carranza:

Those pleas fell on deaf ears. however: according to ABC7, 3,500 students fell suddenly ill on Friday the 31st, compared to the school's usual absentee rate of 1,600 a day.

Since state schools funding works out to almost $40 per student, as the Chron reported last week, the SFUSD lost about $140,000 that day. Which stinks, but is still better than the toll in 2012, when 4,100 kids cut class, losing the schools $160,000. Hey, maybe the rain (or the promise of Halloween candy) ended up helping the bottom line, after all.

Hookey players from Fairgax. #SFGParade pic.twitter.com/fKjGhMJtPn

— Sam Jackson Whiting (@SamWhitingSF) October 31, 2014

Sure, you can go downtown and watch today's parade celebrating the 2014 World Champion SF Giants. Or you can watch it from the comfort of your desk! Below we've embedded two livestreams of the parade, from KRON4 and CBS5. Pick one, and enjoy!

Previously: Free Underwear, Police Dogs, Double-Decker Buses: Everything You Need To Know About Today's SF Giants Parade

First, let's be clear: we love, love it when big public events take over parts of San Francisco. It's fun, and one of the things that makes us happy to live in a city. That said, the confluence of events taking place in San Francisco tomorrow might make things a little...tricky. We just want you to be aware.

As you know from paging through our (exclusive) gallery of parade floats, the parade and civic celebration in honor of the 2014 World Champion San Francisco Giants will begin at noon on Friday, October 31. According to Mayor Ed Lee's office, the parade (which is an alcohol-free event) will begin at Market and Steuart Streets and will continue down Market Street to Civic Center Plaza, where the usual speeches and celebration will be held from the steps of City Hall.

According to Lee's office, "the parade route will be closed to traffic beginning at 9 a.m. tomorrow. Additionally, Mission Street between Van Ness Avenue and The Embarcadero will be closed to traffic. Road closure restrictions will remain in place until parade attendees are fully cleared from the restricted route and the roads have been cleaned by Public Works." In other words, if you're taking Muni, stay underground, but "allow extra time as delays or detours are expected."

Speaking of traveling underground, BART expects record-breaking levels of ridership (were talking hundreds of thousands of baseball fans) Friday, as people head to and from the parade. They even made a video!

According to the transit agency, "large crowds are expected and passengers should anticipate long lines and crowded trains." As a result, BART will have extra staff and cops on hand, and will "run its rush hour service all day--using every available train possible."

BART will also keep on running until 2 a.m., which jibes nicely with the next event we need to be aware of, Halloween.

Though the big Castro Halloween celebration is but a fond memory, you can still expect a large number of partiers on the streets. The San Francisco Police Department says that they'll "monitor pedestrian and automobile traffic for any necessary public safety street closures," and something tells me that after last night, many cops' tolerance for bullshit might be a little lower than it usually is.

Muni warns partiers that "transit customers and motorists may experience delays and should allow extra travel time," Friday night, despite the fact that no street closures are planned. And, remember, kids are out trick-or-treating, too, so for pete's sake be careful, drivers.

Speaking of transit and motorist delays, though, Friday night is the last Friday of the month, and you know what that means: Critical Mass.

The monthly counter-cultural bike ride begins on Friday at 6 p.m. at Justin Herman Plaza. From there, nobody knows, as the route is always a surprise! The Halloween Critical Mass typical attracts a larger number of riders, many in costume. It's really fun to behold, but can also, as the SFMTA puts it, cause "heavy traffic in the area" (we just don't know for sure what that area will be). Motorists are once again "advised to allow extra travel time."

You know what else will require extra travel time? If it's raining, as has been predicted.

According to the National Weather Service, by way of the Chron, "San Francisco and Oakland have a 70 percent chance of seeing rain late Friday morning into the evening." KPIX 5 meteorologist Lawrence Karnow apparently concurs, saying that "rain and scattered showers are likely during the day Friday and on Halloween night throughout most of the Bay Area."

So, what does that mean for us? Damp trick-or-treaters, or none at all? Fewer parade revelers, or a BART car full of wet, cranky Giants fans heading home at 6? Cyclists gleefully splashing through puddles or wiping out in them?

Guess we'll have to find out. In any case, be careful, respect yourself and others, and pack an umbrella. This could be a really fun day, or a nightmare: it's up to you.

When the Giants won the 2014 World Series, The Parade Guys were given a mere 36 hours to build seven world-class championship parade floats for the Giants to ride upon down Market Street in Friday's Championship Parade. SFist was embedded with them for this insanely tight parade float production process, which will continue as you read this and right up until the floats leave the Parade Guys warehouse for the noon, Friday event.

It is not really possible to build seven world-class parade floats in 36 hours, if you need them all to be truly fit for a Bochy. So The Parade Guys, basically the only parade float production company in town, started their 12-15 hour workdays as soon as the World Series began. A team of carpenters, painters and foam core sculptors worked round the clock — at risk of none of this art being seen in the event of a Giants World Series loss — to construct these beauties you see in the exclusive sneak preview pics above.

Fun Fact: Every parade in San Francisco features the exact same 12-18 floats over and over. They just get thoroughly refurbished, repainted and redecorated for each parade. The "Dia de Los Gigantes" float was recently a Peroni float for the Columbus Day Parade. The little kids in Giants apparel are foam core sculptures used in the Chinese New Year Parade. The float with the large sculpted baseball was recently an SF Pride float for something called Pride & Soul.

You almost wonder if Jeff Kent didn't throw the 2002 World Series because he was scared to ride on a refurbished Gay Pride Parade float.

Parade Guys founder Dave Thomas describes the parade float building racket as a seasonal business that goes year-round. But in San Francisco, there can be two or three parades every month.

"When (Dave) hired me, he told me it would be a seasonal business, " laughs Dave's top float building lieutenant Stephanie Mufson. "I haven't had a day off in two years. "

But oh, the floats they make are specialized and awesome. That festive cellophane-looking decorative coating material on the floats? It's actually called "floral sheeting" and "festooning." That super high-end sparkly glitter in the lettering? It's actually called "metal flake." That fringe on the bottom of the floats? It's actually called "fringe." All this shit is hard to find and outlandishly expensive.

But what if the Giants had lost the series? All of this work and expense would have been for naught. "They paid me a small retainer, maybe enough to cover my labor," Thomas told SFist hours before the team clinched the World Series. "But if the Giants lose, it's like this." And then he made a slitting motion toward his wrist.

You think you didn't stop believin'? These people spent 12-hour days painting and festooning Championship floats while the Giants were still down 2-1 in the series. These people worked long into the night jigsawing and glittering wood cutouts after Kansas City shellacked us 10-0 Tuesday night. Because they couldn't afford to be unprepared should a world-class parade be required Friday.

Every night when I left the parade float warehouse in China Basin, I was struck by the sights of massive inequality between newly-arrived techies and longtime local residents. But the Giants are the one thing that brings these polar opposite communities together. On Friday, you will see rich techies and working-class immigrants randomly hugging and high-fiving one another. The Giants are the only thing that can make that happen anymore.

That's kind of beautiful, and so are these floats. Enjoy these sneak preview pics, enjoy the parade Friday and congratulations to every San Francisco Giants fan alive to see this.

Friday's Championship Parade will begin at Market and Steuart Streets at 12 p.m. and continue down Market Street to Civic Center Plaza. See you there!

WIth a meme-ridden theme of "Harlem Shake" this year, the 35h Carnaval, one of the remaining remnants of the old Mission, still stands as the city's most bombastic annual parades, featuring music and cultural elements from Latin American and Caribbean traditions.

The party went down wonderfully on Harrison Street between 16th and 24th Streets over the weekend. Gorgeously so, in fact. Here are a handful of stunning, color-drenched images from Sunday's bash in the Mission.

Special thanks to Bhautik Joshi and Erik Wilson for their choice imagery.

Did you catch Saturday's Chinese new year parade in San Francisco? No? Well, we have you covered. Erik Wilson snapped these shots of the action happening around the festivities. (Which, let's face it, is the most interesting part of the parade. Do you really need to see another corporate-sponsored float?) And some parade shots for good measure.

Enjoy.