San Francisco - Alison Bing [3]
415-661-8025; www.haightashburystreetfair.org
Free music on two stages, macramé and tie-dye galore, and plenty of dubious brownies surreptitiously for sale: all that’s missing is the free love. Takes place every mid-June since 1978, when Harvey Milk helped make the first Haight fair happen.
GAY & LESBIAN FILM FESTIVAL
415-703-8650; www.frameline.org
Here, queer and ready for a premiere for three decades, yet it doesn’t look a day over 29. This is the oldest GLBT film fest anywhere and, as regular crowds of 60,000 will tell you, consistently the best. Over two weeks in the second half of June, more than 225 films launch new talents from more than 25 countries, drawing celebs like Rosie O’Donnell and John Waters, and raucous crowds that talk back to the screen.
PINK SATURDAY & DYKE MARCH
www.sfpride.org, www.dykemarch.org
Around 50,000 LBGT women parade from Dolores to Castro Sts, kicking off SF’s largest all-ages street party on the last Saturday of June. Party admission is free to all, though donations are collected by the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence to defray Port-a-Potty and cleanup costs.
PRIDE PARADE
415-864-0831; www.sfpride.org
Come out wherever you are: SF goes wild for GLBT pride on the last Sunday of June, with half a million people, seven stages, tons of glitter and ounces of bikinis. The crowd roars for newlyweds, PFLAG (Parents and Friends of Lesbians and Gays), men and women in uniform, and, let’s be honest, pretty much anyone tossing beads or candy their way – so get out there and join the parade.
July
INDEPENDENCE DAY
July 4 explodes with fireworks even in summer fog, celebrating San Francisco’s dedication to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness no matter the climate – economic, political or meteorological.
MISSION CREEK MUSIC & ARTS FESTIVAL
www.mcmf.org
The city finally breaks a summer sweat in mid-July thanks to 150-plus Bay Area bands as well as art shows and dance premieres at several ideal venues, including Café du Nord/Swedish American Hall, Rickshaw Stop and Adobe Books & Backroom Gallery, plus free shows in McLaren Park.
AIDS WALK
www.aidswalk.net/sanfran
Until AIDS takes a hike, you can: this 10km fundraiser benefits 43 AIDS organizations and happens on the third Sunday in July. When San Francisco was hit by the AIDS epidemic more than 20 years ago, the city wiped away its tears and took to the streets, raising $65 million to date to fight the pandemic and support those living with HIV. Hundreds of thousands of walkers are treated to free ice cream, live music and applause from passersby along the route.
August
SAN FRANCISCO JEWISH FILM FESTIVAL
415-621-0556; www.sfjff.org
The world’s premier Jewish film festival will leave you kvelling (welling up with pride) at the end of July/early August at the Castro Theatre and other venues around the bay. Expect the unexpected from this festival, from Muslim-Jewish love stories from Kazakhstan to documentaries directed by Natalie Portman.
September
FRINGE FESTIVAL
www.sffringe.org
More outrageous theatrical antics in SF than usual hit the stage in late September, at discount prices. Book ahead, or chance it at the Exit Theater’s Click here box office.
ARAB FILM FEST
415-564-1100; www.aff.org
The Roxie Cinema shows Middle Eastern films in the second week of September, including 75 features and shorts. For over a decade, this showcase has explored a world of ideas, from feminism to fishing, in ground-breaking new cinema from Lebanon to Morocco.
OPERA IN THE PARK
415-864-3330
Opera divas sing their hearts out gratis at Sharon Meadow in Golden Gate Park on the first Sunday of the opera season (the second Sunday in September), just as they did in SF after the 1906 earthquake to lift the city’s spirits – and more than a century later, a heartfelt aria still begins fall with a grace note.
FOLSOM STREET FAIR
415-777-3247; www.folsomstreetfair.com
Work those leather chaps and enjoy public spankings for local charities on the last weekend of September. To answer the obvious question in advance: yes, people do