by Ramsey Said of FogBay.com

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San Francisco’s residents take pride in the city’s natural beauty and deep history but more than anything else they consider the Bay Area’s rich ethnic and social collage its greatest asset. The city’s tradition of embracing these cultural differences and newly arriving ideas has given it a reputation as the most tolerant major city in the United States. In a compact city overflowing with diversity, people here find many ways to celebrate the unusual mosaic of San Francisco.

Best known among these celebrations is the Chinese New Year parade, the world’s largest, and the Pride Parade, the biggest celebration of the gay, lesbian and bisexual community. However, in San Francisco these events are attended by the entire city, not just members of the Chinese or the gay communities. The feeling of “we’re celebrating” not “they’re celebrating” is the order of the day.

It is this spirit of San Francisco that draws as many attendees to a celebration of St. Patrick’s Day as to its Japantown Cherry Blossom Festival. You certainly don’t have to be a hippie to groove at the Haight Ashbury Street Fair or of Italian descent to feel at home sipping Chianti at the city’s North Beach Festival.

But it’s in the quirky, less-publicized annual events that San Franciscans really celebrate their cherished reputation as a city of oddballs.



A good example of this penchant for public absurdity is the annual St. Valentine’s Day pillow fight at Justin Herman Plaza. Every year thousands of locals, finding themselves unlucky in love, gather at nightfall for an hour-long pillow fight. The cathartic event transforms both the fighters and the onlookers into a laughing throng, enjoying the spectacle while a million white pillow feathers float in the night air.



The Ides of March, bring another only-in-San Francisco event, the wonderfully pointless Brides of March. On that day the downtown shopping district of Union Square is overrun by hundreds of wedding dress clad women (and men) shouting “beware the Brides of March.” The only point of the event seems to be to celebrate silliness and to confuse the tourists.



Those locals who are more sports-minded might choose to attend the Bring Your Own Big Wheel race. This event features hundreds of costumed locals navigating plastic children’s tricycles down one of the city’s steepest and curviest streets. Originally held on San Francisco’s famous Lombard Street, the race has relocated to the less famous but more crooked Vermont Street. While billed as a race, there are no trophies given or records kept. As one race organizer proudly stated, “There are no winners here, only losers.”



October brings the Mission District’s Dia de los Muertos celebration. Dia de los Muertos is San Francisco’s take on the Mexican tradition of honoring the dead on All Saints Day. Thousands take to the neighborhood streets in a night parade. The marchers, most with their faces painted as skeletons, walk through the Mission District carrying candles, flowers, and photos of the departed.

No matter what time of year you find yourself in San Francisco you can be assured that some cultural or wonderfully offbeat celebration will be taking place and most importantly, that you’ll be welcomed to join in on the crazy festivities.

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Ramsey Said is a longtime San Francisco resident, his photo blog, FogBay.com chronicles the places, history, and events of the Bay Area.