“Sailors about!” one Reddit user said of the weeklong affair. “Every bar is packed with sailors for three days. Long live Fleet Week!” another chimed in.
Harrington’s Bar and Grill, an Irish pub in the Financial District, is promoting a Friday block party to celebrate Fleet Week.
“North Beach especially, and parts of the Marina, you just get roving packs of sailors out on shore leave to have a good time,” said Ben Bleiman, who owns Harrington’s and has worked in San Francisco’s entertainment spaces for decades.
He said the weekend is often one of the highest-grossing for local bars and restaurants, and anchors their sales for the month of October.
“When I walk around the North Beach and Marina or other areas during Fleet Week, it feels like Chicago in the summer, where people are just overflowing out of the restaurants and bars and walking down the street going from location to location,” he said. “It is one of the biggest party weekends of the year, one of the biggest social weekends of the year. And in some areas, it’s definitely the biggest.”
U.S. Navy Blue Angel jets fly over the San Francisco Bay. Blue Angels are the most popular event at the San Francisco Fleet Week air show. (Anne Wernikoff/KQED)
In addition to the groups of uniformed sailors walking down city streets or drinking in North Beach’s iconic bars like Vesuvio Cafe, the military personnel and equipment are integral to a packed agenda of official events planned for the week.
The online schedule includes multiple “Hoops with the Troops” pickup basketball games, more than a dozen performances by the armed forces’ various quintets and bands, and tours of service members’ living quarters and day-to-day routines about naval ships and aircraft carriers.
Sailors and Marines also often make stops at local charities and schools.
In the event of a government shutdown, some of those events would likely be canceled or lack their VIP guests.
But Bleiman and Cruise both said Fleet Week would go on.
The 23rd Marine Regiment from San Bruno, California gather in front of the Golden Gate bridge at Battery East before a promotion ceremony during Fleet Week. (Anne Wernikoff/KQED)
“Having done this for 20 years, I think it’s obvious that the sailors are a portion of the [event], but really it’s the entire vibe that brings everyone out,” Bleiman said.
“San Francisco Fleet Week is as much a civic tradition as a military one — honoring all those who are called to serve, from our military to first responders and everyone involved in civic service,” Cruise added via email. “No matter the circumstances, San Francisco Fleet Week will continue to stand as a tribute to service, resilience, and community.”
Mayor Daniel Lurie said the city was monitoring the situation.
“We have not gotten word, but we’re in touch with our allies and friends in D.C. and trying to understand what’s going on there,” he said.
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