Downtown First Thursdays in San Francisco, which started nearly a year ago, will be extended through December 2025, and two new locations will be added to the festivities.
Since May 2024, the First Thursday street fair has taken over Second Street near Mission in San Francisco.
“We have continued, every single month since then, bringing tens of thousands of people down here to Second Street to support all of our amazing small businesses downtown,” said organizer Katy Birnbaum, who is the CEO of the San Francisco business Into the Streets.
Into the Streets produces Downtown First Thursdays (DFT) along with the Civic Joy Fund nonprofit.
On the first Thursday of each month, the street is blocked off to cars, and thousands of people stroll between vendors, food trucks, DJs, activities, and more.
Organizers say this event has been so successful that they are ready to add a second and third location for the First Thursdays events.
From May through October, they plan to launch a “Downtown Hoedown” country western street party at the city’s new Front Street entertainment district.
“There will be a mechanical bull, there will be a giant disco bison – which we just purchased today- there will be two stages of Bluegrass and Country Western music,” said Manny Yekutiel, the executive director and founder of the Civic Joy Fund. Yekutiel said the hoedown will be sponsored by Levi Strauss & Co.
Downtown First Thursday organizers also plan to launch a speaker series, “The Symposium at DFT,” at Salesforce Park from June through October, styled after Greek symposiums.
“We’ll be bringing famous actors, athletes, politicians, writers, to come and discuss the theme of ‘future of the city,'” Yekutiel said. He added that in addition to listening to the speakers, attendees can also expect to hear poetry, listen to lyre music, and participate in discussions after the speakers are finished.
While Yekutiel said he couldn’t reveal which people would be featured as speakers yet, he said, “There are some really exciting ones.”
He noted that the symposiums will be hosted in partnership with KQED and City Arts & Lectures.
First Thursday attendee and San Francisco resident Steven Shi said he is “really excited” to hear the event series will expand.
“Really looking forward to that, can’t wait to check out those locations and new events,” Shi said.
Mayor Daniel Lurie said these events are part of a larger effort to spur business and community all around the city.
“You can just feel that hope, that optimism coming back to San Francisco, and it’s a good time to be here,” he said.
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