Big City Revue performs at the 2021 Nihonmachi Street Fair in Japantown. The band will also be performing on Saturday at the 2022 street fair.
The Church of 8 Wheels is bringing their pop-up roller rink to the Ferry building.
Stu Allen & Mars Hotel perform at Jerry Day 2014.
48th annual Nihonmachi Street Fair
Big City Revue performs at the 2021 Nihonmachi Street Fair in Japantown. The band will also be performing on Saturday at the 2022 street fair.
The annual Nihonmachi Street Fair returns to Japantown but in a slightly scaled-back form compared to pre-COVID years. There’s still six hours of live music on the outdoor stage, a “Sounds of Thunder” classic muscle car show and an AAPI vendor fair. Also check out “art on art” with ribbons of colorful origami hung from the plaza’s lotus-shaped bronze fountains, which notably were designed to mimic origami patterns. And instead of the usual outdoor food stalls, this year you’re encouraged to support the local restaurants and shops in and around the Japan Center Malls to get your fill of udon, sushi and mochi donuts. Final day, Sunday, 11 a.m.-6 p.m., Post from Laguna to Webster, plus Japantown Peace Plaza, S.F., Free. nihonmachistreetfair.org
Castro Theatre town hall meeting
What will become of San Francisco’s iconic Castro Theatre, which just celebrated its 100th anniversary? After Another Planet Entertainment, the theater’s new management company, announced plans in January for significant renovations and upgrades beginning in 2023, many feared that concerts and conferences would become the norm and the 1,400-seat venue’s days as primarily a movie palace and as a host of LGBTQ+ events were numbered. To try to set things straight (so to speak), Another Planet reps are hosting a free event on Thursday night to share their future plans in detail and have a Q&A to listen to the public’s concerns. Thursday, 6 p.m., Castro Theatre, 429 Castro St., S.F. Free.
Ferry Building pop-up roller rink
The Church of 8 Wheels is bringing their pop-up roller rink to the Ferry building.
The team behind San Francisco’s Church of 8 Wheels has a habit of putting roller rinks in unusual places. First they took over Sixth Avenue in Golden Gate Park, turning a 30-day trial into almost 40 years of skating. Then in 2013, they converted an abandoned church on Fillmore Street into a roller disco. And now they are at it again, but this time for two days only. Hidden behind the Ferry Building, you’ll find an LED-lit arch inviting you into a 2,400 square foot roller rink with speakers at every corner, to help you get funky while rolling with your homies. Saturdays, Aug. 13 and Sept. 17, 7-10 p.m. Ferry Building back plaza, S.F. Free admission and free skate rentals. RSVP required. ferrybuildingmarketplace.com
Civil War Living History Day at Fort Point
There’s a reason the chief engineer of the Golden Gate Bridge redesigned his plans to include a little hop before spanning the bay. That was to arch over Fort Point, saving the site from demolition when the bridge was built. Completed in 1861, the fort was armed and garrisoned during the Civil War but never saw any battle. In honor of its history, Fort Point hosts a Living History Day with cannon drills, bugle calls, military marches and Civil War reenactments so you can learn what life was like for the soldiers who waited for a Confederate attack from the sea that never came. Saturday, 10 a.m.-5 p.m., Fort Point, 201 Marine Dr., The Presidio, S.F. Free. funcheap.com
20th annual Jerry Day concert festival + Excelsior afterparties
Stu Allen & Mars Hotel perform at Jerry Day 2014.
Jerry Garcia, the Grateful Dead’s iconic bearded lead singer, had deep roots in San Francisco, having spent his childhood in the Excelsior. After his 1995 death, the first Jerry Day was held in 2002 to raise money to fix a rundown playground in the neighborhood, birthing an annual music celebration. For the festival’s 20th anniversary, enjoy more than six hours of jams and tributes at the amphitheater in McLaren Park that now bears his name. And just like The Dead’s concerts that never seemed to end, the festival leaves the park 7-10 p.m., spilling into the neighborhood for 11 different afterparties, concerts and art installations gracing storefront windows and parklets. Saturday, August 13, 11:30 a.m. to 6 p.m., Jerry Garcia Amphitheater, McLaren Park, S.F., Free. jerryday.org
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