Date: 2025-10-05 Page is: DBtxt003.php txt00026926
SAN FRANCISCO
CARNIVAL
Carnaval San Francisco is an annual celebration of Latin American, Caribbean
and African Diasporic culture. This year's theme is honoring Indigenous roots.
CARNIVAL
Carnaval San Francisco is an annual celebration of Latin American, Caribbean
and African Diasporic culture. This year's theme is honoring Indigenous roots.
The scene at last year's Carnaval Grand Parade.
Photo: Tayfun Coskun/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images
Original article: https://www.axios.com/local/san-francisco/2024/05/23/sf-carnaval-celebration-mission
Peter Burgess COMMENTARY
Peter Burgess
Megan Rose Dickey
May 23, 2024 -
Carnaval San Francisco, an annual celebration of Latin American, Caribbean and African Diasporic culture, is this weekend, and this year's theme is honoring Indigenous roots.
Why it matters: 'We bring different worlds together under one roof,' Carnaval executive director Rodrigo Durán told KQED.
- Indigenous Nobel Prize winner Rigoberta Menchú Tum will lead the parade as grand marshal.
- It features beautifully adorned people and floats, and thousands of dancers, traditional African drummers and other live musicians.
- The festival portion will feature performances from Noel Torres, Pirulo y la Tribu, Franco, Banda Blanca and others.
- One of the original organizers, Adela Chu, was first exposed to Carnaval in Colón, Panama, in childhood, she told Found SF.
- Fast forward to adulthood in San Francisco, and she realized 'a city like San Francisco without a Carnaval didn't make any sense' because all of the pieces — the spirit, the drummers and the dancers — were there, she said.
- Harrison Street, from 16th to 24th streets, will be closed to cars all weekend, KQED reports.
- On Sunday, Mission Street will be closed between 15th and 24th streets.
- Expect parking in the area to be difficult, so public transit — specifically BART — will be your best bet.