Carnaval San Francisco

May 24

Celebrating its 30th anniversary this year, Carnaval San Francisco is one of the city's most spectacular traditions and California's largest annual multi-cultural celebration.

Each year on Memorial Day weekend, San Francisco's Mission district is transformed by Carnaval, a Latin celebration showcasing the very best of Latin American and Caribbean cultures and traditions with a diverse array of food, music, dance, and artistry.

This year's Carnaval theme, "Many Cultures – One Spirit," will be displayed proudly, with Caribbean contingents showcasing the music, art, and dance of the Bahamas, Cuba, Jamaica, Puerto Rico, and Trinidad. Mexican Aztec performers, traditional African drummers, Polynesian dancers, Japanese drummers, giant puppets, and artists representing Guatemala, Honduras, Bolivia, and other countries flesh out the multi-cultural celebration.

Spanning eight blocks, Carnaval includes several event stages as well as the Grand Parade (on Sunday, May 25, beginning at 9:30 a.m.) featuring costumed dancers, fantastic floats, drummers, roller-skaters, stilt-walkers, and more.

This year's festival also includes a "Zona Verde" (Green Zone), a new section featuring an array of earth-friendly enjoyments to enrich mind, body, and soul. The area includes an eco/green educational space and marketplace, a Holistic Health Pavilion, featuring the Bay Area's best in alternative healing and organic health products, and global healing ceremonies, with performance groups representing folkloric healing rituals from around the world.