Castro Street Fair

This is one of my favorite San Francisco events. It’s held the first Saturday of October every year.
The streets are closed to trafic. There are lots of booths and give aways, great people watching and live music.
It’s a fun festival to spend a few hours at.

Awesome. Awesome from beginning to end. This street fair was like street fairs of old — lots of great stuff and the food! I had the best sausage. And I’m from NYC! The vendors were awesome. The music on the main stage was great. Can we do this every weekend?!

This was a particularly good event. The weather was great for all of the men to go topless-​myself included! Well why not have fun. Met up with some friends and one was here for the very first time. Made for extra excitement. Now of course the men– 440 Castro always gets my vote. So much going on. Got to talk with some nice guys and a hottie!

Artsy fartsy but always have fun when we go.

Totally fun event! The choir was great and the vendors were cool. Love the area.

EMX (aka Ethel Mermon Experience) was back this year! That was worth going all on its own!
Rock on EMX !!!

If you are itching for some street food, fun street dance parties and booths selling random stuff – this is the place to go. It’s fun, another reason to get drunk on the streets of Castro and enjoy the atmosphere.
I suggest donating and getting a sticker, its a dollar off on beers and trust me, you will get back your money’s worth.

I like this street fair a lot. It has lots of good, interesting booths, a mellow mood and generally isn’t to crowded, except in spots.

I would love this nice little fair a whole lot more if, year after year, the organizers wouldn’t fill the main stage with musical acts whose lack of talent is matched only by their intense volume; awful bands, truly horrifying karaōke singers and boring lip-​sync-​ers who SUCK SO HARD it makes my ears bleed or pray for hearing loss (or, at times, death). Really, people. Just ’cause they’re gay doesn’t mean they are Pansy Division. Just cause they’re gay doesn’t mean they should be playing on the main stage.
«Wanna kill a party? Just add a band!»
So true.
Aside from the music, which really is terrible on a metaphysical level, the booths are pretty good. I actually buy art at this fair, which I can’t say for any other fair in the city.

Compared to most events organized by the LGBTQ, this event is tiny. Compared to most festivals in the city, this festival is tiny. Why do I love going? Because it’s ours! I don’t have much of a nightlife anymore, but when I do go out, the Castro is where you’ll find me. Here’s an opportunity to promote all things kinky and raunchy, while raising awareness on safer sex practices and letting the community know about places to go for health services. Here’s an opportunity for faith organizations to come out and remind us that God loves us the way he created us… and to not let the H8ers tell us any different. Any day is a day to pack the bars, but it’s even more fun when the streets are blocked off and the party continues from the bar to the streets.

What better way to end my party LovEvolution weekend then at the Castro Street Fair!
We were actually up at Twin Peaks being tourists and we heard in the far distance some bumpin’ House music, so we decided to drive down and see what was going on.
Very organized, great crowd, LOTS of food vendors including an Arepa food booth and a few Vietnamese food booths that had Garlic Noodles. Say wah???
The highlight of the fair was seeing a band with the main singer being a drag who really could belt out some good songs!
Different areas had different music. I stayed in the house area mainly and BOY was that so much fun! They had beach balls bouncing around and people were just getting down. To my amazement, there wasn’t too much diva-​house being spun, the dj was definitely bringing it.
I wish SoCal would have more events like this, its just a fun way to experience different pockets of the city. :) I didn’t see anyone really naked, I saw a lot of body painting, but no people rocking out with their — out. =P

Of all the fairs & events going on this weekend (oktoberfest, lovefest, etc) the BFF & I accidentally ended up at the Castro Street Fair. The wait for brunch at Lime was ridiculous as always, so we passed the time by wandering through the numerous booths. At the Castro Street Fair, you can have your palm read, get a Hepatitis vaccination, watch grown men cheerlead, get HIV tested, eat yummy Kingdom Cake cupcakes (review to follow) & buy t-​shirts from local vendors (i.e. Korrupt Clothing from Oakland.) The streets get super crowded & are more dog friendly than kid friendly, so keep the kids at home for this street fair. Today was the perfect day for the fair, as the weather was moderately warm. The Castro Street Fair is a fun event with lots to see & do where the overall theme is community & (this year more than ever) equal rights.

This was pretty cute to go to. Thankfully there was a lot of shit going on this weekend, so the parking situation wasn’t horrible at all.
It’s basically any Arts and Wine festival meaning it’s a lot of art and vendors and very «SF» meaning a lot of half-​naked people. I wasn’t particularly interested in any of the clothing vendors b/​c I just wasn’t into that stuff. I think there were 4 separate wallet-​leather vendor people. There were some interesting things like this man-​woman yoga duo (they were doing yoga on each other? you had to be there) and some Dr. Seuss thing which was cute.
Just all in all a very «cute» fair thing to go to once and you probably never need to go again.

Street fairs are never that great. this one is okay.
2.5 stars

A toned down version of PRIDE and FSF.
I didn’t see anyone nude. However, there was at least one booth selling porn and sex toys so I wouldn’t call it totally «kid-​friendly.»
A pretty good variety of food vendors. Lousy selection of booze.
I was able to see a line-​dancing lesson. Kind of looked like fun but I didn’t jump in. Maybe next time… if there is a next time.

Technically, this should be an event. BUT. I love to review whatever I can.
For the first time ever, I actually believe something deserves +½ star. So I’m going to say 3.5 stars for effort and expedition.
Overall, it’s not the most fun of the SF Street Fairs.
Music was bleck this year, and there wasn’t much to grab my attention. The weather probably added, as the number of naked people was below par.
The food was placed higher this year, which mean I was walking through BBQ smoke to enter from Market St. and this sort-​of pissed me off, as I was coming from Brunch…
There were still crowds, but less debauchery than previous years (as I recall).
I also noticed a number of empty booth spaces :(.

OK, so this thing happens every year and every year it is the same ridiculous thing… nothing ever changes, not even my routine that coincides with the event itself. Let’s do a check off, shall we?
Fags…check
Hags…check
Heteros with no idea what is going on… check.
Planet Out Booth (Why?)…check.
Other ridiculous booths… check.
Food stands and low quality beer… DOUBLE CHECK
Random Tranny belting out songs or MC’ing the main stage… Oh Check.
Idiotic people in their windows flashing the general public… check.
I get to see this every year. The only reason I come back is because it allows me an opportunity to drink beer all day in the street without cops bothering me, I occasionally get cruised and told that I am beautiful (it’s true) and that is always good to hear. If that wasn’t enough, my friends usually drag me out to hang out there too.
It’s fun if you don’t mind crowds of people drunk off of beer or poorly made margaritas. Donate if you can.

I was more sauced than an A-​1 bottle at the local Sizzler, so I don’t remember all the details…
But if one more man with wens and wattles touched me, I would have fucking screamed.

Great place to hang out and enjoy everything that makes San Francisco a a great place to live. The weather was fantastic, crowds were big enough to let you know you were at a well-​established event but not so big that it was unmanageable or uncomfortable.
I saw a lot of colorful and cool characters, and there were great vendors there as well. Surprisingly, there were also a lot of different food vendors to choose from — ranging from burgers and hot dogs to barbecued teriyaki chicken and hummus platters. Lots of beer stands and port-​a-​potties made the lines tolerable too.
Definitely a fun way to spend an October afternoon in The City. Gay or straight there was something for everyone, though those with a bias against the former would likely feel uncomfortable at this event. I should note though that unlike another reviewer I didn’t see any nudity at the event, and saw a lot of families having a good time. Put simply, I’m a straight guy and I wasn’t offended or uncomfortable at all — I thought it was a very inclusive and mellow environment.
I wouldn’t recommend driving, as with the street closures it looked like traffic was pretty nasty around the edges of the event. But, since you’re only a mile away from the 16^th Street bart station and right on the Muni line, there’s really no need to drive anyway.

Where are the Weather Girls when you need them?
It is only fitting that the summer-​to-​fall troika of gay-​oriented street fairs begins with the most outlandishly fetishistic (Dore Alley), segues into the most ribaldly rank (Folsom Street), and ends with the comparatively calm and congenial Castro Street Fair the first Sunday of October. I wouldn’t necessarily describe it as family-​friendly, but it is easily the most digestible of the three for any visitors you may have from the red states.
This year marks the 34^th annual, and at around noon today, it actually felt low-​key as if most of the outrageous drag queens took a breather and went to P-​town instead. Don’t get me wrong… I prefer the vibe I felt this year since it can get heady with all the crowds that gather. But what’s nice is that you have less of the gawking tourists at this one since there is none of that leather bondage titillation that seems to thrill them to no end. Instead, there are some extravagantly dressed trannies, a few muscleboys, and a lot of people who just want to have a good time.
Plenty of arts and crafts and community service booths, for sure, and then there is Sugar Valley Promenade on 18^th to raise your freak flag a bit higher. Of course, all the expected street fair food is on Market, including those huge barbecued teriyaki chicken parts on a stick that everyone was chewing on. The main stage is also on Market with a battery of diverse acts. We happen to see the Mighty Slim Pickens, who were kinda like a butcher version of the B-52’s.
Compared to the plain-​vanilla Union Street Fair, this one has actual character and a sense of humor that would only make the most conservative Republican uncomfortable. Even if you don’t look like a steroid-​infused model with nipple rings and a red speedo, the odds are still pretty good that you’ll find something to entertain you.