The Richmond District’s First-Ever Lunar New Year Parade
Celebrate the Year of the Snake with the Richmond’s first-ever Lunar New Year Parade! Schools, community groups, businesses, and artists are invited to participate in this historic celebration by showcasing their creativity and spirit. Join us on Balboa Street and let the audience’s cheers decide the winners. Prizes will be awarded for Best Thematic Float, Most Entertaining Performance, and Best Community Spirit.
For more information please visit the links below:
The Napa Lighted Art Festival is a celebration of creative arts, technology and lights, and supports innovative techniques using light and light technologies as a growing art medium. This walkable outdoor experience is FREE in Downtown Napa featuring 11 lighted art sculptures for five weeks and projection artwork on three iconic downtown buildings for the first nine nights of the festival. Bring the family and experience the magic of lighted art at the 2025 Napa Lighted Art Festival!
Napa Lighted Art Festival January 18 – February 16, 2025 Friday-Saturday 6-10pm | Sunday-Thursday 6-9pm Downtown Napa FREE
January 18th – February 16th projection artwork is back and will be displayed on 3 iconic downtown buildings for the first 9 nights of the festival.
Meet the Artist
Learn more about the artists and their artwork in person! Several of our artists will be visiting the festival and will be available for a more intimate perspective into their background, artistic process, story behind their installation and any other question you may have for them.
This event is FREE for the community 4:30pm – 6pm Saturday, January 18th Aerena Gallery 600 Main Street, Napa, CA 94559
FESTIVAL HIGHLIGHTS
Youth Storytime
5:00-6:00pm Saturday, February 1st 1151 Pearl Street
Join us for a Storytime with Napa Bookmine at the Napa Lighted Art Festival! Our friends at Napa Bookmine will be reading short stories and selling books at this year’s installation Down the Rabbit Hole. This is a FREE community event, and everyone is welcome! Children under 12 years of age must be accompanied by a responsible caregiver at all times.
Glow Party
6:00-8:00pm Saturday, February 8th 1151 Pearl Street
Get your glow on at the Napa Lighted Art Festival! Come boogie with the disco bunny at Down the Rabbit Hole, an installation by Colorado-based artists Darrell E Ansted and Katie D’Arcangelo. The Glow Party, sponsored by the Children Museum of Napa Valley and Napa Parks & Recreation Foundation, is a family-friendly “art after dark” experience at the Napa Lighted Art Festival. Feel free to dress up and bring your favorite light up items. This is a FREE community event so come enjoy the music and let glow!
Alcatraz City Cruises is offering a “Buy One, Get One Free” (BOGO) ticket promotion to all California residents for the Alcatraz Day Tours! This special “Buy One, Get One Free” ticket promotion is available only to California residents on select 2024 – 2025 dates.
Alcatraz City Cruises
The BOGO promotion only applies to the following dates:
December 3-5, 10-12 January 6-8, 14-16, 21-23, 28-30 February 4-6, 11, 13, 18-20, 25-27 March 4-6
Includes: Round-trip ferry ride to Alcatraz Island Award-winning Cellhouse audio tour on Alcatraz Island Daily optional programs and exhibits Admission to a new permanent exhibit “The Big Lockup: Mass Incarceration in the United States.” Depart Alcatraz on any returning ferry, see schedule here.
Dress Code
The weather on Alcatraz is unpredictable and subject to change unexpectedly, so be sure to dress in layers. Follow this link for more information.
Where to Meet
Alcatraz Landing
Pier 33, San Francisco, CA 94133
Cellhouse Audio Tour Included
Tour the Cellhouse at your own pace with the award-winning audio presentation “Doing Time: The Alcatraz Cellhouse Tour”. Stop to picture yourself in a dark solitary confinement cell, hear the stories of life inside from former inmates, and feel the intensity of a prison breakout from correctional officers who lived and worked on the Island.
No one can tell the Alcatraz tale quite like the men who lived it. Hear both sides of life in the Island prison including such famous events as escape attempts, “The Battle of ’46”, “Food Riots”, and “Surviving Solitary Confinement”.
The Cellhouse audio tour is available in Dutch, English, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Mandarin, Portuguese, Russian and Spanish.
Please note: Audio tour refunds are available for Alcatraz Day Tours only. There are no audio tour refunds available for Alcatraz Night Tours. If you prefer not to take the Cellhouse audio tour, we will be happy to refund the audio program portion of the Alcatraz tour ticket price. Please inquire with a supervisor at the entrance to the Cellhouse for refund amount. Audio tour refunds are not given through the Alcatraz City Cruises Ticketbooth or the central reservations office.
If you’re in SF on January 11th and wondering what you should be doing that day, make sure you come to the fourth annual…
Nicolas Cage Film Fest: Cage Match!
Join us for an unforgettable evening celebrating the enigmatic Nicolas Cage! Immerse yourself in his eclectic performances with a double feature screening of “Bringing Out the Dead” and “Dark,” both part of a Paul Schrader series at the Four Star Theater.
Event Details:
Date: Saturday, January 11, 2025 Time: 7:00 PM PT Location: Four Star Theater 2200 Clement St, San Francisco, CA 94121
Highlights:
Double Feature: Experience the intensity of “Bringing Out the Dead” followed by “Dark.” Refreshments: Enjoy light snacks as we delve into Cage’s Nouveau-Shamanic acting style. Nic Cage Competition: Showcase your best Nicolas Cage impression during the intermission for a chance to win themed prizes!
Tickets:
️ Suggested Donation: $10 (via Venmo) Get Your Movie Ticket: https://lnkd.in/gGYuuyPk
Don’t miss this opportunity to celebrate the legend himself. Bring your enthusiasm, your best Cage impression, and let’s make it a night to remember!
RSVP now to secure your spot and receive location details: https://lnkd.in/gUJnUxRu
See you there!
For more information please follow the links below
Tamalpais Chamber Players | San Francisco Civic Music Association
Join us for an intimate concert featuring chamber music from musicians across the Bay Area, hosted by the San Francisco Civic Music Association.
Chamber Music Concert Series or the “Afternoon of Chamber Music” is held monthly from October 5, 2024 – June 14, 2025 and introduces audiences to a range of chamber ensemble musicians across the Bay Area.
For more information please visit the links below:
Following the official inauguration events at Civic Center earlier in the day, Daniel Lurie invites you to a historic Chinatown Night Market & Community Festival in honor of Daniel Lurie’s inauguration as the 46th Mayor of San Francisco! Join us on Wednesday, January 8, 2025, as we celebrate together with an evening of food, culture, and community.
5:30pm-9pm on Grant Avenue btwn Jackson and Sacramento with food, drinks and live performances – headlined by the internationally acclaimed artist and SF native, ZHU with DJ Ruckus kicking things off!
The Annual Moleskine Project – a collective exhibition of artists’ sketchbooks from around the world co-curated by gallery owner Ken Harman and Sydney-based artist Rod Luff. Featuring artists from around the world, this format driven exhibition spans various artistic styles and mediums, delving into the artists sketchbook. The exhibition made it’s initial debut at Spoke San Francisco in 2011. Featuring both emerging and established artists, the exhibition is a continuation of the project, in which artists are provided with a Moleskine book in order to create an original piece within the pages of the book.
For more information please visit the following link
Named one of the world’s top ten parades, the Chinese New Year Parade in San Francisco is the largest celebration of its kind outside of Asia. It was started in the 1860s and takes place the weekend of the Chinese New Year Community Street Fair (Feb. 15-16, 2025).
Typically, nearly 100 groups will participate in the parade and many of the floats and specialty groups will be featuring the theme of this year’s Chinese zodiac sign – the year of the snake
$65 – Section A1 (Covered by a canopy, Closest to Chinatown)
$45 – Section B
$45 – Section C
$75 – Section E3 (incl. gift bag, Closest to Union Square)
Fireworks for 2025? In 2024 the festival ended with a short fireworks display. No details yet have been confirmed for 2025.
Rain or Shine
Parade is approximately 1.3 miles in length and lasts about 2 1/2 hours.
Nowhere in the country will you see a lunar new year parade with more gorgeous floats, elaborate costumes, ferocious lions, exploding firecrackers, and of course the newly crowned Miss Chinatown U.S.A. and her court.
A crowd favorite will be the new and spectacular 288-foot Golden Dragon (“Gum Lung”). It takes a team of over 180 men and women from the martial arts group White Crane to carry this dragon throughout the streets of San Francisco.
2025 Parade Route
The Chinese New Year Parade, celebrating the Year of the Dragon will be on Saturday, February 15, 2025 at 5:15 pm, stepping off at Second and Market Streets. It is a free event for all to attend, but tickets must be purchased to sit in the bleacher sections.
The parade starts off at 2nd and Market Streets, goes around Union Square and ends at Kearny Street & Columbus Ave. The distance of the parade route is approximately 1.3 miles. The parade is a free event for all to attend and you may stand anywhere on the parade route, behind the barricades, to watch the parade.
For more information please visit the following links
An awe-inspiring Christmas tree has welcomed millions of visitors at the Entrance Plaza of PIER 39 every holiday season since 1983 (except 2020), becoming a not-to-be-missed San Francisco holiday tradition.
Synchronized and choreographed to festive Holiday music, the tree “performs” every half hour from 5-10pm, becoming a kaleidoscope of swirling colors and songs, adorned with thousands of glittering specialty lights and ornaments. At the end of each performance, the tree magically returns to a static, elegant, traditional Christmas tree.
Catch the merriest show on the waterfront now through January 5th, 2025.
