The '
Castro Street Fair
'' is a

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

LGBT ' is an initialism that stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender. In use since the 1990s, the initialism, as well as some of its common variants, functions as an umbrella term for sexuality and gender identity. The LGBT term is a ...

street festival and fair usually held on the first Sunday in October in the Castro neighborhood, the main

gay ''Gay'' is a term that primarily refers to a homosexual person or the trait of being homosexual. The term originally meant 'carefree', 'cheerful', or 'bright and showy'. While scant usage referring to male homosexuality dates to the late 1 ...

neighborhood and social center in the city. The fair features multiples stages with live entertainment, DJs, food vendors, community-group stalls as well as a curated artisan alley with dozens of Northern California artists. Due to community pressure the fair restructured the organization and partnered with local charities to collect gate donations and partner with groups at the beverage and beer booths to raise money for those charities. Baycityreds castrostfair 1975

The Castro Street Fair was founded by

Harvey Milk Harvey Bernard Milk (May 22, 1930 – November 27, 1978) was an American politician and the first openly gay man to be elected to public office in California, as a member of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors. Milk was born and raised in N ...

, and the group he led, the Castro Valley Association, in 1974. It attracted over 5,000 people. The event's popularity grew quickly and by 1977, the attendance reached 70,000. The influx of visitors helped promote the Castro district's growing tourist industry. Castro Street Fair is one of

's many street fairs, including the North Beach Festival, Union Street Festival and

Haight Street Fair Haight may refer to: People with the surname Haight: * Albert Haight (1842-1926), New York lawyer * Charles C. Haight (1841-1917), American architect * Charles S. Haight, Jr., judge in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York ...

. These fairs run throughout the summer, from spring to fall. The Castro Street fair takes place on the afternoon of the first Sunday in October. The large turn-out makes it one of the largest of the annual street events in

, behind San Francisco Pride in Civic Center,

Folsom Street Fair Folsom Street Fair (FSF) is an annual BDSM and leather subculture street fair, held in September, that caps San Francisco's "Leather Pride Week". The Folsom Street Fair, sometimes simply referred to as "Folsom", takes place on Folsom Street bet ...

south of Market Street,

Pink Saturday Pink Saturday is a street party held the Saturday night before San Francisco Pride (Gay Pride Day) in San Francisco's The Castro, Castro district. It coincides with the annual Dyke March in San Francisco. Attendees are asked to donate money at th ...

in the Castro, and the Union Street Festival. The fair went on hiatus in 2020 and will return in 2021.

References

External links

Official site

Castro Street Fair 2008 VIDEO
Festivals in the San Francisco Bay Area Street fairs Festivals established in 1974 1974 establishments in California LGBT culture in San Francisco Harvey Milk {{US-festival-stub

See also

References

External links