RSSFestivals | San Francisco Travel Blog - Part 5
8th Annual Polk Street Blues Festival
According to many, the American contribution to the world musical scene crests and plateaus with the blues. Although this part of its heritage is often brushed over in favor of gentler stories from its multifaceted past, the blues are easily traced back to songs sung by slaves working under inhumane conditions predominantly in the southern states. These songs also form part of a rich tradition of music sung throughout the numerous regions of Africa, so “the blues” as we know them today are truly a fascinating result of sonic evolution. Today, these songs of loss, love, and despair have won the hearts of people from throughout the globe, and this is evidenced not only by the numerous bands dedicated simply to performing this type of music but also by the numerous festivals held with the blues at their core.
Nihonmachi Street Fair: Celebrate Asian-Pacific American Heritage
Time to add another event to your already bursting calendar of not-to-miss activities happening throughout the Bay Area this summer! Considered by many to be one of the first multicultural extravaganzas where numerous different heritages are celebrated, the Nihonmachi Street Fair is an event where many facets and qualities of several different backgrounds are celebrated, with the primary focus on the trifecta of Asian-Pacific American life.
Outside Lands: Music and So Much More
As one of the largest music festivals in the country, Outside Lands considers itself to be one of the most exciting and expansive events in the festival landscape. Even calling in a music festival is to limit the wide variety of events to one thing when, in fact, Outside Lands includes art exhibitions, public lectures, stand up comedy, and so much more.
Sommerfest Above Muir Woods
Germans are well known for their love of festivals. The best known of these is, of course Oktoberfest, but there are numerous others, no less thrilling, that have the misfortune of often being overshadowed by their wildly popular (and wildly mischievous) autumnal cousin. One of the other best loved German festivals is Sommerfest, and this joint German/Austrian celebration of summer, long days, and warm nights will be coming to the Bay Area on July 15th!
38th Annual San Francisco Jewish Film Festival
If you’ve spent any time on this blog, then you know that there are two things that we love more than almost anything else: film festivals and cultural events. This being the case, it will come as no surprise that for this entry, we are excited to highlight an upcoming event that merges both of our passions into one not-to-be-missed event. What could it be? Why, the 38th San Francisco Jewish Film Festival!
Muscles Galore at the San Jose FitExpo
Bodybuilding. 40 years ago, it was an oddity. 20 years ago, an amusing thing for people like Arnold Schwarzenegger. Today? An obsession, a lifestyle, a path to happiness for millions of people across the globe. It helps that the designation of “bodybuilding” no longer just applies to those who put on pounds of rippling muscle. Now, while that pursuit certainly still applies to many within the bodybuilding community, there are much more people exploring alternative ways of getting—and keeping—in shape: from powerlifting to jiu-jitsu, the practice is so much more than thigh-sized biceps and bulging veins.
Fun and Games at the Marion County Fair
One of the best parts about the summer—aside from the warm weather, the cool water, and the long days—are the county fairs. Almost all of us have been to more than one, and that smell of hay, cotton candy, funnel cakes, and hot metal emanating from the ancient looking rides can easily take us on a Proustian revel through our own lost time. If this sounds familiar to you, and if you long to experience it all once again, then no time is better than the beginning of July. Why? Because that’s when the Marion County Fair comes to the Bay Area!
Time for Wine! The 2018 Oakland Wine Festival
Wine: it is a constant feature of this blog. We love it, and we suspect that you might feel the same way. One of the greatest things about the Bay Area is its proximity to some of the best vineyards in this hemisphere. With Napa Valley and Sonoma Valley so close at hand, the finest wines crafted by some of the finest vintners is available to us. With such a plethora of marvelous wine choices, the difficulty comes in trying to narrow down the search for the wine that is truly your perfect palate match. This is why events such as the 2018 Oakland Wine Festival are so essential: they give you the opportunity to experience many different wines at a fraction of the cost it would take to purchase that many bottles.
40th Annual San Francisco Ethnic Dance Festival
The current national climate, when looked at with even the most cursory of glances, can quickly become overwhelming. Each news headline, each Tweet by powerful global figures, each new population survey or scientific report can bring us closer and closer to the brink of complete existential despair. How do we function when each day seems littered with catastrophe?
San Francisco Frozen Film Festival
To the delight of cinephiles and lovers of the weird, the San Francisco Frozen Film Festival is returning to our chilly Bay Area for the 13th straight year of enigmatic, exciting, and enticing programing. Listed by MovieMaker Magazine as one of the “20 Coolest Film Festivals in the World” (as well as making the cut for the same magazine’s list of “Top 25 Film Festivals Worth the Fee”), the Frozen Film Festival is founded on the principles that cinema is a valuable form of art, that it can help bring communities together, and that it is essential for as many diverse people as possible to make movies and have these movies seen by the public.
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