Waterfront festivals and outdoor movies share the calendar this week with harvest celebrations, fall arts openings and the first hints of Halloween. Bring a layer, leave room in your schedule and be willing to cross a bridge. Psst! ● = Includes Black Culture
Turn up the volume
If music is the centerpiece, Portola Music Festival (● Sept. 26–27) brings two days of electronic and dance music to Pier 80, while Grammy-nominated R&B and soul singer Syleena Johnson (● Fri., Sept. 25) settles into Yoshi’s Oakland for a more intimate Friday night. One is built for a waterfront crowd; the other is built around a commanding voice and the kind of room where every lyric lands.
Monterey Jazz Festival (● Sept. 25–27) fills the fairgrounds with major artists and multiple stages, while Oakland’s own Fantastic Negrito (● Sat., Sept. 26) joins the San Francisco Symphony at Davies Symphony Hall. That hometown artist-meets-orchestra pairing is exactly the sort of Bay Area combination that sounds intriguing before you hear a single note.
Make a day of it
If you would rather wander than sit still, the festival map is doing its job. Valley of the Moon Vintage Festival (Sept. 25–27) brings harvest traditions and a grape stomp to Sonoma Plaza; Walnut Creek Oktoberfest (Sept. 25–26) fills Civic Park East with live bands, dancing, local food, artisan vendors and a family-friendly Kinder Karneval; and Los Gatos’ Fiesta de Artes (Sept. 26–27) mixes regional art, music, wine and food.
Downtown San José adds a strong South Bay choice with ILLO Mart (Sept. 26–27), a free indoor celebration bringing more than 250 illustrators with creative workshops, figure-drawing sessions, DIY activities and a zine lounge. On the coast, Pacific Coast Fog Fest (Sept. 26–27) turns Palmetto Avenue in Pacifica into a street party. In SF, the Robotics + Hackathon Expo (● Sat., Sept. 26) at the African American Art & Culture Complex adds robots, demonstrations, panels and hands-on invention to the mix.
Oakland Tech Week (● Sept. 27–Oct. 3) takes that spirit citywide, bringing founders, investors, technologists, creatives and community leaders together for 7 days of conversations, workshops, demonstrations, pitch sessions and neighborhood gatherings. It’s tech in The Town, and it adds an important Oakland-centered dimension to the week.
Dolly Day (Fri., Sept. 25) is bringing sparkle, music and unabashed sing-along energy to Union Square, while the Sunset Night Market’s Autumn Moon Festival (Fri., Sept. 25) fills Irving Street with food, lanterns and performances. Folsom Street Fair (Sun., Sept. 27) offers a very different kind of outdoor gathering on Sunday.
Art, stories and a little nighttime magic
At SFMOMA, Ear Hustle Live! (● Thu., Sept. 24) brings co-creators Nigel Poor and Earlonne Woods to the stage with stories from inside and outside prison, live music and original visuals. In the mood for theater instead? Try African Stew (● through Sun., Sept. 27) at the Magic Theatre through the weekend, giving audiences another way into a story where a celebratory family dinner quickly develops some heat.
After dark. Sundown Cinema (Fri., Sept. 25) is screening School of Rock near the Ferry Building, Cinema on the Square (Sat., Sept. 26) is showing The Conversation in Union Square and Grace Cathedral’s Grace Window (Sept. 23–25) pairs lasers with live, ethereal music. Across the Bay, baritone Lester Lynch (● Sun., Sept. 27) and pianist Kevin Korth open the Cal Performances recital season at Hertz Hall with a program shaped around love, loss and mortality.
The Asian Art Museum is holding a Chuseok celebration (Sun., Sept. 27) with traditional dance, games and food, and a major retrospective devoted to pioneering Korean artist Ha Chong-Hyun (Sept. 25–Jan. 25). And just beyond the weekend, Nexus – SF/Bay Area Black Art Week (● Sept. 30–Oct. 4) begins linking museums, galleries, artists and creative spaces across San Francisco and Oakland—exactly the kind of regional movement worth planning around.
Eat your way into fall
Bay Area African Restaurant Week (● through Sun., Sept. 27) stretches the definition of a food crawl across participating restaurants, with discounts and special offerings spotlighting African, Caribbean and Diaspora cuisines. The week closes Sunday at For the Culture in Oakland.
Waterbar’s Oysterfest (Sun., Sept. 27) turns the Embarcadero into a bayside gathering with oysters, seafood bites, wine and live music, while Jordan Winery (Sun., Sept. 27) offers the more hands-on option of gathering ingredients from the garden before making pizza and settling in for lunch. Looking one weekend ahead, Taste of Africa (● Sat., Oct. 3) in Livermore brings African and African Diaspora music, dance, cuisine, storytelling and cultural exchange together at the Bankhead Theater.
Put these on your radar
SF/Bay Area Black Art Week (● Sept. 30–Oct. 4); W. Kamau Bell: Who’s With Me? (● Thu., Oct. 1); Hardly Strictly Bluegrass (Oct. 2–4); African Arts Festival (● Sat., Oct. 3); Oakland Black Cowboy Parade & Festival (● Sat., Oct. 3); Oaktoberfest (Oct. 3–4); Castro Street Fair (Sun., Oct. 4); Fleet Week (Oct. 4–12); Oakland Style (● Oct. 7–11); and T-Pain with Ari Lennox (● Sat., Oct. 17).
That was a lot! And it’s only part of what’s happening. Browse the complete Bay Area Events Calendar for more events across the region. Hope to see you out and about!
