Uncorked!The San Francisco Wine Festival is a celebration of
wine, providing opportunity to taste, learn about and enjoy wines
produced from San Francisco's local wine-making region. Various
events take place along Beach Street including chef demonstrations,
wine tasting seminars, and a chocolate and wine pairing
seminar.San Francisco Pride Parade and CelebrationAs the world's most gay-friendly city, San Francisco
celebrates gay and lesbian pride with a festive procession and
numerous music stages. The parade features hundreds of themed
marchers and floats, after which thousands of people from every
walk of life gather at the Civic Center to carry on the party in
front of one of the many music stages. The area is lined with
stalls selling everything from food and drink to crafts and
souvenirs.CarnavalEvery Memorial Day weekend, the Mission District hosts
San Francisco's version of the Mardi Gras celebrations with music
and dancing, food and craft stalls, contests, street performers,
and a parade with lavish floats, marching bands and colourful
costumes. The Grand Parade is an exotic celebration of different
traditions and cultures from around the world, with floats and
dancers depicting vibrant multi-cultural themes, from samba and
Chinese Lion dancers, to African drummers, and accompanied by the
hip-swinging music of Latin America, Brazil, and the
Caribbean.Chinese New Year ParadeThe New Year Parade is the highlight and focus of the
two-week Chinese New Year celebrations that includes the Miss
Chinatown USA Pageant, the Community Street Fair and the New Year
Flower Market. A San Francisco tradition since the 1849 Gold Rush,
the Parade is the biggest celebration of its kind outside Asia and
is listed as one of the top 10 parades in the world. Hundreds of
spectators gather to watch as colourful floats, elaborate costumes,
firecrackers, stilt walkers, lion dancers and marching bands go by,
and wait in expectation for the world-famous annual Golden Dragon,
which is 160ft (49m) long and takes over 100 men to carry it
through the streets. In 2009 the Year of the Ox
begins.Haight Ashbury Street FairOne of the city's most famous neighbourhoods, Haight
Ashbury was the centre of the hippie movement in the 1960s, and the
summer Haight Street Fair is a vibrant and colourful celebration of
its cultural heritage and creative roots. Two stages provide a
variety of musical presentations and entertainment, and the streets
are filled with food and drinks vendors, art and craft stalls and
street performers.North Beach FestivalEvery year 'Little Italy' celebrates San Francisco's
oldest street festival with arts and crafts, a pizza toss
competition, local delicacies, Italian street chalk art, cooking
demonstrations and cheese carving. The weekend kicks off with the
Animal Blessing at the national Shrine of St Francis, and
entertainment includes live jazz, rock, blues, salsa and swing
music in a salutation to the Italian and Beat Generation history of
the neighbourhood.International Beer FestivalThe biggest beer festival in the city is an annual
event that features hundreds of beers from around the world,
including Thailand, Japan, England and Germany as well as local
brews and allows visitors to taste as much as they like. Live bands
and a wide selection of food from local restaurants add to the
atmosphere.San Francisco Ethnic Dance FestivalThe Bay area has been hailed as one of the dance
capitals of the country and the annual Ethnic Dance Festival is the
most significant contributor to its reputation as such. The
festival presents dance styles from around the globe introducing a
diverse range of cultural traditions, from Scottish dancers to
belly dancing. Weekends only.Monterey Jazz FestivalThe Monterey Jazz Festival is one of the oldest and
most famous annual jazz festivals in the world. Throughout the
decades, some of the greatest names in jazz have played including
Dizzy Gillespie, Louis Armstrong, Billie Holiday, McCoy Tyner and
Oscar Peterson. The main focus of the festival is jazz education
with several workshops held over the weekend.
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