Sunday Streets

This doesn't seem like the formula for revitalizing the city

A tour of San Francisco's premier open streets event

"It's great to see the momentum for making open-streets permanent."

Thousands of people, including lots of kids, came out to the Excelsior neighborhood yesterday morning and afternoon to enjoy a bright and sunny Sunday Streets on Mission Street. This one ran from Avalon/Theresa to Geneva Streets, and marks the final Sunday Streets event of 2017.

Circus performers, live bands, advocates, and even a few farm animals enjoyed the sunshine of yesterday's “Sunday Streets” through the Dogpatch and Bayview neighborhoods. This Sunday Streets took up a roughly three-mile stretch of the southbound lanes of Third Street, which was closed to cars from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Yesterday afternoon, thousands of people strolled, biked, skate boarded, and just generally had a good time on Valencia Street in the Mission, during the first Sunday Streets of 2017. After a long, wet winter, everyone seemed in especially good spirits on such a warm day. That said, there were serious overtones to the festivities and advocates of all stripes were out, pushing for some truly worthwhile causes. For example, the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition, its booth manned by volunteers Paul Valdez and Clay Woolam, was out building membership and making new connections.

Sunday afternoon was the last "Sunday Streets" of the season, on Embarcadero in downtown San Francisco. This time the event, which went from 11 to 4 p.m., ran from AT&T Park to Broadway. The Embarcadero is where "Sunday Streets" first started in San Francisco, back in 2008.