Downtown San Francisco is experiencing a revival post-pandemic with the launch of Downtown First Thursdays, attracting up to 20,000 people monthly with varied artistic programming. The initiative, which began in May 2024, has provided significant financial support to the local creative community and was initially set for three months but has thrived for over a year, now funded until December 2025. Upcoming additions include a country music stage and a symposium series, further injecting vibrancy into the area and countering narratives of downtown's decline.
"A peak moment for me was seeing thousands of people dance to Rebecca Black, and then turning around and seeing like 50 tables where people were playing chess," organizer Manny Yekutiel said.
"It's an intersection of radical joy that's just really necessary for artists right now," event programmer Grace Towers said.
"It's brought people downtown, which was the point of it," said Yekutiel. "... It's the only event that has been able to bring consistent amounts of people downtown at a time where everyone's talking about how downtown is empty."
"The first is a country stage called Downtown Hoedown on Front Street, which will feature line dancing and a disco ball in the shape of a full-sized bull."
#downtown-san-francisco #post-pandemic-revitalization #art-and-culture #community-events #local-artists
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