The parklet outside Simple Pleasures Cafe was packed during the festival
Saturday brought sunny skies and warmer than usual weather, which was great news for outer Balboa’s first street festival called “Playland on Balboa”.
The event was organized by the Richmond District Neighborhood Center, which is located on 30th Avenue just off Balboa. The purpose of the festival was “to feature the vibrant music and arts community in the Richmond District as well as bustling merchant corridor of local business and activity” on Balboa between 34th and 37th Avenues.
Turnout was strong for the festival’s first year, likely exceeding the 1,000 attendees that organizers had anticipated.
The festival included a lineup of local bands playing inside several venues, special documentary screenings at the Balboa Theater, activities for kids, enticing offers from merchants like an It’s-It homage at the Butter Love Bakeshop, and tables for vendors and community groups up and down the street.
The sidewalks were crowded and merchants had lines out the door, especially in spots where ice cream or cold drinks were served as the temperatures reached the high 70’s. Along 36th Avenue, attendees snapped selfies with cutouts of Democratic presidential candidates Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders, while a youth quartet played on the corner.
All in all, a great first year for the festival. We hope that next year, they’re able to close off the streets and bring some of the music acts outside to give the street an even more celebratory feel.
Sarah B.
A balloon artist entertains
Community groups like Outside Lands had information tables set up
A youth quartet plays at the festival
Bouncy house!
The “Colonels of Truth” playing at La Promenade Cafe
Kids could get their faces or hands painted
A festival goer snaps a selfie with candidate Hillary Clinton
Vendors sold items along the festival route
Great – looks like it has a lot of potential for the future, as well.
Had fun meeting supervisoral candidates and the new Richmond District police captain. People shared thoughts about issues facing the district. Perfect weather!
I had a great time making balloons and entertaining with a magic show. The weather was great and so were all the wonderful people strolling about!
Thanks RDNC for including me (Mr. SHAP Balloon Artist – Magician). http://www.mrshap.com
How was this advertised? We live @ 14th & Balboa and this is the first I’ve heard of this (and after the fact).
@SierraJeff – Most business along outer Balboa had an event poster up, the RDNC sent emails about it, and we promoted it here on the blog earlier this month. A lot of businesses also mentioned it on their social media. Turnout was strong for the first year so I think advertising was not an issue, but sorry you missed the news! More to look forward to next year 🙂
The advertising led me to believe that there would be actual outdoor stages, not just music within three of the current businesses that already offer music. It was still a nice change from the normal, but it would be a bigger draw if the streets were closed and had musicians performing on stages outdoors. Also I didn’t know it was going to be so politically active which is both good and bad.
Great start. If held next year we really have to get rid of the chain link fences and block off a portion of Balboa or a longer section of one of the avenues to have the live music outdoors. That would give it a much more community feeling. The bands sounded great, but would have been nice for all to hear while walking outside.
I checked it out for a bit. Nice having something like this in my neighborhood. I’m with you Sarah, regarding having bands playing in the streets…and maybe more vendors etc also on the streets next year. !!
I agree with Steve above that they should have blocked off the street and had the music outdoors. We were very underwhelmed by this “festival”. It needed a theme, too. We weren’t really sure why we were there, so we didn’t stay long.