It's one of the busiest weekends of the year with a ton of LGBTQ Pride events taking place. Get your plans dialed in with KCBS Radio's weekly guide to activities and traffic tips for getting around the Bay Area.
Summer is flying by, which means it’s already time for Pride Weekend in San Francisco. There are events galore, so we just talk about a few of the major ones here, including the Dyke March, the Pride celebration in the Civic Center, and Sunday’s big LGBT parade.
If you're looking for something else to do or not going to make it into San Francisco this weekend, a high-end car show in San Jose, a “trance festival” in Oakland and a rivalry-charged soccer game on the Peninsula are some of the other marquee activities around the Bay Area.
SAN FRANCISCO:
Sat, June 29 starting at 11am: At San Francisco’s Dolores Park: Pre-event festivities begin for the Dyke March. A rally and various performances will continue until 4:30pm. Then . . .
At 5:00pm, the Dyke March begins in Dolores Park and meanders around the Mission and Castro before returning to the park around 8:30.
- Pro tip: If you’re going to attend, go to the March’s transit page, which lays out the options for getting to Dolores Park.
- Areas and roadways affected: From 9am to midnight, Dolores Street will be closed between 17th and 20th Streets. During the March, there will be extra MUNI Metro service on the K, T, L, and M lines; and several MUNI lines will be re-routed (details here).
Sat, Jun 29 (noon-6pm) and Sun, June 30 (11am-6pm): San Francisco’s Civic Center Plaza hosts the annual Pride Celebration with performances on a main stage and 20+ community stages and venues. (Click here for more about the performers.)
- Pro tip: Attendees should expect delays entering the Civic Center Plaza, as there will be metal detectors -- a combination of walk-through machines and hand-held wands -- at all entry points into the plaza on both days. All bags will be searched and bags larger than 18-inches-by-18 inches won’t be allowed in.
- Areas and roadways affected: Many streets will be closed in the Civic Center area, with most of them reopening on Monday at 6am. Click here for full details about the closures.
Sun, Jun 30 from 10:30am-approx 5pm: The San Francisco Pride Parade begins on Market Street at Beale Street and proceeds up Market, ending near the Civic Center.
- Pro tip: BART will open at its normal Sunday time of 8am but will have added trains in both the morning and afternoon, but trains coming from Dublin/Pleasanton will not stop at the Civic Center before and during the march. The parade, which may attract 100,000 spectators, means that crossing Market Street will be difficult. Many Muni lines that typically run on Market will be re-routed along Mission Street.
- Other transit tips: Caltrain will operate four northbound special event trains departing San Jose Diridon station at 8:09am, 8:33am, 9:41am, and 10:28am. The extra trains will be posted on Caltrain’s visual message signs at stations as #651, #653, #609 and #611. Caltrain will also provide additional southbound train capacity after the parade. MUNI recommends their patrons use the Muni Metro subway to either Castro or Civic Center stations to attend all the festivities. The Larkspur Ferry will offer extra service on Saturday and Sunday to and from the San Francisco Ferry Building. On the Sunday morning departures, bags will be searched and no beverages will be allowed or sold onboard. AC Transit will re-route its No. 800 bus line after 5am on Sunday.
SOUTH BAY:
Sun, Jun 30 from 10am-6pm: San Jose: McEnery Convention Center hosts
Wekfest 2019, a high-end car show, featuring some of the country's top European, Japanese and domestic “after-market builds”.
- Pro tip: From CalTrain’s San Jose Diridon Station, VTA’s Winchester/Mountain View light rail line will take you straight to the Convention Center. If you don’t mind dealing with traffic and paying for parking, the McEnery Convention Center has its own underground garage and there are also plenty of parking garages in downtown San Jose.
EAST BAY:
Sat, Jun 29 at 5pm: Oakland Coliseum: “A State of Trance 900”. There is a big trance and electronic music festival at the Oakland Coliseum called
A State of Trance 900.
- Pro tip: The Coliseum is, as they say, BARTable. Depending on where you’re coming from, you might have to switch lines on in order to get to the Coliseum Station.
- Areas and roadways affected: In Oakland: Possible extra traffic on I-880, Coliseum Way, San Leandro Street, 66th Avenue.
PENINSULA:
Sat, June 29 at 6:30pm: Stanford Stadium hosts the annual California Clasico soccer match between the San Jose Earthquakes and the LA Galaxy, a rivalry celebrated since the early 2000s.
- Pro tip: Stanford Stadium gates open at 5pm and CalTrain says several trains will be making a special stop at Stanford Station for the match
- Areas and roadways affected: Congestion on Embarcadero Road and El Camino Real in the vicinity of Galvez Street and Campus Drive.
NORTH BAY/SOLANO:
Fri, Jun 28 thru Sun, Jun 30 (noon-8pm daily): The
Solano County Fair takes place in Vallejo at the Fairgrounds off of Highway 37. Features carnival rides and games, livestock barns, competitive arts and crafts, BBQ cook-off, cultural pavilion, live music, etc.
- Pro tip: The fair only runs four days and offers free admission, although parking costs $10. If you’re coming via the Vallejo Ferry, SolTrans Route No. 5 will get you from the Ferry Terminal to the Fairgrounds and back.
