There are many things to do for Father's Day weekend in the San Francisco Bay Area. To help get your weekend off to a good start, traffic reporter Bob Pryor has compiled a great list of family-friendly events and suggestions for beating traffic on Friday through Sunday. His weekend guide is published every Friday and if you'd like to get it sent to your phone, download the RADIO.COM app and mark KCBS Radio as one of your favorite stations.
Here are some of the highlights for weekend events. The San Mateo County Fair finishes its run this weekend, while the Alameda County Fair in Pleasanton is just getting under way. Saturday sees Juneteenth festivals in both San Francisco and San Jose; and the latter city is the setting for Saturday morning’s annual Giant Race. San Francisco’s 65th Annual North Beach Festival runs both Saturday and Sunday; or, if you like your two-day festivals with more arrr than art, there’s the Northern California Pirate Festival in Vallejo. Meanwhile, Stern Grove launches its 82nd season of Sunday concerts, set to run through August 18th.
On the transit front, there will be some delays on BART's Yellow Lin on Sunday.
BART:
Sun, Jun 16: from 8am to 8pm: On BART’s Yellow Line, running between Antioch and SFO or Millbrae stations, there will be single tracking that causes delays in both directions.
(Antioch to/from SFO and Millbrae), single-tracking of trains (resulting from the need to replace electrical cabling) will result in delays in both directions as follows From 8:00am to 6:30pm, riders can expect 15 to 20 minute delays. That increases to 20 to 30 minute delays until 8:00pm.
SOUTH BAY:
Sat, June 15 from 7:30am-9:15am: San Jose Giant Race takes place at the San Jose Giants’ Excite Ballpak, located at 588 East Alma Avenue. As all good Giants fans know, the San Jose Giants are a minor league affiliate of the team, and in their annual race, runners can choose from a 5K or 5-mile course. There will be street closures and parking prohibitions in the area of the stadium, mostly from 7am to 9am. A map of those parking and street closures is here.
- Pro tip: Race day parking is free at the venue, in one of three lots. The Giants recommend parking in the 7th Street lot, as it’s easiest and quickest to get to. Beginning at 7am, Senter Road will be closed and vehicles will be directed to park in the 7th Street lot if they’re coming from the north side.
- Areas and roadways affected: In San Jose, portions of: 10th Street, Humboldt Street, Alma Avenue, Senter Road, 7th Street, Phelan Avenue, Stadium Way.
Sat, Jun 15 from noon-7pm: San Jose: the Juneteenth in the Park Festival takes place at Plaza de Cesar Chavez. The headliner will be Faith Evans. Kids under 12 get in for free to the family-oriented festival.
- Pro tip: If you're thinking about taking the VTA to either the Paseo de San Antion or Convention Center stations, be aware that due to VTA track work, light rail passengers this weekend may need to make part of their journey via a VTA shuttle bus. Full details are here.
- Areas and roadways affected: In San Jose, there will likely be additional traffic on South Market Street, East San Carlos Street, West San Fernando Street, and other streets in the downtown area.
EAST BAY:
Fri, Jun 14; Sat, Jun 15; Sun, Jun 16, from 11am-11pm: Alameda County Fair celebrates its opening weekend. Fair dates are Wednesdays through Sundays, 11am-11pm, ending on Sunday, July 7 at 11pm. TheAlameda County Fairgrounds are in Pleasanton. Some of the highlights for attendees include carnival rides, midway, monster trucks, horse racing, pig racing, nightly concerts.
- Pro tip: Parking is $10, cash only. During the fair, a BART shuttle will provide transportation between the Dublin/Pleasanton BART station and the Yellow Gate entrance on Pleasanton Avenue.
- Areas and roadways affected: In Pleasanton, on Fair days, expect extra traffic on Bernal Avenue and Valley Avenue.
PENINSULA:
Fri, Jun 14 (Noon-10pm); Sat, Jun 15 (11am-10pm); Sunday, Jun 16 (11am-10pm) [(Carnival runs nightly till 11pm)]: Final weekend of the San Mateo County Fair, featuring live music, agriculture, crafts and demos, variety acts, competitions, fair food, family fun zone, nightly concert series. It's held at the County Fair and Expo grounds, 2495 S Delaware Street.
- Pro tip: On-site parking is $15. If you take a SamTrans ECR bus from BART’s Millbrae station or from anywhere on El Camino Real to 25th Street and walk 2 blocks east, you’ll be at the Fair.
SAN FRANCISCO:
Sat, Jun 15 and Sun, Jun 16 from 10am-6pm: It's time for the annual North Beach Festival featuring over 125 arts and crafts booths, gourmet food booths, a circus, two stages of live entertainment, poetry readings, Italian street painting and more.
- Pro tip: Nearby parking garages are located at: 735 Vallejo (south side of street) between Stockton and Powell; 766 Vallejo (north side of street above Central Station) between Stockton and Powell; and on Filbert Street between Columbus and Mason. The following MUNI lines also serve the Festival area: 8 Bayshore; 30 Stockton; 39 Coit; and 45 Union/Stockton.
- Areas and roadways affected: Parts of Columbus Avenue, Grant Avenue, Green Street and Vallejo Street will be closed on Saturday and Sunday. On-street parking in North Beach would become more difficult, if that were possible.
Sat, Jun 15 from 11am-6pm: In the Fillmore District, the Juneteenth Parade and Festival takes place. The festival takes place on five blocks of Fillmore Street between Golden Gate Avenue and Geary Blvd.
- Pro tip: The Festival area is served by the following MUNI lines: 5 Fulton; 22 Fillmore; 31 Balboa; 38 Geary and 38R Geary Rapid. MUNI’s Trip Planner can help with the correct route to take.
- Areas and roadways affected: In San Francisco, the closure of Fillmore Street between Golden Gate Avenue and Geary Blvd will doubtless add to traffic on the paralleling streets of Webster and Steiner.
Sun, June 15 at 2pm: San Francisco: Stern Grove Festival free concert series at Sigmund Stern Grove on 19th Avenue and Sloat Boulevard kicks off its 82nd season with jazz-rap fusion group Digable Planets and Oakland’s genre-mixing hip-hop group Bang Data.
- Pro tip: Concerts always start at 2pm and usually end between 4:30 and 5:30pm. All the information patrons need in order to get to and from the concerts is available at the Grove’s excellently comprehensive webpage, “Getting to the Grove.”
NORTH BAY/SOLANO:
Sat, Jun 15 and Sun, Jun 16 from 10am-6pm: The Northern California Pirate Festival takes place at Vallejo Waterfront Park (289 Mare Island Way in Vallejo. Features over 500 costumed actors, crafters and musicians, four stages of continuous entertainment, rows of nautically inspired handcrafts, gourmet foods, micro-brewed beers, and ship to shore canon battles.