Featured: TurnOut in the Bay Area Reporter for New San Francisco Street Fair Coalition

The Bay Area Reporter, America's longest continuously-published and highest circulation LGBTQ newspaper, featured TurnOut in their article “Queer SF street fairs partner for new coalition” by John Ferrannini on Wednesday, August 21, 2024.

Read a copy of the article below:

Three of San Francisco's queer organizations that host street fairs and parties, along with an associated nonprofit, have joined forces to form a new coalition. The new group is dedicated to "collaboration and mutual support between the events," according to a joint Instagram post.

The formation of the San Francisco Street Fair Coalition, or SFSFC, was announced August 9. It consists of Folsom Street, the nonprofit that puts on the Folsom Street and Up Your Alley street fairs; the San Francisco LGBT Pride Celebration Committee, which puts on a festival in the Civic Center area during Pride weekend; the Castro Street Fair; and the Bay Area queer nonprofit TurnOut, which has provided volunteer management services to all three organizations in the past.

"The SFSFC is a project we've been working on for a little over a year and decided we were ready to formalize recently," Angel Adeyoha, the queer and nonbinary director of Folsom Street, stated to the Bay Area Reporter. "Our three events and TurnOut joined forces to create a project that aims to support any street fair or festival that is finding it more difficult than ever to produce large scale events that our city and our communities depend on. The revitalization of the city needs to be cooperative and inclusive if we want it to be sustainable."

The new coalition is a way San Francisco can continue its comeback from the post-COVID lockdown malaise from which city boosters are working to escape.

The three street fairs contributed $545 million in local economic impact in 2014, according to the latest economic impact study on outdoor events in the city that was done in 2015 and included in a 2022 report.

And city leaders have noticed that contribution. In April, Mayor London Breed introduced legislation to waive city fees for night markets, block parties, farmers markets and other outdoor community events.

"San Francisco is alive when our streets are filled with festivals, markets, and community events that bring people together and bring joy to our city," Breed stated in a news release. "But too often we make it expensive and difficult to put on these wonderful events. So I am proposing to waive city fees for night markets, block parties, farmers markets and more, and to streamline permitting for food vendors at these events."

Those events would not include the street fairs in the new coalition.

SF Pride officials were excited about the new coalition.

"We are better together," Nguyen Pham, a gay man who is president of the San Francisco LGBT Pride Celebration Committee board, stated to the B.A.R. "Through strategic and respectful alliances, we can achieve economies of scale; we share a deep love for San Francisco, and we look forward to restoring and expanding the vibrancy and vitality of the world's most iconic city."

Asked through a spokesperson if the new coalition will change how the events operate on the ground-level, Pham stated, "there is always potential for on-the-ground changes, and as such would be implemented following equitable and intentional discussion and planning among key stakeholders."

Jenn Meyer, a straight ally who is president of the Castro Street Fair's board of directors, told the B.A.R. that "the street fair coalition will not change how the Castro Street Fair operates."

"It's more a long-term collaboration to learn from each other, nurture these events, and foster our communities," Meyer stated. "Although there are no immediate changes, we do look forward to any future improvements it may bring."

The groups are "still figuring things out," Meyer added.

Jack Beck, a queer man who is executive director of TurnOut, stated that the organizations have all worked closely together in the past.

"Formalizing our partnership will allow us to take this work to the next level," he stated. "Most importantly, it creates a framework that allows other events to join in and gain the benefits of collaborating at scale."

Check out the article on their website here.