San Francisco’s Oktoberfest on Front to be ‘first-ever entertainment zone event in CA history’

SAN FRANCSICO — The Front Street corridor in downtown San Francisco has long been a destination for people wanting to celebrate Oktoberfest, thanks to the German restaurant Schroeder’s. But now the city is making it official by sanctioning “Oktoberfest on Front,” which will open up the street to the festival and even offer to-go beer to enjoy outside.

The event is a collaboration between Mayor London Breed, the San Francisco Office of Economic and Workforce and Development, and the Downtown SF Partnership, a nonprofit mostly comprised of property owners in the area that works to benefit the downtown core of the city.

“We are focused on transforming Downtown into a vibrant 24/7 destination that offers more economic opportunities for our bars and restaurants to excite residents and draw visitors from across the city and beyond,” Breed said in a statement released Thursday.

Oktoberfest on Front will take place in the Financial District between California and Sacramento streets on Sept. 20 from 2 to 10 p.m.

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Schroeder’s, Harrington’s Bar & Grill, and the pub Royal Exchange will be permitted to sell open-carry alcoholic beverages to festivalgoers. There will also be live music, beer-themed games and costume contests.

And what goes better with beer drinking than axe-throwing? That’s happening too. Also, get ready for oom-pah, because AlpineSound will play German polka, and the Los Angeles-based band Ladyhosen will perform as well, billing itself as an “all-women top Bavarian party band and yodeler.”

Breed is calling Oktoberfest on Front the “first-ever Entertainment Zone event in California history.”

Senate Bill 76 from state Sen. Scott Wiener, D-San Francisco, went into effect this year and allows for bars, restaurants, breweries and wineries to get open carry alcohol permits for special events in designated “entertainment zones.”

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Now Wiener has a second piece of legislation, Senate Bill 969, which would expand on SB 76 by allowing local governments to designate entertainment zones that permit to-go alcohol for street and sidewalk consumption without needing to designate such activity as a special event, according to the mayor’s office.

SB 969 passed the state Senate on Tuesday and will need to be signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom to become law.

San Francisco has been making a push to revitalize areas of downtown such as Union Square in the wake of downturns such as the shuttering of the Westfield San Francisco Centre mall last year due to declining foot traffic in the area.

Wiener said the impetus for both bills was similar to that of the mayor’s push to revitalize San Francisco’s downtown.

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“The COVID-19 pandemic devastated foot traffic to downtown businesses,” his office said Wednesday. “Cities in California vary widely in their recovery trajectories, but few have yet reached the levels of foot traffic seen in 2019 in their downtowns.”

Sarah Dennis Phillips, executive director of the city’s Office of Economic and Workforce Development, said the event is a first step in a giant boost for the area.

“We are transforming the way people experience Downtown and paving the way towards a 24-hour district,” she said in a statement sent out by the mayor’s office.