How Weird Street Faire

The 11th annual How Weird Street Faire will be Sunday May 9th from Noon to 8pm.

This year’s theme is Bollyweird: The Cosmic Dance.

Ten blocks of art and celebration, and ten stages of music. Performances and colorful costumes, vendors from around the world with unique and creative wares, non-profit organizations to educate and inspire, exotic food and drinks, and much more! And we’re bringing back the MAGIC STICKER, which gives back to the community for supporting the faire.

The How Weird Street Faire showcases many different types of electronic music. The music stages are produced by local collectives and music organizations working together for peace. This year will include stages by Symbiosis, Muti Music, Rebel Bass Collective, Tantra, Groove Garden, Non Stop Bhangra, Hookahdome, Temple Nightclub, Opel, Opulent Temple, Strategik, Space Cowboys, Brass Tax, Le Harem, Ultraviolet Carnival, Team Infinity, Red Marines Festival, Aum Festival, Style/Clash, and more.

There is a requested donation of $10 (or $5 in costume), which gets you a Magic Sticker that is potentially worth many times that amount.

The main entrance is at Howard & New Montgomery Streets, near many MUNI lines, and 2 blocks from the Montgomery BART station and Market Street. That is also where there will be free bike parking thanks to the SF Bicycle Coalition.

The How Weird Street Faire takes place on Howard Street between 1st Street and New Montgomery, 2nd Street between Mission and Howard, and all partial blocks of Minna St. and Natoma St. off of 2nd Street. The new location is in the heart of San Francisco’s  SoMa district, a short walk to Yerba Buena Gardens and the emerging museum district.

All ages welcome. Costumes highly encouraged.

The Faire Zones:

The Urban Crop Circle at the intersection of Howard and 2nd

Featuring the city’s newest park, with a dancing Shiva, the epitome of the “Cosmic Dance,”  rising above the grass. The faire’s center is a place to relax, take a group photo in front of the Temple to Shiva Nataraja, and be surrounded by the essence of How Weird. There will be four stages of dance music at the intersection, featuring Global Electronica and World Beat, Trance, Breaks and Dubstep, and Electro. The center intersection is located at 37*47′12.4″ N, 122*23′53.7″ W.

Anchor Stages

Anchoring the faire at Howard and 1st Street will be a dance music stage by Temple Nightclub. And at 2nd Street and Mission Street is a dance music stage by Ultraviolet Carnival, Team Infinity, Red Marines Festival, Aum Festival, and friends.

The Overpass

There will be a dance music stage by Opel, Opulent Temple, and Strategik under the overpass on Howard Street, which will not be here next year, as it is scheduled to be torn down soon after the faire. In fact, much of the faire footprint will be soon be gone to make way for large construction projects.

The Mog on Minna

The legendary Unimog will rock the alley of Minna Street off of 2nd. The Space Cowboys and Brass Tax will provide the music.

Fashion Alley

New this year is a non-stop fashion runway show throughout the day, on Natoma Street just off 2nd Street, featuring stylistic dance music, and the latest fashions from top local designers and artists. There will also be fashion-related vendors, showcasing the renowned creativity of the Bay Area.

Fashion Alley will introduce faire-goers to the world of conscious fashion. There will be interactive media and art focused on education and action. Take part in “Designer Activism”, supporting Amnesty International’s work in the apparel industry. Come see how what you wear can make a difference. Hosted by the show Style/Clash.

Bollywood Tent

Come relax in a beautiful tent on 2nd Street, thanks to Le Harem and friends. There will be Bollywood and Indian music and performances,  and dance instructions for the grand finale of the faire, the synchronized performance of a special Bollywood song and dance. The “Cosmic Dance” will begin at 7:4o PM sharp on all music stages … breaking the world’s record for the Largest Synchronized Bollywood Dance!

Shanti Street

New this year is a healing arts area on Natoma Street between 2nd and New Montgomery Streets. There will be a yoga section alongside massage therapists, a sound healing zone, and holistic vendors.

Global Vendors

Filling out the faire will be over 70 vendors from around the world, selling unique and creative wares. Look for the many discounts available with a MAGIC STICKER, given when you make a full donation at the gate. Visit our Vendors page for more information.

Food Courts

There will be food courts featuring a variety of options throughout the faire. There will also be four alcoholic beverage bars throughout the faire, with $1 off each drink with a MAGIC STICKER. Visit our Vendors page for more information.

Bollyweird: The Cosmic Dance

The Cosmic Dance is a concept from India that represents the movement of the universe, from the galaxies and planets, to all life, to subatomic particles. Dancing is the only art in which the artist and the art created are one and the same.

According to Hindi mythology, Lord Shiva is the Cosmic Dancer who performs his divine movement which perpetuates the process of creation. The Cosmic Dance of Shiva is called Ananda Tandava, meaning the “Dance of Bliss,” and symbolizes the cosmic cycles of creation and destruction, as well as the daily rhythm of night and day.

According to Fritzof Capra, “the Dance of Shiva symbolizes the basis of all existence. At the same time, Shiva reminds us that the manifold forms in the world are not fundamental, but illusory and ever-changing. Modern physics has shown that the rhythm of creation and destruction is not only manifest in the turn of the seasons and in the birth and death of all living creatures, but is also the very essence of inorganic matter. According to quantum field theory, the dance of creation and destruction is the basis of the very existence of matter. Modern physics has thus revealed that every subatomic particle not only performs an energy dance, but also is an energy dance; a pulsating process of creation and destruction. For the modern physicists then, Shiva’s dance is the dance of subatomic matter, the basis of all existence and of all natural phenomena.”

Mother’s Day and peace

This year, the How Weird Street Faire once again coincides with Mother’s Day. Throughout history, mothers have often led the fight against war. In fact, Mother’s Day has its roots as a peace holiday; from its earliest days reconciling the former enemies of the Union and Confederacy while honoring mothers who had lost family in the Civil War, to its blossoming as the Mother’s Day for Peace in the 1870’s, to the first formal Mother’s Day on May 10, 1908.

Come celebrate peace this Mother’s Day at the How Weird Street Faire. All mothers are welcome for an unforgettable Mother’s Day @ How Weird!

A history of weirdness

From a small gathering in 2000, outside of the original World Peace Through Technology Organization headquarters on Howard Street, to over twelve thousand people last year at our new location further down on Howard Street, the How Weird Street Faire has become a highly-anticipated San Francisco tradition. The How Weird Street Faire celebrates San Francisco’s creativity, community, diversity, and conscious awareness. The How Weird is also the unofficial start of the city’s famous street fair season, attracting people from around the Bay Area and the world.

The How Weird Street Faire brings together a wide range of eclectic styles and communities. For 11 years the faire has grown and expanded its experience of a place where cultural diversity is celebrated, yet where our differences are fewer than our similarities. A place where common appreciations overpower prejudices. The How Weird Street Faire has made learning the foundations of peace as simple as walking down the street, and hopefully stopping to dance.

Come join the fun at San Francisco’s most unique peace celebration!