How Weird Street Faire Wrap Up

Dear Friends & Supporters of the How Weird Street Faire,

When the sound stages cut their music at 6 PM (two hours earlier than last year) it was a bittersweet moment indeed. We were blessed with a stunningly beautiful day, fantastic costumes, a wellspring of creative outpouring and a truly peaceful crowd on May 6th, but those blessings came with a price: our orders from The City were to pack up the "weirdness" and leave the neighborhood. And that means forever. All this because a handful of neighbors disliked the event. These same neighbors have always disliked the How Weird (one was even seen pulling down our posters during the event). It was discovered at the time of our appeal that at least 10 to 1 immediate neighbors supported the event, and did not want us to leave. In fact, several begged us to stay. Unfortunately, it is not so easy.

Now we are faced with the monumental challenge of relocating a five-block street fair into uncharted waters. A few weeks after the How Weird I met with representatives of the SFPD and DPT and we have tentatively agreed on relocating to the intersection of Howard and 2nd Streets, but nothing is certain and when we go to the ISCOTT hearing next winter it could easily unravel and our permits will not be issued. There could be traffic re-routing issues, new neighbor complaints, business operation concerns, or any number of things that can potentially derail us.

I promise to try and relocate the How Weird and keep it going strong for years to come, but it is certainly an uphill battle from here. We did our very best to create a quality street fair this year, enjoyed by people of all ages and ethnic backgrounds. The World Peace Through Technology Organization achieved its goal of providing an educational and entertaining fund raising event (with the ARC slated to receive 5% of our net revenue for the last time). The volunteers, stages, and staff were the best that could have been desired, and I appeal to all of you to follow us if we are able to keep this event going. If not, I leave with no regrets and thank you all for enjoying eight fantastic How Weird Street Faires with me!

Warm Regards,

Brad Olsen
How Weird Producer
May 23, 2007