Sunday Streets Tenderloin Brings a Thai New Year Festival to Little Saigon

April 9, 2019 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Mary Strope
Communications Manager
O (415) 344-0489 |
mary@livablecity.org

PRESS RELEASE

Sunday Streets Tenderloin Brings a Thai New Year Festival to Little Saigon – Plus Over a Mile of Free Activities, Music and Open Space For All

San Francisco – Sunday Streets brings car-free fun to the Tenderloin and Civic Center on April 14, transforming car-congested streets into open space with live musical performances, free activities and fun for the whole family on Larkin, Ellis and Jones Streets and Golden Gate Avenue from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. New this year, enjoy the first annual San Francisco Thai New Year celebration in Little Saigon.

Two blocks of Larkin Street between Eddy and O’Farrell will transform into a cultural festival for a day of fun, food and celebration of San Francisco’s Southeast Asian communities, all taking place in conjunction with Sunday Street Tenderloin. Enjoy a stage, live bands, Muay Thai boxing demonstrations, traditional Southeast Asian dances and a Southeast Asian fashion show. Savor small bites from world-renowned Lers Ros Thai and other Tenderloin institutions, a Thai beer garden and a marketplace featuring neighborhood makers.

Bring kids for bounce houses and games at the festival or over a mile of free activities and open space as Sunday Streets transforms the Tenderloin into a temporary park for the day. At Civic Center, celebrate all things local with the 415 Day Stage and vendors. Bring kids for a Play Streets Pop-Up presented with Civic Center Commons, complete with lawn games, pickup basketball and SF Rec and Park’s Mobile Rock Climbing Wall. From 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., catch Awesöme Orchestra Collective in partnership with SF Public Library’s Main Branch.

Project Experts from the SFMTA will be on hand on to answer questions about safety improvements in the area. As a primary sponsor of all Sunday Streets events, neighborhood residents and visitors can enjoy direct access to transit planners and ambassadors dedicated to sustainable streets. And don’t forget to pick up the Explore Local Guide for a fun map of the Tenderloin to use all year long.

Inspired by the Ciclovía in Bogotá, Colombia, Sunday Streets is a series of free, fun open street events empowering local communities to transform one to four miles of car-congested streets into car-free community spaces for kids to play, seniors to stroll, organizations to connect and neighbors to meet. Over a mile of cultural performances, health resources, live music and open space provides free opportunities for all at ten yearly events.

Nonprofit Livable City runs both Sunday Streets and Play Streets, a program empowering neighbors to transform their block into an accessible, car-free open space on a regular basis. Both programs are sponsored by the SFMTA and other City agencies, and Sunday Streets would not be possible without crucial services like Muni bus re-routing or traffic control officers for public safety.

Small businesses, residents, nonprofits and local groups bring activities, volunteers and performances to the car-free routes, with each contributing a distinctive character and energy to the day. A local hire program employs San Francisco residents for outreach and event-day support. Transforming miles of car-dominated City streets into open space is possible through the collaboration and hard work of hundreds of volunteers, neighbors, nonprofits and small businesses. Donate, exhibit, volunteer or sponsor Sunday Streets in 2019 to be part of a sustainable, greener and more accessible future. For more information, visit www.SundayStreetsSF.com.

The Sunday Streets 2019 season is made possible by the following season sponsors: Bay Area Air Quality Management District (BAAQMD), San Francisco Department of Children, Youth & Their Families (DCYF), Mission Housing Development Corporation, San Francisco Department of Public Works (SFPUC), Genentech, Office of Economic and Workforce Development (OEWD), Sutter/CPMC, Ford GoBike, iHeartMedia, Skip, Sutter/CPMC, iHeart Media, Jump Bikes and Xfinity/Comcast

About Sunday Streets Sunday Streets is a program of the nonprofit Livable City, presented in partnership with the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency and the San Francisco Department of Public Health and the Shape Up SF Coalition. Additional City support comes from the Department of Public Works, Recreation & Parks Department, SF Police Department, SF County Transportation Authority, San Francisco Mayor London Breed and her offices and the SF Board of Supervisors.

About Livable City Livable City is dedicated to increasing affordable housing, improving transportation, land use, open space, and environmental policies, and supporting grassroots initiatives to make San Francisco a safer, healthier, and more accessible city. For more information on Livable City, visit: https://www.livablecity.org. For more information about Sunday Streets, including the Sunday Streets event activity guide, visit: www.SundayStreetsSF.com. For information on Muni routes and vehicle access, call 511 or go to www.sfmta.com