San Francisco’sCarnaval两年的潘德后,将返回mic hiatus over Memorial Day weekend, is on track to become the first street fair in California with legal cannabis use.
Carnaval San Francisco Executive Director Rodrigo Duran told The Chronicle that event organizers met with officials from the San Francisco Police Department, Fire Department and Office of Cannabis this week in an effort to secure a permit for what is being billed as “the city’s first-ever community-led, permitted cannabis garden.” It will bringregulated on-site sales and consumption to thetwo-day festival, which takes place on the streets of the city’s Mission District on May 28-29 with food, music, art and thousands of revelers.
Organizers initially announced the addition of a cannabis garden inJanuary.
"Because this is the first time in the state of California, there’s a lot of conversations around permitting, procedures and protocols,” said杜兰。"It’s just a lengthy process.”
Recreational cannabis was legalized in California in January 2018. A year later, the city’s Board of Supervisors approved legislation introduced by Supervisor Rafael Mandelman to permit cannabis sales and consumption at public events that traditionally involved unpermitted pot smoking and cannabis sale.
But only three outdoor events in the city have received permits since then: the Outside Lands music festivals in 2019 and 2021, and this year’s 420 celebration at Hippie Hill.
If approved, Carnaval would be the first event outside of Golden Gate Park to take advantage of the legislation, as first reported bySFiston Wednesday, May 4.
"We’re pushing the envelope,” Duran said.
The process for securing the permit for the event’s cannabis garden, calledJardin de Hierba Buena, was initiated in October but delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Plans are to have a fenced area on Treat Avenue, between Harrison and 17th streets, for guests 21 and older with on-site security.
With the event less than a month away, Duran said the organizers are working overtime to ensure their plans come to fruition.
"If you ask anyone who has produced Carnaval, they will tell you that we will move forward,” he said. “The cannabis garden is going to be part of it. We’re willing to go the extra mile to create a platform for the voices that are not heard. With cannabis, that is the Black and brown business owners. We’re going to push it for them.”
In addition to the cannabis garden, organizers plan to introduce a technology and gaming pavilion, as well as an LGBTQ dedicated stage. The 44th annual party will also see the return of the Grand Parade along with many of Carnaval’s usual frills, following ascaled-down eventlast year.
"Once we do it, the hope is that others will be able to do it behind us,” Duran said.
Carnaval San Francisco Festival:10 a.m.-6 p.m. May 28-29. Free. Harrison Street between 16th and 24th streets. The Grand Parade begins at 9:30 a.m. Sunday, at 24th and Bryant streets, and proceeds west to Mission Street, heads north on Mission to 15th Street, turns east on 15th and concludes at South Van Ness. Grandstand seating for the parade, located on Mission Street between 22nd and 23rd streets, is available for purchase online atwww.carnavalsanfrancisco.org.