Carnaval San Francisco is gearing up for a festive return on Memorial Day weekend! The highly anticipated free event is back for another fantastic year after 45 years of success. The free festival features five stages, 50 local performing artists, and 400+ vendors. The festival is this Memorial Day weekend on Saturday, May 24, and Sunday, May 25, 2025. Carnaval SF is the largest multi-cultural celebration on the West Coast, boasting amazing food, art, performances, and more.
The event will cover 17 blocks between 17th and 24th streets, with Harrison Street in the center. Starting at 11 a.m. on Saturday and running until 6 p.m., festival goers can expect an explosion of color, amazing food, live performances, and numerous local vendors.
The Grand Parade will take place on Sunday, May 25. The lively parade includes a 60-component lineup with over 3,000 artists representing the cultural heritages of Brazil, Mexico, Panama, Bolivia, Cuba, Peru, Puerto Rico, Nicaragua, Colombia, Trinidad & Tobago, Guatemala, El Salvador, and more. The parade starts at 24th and Bryant St and runs from 9:30 am until 2 pm on Sunday. This year’s headliners include Wampi and Mexican Institute of Sound, with dozens of other artists booked all weekend. Aside from the many performances, you can expect a lowrider show, drum pavilion, kids zone, and skateboarding area.
The theme for 2025 is AfroMundo: African Diaspora in the Americas. The festival intends to “honor enduring vibrancy of African heritage, which has flourished into a source of strength, unity, and pride for people of African descent in the Americas,” according to their mission statement.
“Artists in our beloved Mission District gave birth to Carnaval in 1978 with the belief that their passion for Latin, Caribbean and Afro-Diasporic music would unite people across ethnicities, nationalities, sexual orientation, gender identification or religious beliefs,” said Rodrigo Duran, Executive Director of Carnaval San Francisco. “From the beginning, the sounds of salsa, samba, soca, mariachi, merengue, cumbia, and reggae music paved the way for Carnaval to thrive. Now modern sounds such as funk, bachata, dancehall, hip-hop, Afro-beats and reggaeton have joined the mix, resonating with the younger generation of revelers.”
For more information, visit the Carnaval SF website, and make sure to check out the amazing event this weekend.
By Jamie Ferrell and Dana Flynn