As San Francisco gears up for the 50th anniversary of the Summer of Love, a Golden Gate Park concert commemorating the era is looking more and more like a reality.

According to SF Recreation and Park, 2b1 Multimedia Inc. has resubmitted an event permit application for a concert at Sharon Meadow in Golden Gate Park for 15,000 attendees. The concert is planned for September 10th, with an alternative date of August 27th. [Update, 6/3: The Examiner reports that Rec and Park has denied the permit application yet again.]

Concert promoter Boots Hughston, owner of 2b1 Multimedia, had previously applied for a June 4th Summer of Love concert. That permit was denied earlier this year in light of what Rec and Park considered "numerous ‘misrepresentations of material fact." 

When we reached out to Rec and Park spokesperson Connie Chan about the new application from 2b1, her only comment was that it is “being evaluated and a permit has not been granted.”

Hoodline also reached out to Hughston, who has been a musician since the '60s and event promoter since 1971. He and brother Lance started the annual North Beach Photographic Art Fair, a free, three-day outdoor event of 30,000 featuring 21 bands, and hundreds of photographers and crafts.

Hughston called the reapplication for the event “a major accomplishment,” although he said that he and Rec and Park had agreed on August 27th as the date for the concert.

That differs from Rec and Park's earlier statement, and it appears that details still need to be ironed out between the Hughston and the department. 

Hughston told us yesterday that he had just submitted site plans and drawings for the event, per the department’s request. If approved, the next step would allow Hughston to begin advertising for the event, which, if all goes as planned, should happen soon.

Since the concert date has changed from early to late summer, some acts will not be able to make it.

However, Hughston told us that 80 to 90 percent of the original roster is confirmed, though he would not disclose or confirm performing acts. According to a February article in SFGate, Boots had lined up bands such as “the original rhythm section of the Santana Blues Band, Country Joe McDonald, and members of Jefferson Airplane/Starship."

He also hinted that there's been talk in the community on “some pretty famous musicians showing up and sitting in with other performers."

Given the situation, we asked the longtime promoter if holding an event in 2017 was more complicated than it was in the past.

“In some respects, yes, but not really," he said. "Once you’ve done an event of large stature, you understand certain things like audience movement, how to make it safe, parking, security—they are all the same. Now, the bureaucracy is different—maybe what was once a 10-page application is now 50—but it’s all the same principle."

Hughston believes that it's important for the concert to be free, adding that holding the concert in San Francisco is crucial because the “whole world looks at us for guidance.”

He said that because San Francisco is one of the most ethnically-mixed cities in the world, people who live here have learned to get along.

“People see San Francisco as a unique, special place where ethnic groups can live together without fighting," he said. “We don’t need all this war, fighting and manipulation. What we really need is peace, love and compassion, and this event is one of the few events that promotes those aspects."

For Hughston, holding the concert is about more than marking the 50th anniversary—it's a reflection on "what we have actually accomplished."

“We have stopped wars," he explained, "we have impeached presidents, we changed society and came up with computers. When it comes to movements such as the peace movement, the anti-war movement, the sexual revolution, it came from the ‘60s. This is marking all that progress. To not do that, it would be a crime.”

To find out more on how the city will be celebrating this year, check out this website.