This is a ways out, but we're excited. An Upper Haight block party of sorts (and no, not the Haight Street Fair) is in the works.
The project is being undertaken by Alex Aquino, one of the founders of Black Scale and Director of Marketing at Ankh Marketing) with the help of some other business owners on the street. They're in the early part of the process - rerouting MUNI, getting cleanup and security plans in place, etc. - but they've set a date: Sunday, September 7th. Ideally, the streets would be open for public use and closed of to cars (and MUNI) from Masonic to Stanyan. The notable difference between this and HSF? No outside vendor booths. On HSF day, despite the enormous influx of people, merchants generally suffer, since their storefronts are blocked by vendor booths. For this festival, the streets would be free and clear. Also, they want to set up some music stages with contemporary music - DJs and hip hop artists. For now, it seems like Alex & Ankh Marketing are funding this project, with the hope to pick up sponsors in the future. Alex said in a letter to HAMA, "Although we are underwriting the initial front cost of this, eventually we want this festival to be fully funded by sponsors and donations. We are reaching out to our corporate sponsors contacts and we are also receiving great feedback." So far, they're just calling it "the festival," but we're pretty sure you guys can come up with something better. Let us know in the comments.
The project is being undertaken by Alex Aquino, one of the founders of Black Scale and Director of Marketing at Ankh Marketing) with the help of some other business owners on the street. They're in the early part of the process - rerouting MUNI, getting cleanup and security plans in place, etc. - but they've set a date: Sunday, September 7th. Ideally, the streets would be open for public use and closed of to cars (and MUNI) from Masonic to Stanyan. The notable difference between this and HSF? No outside vendor booths. On HSF day, despite the enormous influx of people, merchants generally suffer, since their storefronts are blocked by vendor booths. For this festival, the streets would be free and clear. Also, they want to set up some music stages with contemporary music - DJs and hip hop artists. For now, it seems like Alex & Ankh Marketing are funding this project, with the hope to pick up sponsors in the future. Alex said in a letter to HAMA, "Although we are underwriting the initial front cost of this, eventually we want this festival to be fully funded by sponsors and donations. We are reaching out to our corporate sponsors contacts and we are also receiving great feedback." So far, they're just calling it "the festival," but we're pretty sure you guys can come up with something better. Let us know in the comments.
