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You’ll know hippiedom is alive and well after attending this Gathering of the Tribe.

This Castro party is a time for dress-up, dress-down, or undress, as the case may be; let your imagination run away with you as you join the gay fray.

This waterfront festival, held from Aquatic Park to Pier 39, involves live entertainment, food stalls, and state-of-the-art fireworks launched from several points along the Bayfront. If it’s foggy, the bursts of light seem that much more romantic.

The city’s oldest street fair features arts and crafts and some great Italian food.

More than 300,000 people attend this amazing gay event, the largest of its kind in the US, that takes over Market Street, from the Embarcadero to the Civic Center. It’s up to four hours of Dykes on Bikes, drag queens in nuns’ habits, leather-clad clones, gay parents, gay marching bands, muscle men, and much more. The floats – as well as the cheering throngs – are likely to be the most over-the-top, outlandish things you’ve ever witnessed.

This delightful event recreates Elizabethan England, with all its ribaldry and rowdiness.

With its large Irish population, not to mention the 25 or so Irish pubs scattered around town, the St. Patrick’s Day Parade and the revelry that follows deep into the night is one of the city’s largest celebrations. The parade journeys from 5th and Market streets to the Embarcadero.

A much loved San Franciscan tradition, this festival showcases every kind of music you can name (see Sigmund Stern Grove).

A multicultural party, but mainly Vietnamese-American.

An arts and crafts fair at the Fort Mason Center, offering pottery, jewelry, textiles, and more.