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by\u00a0MARINA NEWMAN<\/a><\/strong> March 28, 2025 (MissionLocal.org)<\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"Urban](\"https:\/\/newspack-missionlocal.s3.amazonaws.com\/mission\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/ValenciaNightMarket-1200x800.jpg\")
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<\/figure>\n\n\n\nSign up below to get Mission Local\u2019s free newsletter<\/strong>, a daily digest of news you won\u2019t find elsewhere.Sign up<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Mission District will be getting its very own night market in six weeks\u2019 time, transforming a three-block stretch of Valencia Street into a sprawling community block party complete with revelry, boozing, and entertainment after hours. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Starting at 5 p.m. on May 8, and running until 10 p.m., Valencia will be shut down to car traffic between 16th and 19th streets. Visitors will be able to roam the street, beer in hand, and visit stages lining either side featuring performances by Mission artists.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Each block will house a stage produced by Mission businesses and local groups. The cocktail bar Blondie\u2019s will organize live music on its stage, another stage will host performances dedicated to Carnaval, and a parking lot will host an indigenous artisans\u2019 market. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Want the latest on the Mission and San Francisco? Sign up for our free daily newsletter<\/strong> below.Sign up<\/p>\n\n\n\n Restaurants will set up tents with extra seating to serve food to passers-by, who can grab a bite and browse offerings from local artists, games and lots of music. <\/p>\n\n\n\n It\u2019s the latest of nearly a dozen night markets opened in San Francisco over the past year, but also a local effort: Valencia badly needs revitalization, said Manny Yekutiel, the owner of his namesake cafe Manny\u2019s and the president of the Valencia Corridor Merchants Association. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cFoot traffic has drastically reduced in recent years,\u201d he said. \u201cWe need to come up with a way to bring people back.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n The night market, dubbed \u201cValencia LIVE<\/a>,\u201d will be funded by donations to the Civic Joy Fund, a group co-founded by Yekutiel and Mayor Daniel Lurie that has backed night markets throughout the city, namely in Chinatown, the Richmond, and the Sunset. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The Sunset market last summer drew an estimated 20,000 people<\/a> to the streets, swarming booths and food vendors. During the height of the pandemic, Valencia was regularly<\/a> closed off to cars during the weekends<\/a>, and became a street fair that drew thousands to drink, shop and dine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Today\u2019s Valencia street closure is a pilot program: It will take place on the second Thursday of every month, from May until October. Organizers hope that, if successful, the market will continue for at least two years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The push for these markets is part of an ongoing effort to revitalize San Francisco\u2019s dwindling nightlife scene, including by Lurie, who celebrated his inauguration day with a visit to a Chinatown night market in his honor complete with an electronic music performance, fireworks, and dancing<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Valencia Night Market will be just one of three \u201centertainment zones\u201d in San Francisco, which were made possible after a state law from Sen. Scott Wiener went into effect last year allowing for businesses under a music venue license to apply to be an entertainment zone. <\/p>\n\n\n\n That license lets businesses sell beer, wine and liquor to pedestrians during certain hours, as long as they don\u2019t walk away with those beverages outside of the mandated zone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The other two entertainment zones are \u201cThrive City,\u201d outside the Chase Center arena, and Front Street between California and Sacramento streets.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Merchants in neighborhoods across the city have expressed interest in creating more entertainment zones<\/a>, but argue that high fees and a harrowing permitting process have made securing a license harder than it needs to be. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Lurie, for his part, introduced legislation in February to create 20 new liquor licenses for a downtown \u201chospitality zone.\u201d Liquor licenses are notoriously difficult to procure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Valencia market will be put on by the Civic Joy Fund, the Valencia Corridor Merchants Association, the Mission Merchants Association, and Into the Streets, a business founded by Katy Birnbaum in 2023 and dedicated to organizing events in downtown San Francisco. The mayor\u2019s office is also helping.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Shaelyn Dalziel, who works at Valencia Street Vintage, said closing down the streets to vehicles has worked \u201cwonders\u201d for her business before, pointing to the once-a-year Sunday Streets, which also shuts down Valencia to traffic and brings out gobs of shoppers. Her store, alongside the rest of the neighborhood, has reaped the benefits from the event, she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Valencia Street appears to have fared better than other parts<\/a> of the Mission, however, at least according to data from the San Francisco\u2019s Controller\u2019s office. That\u2019s despite complaints by business owners of the negative impact of the center bike lane<\/a> and its subsequent removal. <\/p>\n\n\n\n By May 8, construction crews moving<\/a> the center bike lane to the curbside should be finished with their task, clearing the way for a continuous closure from 16th to 19th streets, and for pedestrians to pack the corridor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n We’re a small, independent, nonprofit newsroom<\/strong> that works hard to bring you news you can’t get elsewhere.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Booze, games and sound stages slated for second Thursdays on Valencia Street between 16th and 19th streets by\u00a0MARINA NEWMAN March 28, 2025 (MissionLocal.org) Sign up below to get Mission Local\u2019s free newsletter, a daily digest of news you won\u2019t find elsewhere.Sign up The Mission District will be getting its very own… Continue reading <\/figure>\n\n\n\nLATEST NEWS<\/mark><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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