Multi-day 420 Festival Coming to San Francisco

SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. (KRON) — A new festival is coming is joining San Francisco’s 420 celebrations this year.

Evergreen San Francisco is a multi-day celebration tied to 420, the global holiday for cannabis culture that was born in the Bay Area in the 1970s.

From April 16 to 24, Evergreen San Francisco will celebrate the city’s diverse cannabis lounges and dispensaries and showcase iconic attractions, food spots, nature hikes, immersive art, and experiences throughout the city.

The nine-day celebration was created in partnership between San Francisco Travel Association, San Francisco Cannabis Retailers Alliance, San Francisco Chamber of Commerce, Fisherman’s Wharf Community Benefit District, and San Francisco Cannabis Equity Group to share San Francisco’s rich cannabis history.

“San Francisco was at the forefront of legalizing and socializing cannabis. As the city emerges from the pandemic, it seems only fitting that we celebrate that which makes San Francisco unique and diverse,” said Joe D’Alessandro, president and CEO of San Francisco Travel.

“Cannabis tourism has the potential to grow exponentially. With the launch of Evergreen San Francisco, the city continues to be a trendsetter in the industry.”

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What to expect

More than 25 of the city’s cannabis lounges and dispensaries are participating in Evergreen San Francisco and will offer promotions and various curated experiences.

Other activities range from Collective High’s “High, San Francisco!”, an interactive cannabis scavenger hunt, to the Green Dream Cannabis Tour, to a 420 history workshop at the San Francisco Public Library highlighting the city’s marijuana culture and history of activism.

Fisherman’s Wharf invites visitors to explore the history of cannabis from the perspective of renowned writer Alia Volz’s Home Baked: My Mom, Marijuana and the Stoning of San Francisco. The author will be hosting a special book signing event on April 23 at Fisherman’s Wharf Plaza.

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“This heartfelt memoir is about an underground bakery called Sticky Fingers Brownies that helped provide pot brownies in an epidemic, in this case, the AIDS crisis in San Francisco,” said Randall Scott, executive director of Fisherman’s Wharf Community Benefit District.

“Sticky Fingers Brownies started right here in Fisherman’s Wharf, alongside the buskers and fishing industry.”

On April 20, the annual 420 gathering in San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park at “Hippie Hill” will take place.

Since the Summer of Love in 1967, Hippie Hill near Haight Street has been a counterculture gathering spot.

The free event draws thousands of people to the park’s Robin Williams Meadow to celebrate the right to use cannabis where music and event programming will run from 10 am to 5 pm. 

“The cannabis industry is as iconic to San Francisco as the Golden Gate Bridge, cable cars, and Fisherman’s Wharf,” said Rodney Fong, executive director of the San Francisco Chamber of Commerce.

“Evergreen San Francisco speaks to cannabis’s place in our economy and history.”