Block party celebrates community
“I heard there was a buttonmaking machine,” Horace Thomas said to various vendors on 20th Street. “Do you know where the button making machine is?”
Clad in a jacket already heavy with buttons, Thomas was looking to add some more to his collection after a few strangers mentioned crafting stations at this year’s 20th Street Block Party on Saturday, Aug. 17.
Hosted by Noise Pop, an organization that produces music events throughout the Bay Area, the party spanning 20th Street from Bryant and Harrison streets was filled with local vendors and music provided by acts such as Speedy Ortiz and Pity Party rocking out on two stages. The free event ($10 donations were being collected for nonprofits La Cocina and 826 Valencia), attracted hundreds of San Franciscans just like Thomas to the Mission District to enjoy the mild summer weather and the company of friendly strangers.
“It’s nice. It’s a diverse fair,” Thomas said of the block party, referring to the numbers of people of color present. “I like that it brings people together.”
And people did seem happy, excited, and perhaps
more willing than usual to break through the usual veneer of isolation that tends to happen on busy city streets. At the main stage, an audience member screamed out to Los Angeles indie singersongwriter Sasami, “What’s your moon sign?”
“My moon sign? Gemini,” Sasami answered before launching into “Adult Contemporary,” at which the crowd screamed.
Elsewhere, Derek Macario was taking free portraits of passersby for the art gallery Southern Exposure’s booth — “trying to make people feel beautiful and remind themselves of that, and just share what the public collective looks like,” he said. Another Mission District organization, Fingersnaps Media Arts, was teaching people how to DJ.
“I’ve had a lot of fun,” DJ Koma Teeee said after teaching Rannie Teodoro how to play a controller. “People are coming here, they’re engaging, they’re excited. It’s wonderful.”
That’s the spirit of the 20th Street Block Party. Sarah Levy, lead singer of the Oakland band Pity Party, reached out to the audience Saturday with a simple, overarching message between hyping up the crowd with the band’s signature emo poppunk music.
“Let’s go out and try to help other people feel better,” Levy said.