Held annually on a Sunday in early June since 1978, the Haight Ashbury Street Fair celebrates the cultural history and diversity of the Haight Ashbury, featuring arts and crafts, food booths, three musical stages, a Family Area (Children’s Alley) and more. Community groups and local merchants also join the fray.

The Fair was initially staged by Pablo Heising, who served as its director until his death in 2006. The initial meeting for the Fair, at Dudley Stone Elementary School (later William R. De Avila and now the Chinese Immersion School) at Haight and Masonic was attended by a couple dozen local residents, whose number delighted Supervisor Harvey Milk. He told the crowd, “There were only three of us when I started the Castro Street Fair. I’d have been thrilled to have this many people show up.”