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Muriel Tavares (left) and daughter Dawn Tavares exit Momo’s Bar as they head to Oracle Park for Giants opening day.
Hans von Clemm in his art car creation “Karl” rides down the hill during the SFMOMA Soapbox Derby in McLaren Park on April 10.
The purple feathers of her headdress billowed in the breeze, and her high-heeled silver boots shimmered. From head to toe, Sister Roma looked stunning. And so did Dolores Park itself, its hills packed on Sunday for the annual Easter celebration hosted by the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence.
Sister Roma and other drag queens named the winners of the Foxy Mary and Hunky Jesus contest as revelers cheered for their favorites. One competitor bounded across the stage on a pogo stick, while another spun circles on roller skates. And suddenly, San Francisco felt like San Francisco again.
“It feels better than old times,” Sister Roma told me of the first Easter celebration in three years due to COVID-19. “It feels like a real celebration. We survived four years of Trump and two years of the pandemic. San Francisco really needed this.”
This column usually focuses on what’s wrong with San Francisco — and there’s a long, ever-growing list. But it’s important to remind ourselves of what’s right about the city and why it’s worth sticking around to fix its myriad issues. Lately, what’s felt very right is the resurrection of big, community events in which friends and strangers gather to celebrate this joyful, weird place we call home.
For the Sisters’ Easter, I bought two of Joe Mac’s homemade bonnets, sold at a Castro bar with some proceeds going to charity. He’s sold dozens every year for nearly 30 years, an endeavor that takes him months. (“I’m at home with four hot glue guns and a bag of feathers, and I wonder why I don’t have a husband,” he shrugged.)
A fan reacts after catching a foul ball during the 10th inning of an MLB Opening Day baseball game between the San Francisco Giants and the Miami Marlins in San Francisco on April 8. That Giants defeated the Marlins 6-5.
My past two weeks have also included the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art’s Soapbox Derby, Opening Day for the Giants, San Francisco Restaurant Week and the first Muni Diaries Live at the Rickshaw Stop since November 2019. (For the uninitiated, that’s when people get on stage to tell bizarre, scary or touching stories about riding the bus before two others square off in a transit-themed haiku battle. Just another night in San Francisco.)
Other events in the past couple of weeks included Sunday Streets in the Tenderloin and celebrations marking 415 Day on April 15, the anniversary of the day San Francisco was incorporated in 1850. On Wednesday, the city’s 4/20 party in Golden Gate Park resumes — this year with on-site cannabis sales. And, of course, the Warriors are making a splash in their first playoff games in San Francisco since 1964. (Cow Palace sits almost entirely in Daly City and doesn’t count.)
Coming up? Bay to Breakers, the race in which runners wear silly costumes or not much at all, is happening May 15 after going virtual during the pandemic. Sing-a-Long Sound of Music comes back to the Castro Theatre that same day. (My favorite costume from the before-times was a woman dressed as Sister Margarita with a salt-rimmed margarita glass surrounding her nun’s habit.)
I’m also looking forward to Muni Heritage Day on June 4, when old cable cars and historic street cars, no longer fit for regular service, come out for rides. And Pride will be celebrated in person for the first time in three years June 25-26.
And, lucky for us, that’s just a sliver of what’s to come.
I vividly remember trying to negotiate with the Gods of COVID during the worst of the lockdown. If only I could have dinners with close friends and extended family again, I could easily give up huge events like sports games and parades. That’s what I vowed, but I’m glad it didn’t come to pass. San Francisco has always pulsated with huge community events — and it wasn’t the same without them.
“Collectively, in San Francisco, there were all these things that we live here to do that we couldn’t do anymore,” said Tara Ramroop, co-founder of Muni Diaries. “The fact that those were just surgically removed from our existence in San Francisco made the pandemic even tougher. When you can’t bond with strangers over all these silly things we get together to do, it makes it feel even lonelier.”
When she decided to stage Muni Diaries Live again, she worried people wouldn’t come. Maybe they weren’t ready to gather in person after so much isolation. She was dead wrong — and the show quickly sold out.
“We had this anxiety that nobody’s going to come to our party,” she said. “And then people came to our party!”
Bradley Gottesman rides an art car down the hill in SFMOMA’s Soapbox Derby in McLaren Park last week.
Pendarvis Harshaw, a podcast host and columnist at KQED, was surprised to look out from his perch as emcee of the Soapbox Derby in McLaren Park to see throngs of people from all over the Bay Area packing both sides of the course.
“To have a vantage point where I’m standing on that platform seeing the sea of people all the way down the hill and a whole bunch of smiles, it was pretty tight,” he said. “It felt like the Bay was back.”
That’s how Larry Baer, president and CEO of the San Francisco Giants, felt after fans packed Oracle Park for an extra innings win on Opening Day. A recording of Tony Bennett crooning “I Left My Heart in San Francisco” competed with fans chanting “Let’s Go Giants!” as happiness reverberated throughout the ballpark.
We texted after the Giants’ first series of the season was complete.
“With all the pain and challenges in our community, these last three days at the ballpark hopefully offered 115,000 fans a sense of escape and joy,” Baer wrote. “And a communal feeling, featuring hugs and high-fives, we haven’t shared in a long time.”
I saw Manny Yekutiel, founder of the civic engagement space Manny’s, on Monday, and he was still feeling the good vibes from the Sisters’ Easter event.
“San Francisco is such a fun and joyous and incredible city,” he said. “I just love a Jesus on a pogo stick.”
San Francisco Chronicle columnist Heather Knight appears Sundays and Wednesdays. Email: hknight@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @hknightsf
Join Chronicle columnist Heather Knight and pop culture critic Peter Hartlaub for three upcoming events. First up, they'll screen "What's Up, Doc?" - a madcap comedy set in San Francisco. 7 pm Thursday April 21 at the Balboa Theater, 3630 Balboa Street. Tickets at balboamovies.com.
They'll also host a tribute to Emperor Norton featuring San Francisco trivia, prizes and interviews with Joseph Amster, who plays Emperor Norton on his city tours, and local history buff Nicole Meldahl. 6:30 p.m. April 28 at Manny's, 3092 16th Street. welcometomannys.com.
Also, join them at the Bay Area Book Festival, where they'll interview Alexandra Kenin, author of "Urban Trails of San Francisco." 12:30 pm May 7, Civic Center Park, Berkeley. baybookfest.org.
Heather Knight is a columnist working out of City Hall and covering everything from politics to homelessness to family flight and the quirks of living in one of the most fascinating cities in the world. She believes in holding politicians accountable for their decisions or, often, lack thereof - and telling the stories of real people and their struggles.
She co-hosts the Chronicle's TotalSF podcast and co-founded its #TotalSF program to celebrate the wonder and whimsy of San Francisco.