Go big or gourd home: The 50th Annual Half Moon Bay Art & Pumpkin Festival returns this weekend.
Plus, Noise Pop's 20th Street Block Party, the Autumn Lights Festival in Oakland, Breakaway Music Festival, MoAD's Afropolitan Ball, and much more.
Have a good one.
Witness the sedan-sized pumpkins of the world’s greatest gourd growers at the 49th Annual Safeway World Championship Pumpkin Weigh-off. See who will squash the records on Monday at 7am. // Ides Grounds, 735 Main St. (Half Moon Bay) and streaming online; details at weighoff.miramarevents.com
Treat your pup to a “dogguccino” and pastry at San Francisco’ new cafe specifically for dogs. Dogue is raising the ire of San Franciscans for serving up fancy feasts of rose-shaped cakes filled with wild venison, doggy petit gâteaus, and chicken-mushroom soup poured tableside' Mondays to Fridays, 1:30pm to 7pm and Sundays, 11am to 7pm. // Dogue, 988 Valencia St. (Mission), doguesf.com
Get your Oktoberfest fix all week long at 21st Amendment. The SF and San Leandro taprooms will be transformed with polka music, hearty German cuisine, the release of the Festbier, and more; 11am to 10pm daily in SF, and Thursday through Sunday afternoons in San Leandro. // Details at eventbrite.com
See how Bay Area artists are responding to the climate crisis with technology-fueled works at an event staged by KQED Live and The New York Times ; Tuesday at 6pm. // KQED Headquarters, 2601 Mariposa St. (Mission); tickets at kqed.org
Celebrate the 40th anniversary of the San Francisco Fall Show—the longest-running art, antiques, and design fair on the West Coast; opening night gala is Wednesday, 5pm to 10pm. // Festival Pavilion at Fort Mason Center (Marina); tickets at eventbrite.com
Take in Alonzo King Lines Ballet’s 40th Anniversary season featuring Grammy-nominated Zakir Hussain. A world-renowned master of classical Indian percussion, Hussain partners with Alonzo King to renew traditional forms of music and ballet, holding respect for the old and ushering in the new; Wednesday to Sunday. // Blue Shield of California Theater at YBCA, 700 Howard St. (SoMa); tickets at cityboxoffice.com
Let your mind wander in the twinkling paradise that is Autumn Lights Festival. Explore more than 60 locally created, illuminated art sculptures; Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. // Gardens at Lake Merritt, 666 Bellevue Ave (Oakland); tickets on eventbrite.com
Transport yourself to Central Perk: The Friends Experience is coming to SF with set recreations, props and costumes from the beloved show; Thursday through December 4th. // 150 Powell St. (Tenderloin); tickets at sanfrancisco.friendstheexperience.com
Check out the newly remodeled Sausalito Center for the Arts at the inaugural Art Weekend Sausalito. The event will have more than 100 pieces of original art for purchase; Friday to Sunday, 10am to 6pm. // Sausalito Center For The Arts, 750 Bridgeway (Sausalito); details atsausalitoartfestival.org
Don’t miss your chance to see Gryffin, Tycho, Louis the Child, Big Wild, Said the Sky, and other major electronic musicians under one roof at the West Coast edition of Breakaway Music Festival; Friday and Saturday. // Bill Graham Civic Auditorium, 99 Grove St. (Civic Center); tickets at breakawayfestival.com
LOL (literally) at the Oakland Comedy Festival. Held over three days across eight venues, the fest will include a diverse lineup of comedians with a portion of ticket sales benefiting Access Reproductive's work toward reproductive justice; Friday to Sunday. // Full lineup and tickets at oaklandcf.com
Light one up and rock out with The Avett Brothers, Gov’t Mule, Lucinda Williams, and headliner Willie Nelson at Outlaw Music Festival; Saturday at 4:30pm. // Shoreline, One Amphitheatre Pkwy (Mountain View); tickets at livenation.com
Get funky with Grammy award-winning Fantastic Negrito at the Afropolitan Ball. Museum of African Diaspora's big gala includes live music, food, and an open bar to benefit MoAD's arts education programs; Saturday, 6:30pm to 11:30pm. // City View at Metreon, 135 4th St. (SoMa); tickets at moadsf.org
Equal parts street food fair, music festival, and local shopping bazaar —Noise Pop's 20th Street Block Party is back. As always the event is free, but consider making a donation to benefit 826 Valencia and La Cocina; Saturday, noon to 6pm. // 20th street (Mission); RSVP at eventbrite.com
Mingle with authors and journalists at the 6th Annual Filipino American Book Festival. There will be workshops, book signings, readings, and a virtual talk from Nobel Prize–winning journalist Maria Ressa; Saturday and Sunday. // San Francisco Main Library, 100 Larkin St. (Civic Center); details at filbookfestival.org
See more than 100 local artists work their magic in real-time during Southern Exposure's annual Monster Drawing Rally. You might even get to take home a piece for just $100; Saturday, 3pm to 9pm.// Southern Exposure, 3030 20th St. (Mission); tickets on eventbrite.com
Brave the traffic to get to the 50th Annual Half Moon Bay Art & Pumpkin Festival. It'll be worth it to experience a giant pumpkin competition, parade, live music, food, pie-eating contests, and, of course, a gorgeous pumpkin patch perfect for taking wonderfully basic Instagram pics; Saturday and Sunday, 9am to 5pm. // Main Street (Half Moon Bay); details at pumpkinfest.miramarevents.com
Let your freak flag fly at the 23rd Annual How Weird Street Faire. Expect multiple stages of EDM, an Art Alley of creative works, and plentiful oddities and food. Out of this world costumes encouraged; Saturday, noon to 8pm. // Howard and 2nd St. (SoMa), details on howweird.org
Enjoy your beer guilt-free by running in the Alameda Pint 10K or 5K, followed by a beer festival on the waterfront. If running isn’t your thing, you can simply head straight to the Beer City Festival where you can taste your way through local and international brews; Saturday, 9am to 5pm. // Waterfront Park, 2151 Ferry Pt. (Alameda); tickets at eventbrite.com
Hear from acclaimed author Margaret Atwood (The Handmaid’s Tale), in discussion with lawyer, writer, and journalist Dahlia Lithwick. The topic: literature as social critique of regimes of patriarchy, racism, and capitalism; Saturday at 7:30pm. // Memorial Auditorium, 551 Jane Stanford Way (Stanford); tickets at stanford.edu
