SF Traditions We Hope Are Revived in 2025: Part 1

A list of memorable traditions we hope get revived in 2025. 

San Francisco isn’t dead, but our recovery is going so-so. Our mascot is a phoenix because we’re a town of boom and bust. Good things tend to recur or get uncovered and brought back to life here. Here are some memorable traditions we hope get revived in 2025.

Dragon’s Beard Candy

Lunar New Year comes with many glorious traditions. One that’s disappearing is something called Dragon’s Beard Candy. It’s stringy, hand-pulled, and delicious. But two things complicate whether this will be around SF in the future. It sounds odd, but climate change makes the weather wonky enough that only an expert can make it just right. And it’s generational, meaning that unless the kids take up the family business it might go away. This writer found it at a Dragon Papa popup in 2022, but since then it’s been harder to find. 

Prediction: Foodies love spotlighting tradition. We hope someone gets inspired to make the confection again for the upcoming Year of the Snake celebrations. Tag us if you find it.

Off the Grid at Fort Mason

Each March the Off the Grid food truck lineup would start off the season. It would stick around until the tail end of fantastic fall weather we enjoy in San Francisco. But it’s been limping along since the pandemic. There’s a glut of other events, tourism is down, and it seems like Off the Grid has pivoted to other successes.

Prediction: We hope this one comes back, but unless tourism and the cost of doing business change their trajectories we’re not betting big bucks on it. Fingers crossed for 2025.

SFMOMA Soapbox Derby

There’s a theme here about revivals after the pandemic. It seems like 2022 was one of the last good years in The City. The Soapbox Derby was delightful, but it doesn’t look like SFMOMA will be doing it in 2025. There’s always the Bring Your Own Big Wheel, but it’s just not the same as enjoying the incredible artistic race.  

Prediction: Some say SFMOMA is limping along, but their Member Night a few months ago was hugely popular (even if it didn’t include free drinks or eats anymore). Maybe there’s hope? But April’s right around the corner so we’re not holding our breath. 

Lotta’s Fountain

The fountain down at Kearny and Market was a famed meeting place after the deadly 1906 Calamity. The April 18th earthquake happened at 5:12am. For decades, survivors would gather early in the morning on the anniversary of the quake. There are no more living survivors but the tradition continues. 

Prediction: This is a quirky way to remember a tragedy. The more recent Loma Prieta Earthquake spawned The Great Shakeout. It seems like California will always find a way to mark major disasters. As long as the next Big One doesn’t take out Lotta’s Fountain, we think San Franciscans will still get up early for it. For how many more years? Who’s to say. 

April 20: Hippie Hill

Stoners have gathered since time immemorial at Hippie Hill in Golden Gate Park. Or at least for a few decades. But in 2023, SF Rec and Park took over the show, ostensibly to keep everyone in line. It was highly corporate but also a lot of fun (except the line was long and we gave up before getting past the gate to go enjoy the freebies that promoters were tossing in the air). Then in 2024, it was abruptly canceled because of budget cuts and an array of other challenges. 

Prediction: Potheads will always gather and partake in the 4/20 holiday. This year there’s stiff competition because Easter Sunday falls on the same day, so many partiers will head to the Hunky Jesus competition at Dolo. The official Insta account, @420hippiehill, is silent. But if they can find enough fiscal sponsorship, maybe 2025 is the year they get their act together.

Dyke March

There’s a great amount of history around SF Pride and the Dyke March. Now, Pride is celebrated all over, but there was a time when San Francisco was really one of the few places you could be out and in the open if you weren’t cishet. Things got a little complicated for the Dyke March in 2024 and there’s no news yet about what it’ll look like (or if it will happen at all in any official capacity) in 2025.

Prediction: The October ‘24 townhalls gave us a little hope that we’ll see the Dyke March again this summer. 

July Dolores Hill Bomb

In 2019, a beloved skater named Tomo got a horrific skull injury and went into a coma that she since credits with a reawakening of her creative side. Then the pandemic happened. There was already conversation that the hill bomb had changed so much it was never going to be the same, and then the cops tried to shut it down. 

An unintended side effect? It seemed to revive the lifeblood of the tradition. Mission Local did some excellent reporting about this in 2024. There were wayside cops, fears of injury, and a not-so-sneaky little move a block over so the tradition continued. 

Prediction: It seems impossible for SFPD to stop this one, whether because the skaters are just too quick and innovative or because the cops are just not that great at their jobs. It’ll happen. Let’s hope it happens safely.

Part 2

Note: Because so many things have changed in San Francisco, we’re breaking this into two parts. Check back January 10 for Part 2.