Your Last-Minute Plans for Labor Day Weekend Fun Are Here

Did Labor Day weekend sneak up on you this year? It happens to the best of us.

If you failed to make advance plans for the long weekend, the KQED Arts & Culture team has you covered. Below are a handful of quick suggestions to fill the next three days with leisure and fun — because nothing says “celebrate the social and economic achievements of workers” like packing your weekend with the total and complete opposite of work.

Friday, Aug. 29

Bask your brain in Crossroads 2025
Gray Area, San Francisco
Kick off the weekend with this annual festival of avant-garde, artist-made films handpicked by San Francisco Cinematheque. Get into mini-vacation mode by watching flickering, experimental images in the dark with strangers. Wonder what it all means. The program runs through Aug. 31.

Tune into the Black Radio Experience
Meritage Resort and Spa, Napa
If live music is more your scene, head to Napa for this three-day festival of jazz, hip-hop, R&B and soul music organized by Robert Glasper (who also performs Saturday and Sunday). Acts include Earth Wind & Fire, Jazmine Sullivan, The Roots and Big Daddy Kane.

Spend the night at a museum
Oakland Museum of California
OMCA’s Friday nights are packed with activities, and this week’s no different. We’ve got sets from DJ Sucia and NOODLES, Off the Grid food trucks and informal and fun gallery chats. The party goes until 9 p.m.

Try not to cry during ‘Up’
Howarth Park, Santa Rosa
No one is emotionally prepared for the first 10 minutes of this 2009 Pixar film, even after repeat viewings. The good news is vendors will be slinging pizza and kettle corn at this bucolic screening, and you can sop up your tears with either. The movie starts at dusk; BYO lawn chair or blanket.

Saturday, Aug. 30

Catch a game
Chase Center, San Francisco
Thank Freyja, the Valkyries have two home games this weekend, playing the Mystics on Saturday and the Fever on Sunday. (Will Caitlin Clark be back in time for that Aug. 31 game???) Tickets for Chase Center are still available, though you can also snag a seat at our favorite women’s sports bar, Rikki’s. (The Giants — not doing too well! — also play at home this weekend against the Orioles.)

Go see a movie
You know, at a theater
Opening this weekend are Darren Aronofsky’s ’90s New York crime caper Caught Stealing and the Benedict Cumberbatch–Olivia Colman disaster marriage movie The Roses (a remake of Danny DeVito’s 1989 black comedy). There are also plenty of retrospective offerings on all sides of the Bay, as well as a VHS horrorfest at San Francisco’s 4 Star Theater.

Join a block party in East Oakland
EastSide Arts Alliance, Oakland
Labor Day weekend begs for sun-drenched outdoor gatherings with food, music, dancing and — if you’re lucky — lowriders. This Saturday at EastSide Arts Alliance, the celebration doubles as the 55th anniversary of the Chicano Moratorium in 1970, a massive march in East Los Angeles to protest the Vietnam War. The party runs 12–5 p.m. with live music, DJ sets, food from Tacos Mi Barrio, face painting and more.

Sunday, Aug. 31

Get on the Zulu tip
Public Works, San Francisco
UPDATE: This event has been canceled.
Admit it: NYC’s Native Tongues and the Bay Area have a lot in common. On Sunday, Prince Paul, Dante Ross, Rasta Root, Shortkut and Platurn perform at a night paying homage to the late ’80s–early ’90s collective, which included De La Soul, A Tribe Called Quest and Queen Latifah.

Visit a museum
They’re all open on Sundays!
It’s the final weekend for Ruth Asawa at SFMOMA, which means it may be crowded with other procrastinators — but still fully worth the visit. Other must-see shows include Routed West at BAMPFA, Black Spaces at OMCA and Arts of Indigenous America at the de Young (also open Monday).

Cross a late-night dining spot off your list
For over a year now, our food editor Luke Tsai has been mapping the Bay Area’s after-hours eateries. Here’s a rare Sunday when you don’t have to clock in the next morning. Maybe it’s time to check out that British pub in San Mateo that doubles as a karaoke bar — and serves a delectable fish and chips.

Monday, Sept. 1

Take a dip
Your local plunge
Earlier this year, we published the comprehensive guide to Bay Area beaches, pools, swimming holes and waterparks. You’re welcome.

Hiero Day
The Midway, San Francisco
This year’s Hiero Day, relocated from Oakland to The Midway in San Francisco, has a lineup that’s a bit more local than in years past. With Hieroglyphics, Pete Rock, Seiji Oda, Alien Mac Kitty, Cali Agents, Nappy Nina, MacArthur Maze and more, this family-friendly block party is a reminder of just how much homegrown talent the Bay Area can claim.

Cut a rug, literally
For the Culture, Oakland
DJ Lexapeel, LadyRyan and DJ Shellheart launch a new party series called Cut a Rug with this 3–8 p.m. Labor Day celebration. Delay your return to the working week as long as possible by going out with a bang.