Carnaval Brings Colorful Costumes and Latin Dancing to San Francisco’s Mission District

Huge crowds flocked to San Francisco’s Mission District to celebrate the culture and diversity of the Latin American diaspora at the city’s annual Carnaval festival and parade.

The celebration, hosted this year on May 23 and 24, capped off with a Grand Parade that saw dozens of performers dancing and singing from 24th and Bryant streets to 15th and Harrison. The parade was lined on both sides by families, couples and others walking by to get a look.

Carnaval’s theme this year, La Copa Del Pueblo, or the People’s Cup, celebrates soccer in anticipation of the upcoming World Cup. That theme resonated with many in attendance, several of whom wore soccer jerseys and pointed out soccer-related parade participants to their kids.

Teresa Almaguer, who joined in the parade, said that she comes out every year because “we want to set intentions for peace, for love, for security for our families and for our culture to stay in this neighborhood.”

“It’s really important to love and honor all the places that the immigrant communities in this community come from because we built this neighborhood,” she said. “We need to honor and celebrate all that diversity, all that culture, all that richness, all that joy.”

Almaguer added that it was important to also “continue to be strong in this neighborhood.”

“We all know there’s been a lot of displacement, a lot of gentrification,” Almaguer said. “We have to continue working to make sure the people who built this neighborhood can stay here.”

The festival, now in its 48th year, is the third-largest annual event in San Francisco, after Pride and Lunar New Year.