Among one sunken submersible, many French bed bugs, and Rihanna’s Super Bowl halftime show, what went down in San Francisco parks in 2023 may seem like insignificant news, but even so, we’re here to share some of the greatest victories, tragedies, and more from SF parks this year.
Blanche the swan died
At the start of this year, Blanche, the swan who resided at the Palace of Fine Arts died at the age of 28. SF Standard wrote this detailed obituary about her life and soap opera-esk family drama.
11 acre park by Lake Merced announced
This February, it was announced that San Francisco officials are moving forward with a plan to create an 11 acre park by Lake Merced called Lake Merced West. The new park is expected to include walking paths, a boathouse and dock, bird watching areas, all forms of sport courts, a skateboard park, a ropes course, and potentially a restaurant.
Superblooms exploded after winter rains
After record rains this past winter, the city saw wildflowers exploding across green spaces in the spring!
People went wild for free prints in parks
This April, we visited four parks across San Francisco to give out free screen prints as part of our Heart Your Parks fundraiser and people. went. wild. Park goers formed lines that wrapped around the block and we gave away an estimated 4,650 screen prints!
Pickleball courts popped up in parks across the city
San Franciscan’s affinity for pickleball continued to grow this year and the city did its best to keep up. New pickleball courts popped up at the Palace of Fine Arts and Larsen Playground.
Thousands of people went to Dolores Park to sing along to Mamma Mia
This summer we put on the fifth season of our beloved outdoor movie series, Sundown Cinema. We screened seven movies in parks across the city, and seemingly, all of the city showed up for the Mamma Mia sing along at Dolores Park (well, 5,000 of you did). During the end credits, movie-goers stood up and danced and sang along to “Dancing Queen”, it was glorious.
McLaren park got its own car free promenade
We all know about JFK Promenade in Golden Gate Park, but did you hear about the city’s newest car-free road in a park? This fall the San Francisco Board of Supervisors unanimously approved legislation to permanently restrict cars on a stretch of Shelley Drive in McLaren Park.
The Ferris wheel moved from Golden Gate Park to Fisherman’s Wharf
After three years in Golden Gate Park, the SkyStar Wheel was moved to Fisherman’s Wharf this November, right in time for APEC.
