San Franciscans love their parks, and it’s no wonder why. Our parks aren’t just great — they’re constantly evolving.

In 2024, SF Parks Alliance built new parks and playgrounds that will serve generations of San Franciscans. We cared for the smaller spaces, too. We united neighbors to paint street murals on Slow Streets. We beautified stairs, alleys, medians, and other often overlooked public spaces. All of these spaces, big and small, contribute to the experience we have in our city. 

We rounded up all of the major park improvements we led in San Francisco in 2024. Read on to learn more about the projects happening all over the city that benefit us all.

India Basin Waterfront Park

After years of fundraising, remediation, and community engagement, we celebrated the opening of the first section of the new India Basin Waterfront Park in October. This once toxic beach now connects Bayview Hunters Point residents to a clean shoreline that includes two public piers, restrooms, an accessible walkway, and native landscaping. Through the process, we helped create jobs and restore an ecosystem.

Next up, neighboring India Basin Shoreline Park will go under construction. Once complete in 2027, it will become part of India Basin Waterfront Park, featuring new amenities like a gravel beach, basketball courts, and playgrounds.

Richmond Playground

The new Richmond Playground opened in August to rave reviews from the toughest critics–kids. The new playground features a beautiful wood playscape, a bear-shaped climbing wall, and accessibility improvements to the public restrooms and park entrances. The playground is the 11th completed in the Let’sPlaySF! initiative to renovate 13 of San Francisco’s most timeworn playgrounds.

SF Live

In a year of great public concerts, we hosted three of the best. SF Live was a six-month series of free, outdoor concerts hosted by community organizations in collaboration with local music venues. We brought Sudan Archives to Crane Cove Park, Remain in Light to the new China Basin Park, and Eagles of Death Metal to Potrero Del Sol Park.

Heart Your Parks

We pulled out all the stops for the 2024 season of our Heart Your Parks screen printing giveaways. We brought jazz bands, magicians, games, and inflatable couches to the events so attendees weren’t just picking up sweet prints designed by artist Orlie K., but celebrating everything we ‘heart’ about parks, too.

Dahlia Dell

In March, the Dahlia Society of California completed a renovation of their hillside garden in Golden Gate Park. The garden’s terraces and retaining walls were repaired, and its pathways were upgraded to increase accessibility. This SF gem is now more welcoming to both visitors and the volunteers who care for the garden.

Burnside Steps

Following the installation of a massive mural in 2022, our Community Partners at Burnside Mural+ capped off 2024 by unveiling a grand new tiled stairway. The stairway (along with the mural) shares the rich and colorful history of Glen Park. On top of it all, October 2024 was named the first official SF Stairway Month to celebrate the city’s 900+ public stairways; our Partners at the Burnside Steps spearheaded the free events throughout the month including a tiled stairway tour and a talk on how to beautify neighborhood stairways.

The Park Market at Crane Cove

Home to makers, artists, food trucks, musicians, and shoppers, The Park Market at Crane Cove soared in its second season. A new “Garage Sale Extravaganza” zone proved popular as community members cycled in to sell books, knick knacks, and other pre-loved items. The busiest market of the year coincided with our SF Live: Sudan Archives show, demonstrating the power of public programming to make a space come to life.

Slow Streets, Fast Friends

Slow Streets, Fast Friends is a community-oriented public art initiative to install street murals on Slow Streets across the city. The street mural installations promote civic pride, support local artists, and encourage drivers to slow down on pedestrian-first streets. After a thorough public outreach process, Slow Streets communities selected two local artists, Matley Hurd and Josué Rojas, to design the murals for the program. Through community paint days, volunteers got to know their neighbors and contribute to their shared public space. Throughout the initiative nine designs were created and five murals were installed on Lyon, Page, Minnesota, and 20th Streets, and Hearst Avenue.

Sundown Cinema

Seven movies, seven parks, seven nights to remember. Our signature movie night series was a hit this season. One highlight: screening SF’s Lost Landscapes at Duboce Park. This documentary was compiled from archival SF footage and was created specially for Sundown Cinema!

2024 Lineup

Dolores Park – Selena (sing-along)

The Presidio – Bullitt

Glen Park – Labyrinth

The Ferry Building – Barbie

Duboce Park – SF’s Lost Landscapes: Found Home Movies

India Basin Waterfront – The Princess and the Frog

Jerry Garcia Amphitheater – The Nightmare Before Christmas (sing-along and costume contest)

Virginia Garden Walk

This March, our Community Partners at The Friends of the Virginia Garden Walk added a 13 panel mural to SF’s Bernal Heights neighborhood in collaboration with artist Amos Goldbaum. In addition to the mural, the group also planted native species, built retaining structures, repaired irrigation systems, and added solar lights to the space.

Park and Play: Mahjong and Chess

Our Chess at UN Plaza series was so popular last year that we expanded it into a new series, Park and Play. In addition to chess boards, we brought out mahjong sets and on-site instructors to teach lessons on both games.

SF Porchfest

SF Porchfest is an annual one day music festival in the Mission. Local artists take to street corners, plazas, and porches in the neighborhood to perform for thousands of music lovers.

Kite By The Bay

Candlestick Point State Recreation Area is a hidden gem, and our Kite By The Bay kite festival invited folks to explore the park while enjoying a day full of fun. Attendees gathered to assemble and decorate kite kits on site, and many enthusiasts brought their own. The fall festival featured a free pumpkin patch and pumpkin painting, face painting, music by local DJ BeatsMe, and complimentary food.

The Crosstown Trails

The Crosstown Trails are a pair of trails that connect the four corners of San Francisco, and they are maintained by a group of local volunteers. The original Crosstown Trail was created in 2019 and runs southeast to northwest. 2024 marked the group’s fifth anniversary, and to celebrate, they debuted the Double Cross Trail, which runs for 14 miles from southwest to northeast San Francisco.

The trails aren’t just a great way to exercise and get fresh air—they also drive economic development and tourism to undervisited neighborhoods along the routes.

Ledyard Alley

Alongside neighborhood group Silver Terrace Forever, we revitalized an important alley used as a thoroughfare by residents of Silver Terrace. Improvements include new lighting, fencing, signage, and plants, raised planting areas, and a pollinator mural by local artist ORLUarts. During the process, we built excitement for the project by hosting weekly Tai Chi classes at the neighboring Silver Terrace Athletic Fields.

Action Awards

We distributed our fourth round of ten $5,000 grants to SF residents, small businesses, and community groups hosting free, recurring community events. In addition to funding, we also provided grantees with event planning expertise to help make their ideas reality. With events ranging from planting parties to pizza making, the Action Awards brought energy to San Francisco neighborhoods, We distributed our fourth round of ten $5,000 grants to SF residents, small businesses, and community groups hosting free, recurring community events. In addition to funding, we also provided grantees with event planning expertise to help make their idea a reality. With events ranging from planting parties to pizza making, the Action Awards brought energy to San Francisco neighborhoods, by San Francisco neighbors.

You can also learn about these projects plus SF Parks Alliance’s partners, financial disclosures, and more in our 2024 Impact Report.