If It’s May in San Francisco * It Must The ‘Bay to Breakers’ Wacky Foot Race

[Nicholas Kontis]

Bay to Breakers is the Mardi Gras of the West Coast.
Kegs of beer in shopping carts being pushed for seven miles.
Tiki bars on wheels.
Themed “floats” such as pirate ships, prisoners, outdoor BBQs and beer pong tables.
Bands playing on street corners.
Continuous block parties.
And all part of an organized event.

Some 75,000 people walk, run, party, dance, party, walk, party…

This is Bay to Breakers, an annual festival of 75,000 people of free expression, limited inhibitions and limitless alcohol (despite recent efforts to curb this portion of the event). It’s quintessential San Francisco, a gathering of gays and and straight people, of the clothed and the not-clothed, of the drinking and the drunk, all joined together for a day of drink-filled fun.

The 2011 event is Sunday, May 15, and registration is now open. Supposedly,there is an alcohol and float ban, and officials also want to cut down (if not entire eliminate) non-registered participants. As in the past, the full effects of this will not be determined until the event day arrives.

For Bay to Breakers, people come to walk through the streets of San Francisco in a fog. They come to party in what is basically a morning Mardi Gras. They dress up in costumes if, in fact, they dress at all.

The Vikings roared – and pillaged their beer supply.

Bay to Breakers is an example of what makes San Francisco one of this country’s greatest cities. The tolerance for freedom of expression is a welcome change from the stoic Puritan overtones elsewhere in the United States. It’s also proof that people of all walks of life, from different incomes and backgrounds, color, sexual preference and even varying political beliefs can indeed all get along together in this world of ours. They just need a big party to make it happen.

On a roll – a keg in a shopping cart is SOOO Bay to Breakers.

To call Bay to Breakers a race is a bit misleading. A rolling street party is more like it. The Mardi Gras of the West Coast. Covering 12K (7.46 miles), it rolls from the Financial District through the city’s distinctive neighborhoods and into beautiful Golden Gate Park.

Organizers encourage costumes and even host a contest (win a fabulous trip to exotic places like Phoenix, Orlando and Reno!). Technically, the event has a registration fee but it is not mandatory in order to run (just don’t expect to win a trip to Reno). Officially, there are something like 50,000 participants, but another 25,000 join the party.

A handstand and an upside-down beer bong.

And what a party. It is so intense, there is minimal pre- and post-Breakers activity. Go out in the City the night before and one would be hard-pressed to find anyone participating the next day. Afterward, only the steady are ready to keep going much past the finish line.

Blame it on the early start. It begins at 8 a.m., though it moves at such a casual pace it is entirely possible to arrive well after 9 and not miss anything.

Bay to Breakers is not a race to reach the finish, but instead one in which the trick is to delay the end as long as possible. The longer it takes to complete the event, the more fun can be experienced along the way. As a result, what is a slow walk to begin with turns into stop-and-start activity, prompted by impromptu street parties. Hundreds stop to dance together, hoist drinks with strangers and simply take in the incredible scenes occurring all around them.

PubClub’s roving party columnist, The Bartender, enjoys B2B.

There are several party stops along with way. Some are at house parties, which residents throw all along the residential part of the route. One sure stop is halfway up Hayes Hill on a street corner with a 60s hippie band. Hayes itself is a hike up a huge hill that provides a great vantage point to observe nearly all the participants and to pause for a moment to see just how incredible this large number of people looks packed into a city’s street.

Here, one can begin to soak up the all the costumes and floats (as well as a cocktail!). The tiki bar – a huge thatched-themed mobile Jimmy Buffett party– is a standard. It has a fully-functioning bar, fun music and bartenders in grass skirts pouring beer from a half-dozen taps and mixing up blenders full of margaritas. Not surprisingly, the tiki bar attracts several hundred “groupies” who accompany it on its slow-moving journey. (We usually party with those fine folks but it 2004 it zipped past us on Hayes hill, never to be seen again.)

Current themes are a big part of the party.In 2006, there were members of the “Dick Cheyney Hunting Club” and F.E.M.A “rescue” teams (For Emergences, Move Away). In 2004, there was a float celebrating the Athens Summer Olympic Games. It was more like a wild party in the Greek Islands than the Games, with a lively “crew of Olympians” and that pumping Euro dance music so prevalent in places like Mykonos and Santorini.

The popularity of NASCAR has become evident even in Bay to Breakers; in ’04 there were a half -dozen “race cars.” The craziest was the pit crew dressed in all yellow who would stop periodically to race around their nearly full-sized car.

Ho-Catraz provided an interesting take on San Francisco’s infamous prision, but in this case the guards were sexy female cops and the inmates ran the asylum. The “cellmates” gone wild drank from large straws out of, get this, a toilet from inside it’s mobile jail cell.

How the Mississippi Riverboat made it to the end, we haven’t a clue; people were walking with this huge boat strapped around them.

People float creative ideas for their floats.

The floats of ’04: Ho-Catraz, the tiki bar, a riverboat and NASCAR pit crew.

Band in the background – entertainment in Golden Gate Park.

Residents all along the route have house parties.

A live “performance” by The Village People band brings the event to a standstill.

Nudity is always part of the package, and even before the 2004 event, organizers acknowledged there’s really nothing they can do about it. Police, however, vowed to ticket anyone crossing the finish line in the buff. During the race it’s okay, afterward it’s not. Of course, there’s good nudity and bad nudity and B2B always seems to bring out much more of the latter.

Eventually, all good things must come to an end.The finish line is the end for some but others attend a festival of food and live music called Footstock. It’s mainly a place to get something to eat and, for some, pass out on the huge lawn.

When it’s finally time to go, be prepared for a long wait. Buses go from Golden Gate Park to the start ($6) but by the end of the day are as popular as a cold beer was earlier. Taxis, for some reason, are almost nonexistent. We advise waiting until Footstock winds down at about 3 p.m..

Those few hearty souls standing at the end and still ready to party either head to Pier 23, an indoor/outdoor bar near the race’s starting point or across the Golden Gate Bridge to Sam’s in Tiberon (ferrys also depart from Fisherman’s Wharf). Sam’s is a sun-drenched outdoor patio on the water in Marin County with well-poured drinks and a very good crowd.

The traditional date for Bay to Breakers is the third Sunday of May.

 

Read more: http://trip.worldtravellist.com/2011/05/if-its-may-in-san-francisco...