For the past decade, Schroeder’s on Front Street in San Francisco has hosted Oktoberfest celebrations. But this year, the party isn’t just bigger—it’s taken over the entire block.
“We felt like this was the perfect opportunity to show that downtown is back and evolving and changing. We wanted to give people a reason to come here,” said Andy Chun, owner of Schroeder’s.
A section of Front Street has now been designated as one of the city’s new entertainment zones, meaning the street can be closed to cars and events can be held where people can drink outside.
It’s part of a campaign to get more people back to the city center. Andy Chun, owner of Schroeder’s, thought there was no better way to kick off the new zone than with Oktoberfest.
“The idea that we can emulate some of the European cities and not only make the most of the small spaces that we have (we all have small apartments, we all have small apartment complexes), but that we can all use this and enjoy it in a responsible way, I think is really exciting,” Chun said.
The festival featured live music, games, food and of course beer.
“I love it because it’s like the financial district, but we still have fun here,” said Sasha Hefler, one of the attendees.
“I think there is a lot of potential for different types of events, both drinking and non-drinking, that can bring different communities together and help regenerate the city centre,” said Teresa Eccleston.
In total, the organizers have had, let’s say, over 5,000 people respond, a crowd that Andy believes will definitely have a huge impact on the area.
“I think in previous years we’ve had between 600 and 700 people, so this is really unprecedented,” Chun said.
And they’re not stopping there. Andy and his fellow entrepreneur across the street, Ben Bleiman, say they’re already brainstorming a list of ideas and are ready to make events like this a monthly occurrence.
“It used to be just go to work, go to happy hour, go home; but now downtown is a canvas and we can do great outdoor events and indoor events. We can make it happen,” said Bleiman, the owner of Harrington’s Bar and Grill.
