Fleet Week Moved Its Festival to Fisherman's Wharf This Year, and Wharf Merchants Say the Crowds Showed Up

For years, Fleet Week's ground festival sat on the Marina Green, a side attraction for people who came to watch the Blue Angels. This year organizers moved it to Fisherman's Wharf, and on Saturday the bet looked like it was paying off for a tourist district that has spent years trying to win visitors back.

Fleet Fest is a free festival centered at the SkyStar Wheel, with military and local bands, food trucks, pop-up vendors, exhibitor booths and kids' activities, according to the San Francisco Fleet Week Association. A second site at Pier 27 hosts military displays and first responders, and the pier is also home to the Navy's Fleet Week flagship. The festival continues Sunday, Oct. 11.

A revival attempt

Barbara Fitzharris of the Fleet Week Association told CBS San Francisco that Fleet Fest began in 2017 but faded after the pandemic, and that last year's event was hurt by the federal government shutdown. She said the wharf layout flips the usual dynamic: instead of a display people stumble on during the air show, visitors now come for the festival and catch the air show overhead.

Merchants see a turnaround

Don McFarland, who owns Sabella and LaTorre and has worked at the wharf for 42 years, told CBS that business turned a corner this summer, with record numbers on the Fourth of July. He credited the Port of San Francisco with cleaning up the area, including tearing down the old Alioto's building to make room for an open plaza. That plaza served as a viewing area Saturday as jets flew over, and McFarland said he had been skeptical of the park until he saw people using it.

Visitors interviewed by CBS praised the street closures that let people walk the area with food instead of squeezing onto sidewalks. One Modesto resident said the festival was her first time ever visiting San Francisco as a tourist.

If you go Sunday

Admission is free. The main site is around the SkyStar Wheel near Jefferson and Taylor streets, with the Pier 27 expo a short walk east. Published hours vary by listing, so check the Fleet Week Association's events page before heading out. The F-Market streetcar and the Powell-Mason cable car both stop nearby, and parking around the waterfront is expected to be tight during air show hours.