There really is no better way to get a taste of a community then shopping at a farmer’s market. Fresh food, real people, and a friendly environment make the long-standing Saturday and Sunday tradition popular throughout the Bay.
The epicenter of Bay Area Farmer’s Markets is undoubtedly San Francisco. With a variety of different markets speckled across the city, it can be hard to decide which to visit. Well, this comprehensive list below will provide insight into the top markets in the city!
Ferry Plaza Farmer’s Market
With over 100 vendors, this Saturday market circling the Ferry Building is the largest and most popular in SF. Right on the water and just off the highway, this gathering is a great place to grab local produce, food craft products, and brunch.
Looking for a little bit more than just grub? Well the market offers two educational programs to expand your knowledge on the fine arts of food.
The Market to Table Demos presented by local chefs demonstrate unique world-renowned recipes that promote a healthy lifestyle. While, The Food Shed education tent aims to deepen your understanding and broaden your awareness of sustainable food systems.
Ultimately, the Ferry Plaza Farmer’s Market has everything you need for a perfect Saturday full of fresh food.
Tuesdays: 10am to 2pm – year-round, rain or shine
Thursdays: 10am to 2pm – year-round, rain or shine
Saturdays: 8am to 2pm – year-round, rain or shine
Heart of the City Farmer’s Market
Uniquely independent, farmer-operated, nonprofit, and opened
3 days a week throughout the whole year rain or shine. What more could you want
out of a farmer’s market? How about a location on the United Nations plaza for
stunning views of the Civic Center!
Heart of the City just might be the top farmer’s market in the city and its popularity is widely attributed to their commitment to staying fully farmer operated. The farmers have been working for over 40 years with the market to deliver high quality healthy food to the community.
This market is right around the corner from several of our co-living properties, such as 7th and 9th street residences. As a part of a shared housing community, walking down the street and tasting your way through each farmer’s creations can be a great way to get to know you peers.
Sundays: 7am to 5pm – year-round, rain or shine
Wednesdays: 7am to 5:30pm – year-round, rain or shine
Fridays: 7am to 4pm – year-round, rain or shine
Fillmore Farmer’s Market
Smack in the middle of San Francisco’s bustling Fillmore street, this farmer’s market promises produce that is always fresh, seasonal, and provided by local farmers and ranchers.
The market is operated by the Pacific Coast Farmers Market Association which is a non-profit that hosts and operates various markets throughout the Bay.
Locals adore this market because of the character it brings.
Sweet live jazz music fills your ears as people dance, chat, and try the
freshest food with friends and family. And if you ever find yourself there make
sure to listen for the Dave Parker Sextet as they play their smooth sound there
almost every Saturday.
Saturdays: 9am to 1pm – year-round, rain or shine
Fort Mason’s Farmer’s Market
Unlike other farmers markets in the city, the Fort Mason Center Farmer’s Market is held at a historic, former Army West Coast headquarters. The market is hosted by the Golden Gate National Park Service and brings in over 35 Farmers and Food Purveyors to sell food and ingredients.
What truly sets apart this market is the stunning views of the Golden Gate Bridge and the rest of the SF Bay that can be admired from the crowds of hungry shoppers. In such a scenic area it is easy to spend an entire Sunday afternoon perusing through the goodies.
Sundays: 9:30am to 1:30pm – year-round, rain or shine
The list of great San Francisco farmer’s markets does not stop here, but unfortunately this article does. We have laid out the best of the best for you, so try your best to stop by each one of this unique markets for a full grasp of the SF community and its offerings.
December is here and San Francisco streets are lighting up with beautiful and festive Holiday scenery. There’s no doubt that Christmas season is almost upon us, and although it’s only the first week of December, it’s hard to contain the excitement of the season! This year, our holiday spotlight is on the famous buzzing plaza at the heart of San Francisco… Union Square!
Every year, Union Square hosts a month-long event called Winter Walk where the famous plaza is festively decorated with scenery including 17,000 square feet of green space, food trucks, beer and wine gardens, and many different performances and events. Visitors come out from all over the Bay area to enjoy treats and take Instagramable pictures at the mobile photo stations with their friends and family to spread the Christmas joy.
Apart from the many food trucks offering delicious treats and meals, Winter Walk also has scheduled performances throughout the month of December that will definitely immerse you in the Holiday spirit! Here is a list of upcoming events found on the event website, including themed performances, carols, and even disco-parties.
December 6: Dickens Fair Choir from 11:30 am-12:30 pm
December 6: “Mean Girls” themed drag performance by local drag queen Tye and friends at 6:30 pm, 7:00 pm & 7:30 pm
December 7: Performance by the Salvation Army Children’s Choir
December 9: Urban Flowers – Wreath & Centerpiece Demos from 11:00 am-2:00 pm
December 13 and 21: Pop-up appearances by the Bay Area’s beloved Dickens Fair
December 13: Silent Disco presented by HUSHconcerts from 5:00 pm-9:00 pm
December 15: Core Power Yoga from 11:00-11:30 am
December 16: Urban Flowers – Wreath & Centerpiece Demos from 11:00 am-2:00 pm
December 21: Special Winter Solstice performance by Luminescent Grand (the world’s first synesthesia piano)
December 23: Museum of Craft & Holiday Craft Station from 11:00 am-2:00 pm
Another Holiday-highlight from Union Square is their famous outdoor Ice Rink located at the center of the plaza. Every Christmas season, the rink opens and is surrounded by holiday decorations such as the massive Macys Christmas tree, lights, and more. There are also special themed events and parties happening during the month of December, including free ice-skating lessons if you are a beginner. You can check out their full list of events on their calendar!
It may not snow in San Francisco, but that shouldn’t stop you from all the Holiday fun happening in the city.
If you want to stay on top of all the Holiday events this year, make sure to subscribe to our newsletter by clicking the link below and know about all that’s happening in the city of San Francisco!
It’s the end of November already, can you believe it? That also means Thanksgiving is coming up very soon! As the weather gets colder, we know how it is tempting to stay at your cozy San Francisco rooms and snuggle up in some thick blankets. Thankfully, that is what this Thursday is all about! Break is here and you can stay at your warm and cozy San Francisco student or corporate housing while enjoying some yummy Thanksgiving snacks. If you still have not prepared your Thursday feast, we found some wonderful and delicious Holiday dinner and treats to get you going!
For a full list of ingredients and recipe, just click on the title and it will redirect you to it!
Savory, sweet, and buttery mashed sweet potatoes topped with Pecans? Now that sounds like a real treat! This desert will truly satisfy anyone that comes over for Thanksgiving dinner, especially if they have a sweet tooth. All you need is some sweet potatoes, brown sugar, milk, butter, vanilla, and eggs to whisk up this delicious recipe!
Macaroni and Cheese is one of America’s favorite comfort food, but that is not without a reason. You can never go wrong with some good ole’ macaroni on your dinner table, and everyone is sure to love it! This recipe is essentially our traditional macaroni with a little twist. Extra cheese, onions, paprika, and other delicious ingredients are added to the top while the dish is baked to perfection in the oven! Definitely check this recipe out.
Sweet and tangy, you can’t forget the bowl of cranberry sauce for your Thanksgiving feast! Skip the canned cranberries and check out this super quick and easy recipe for your perfect homemade cranberry sauce! All you need is: fresh cranberries, oranges, sugar, and a cinnamon stick… That’s it!
Do I hear another delicious homemade desert? Old-Fashioned Apple Crisps have been around for ages, and it never loses popularity! This recipe adds some extra flavor to the apple crisps using lemons or oranges so that the desert has a bright and sweet taste. You can also add some vanilla ice-cream on the side to finish off the treat and indulge in the deliciousness of this recipe!
Last but definitely not least, Thanksgiving would not be complete without a delicious roast Turkey! Roasting a Turkey at home may sound intimidating at first because of the long lists of ingredients and the seemingly never-ending cook time, but we assure you that it is actually very simple! If you have never roasted a Turkey by yourself, check out this step-by-step recipe on how to roast your own turkey at home!
Warm up in your fully furnished San Francisco housing and treat yourself to some delicious dinner and treats this Thanksgiving!
The streets of San Francisco seem even more overrun by business people lately. Men and women in button-down shirts and matching lanyards seem to be pouring out of every coffee shop in the city. Suddenly, cloud logos deck the walls of restaurants and museums, and art instillations have overtaken the pavement and windows. What is this all about?
Young techies, motivated businesspeople, and inspired future leaders from around the world flock to San Francisco in the Fall for two reasons: Oracle’s OpenWorld Conference and Salesforce’s Dreamforce conference.
Dreamforce is Salesforce’s annual tech conference, and is known as the most innovative software conference in the world, and is an event that is near and dear to San Francisco’s heart. This year’s Dreamforce event marks the conference’s 15th birthday, and is estimated to bring in over 170,000 eager attendees, also known as ‘Trailblazers’. This vast number is probably the reason that, according to the San Francisco Travel Association, Dreamforce generates about $147 million of direct business sales in the the Bay Area each year. The speaker lineup this year is unbeatable, including Salesforce co-CEOs Marc Benioff and Keith Block, Al Gore, Unilever CIO Jane Moran, and NBA Champion Andre Iguodala. Attendees have the opportunity to get hands-on with the latest of Salesforces technological innovations, have access to over 2,700+ sessions aimed to help every single role in the industry succeed, and can network with other brilliant ‘Trailblazer’ attendees. But the event is not all business! The event caps off with an epic night of music, where Alicia Keys and Lenny Kravitz will perform for the attendees.
Just a few weeks later, an estimated 60,000 tech enthusiasts will stream into San Francisco from October 22 to 25 for Oracle’s OpenWorld conference, a tech gathering at the Moscone Center downtown. Former Oracle CEO and current executive chairman, Larry Ellison, will kick off the event with a speech at 5 p.m. Sunday. The event’s spectacular speaker lineup includes Brian Krzanich, Intel CEO and Rick Welts, the Golden State Warriors President and Chief Operating Officer. With this conference, Oracle aspires to “transform tomorrow’s business, today”, by inspiring conversations about the future of our corporate world through four busy days filled with keynotes, learning sessions, networking opportunities with Oracle customers, industry leaders, and domain experts. The session catalogue includes 500+ available sessions, including Product Training, Customer Case Studies, and key content categories including integrated cloud platform and emerging technologies, among many, many others. After the lectures and workshops, conference-goers can relax, for Wednesday night of Oracle OpenWorld features Oracle CloudFest.18, an epic night of live music- Last years musicians featured The Chainsmokers and Ellie Goulding! This year, Elton John and Beck will perform at the Oracle Appreciation Event on Treasure Island, which will also include a Ferris wheel, arcade games and food.
Both of these events are available for the public – you can easily buy your tickets online, before they are sold out. Therefore, this Fall, for techies all over the world, San Francisco is the place to be.
Are you tired of sitting in your San Francisco apartment on a Friday night with nowhere to go that won’t break the bank? Or cooking every meal in your San Francisco furnished housing, knowing you can’t afford to eat out with SF’s crazy food prices? Or maybe you want a way to get out of your San Francisco dorm room and be active, but can’t afford a gym membership.
Lucky for you, San Francisco has a ton of fun events everyday waiting for you to explore, and the best part is… Most of them are completely FREE! Who doesn’t love free movies, food, parties, or even concerts? If you
Here are some of the fun things you can do to get out of your San Francisco room rental while your on your San Francisco summer vacation that won’t require a single penny from your pocket!
Free Bagel Mondays
You heard that right, every Monday, there will be hundreds of free Bagels available at the La Victoria Bakery located at Mission District of San Francisco. These bagels are delicious and freshly baked, ready for anyone that comes in the doors starting at 8 AM. Start your week off on a positive note and come by the bakery for your free Bagel!
Movie Nights
Are you a movie lover? Lucky for you, because San Francisco offers many free movie nights that are held outdoors this summer! Movies and dates range from The Adventures of Pricilla, Queen of the Desert at the Dolores Park on August 4th, Lady Bird at Washington Square Park on August 25th, to Black Panther at the Dolores Park on September 22nd. Spend some time in the beautiful outdoors and tune in for a great show!
For a full list of movies, dates, and locations in the Bay Area, click here!
Free Waffles Wednesday
Did someone say free waffles? That’s right! You can claim your free waffle at the Capital One 360 Café in the Financial District every Wednesday from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m., or while they last. These delicious Belgian-style waffles come in many different flavors such as TCHO chocolate, maple-bacon, salted caramel and more. Drooling yet?
Dance Party
“Y2K Friday” is a dance party that is hosted every single Friday at the Milk Bar in San Francisco. If you are looking for a fun throwback party, then this is the place to go! The DJ plays pop and r&b songs from the early 2000s from artists like The Beatles, Usher, Destiny’s Child, and more!
Bring your friends out of their San Francisco short stay apartments and join the fun! Admission is completely free before 11 PM!
Comedy Shows
Did you know that San Francisco has one of the best underground comedy shows in America? At SF SoMa, there are some of the best comedy groups in the city that will perform for free every Friday! There will be a different group every week that will be sure to make you laugh out loud.
Join the showcase on Fridays at 7:30 pm every week at 1123 Folsom St and get ready for some hilarious entertainment. Don’t forget to RSVP in advance to get in for free!
Outdoor Yoga Day
Had a long week at school or work, sitting in front of a computer all day? Take yourself outside into the beautiful city and Practice yoga outdoors under the beautiful trees. This class, given generously by instructors free of charge, will invigorate you once again after a tiring or stressful week and help you relax while spending some time outdoors. Classes are held every Saturday starting at 11:30 AM at the Golden Gate Park, and bring along a blanket or mat for practicing!
Thanks for reading, and let us know of any other fun free things happening in SF we forgot!
