Love Fest San Francisco took over the city’s Tenderloin neighborhood on Saturday.
The art and music event was aimed at ending the so-called “doom loop” of a negative narrative associated with the area and providing support to small businesses.
“This doom loop is alleged,” said Adam Swig, a co-producer of the event. “The pandemic was awful, it affected all of us. The problem that existed in [San Francisco] kind of existed before that in the tenderloin, they’re not new. Today is an example of how we can move forward.”
Leading that charge was former San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown, cutting a ribbon symbolizing the rejection of the doom loop narrative.
“It means we are challenging everything people say negative about San Francisco,” Brown said.
Many businesses owners in the area said the effort made on Saturday to change the narrative helped bring consumers to support them.
“I just think people don’t come to the tenderloin because they see it as not clean and not safe,” said Justin Bautista, the owner of clothing store Tilted Brim. “When we have events like this there is a clean-up effort and safety effort in confined areas but go ahead and walk a couple blocks in any other direction and it's just not that.”
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Bautista said he hopes these efforts will continue to be amplified throughout the neighborhood.
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