When you know an amazing holiday experience is coming up, it’s not premature to already block it out on your calendar and make sure your friends are on board, too.
That’s exactly the case for the fourth annual Let’s Glow SF holiday festival, a free 10-night outdoor event with the nation’s largest holiday projection mapping show. If you’re unfamiliar, projection mapping is a term that means using objects (such as buildings) as display surfaces for video projection. You'll see six of our most interesting buildings (and Annie Alley) lit up with animated light shows on their façades, a majestic and magical sight that can be seen throughout the city and even elsewhere in the Bay Area, gleaming across the bay waters. Those include the Ferry Building, the Salesforce Tower, the Brutalist PG&E Substation on Folsom Street, the Pacific Coast Stock Exchange on Pine, One Bush Plaza and 101 California Street. If you’ve ever seen the fabulous light shows displayed on cathedrals in France (like the Rouen Cathedral or the Chartres), you’ll know how it feels to see these monumental structures lit up in the dark night.
Let’s Glow is brought to us by the Downtown SF Partnership and lasts from December 6 to 15. You’ll see artwork from more than a dozen local and internationally renowned artists displayed with cutting-edge technology by projectors and lasers. Along with that: festivities! Businesses will be selling themed bites and beverages like spiced cider, hot cocoa and autumn spritz cocktails, and some retailers will be offering branded merchandise to remember the event. Of course, there will be performances and free Let’s Glow swag while supplies last.
If you went last year, know that this year’s event footprint is much larger. Last year, 67,000 people came to celebrate (generating $8 million for businesses), and this year should bring even more. The festival is meant to bring joy to a pandemic-depressed downtown and rejuvenate pride and excitement. Events kick off on December 6 with a 6:30pm press conference (yawn) and a celebration (yay) outside the Ferry Building—and, at 7pm, the flipping of an enormous switch to turn everything on. Ten days later, it all winds down with an all-ages block party on Front Street and the new Entertainment Zone.
The artists whose work will be featured are: Spectre Lab of France, Light Harvest Studio, The Fox, The Folks of Indonesia, Maxin10sity of Hungary, Adobe, Jérémie Bellot, Jacob Stephens, Leslie Epzstein of France, Jeff Dobrow from Virginia, Dirty Monitor of Belgium, Yann Nguema with Anima Lux of France, Float4, Henry Hu of Singapore and Adam LaBay from California.
Attendees are asked to bring new coats to be donated to underserved families. A drop-off point at the opening event will be right outside the Ferry Building and for the rest of the festival at Compass Family Services (37 Grove St). Stay warm and bright this December!