Italian Heritage Parade

Italian-Americans know how to throw a good party, and the city’s vibrant and charming North Beach neighborhood is likely one of the best places to get the chianti bottles popping. The Italian Heritage Parade — formerly the Columbus Day Parade, rebranded for 21st century sensibilities — is San Francisco’s oldest civic celebration, dating to 1868. You can expect colorful floats, crazy costumes and high school marching bands, plentiful food and drink, and sightings of the young ladies who comprise Queen Isabella and Her Court. They’re kind of hard to miss.