Geoff Walker, left, from San Francisco, weed man, middle, and Kelly Moore, right, from Marin meet at Justin Herman Plaza for the 35th annual Saint Stupid's Day Parade in San Francisco on Monday, April 1, 2013.
Hearst Newspapers/San Francisco Chronicle via Getty ImagesDespite all of San Francisco's counterculture roots and historical significance to the creative arts, these days the city is more defined by social media titans and our future AI overlords. But thankfully, the spirit of old SF still lurks underneath the tech veneer.
One tradition that exemplifies the old spirit of San Francisco is the Saint Stupid's Day Parade, an irreverent event that dates back to 1979, making this its 45th year. It all started when Ed Holmes, better known to his disciples at Bishop Joey, founded the First Church of the Last Laugh.
The group began gathering at the Embarcadero Plaza every April 1, then they'd traverse the city in costume performing a wide range of bizarre rituals, inspired by the work of the Merry Pranksters, an absurdist San Francisco collective from the 1960s.
Although a group did gather last year, the parade was technically still on hiatus because of the coronavirus pandemic. This year, the event is scheduled to begin at "the point building," by which they mean the Transamerica Pyramid, and travel north to Washington Square Park with a fleet of art cars led by the Doggie Diner heads. The 2023 edition still won't quite be a return to full force, with Bishop Joey describing it as more of a stroll than a full-fledged parade, but attendees can still expect plenty of stupidity (and according to Joey, a free lunch).
