Cover photo created by LG @jayasimha78 using photos shot during Carnaval San Francisco 2022 Parade.
It is good to see parades are coming back to San Francisco after two years of hiatus due to pandemic. This is another parade which is photographers dream. I have been photographing parade from last 7-8 years. The colors, costumes and the energy this parade offers is amazing. This parade is 3.5 - 4 hours long, there were 64 groups participated in this parade.
The parade starts at 24th and Bryant street, turns on Mission Street and goes up to 15th and Mission Street.
If you are interested check out the history of this parade here.
The parade is an annual event started in 1979, so it is going on for more than 40+ years.
Check out the mission, vision and values of the parade here.
In fact Carnaval San Francisco is a couple of months event, it kicks off in February with ‘Carnaval San Francisco Fat Tuesday’ event, where different groups perform in the mission district in various clubs and restaurants, in fact it was a more pop up event, on the streets of Mission district of San Francisco.
After that different groups start practicing for the event, there is a also a Carnaval King and Queen Competition, winners are crowned as Carnval King and Queen. Parade is held during the last week of May, there is a two festival day before parade and also on the day of the parade. Various vendors and performers participate in the parade, there were 3 stages, various musicians and dancers performed on those stages.
Parade starts with San Francisco LowRiders, more than 200 cars participate in the parade, some of them performing some stunts as shown in the picture collage above.
Here is the group of folks carrying Carnaval Banner in the parade.
What is Carnaval without samba dancers, you will find several groups with Samba dancers in the parade.
Here is another group which I love to photograph
Group called LocoBloco where participants walking on sticks!
Here is a native Indian group with colorful feathers, dancing during the parade.
There were several huge groups with drummers, here is one of them.
Here is a group from Colombia with colorful costume, with those colorful skirts.
Here is a shot of this years King and Queen of the parade. In fact both of them are originally from Colombia. Both are amazing dancers. I fortunate to capture their performances during this Carnaval Season!
These interesting floats are also part of the parade.
Here is a rock band called Mixtiso on the float performing during the parade
Here is a cute child dressed up and walking in the parade. Several children also participate in the parade
More Samba dancers!
Aquarela Samba dancers on the float entertaining the crowd.
This person is part of a roller skating group comes up with unique makeup every year!
Here is another participant from Church of 8 Wheels roller skating group!
More dancers with their colorful feathers dancing away in the parade!
If you want to see more pictures from the parade, visit my album here
