It’s been quite a summer. We’ve window shopped for go-go boys, indulged a merman trend, and celebrated Pride with a purpose following the landmark marriage ruling.
But in San Francisco, there’s still one more rite of Summer passage waiting in the wings — the annual Folsom Street Fair, the largest fetish wonderland of its kind in the world.
Here’s a look at what makes Folsom weekend shine like polished leather boots:
Leather Walk – Sunday Sep 20 from 10 am-2pm
Can’t wait for the fair? Folsom Street Events presents LeatherWalk as the official kick-off for SF’s Leather Week which culminates one week later at the fair. Participants walk together to celebrate leather, kink, family and community — all while raising funds for three great agencies. Each year, hundreds of LeatherWalkers take over Market Street and march from the Castro to SoMa. The route includes stops at some of San Francisco’s favorite watering holes including Powerhouse, Oasis and BeatBox and ends with raising of the Leather Pride Flag at the SF Eagle.
Bearracuda – Friday Sep 25 from 9pm-4am
As the name suggests, this party is all about embracing bears, whether you are one or just want to, well, embrace one.
Full Fetish – Friday Sep 25 from 10pm-3am
Gear up as RECON returns to SF to host the “men only” Friday night play party of Folsom weekend. Recon expands on their sleazy, Euro-style playroom, cruising maze and dungeon to build the atmosphere for what is sure to be one of the hottest fetish, kink and underground play parties during Folsom.
Magnitude – Saturday Sep 26 from 9pm-4am
An infamous, expanded play space returns along with massive laser light shows, hardcore video projections, and men from the hottest studios. Magnitude is the official Folsom eve party.
The Fair – Sun Sep 27, 2015 from 11am-pm
Join nearly 250,000 fetish enthusiasts for interactive demos, shopping at over 220 exhibitor booths, hot food and cold drinks, and much, much more. Don’t miss the main stage entertainment and two sun soaked dance areas. If you think you’ve seen it all, come prepared to be proven wrong.
Deviants – Sunday Sep 27 from 6pm-2am
Want to keep the vibe of Folsom Street Fair going all night long? Well, that’s exactly what you get at Deviants. All the fun, scary, and crazy sights and sounds are on display for you at this official closing party. Join for an amazing spectacle of debauchery just blocks from the fairgrounds. Pups, ponies, and leather folks of all persuasions will be present.
bottom250
OHHH My GOD sweethearts that seems so fabulous. I can imagine all those hot men in one area. mmmmmm
Anthony Bryan Hilton
Shouldn’t it be douchebaggery, not debauuchery?
bottom250
@Anthony Bryan Hilton: why douchebaggery?
Kangol
Lots of hot fun coming (and cumming) in San Francisco. Leather up, folks!
tusgold
why is everything gay about sex fetishes. No wonder there are so many phobes we push this shit in their face. I don”t care if you love scat and golden showers. Want to own slave boys and abuse them. Some gay guys have tranditional values, but you assclowns make us all look like sexually twisted perverts
Glücklich
@bottom250:
Hate to break it to you but women go to Folsom, too – at least the street fair. That would be fine but they’re usually women well past their prime who’ve never worn a bra or sunscreen and who can’t go to the beach without bringing in the tide. If you’re into big ol’ saggy, leathery freckled titties, like two pillow cases filled with sand capped with GIANT areolae and seeing *much* more than a peek of cottage-cheesy dumpy stretch-marked broken-blood-vessel ass cheeks drooping from the bottom of obscenely short vinyl hot-pants, Folsom’ll be right up your alley.
Glücklich
Should add that despite the attendance of so many Venus of Willendorf types at Folsom, the city itself has a fun vibe over Folsom weekend. Lots of people coming into town from around the world. Any excuse for a party. I’m sorry to be missing this year’s but will be in London during the festivities.
Up Your Alley is more debauched and a lot more fun.
Jacob23
Gross and sad. Look at that first pic. A bunch of fat, middle-aged or old men standing around in the same ridiculous costumes they wore in 1987, trying to make this whole thing look sexy. And about 1 in 4 of the attendees at this “sexual liberation” event will have HIV according to a recent survey of HIV prevalence among gay/bi males in SF (compared to 1 in 200 in the general US population).
Clark35
Folsom St. fair and other events like it such as up your alley/Dore alley, have been jokes since the 80s.
Clark35
@bottom250: Because there’s lots of snobbery as it’s an LGBT event in SF. It’s the time of year everyone at the events actually wears any leather for a few hours out of an entire year.
Will Moor
@Jacob23: WOW. What the hell do you care? Let them have their fun, you ageist jerk. Nobody is making you attend!
Bobby French
It is one of the few events where public nudity is still allowed in the sreets of San Fran.
sportyguy1983
Making their parents so proud of them.
Annette Phillips
I wish I was a gay man.
McShane
Bearracuda events are always fun.
Maude
You can put lipstick on a pig,but it’s still a pig.
Nothing wrong with that…….if you like pigs.
Black Pegasus
Disgusting! Never understood the allure to this filth.
lelandjr
Tired and sad. Now they’re only pandering to the increasing number of tourists who come to watch more and more outrageous acts, then tell the folks back home; “see, this is who gays are!”
Glücklich
Didn’t realize Folsom had changed its name to “Kim Davis Presents Bieber-Palooza ’15”. Fuckin A! Lighten up everyone. I think 911 will still work should you need to call for rescue when a Folsom attendee shows up to march you at gunpoint through the gates.
SonOfKings
For the culture snobs and knee-jerks loking down on this spectacle, I’d like to point out the following:
1. There are quite a number of young, hot, fit guys and gals into this scene as a form of street theater and performance art. It’s not all fat, aging, saggy throwbacks who are participating.
2. Like it or not, the leather S&M, B&D culture is part of the whole LGBT liberation scence of the 1970’s. So why deny it?
3. It’s just fun, a lead in to the coming Halloween season. No need to cut off our circulation getting our panties in a bunch.
Finrod
I see that the Cotton Mather Brigade is here in force.
Brian
A bunch of men walking around in public with their fetishes on display. YAWN.
Glücklich
@Brian:
Enough about the neighbors you’re desperately peeping on through binoculars. What do you think of the subject event?
Glücklich
@tusgold:
Right. We should practice all of our sexual proclivities in secret behind closed doors like so many upstanding straight guys – Subway Jared, that Duggar kid, cheating pols, molest-y teachers male and female, etc.
Or put an innocuous face on the closed doors they mess around behind, like the proliferation of door-buzzer Asian “health spas” everywhere that keep *such* odd hours.
Or make titillation super up-market like the adult Cirque de Soleil shows in Las Vegas. And speaking of Vegas, the Strip isn’t particularly known for being littered with Gideon bibles and Watchtowers. Nor should you overlook Key West, Amsterdam, Berlin, Bangkok, or Tokyo.
God forbid some Victorian sensibilities are offended by catching a glimpse of something no one’s forcing them to look at. *Plenty* of straight folks go to Folsom, which is why I prefer Up Your Alley.
jwtraveler
@Clark35: Almost as long as you have.
jwtraveler
@tusgold: Would those be the traditional values of judgment, intolerance and bigotry? If you and your gay Christian fundamentalist friends want to dress yourselves in suits and ties every Sunday and sit in church repenting your sins and praising the lord from dawn to dusk, it’s none of my business. Knock yourselves out. But where do you and your fellow anal-retentives get the idea that your “traditional values” entitle you to butt your self-righteous noses into everyone else’s life and tell us how to live them.
If thousands of gay people want to go out in the streets of SF (with the approval of the city government, I might add) in fetish gear or naked and display their sexual proclivities for curious tourists, what does that have to do with you? If you don’t like it, don’t go, don’t look. But most of all shut up and f**k off. That’s what I do when I hear about you “traditional values” people doing your thing.
The world would be a MUCH better place if everyone kept their noses out of everyone else’s business.
jwtraveler
@Glücklich: Nothing like a load of disgustingly offensive misogyny to add to the gay homophobia on display here.
How can we expect straight people to respect us if we have so little respect for each other?
Glücklich
@jwtraveler:
How tiresome it must be to weigh in on everything that hurts your avoirdupois feelings. As I’ve previously suggested, you ought to change your user name to SJWtraveler.
Bauhaus
There are enough loose pearls on this thread to string a necklace for a Million Moms mom to clutch at her next rally. Well done.
jwtraveler
@Glücklich: I don’t know what that means, but the fact that you’re a disgusting pig does not hurt my feelings. It hurts the world around you. If you get tired of my comments, ignore them.
Glücklich
@jwtraveler:
The whole world? I’m gratified but I can’t take all the credit.
n900mixalot
@Will Moor: what the hell is a “San Fran?” You mean SF, The City, or San Francisco?
“San Fran” … ugh gives me gas.
S B Hadley Wilson
Erik Englund