Dust Off Your Assless Chaps, It’s Folsom Weekend
Okay, so it’s totally true that here in the Castro every day is ‘assless chaps day’ on some level — like, I do see guys flagging and in full-on black leather biker daddy cap-and-chaps regalia at 2 in the afternoon shopping in Walgreens on a weekday. But that’s just our flora and fauna here.
But now that’s about to happen all over the city (except, as always, in our deliciously LA-esque suburb, the Marina). It’s the weekend of Folsom Street Fair, meaning that over 400,000 kinky tourists are about to show up and have a party in SOMA. Besides sunday, where we get to see swingers from Orinda dressed as human ponies getting horrible sunburns, BDSM n00bs from Brisbane barfing $8 beers down their $2000 rubber dresses, and the *amazing opportunity* to buy overpriced buttplugs the size of fire hydrants, there’s a lot of cool stuff going on. Check out events, and my saturday volunteer gig with San Francisco Sex Information pals after the jump. Image: the leather pride flag in the Castro, yesterday.
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* Stock up on kinky clothing and sex toys! Read where I recommend shopping (from butt plug bargains to rubber couture) in my sex-positive guide to San Francisco.
* Tonight there’s the Men of Discipline Folsom Street Kick-Off Party at the SF Citadel; the Sisters are throwing an unofficial pre-party, Scandalous Behaviours: A Night of Indulgence at N’Touch Bar; Midori and Julie Simone are opening their HOT photo show at Femina Potens, BeefCake by Cheesecake. Read more about all of these events at Eros Guide.
* On saturday (daytime), go to LoveFest, where I’ll be volunteering with SFSI pals (early shift, from 12:30-3:30). For this, you’ll be asked for a donation to get in, and the money goes to next year’s Lovefest and participating organizations — like SFSI. We expect 60-80,000 attendees to join us for dancing in the streets to over 30 music stages featuring over a hundred DJ’s! There will be floats and a parade, and part of downtown will be shut down all day — look at the map.
* Saturday night go to Perverts Put Out at Counterpulse and dig local erotic writers reading smutty things; or go to the be-all, end-all fetish ball in San Francisco — Slick will be at The Porn Palace (415 Jesse), put on by Club Slick and Kink.com! Exotic Erotic is really the sad bumpkin amateur-hour inbred cousin of this fetish ball. Really. Go.
* The fair is sunday — that means Folsom St. between 7th and 12th will be closed from 11am to 6pm. It also means that the entire area — SOMA — will be virtually impassable by car. Pick a different route. Don’t drive, or if you do, park around Best Buy or Rainbow General and wear walking shoes (you can put your 10″ stiletto platforms back on when you get there). If you’re coming from out of town, check out the Fair’s FAQ page.
* You’ll be asked for a donation at the gate — give them money, dammit! These charities are worth the (over) $250,000 that will be raised.
* There will be two stages and OMG My Life With The Thrill Kill Kult will be at the 7th street stage at 4:45pm! Also, I love Bob Mould and he’ll be playing in Blowoff at the 12th street stage at 5pm!
* Furthermore, check out the Laughing Squid events calendar for all kinds of cool stuff to do this weekend.
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We were in town for last year’s Folsom Street Fair, and the funniest I think I’ve ever seen was the kid on the muni who tried to convince us that it was a generic street carnival, and not, well, The World Famous Folsom Street Fair.
That was a stitch.
Walking up through the Castro later that day, we ran into four guys on their way there, in their chaps. Imagine my surprise when they turned the corner and, holy crap, those are their bums!
I love events that shock tourists :)
I volunteered at the Folsom fair a few years back for SF Suicide Prevention. I ended up working the staff/volunteer coat check with my partner, next to the Sisters’ control booth. It was a blast.
I wore my boy scout shirt and everything.
Some of my other friends also volunteered on the security staff and they mostly got hit on. One of them broke up a drunken screaming match, and another saw a public blowjob and wasn’t sure if she was supposed to stop it or cheer the participants on.