Are free concerts helping San Francisco's comeback?
SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) -- Free concerts have bloomed up across San Francisco, either in their annual return or as new additions, and there's a belief they are pushing the city in the right direction.
For the past nearly 90 years, the Stern Grove Music Festival has been serving up head-turning headliners like Chaka Khan for free.
"We really want to be able to bring free live music to the community and make it accessible," the festival's marketing director Molly Fremgen said. "We really feel that, like in today's world, concert tickets are so expensive and it's really hard for some people to be able to go see these amazing musicians."
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The festival draws in roughly 90,000 people to the city each year from across the Bay Area and beyond.
"I think it makes a difference because people are struggling right now financially," Hollister resident Heather Nichols said. "And so they might not want to splurge on entertainment but it's important for human beings to socialize with one another and enjoy the arts.."
And as the organizers of Outside Lands, the city's largest music festival, Another Planet Entertainment knows what it means for fans to descend on the city.
"That means hotel rooms, restaurants, Ubers, retail taxes, all of that," Allen Scott of Another Planet Entertainment said.
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This past week, the organization announced it's now hosting a free concert at Civic Center in September with Grammy Award-winning rock band Portugal. The Man set to take the stage.
This is on the heels of a paid, ticketed rave at Civic Center in May that drew in 25,000 people.
Meanwhile, back at Stern Grove, these concertgoers say they aren't surprised music is helping to bring the city back.
"We were just walking around and the joy and, you know, families and people of all ages here it's really it's part of the heart of San Francisco in the Bay Area to have people interact and, you know, just to enjoy music together," Oakland resident Kathleen Paulo said.
"I think it's really great these free concerts keep people together, keep people out of trouble, and it's just this whole Bay Area coming together to celebrate," San Francisco resident Elicia Bansuelo said.
