San Francisco's official Halloween block party expected to draw thousands, boost business
SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) -- The spooky energy was high on the streets of San Francisco Thursday.
During the day, we ran into Diane Springer and her friends.- all of them dressed up to celebrate Halloween.
"We like having people honk and wave and say 'Happy Halloween.' We've even gone trick or treating inside some of the buildings," Springer said.
Many people told us they were getting ready for the "Nightmare on Front Street" event.
The city-sanctioned Halloween block party will shut down part of downtown San Francisco.
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It's the second event utilizing the city's newly created "entertainment zone," which allows bars and restaurants to serve alcohol to people out on the street.
The idea behind it - to attract more people to the city's struggling downtown and boost business.
"You see the downtown area of the city become more lively, which is not the case most of the rest of the year," said Carson Knabe.
One of the bars participating is The Royal Exchange.
Manager Chris Milioto says after the success of the first Oktoberfest themed entertainment zone, the Royal Exchange is expecting thousands.
"We can get them out here and they can enjoy this area. Maybe they don't know about this block and the fun bars that are over here with us," Milioto said.
VIDEO: Thousands attend SF's Oktoberfest on Front, 1st entertainment zone in CA
The sense of excitement also spreading beyond just Front Street.
At Borgan and Son barber shop, Emily Graham and her team dress up every Halloween.
"We are so busy on Halloween because they all want to come in and see us. We have all our regular customers want to come in and see what we are," Graham said.
Graham tells us she's hoping Nightmare on Front Street will have a spillover effect and drive extra business to her shop too.
And, even for those not getting a haircut, many say they're looking forward to everything the Halloween events have to offer.
"I think it's the one holiday that's kind of neutral to everything. And costumes - everybody wishes they were someone else and what a great opportunity to be creative."
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While business owners say they're not quite to pre-pandemic levels of service yet, President and CEO of the San Francisco Chamber of Commerce Rodney Fong says the data shows, events like these are bringing people back to San Francisco.
"The Chamber of Commerce has a data dashboard on sfchamber.com which actually shows you open table reservations spiking and pedestrian traffic on sidewalks rising, so there's certainly indications that things are getting much better," he said.
Thursday's nightmare on Front Street kicks off at 2 p.m. and goes until 10 p.m.
Their next event is already set for December 13.
It will be another all-day block party to celebrate "Let's Glow SF."
That's the largest projection mapping event in the country coming back to the city for another year.
