St. Anthony Foundation Brings the Tenderloin Community Together for Sunday Streets

June 5, 2023

Neighbors Enjoy Vibrant Vision for the Golden Gate Greenway

A volunteer smiles and makes a bubbles with a bubble wand at Sunday Streets on June 4th

On a sun-soaked Sunday afternoon, the community came out in full force to enjoy the Sunday Streets Tenderloin block party. St. Anthony’s partnered with Livable City to co-host the neighborhood event on June 4 along the 100 and 200 blocks of Golden Gate Avenue, between Jones and Hyde Streets.

Now in its 15^th year, Sunday Streets is an initiative by Livable City to transform streets in San Francisco to car-free open space for fun family-friendly activities, non-profit community organization exhibitions, and connecting with neighbors and residents in pedestrian-only festive spaces.

The wealth of activities for kids, adults and seniors included a green space activation featuring details about the Golden Gate Greenway project, plant giveaways, and verdant trees and plants placed along the block to give a glimpse of the project’s vision. Kids and adults alike enjoyed mini basketball, book giveaways from the S.F. Public Library, live music, face painting, a climbing wall, and a dunk tank. Hats off to Fr. John Hardin for his willingness to brave the water for a good cause. As Nils said, “Your ‘sacrifice’ in the dunk tank did not go unnoticed.”

We want to extend a huge round of applause to Erin McLaughlin, Janet Ryan, Geoffrey McFarland, and the Ops and CSS teams for their outstanding work, our incredible staff, and our enthusiastic volunteers.

Three female volunteers pose and smile in front of the Golden Gate Greenway booth at Sunday Streets

St. Anthony's employees pose and smile at Sunday Streets

We would also like to shout out Livable City, SFMTA, the Asian Pacific Islander Cultural Center, and all the other community organizations that make the event possible. We’d like to recognize our Golden Gate Greenway coalition partners for their perseverance and Pacific Nurseries for greening our block.

Many thanks to State Senator Scott Wiener, Supervisor Dean Preston, City Attorney David Chiu, SFMTA Director of Transportation Jeffrey Tumlin, and State Assemblymember Matt Haney for joining us to celebrate our Tenderloin community.

Finally, thank you to Sam Whiting and the San Francisco Chronicle for featuring the Sunday Streets Tenderloin event and shining a spotlight on one of the many positive events transforming our neighborhood. Big thanks too to ABC-7 TV, KTVU, and KRON 4 for joining us to showcase just how strong our community is. See the videos here.