Halloween in San Francisco's Castro District helping break 'doom loop' narraitve
SAN FRANCISCO — Halloween in The Castro was back this weekend for the first time in 17 years. And merchants said the timing couldn't be better as a way to counter the doom loop narrative.
Among the Halloween festivities on Saturday night was a flash mob of zombies dancing to Michael Jackson's Thriller in front of Twin Peaks Tavern.
"The energy is what we need to heal the city and to recover from the pandemic and to get out of that ugly narrative that we've been in," said Terry Asten Bennett, the co-owner of Cliff's Variety and the president of The Castro Merchants Association.
In the return of Halloween in The Castro, Asten Bennett also brought back the long-absent pie eating contest.
"My great-grandfather started Halloween in The Castro back in the 40s. And the pie eating contest was one of the original activities from Halloween," said Asten Bennett.
Cliff's was one of many businesses that hosted activities to celebrate the spooky holiday. Others held drag queen contests, costume competitions, and dance parties.
"It's important to bring the right Halloween party back to The Castro. This needs to be a safe, family-friendly event focused on our community. Because community is what The Castro is all about and Halloween is truly the high holiday of The Castro," said Asten Bennett.
The city and organizers shut down event after a mass shooting in 2006 injured nine people. Many said the annual party became too big, too rowdy, and too dangerous.
Previously, tens of thousands of people would shut down the neighborhood and party in the streets.
"We didn't want to shut the streets down (this time), we didn't want to bring in that scary element that happened because that really negatively impacted the whole neighborhood," said Asten Bennett.
Businesses said it was the perfect time to relaunch the celebration because it increased foot traffic and reinvigorated the business district.
"It's a really critical time for the neighborhood to come together as we're trying to rebuild after everything kind of collapsed," said one worker at Freeborn Designs.
The Castro wasn't alone. On Valencia Street in The Mission, organizers turned a couple of car-free blocks into what they said was an anti-doom loop pedestrian promenade with pickleball, games, and music to support small businesses.
"Honestly, joy is the anti-doom loop story. And joy isn't hard to access. It's just when things get rough, it's easy to get caught up into all that's not working. But this is working," said Amandeep Jawa, chair of Friends of Valencia.
As for Asten Bennett, she couldn't be happier to see something that her great-grandfather started return to her neighborhood.
"It blew my expectations out of the water," said Asten Bennett.
