Photos and video capture the 2026 San Francisco Chinese New Year Parade’s route through downtown

A signature city event returns with Year of the Fire Horse celebrations

San Francisco’s Chinese New Year Parade returned Saturday night, March 7, 2026, drawing large crowds to downtown streets for an annual Lunar New Year tradition centered on Chinatown and Union Square. This year’s celebration marked the Year of the Fire Horse and featured the mix of cultural performances, marching units, and float displays that have long defined the event.

Parade coverage and a gallery of photos and video published early Sunday, March 8, offered a cross-section of the evening’s scenes: costumed performers, dance troupes, and illuminated floats moving through tightly packed viewing corridors as spectators lined sidewalks and building edges to watch the procession pass.

Route, timing, and viewing logistics

The parade’s step-off was scheduled for about 5:15 p.m., beginning at Second and Market streets. From there, the route continued through the downtown core, circled the Union Square area, and proceeded toward Chinatown, with the parade’s endpoint listed at Kearny Street and Columbus Avenue. Transportation advisories issued ahead of the event highlighted the concentration of activity around the downtown corridor and the likelihood of street closures and reroutes as the parade moved block by block.

Broadcast schedules released for the night placed live coverage in the early evening, with additional replay programming later the same night. The timing aligned with longstanding patterns for the parade, which is staged after dark to emphasize lighting, color, and large-scale float design.

Grand marshal and key participants

Olympic freestyle skiing gold medalist and San Francisco native Eileen Gu served as grand marshal, an appointment announced earlier this year and confirmed again in pre-parade coverage. Her role placed a prominent local figure at the front of the event, which traditionally combines community organizations with high-profile honorees.

Previews leading into the parade emphasized intensive behind-the-scenes work on floats and sculptural elements, reflecting the technical and artistic production required for large moving displays—particularly in an evening setting where glittering finishes, lighting, and durable construction must work together for several miles of slow movement and frequent stops.

Weekend programming beyond the parade

The parade was part of a broader weekend of Lunar New Year activity in and around Chinatown. A two-day community street fair was scheduled for March 7–8, adding daytime programming—vendors, food, and neighborhood foot traffic—alongside the nighttime parade.

• Date: Saturday, March 7, 2026 (parade), with street fair continuing Sunday, March 8
• Start: Second and Market streets, with a 5:15 p.m. step-off time widely posted
• Downtown route: Union Square corridor to Chinatown, ending near Kearny Street and Columbus Avenue

The photo-and-video coverage from the night underscored the parade’s core identity: a large-scale public celebration designed for dense, street-level viewing, built around performance, craft, and community participation.