St. Stupid's Day -- another parade in San Francisco

March 28, 8:33 PMBay Area Getaways ExaminerHeather Barnes

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April Fools Day is around the corner and since a parade full of San Francisco grown-ups insists on keeping us office dwellers entertained during our lunch hour, I guess it's only fair to go see what all the fuss is about. 

For those who live, work and breath in downtown San Francisco, lunch time in the Financial District is a "get-away" of a certain kind. It's a trendy shopping spree, errands, doctor visits or a group outing upon a rooftop. It could easily be a bench, sack lunch and people watching. And, one of my all-time favorite lunch hours is a city walk to Union Square or China Town making steady time up and down the hilly streets. Wednesday, April 1st, however, you can find me among the "stupid." My people watching skills will finally come in handy, and I can freely gawk without sunglasses.

St. Stupid's Day is a long-standing 30 year tradition of The First Church of the Last Laugh and you really may want to miss it .... or not! Weirdos, wackos, dumbos and flakos come together in all their "stupid" splendor. They strut their stuff and parade their creativity. For one entire day of the year, "stupid is as stupid does" and that's just fine with San Francisco  ... and me.

If you would like to be "stupid" for the day, or just want to fit in, check out the link below to see how to participate.  For the rest of us with "slight" voyeuristic tendencies, the parade begins at the Embarcardero at noon and continues on through town scaring old people and shocking tourists.

St. Stupid's Day Parade Route

http://saintstupid.com/parades.html

Post Script:

It's now been a couple hours since I stood from a safe distance observing the mish-mash of stupids.  I'm here to say that the festivities took place as usual.  Well, "usual" is all relative, isn't it?  They gathered in costumes, partial costumes, and birthday suits. The famous doggy diner heads made their annual show (which is a small thrill to any local who once knew Doggy Diner as a San Francisco icon).   I gawked with the best of the gawkers and made sure I spotted all 4 nudes, which included one woman pushing a toddler in a stroller.  An observant man from behind me commented to his friend that he would have hoped a better looking man would parade around nude.  I spotted the scrawny little (don't get me started) guy he referenced and I agreed.  I  have yet to wash the image clean.   As I was about to leave for the confines of my office, the stupids began to chant to the gawkers, " go back to work.....  go back to work!!"  The gawkers retorted, "get a job...... get a JOB!"

Only in San Francisco . . . . .