The success of the past year and a half of Downtown First Thursdays events has encouraged the event’s backers to go full-throttle into next year, guaranteeing that the monthly street party will go on.
Downtown First Thursdays had been funded through the end of 2025, last we heard. But now billionaire Chris Larsen has confirmed that DFT will go on past New Year’s Day — and New Year’s Day falls on a Thursday this year, so that will be the year’s first event.
“When you bring thousands of people back to the heart of the city and put artists and entrepreneurs at the center, you’re not just throwing a party — you’re revving up an economic engine,” Larsen said in a statement to the SF Standard.
The Civic Joy Fund, backed in part by then-civilian Daniel Lurie, originally launched the event in mid-2024 on a three-month trial basis. Since then, Downtown First Thursdays has become a consistent draw, with one of the biggest crowds turning up for Toro y Moi last January.
Larsen has been joined in financially backing the event by Gap heirs Bob and Randi Fisher, Levi Strauss & Co., Salesforce, and JPMorgan Chase.
Larsen tells the Standard that he and the Fishers have already pledged $2 million toward getting next year’s events off the ground.
We also now know that Jazz Mafia will be performing at the New Year’s Day event, and the Black Joy Parade will be part of event as well.
‘ The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties ’
‘ Some details of this article were extracted from the following source sfist.com ’
