As the fog and wind started to pick up at 6 p.m. on Friday, so did the crowds, rolling onto the Norton Street Parking Lot to enjoy the Excelsior’s first-ever “From the E” night market.
Some parents rolled up in parkas while their children wore layers of leggings, skirts, sweaters and fairy princess costumes. Other parents brought their own fun in handheld brown paper bags. And still, the crowds kept coming out as the Lucha Libra fighters warmed up.
“I see so many smiles,” said Avei St. Pierre, the secretary of the Excelsior Action Group, which organized the night. “It’s the kids who really want to come. This [event] really is just for the community and helping to promote the local businesses.”
The roughly 10 Lucha Libre fighters were either huddled in their tent or jumping up and down in their costumes to keep warm — assembled around the wrestling ring in the middle of the parking lot.
The wrestlers were from Wrestling for Charity, but this time they were wrestling for pure entertainment. Nonetheless, as the fighting commenced, more and more people gathered at the ring’s perimeter shouting “sit on him!” and the occasional not-family-friendly exclamations from children and their parents alike.
Most of the attendees were families from the neighborhood, and many were seen walking from their nearby homes to check it out.
“We’re happy it’s here,” said Excelsior resident and mom Metzi Calleros. “The only thing is, I wish it were bigger.”
Her sister, Lizbett Calleros, agreed.“Any cultural and family activities during the summer are appreciated. It feels like old San Francisco.”
The night markets began a few years back, and have been funded by the Civic Joy Fund, a branch of nonprofit Civic Space Foundation, focused on organizing events that bring joy to the streets of various San Francisco neighborhoods.
The event in the Sunset became so popular that it has been put on pause. Others are also booming with popularity, and with their own personalities; while the Noe Valley night market has more strollers and dogs, the Castro night market has more dancing go-go boys.
“This has been a long time coming,” said St. Pierre, crediting the night market’s execution with new Excelsior Action Group head Ben Bleinman.
But for now, they were happy to have it at all.
Between matches, the rope on the sides of the Lucha Libre ring became a bounce house for the neighborhood kids to commandeer, while the middle became the spot where younger kids could run around in circles and their parents could get a moment of peace.
While the wrestlers and referees were taking a break, the band Bateria Batuki swung into action with a set of salsa, cumbia and merengue that got dancers young and old into the rhythm of things.
The event stuck to all of their promises of activating space and uplifting local businesses; no vendor present was from outside the Excelsior community or, besides the few home-based businesses, outside of the commercial corridor.
On the blocked-off Harrington Street was where you’d find all of the local artisan booths, including a Balboa High School English teacher selling prints and a psychic offering tarot readings.
On the far end of the event, Excelsior Coffee and Deli Man set up shop, serving coffee to keep people warm and barbecued chicken to keep them happy. Among the food service crowd was a lemonade stand, a home bakery and The Korner Store, a Mission Street staple Korean restaurant.
Although a majority of attendees were Excelsior natives or residents, many were from other parts of the city and Bay Area, and decided to make their way out.
“We heard there was gonna be a fight, a spectacle,” said 20-year-old Jason Johnston of the wrestling matches.
Johnston and his friends were not from the Excelsior, but heard about this event online and decided that the quirky main event was reason alone to come. The friends ranged in proximity from as close as the Mission to as far as the East Bay, but they were all excited and pleasantly surprised at what “the E” had to offer.
“I’m super excited to see so many neighbors, children running around and seniors out here,” District 11 Supervisor Chyanne Chen said. “I am grateful that the forgotten district is getting some attention.”
Around 9:30 p.m., officially the end of the night, the crowd gathered around the Lucha Libre pants-dropping grand finale that took all the clotheslining and drop-kicking from earlier in the evening and cranked it up tenfold with cartwheels, finger hooks in the mouth and, yes, good, old-fashioned mooning.
What started out as mainly wrestling with a side of theatrics ended in a victory-induced mooning by the champions Puga Da Boss and Kaka Meng, who revealed a cheeky thong over the loser’s face.
The gator boys won the tag match not kaka meng