August in San Francisco brings the city’s two biggest music weekends, a run of free street festivals, a major Egyptian antiquities show at the de Young, and the close of the Stern Grove season. Here is what is happening around the city this month.
Treasures of the Pharaohs Opens August 1
The de Young Museum opens Treasures of the Pharaohs on Saturday, August 1, and keeps it up through January 31, 2027. The show brings 130 ancient Egyptian antiquities on loan from the Egyptian Museum in Cairo and the Luxor Museum, arranged across six thematic sections in eight galleries. It is the exhibition’s United States debut. The show requires a timed special-exhibition ticket separate from general admission, priced at $40 for the public and $28 for members buying beyond their allotment.
Nihonmachi Street Fair
The 52nd Nihonmachi Street Fair filled Post Street between Webster and Laguna on Saturday and Sunday, August 1 and 2, from 11am to 6pm. The free fair centers on Asian American and Pacific Islander communities and has two performance stages, an artisan marketplace, a food area, and a beer and sake garden.
Outside Lands
Outside Lands ran Friday through Sunday, August 7 to 9, at the west end of Golden Gate Park. Charli XCX, RUFUS DU SOL, and The Strokes headlined, with more than 90 acts across several stages plus the Wine Lands and Beer Lands tasting areas.
Pistahan
Pistahan, the Filipino and Filipino-American cultural festival, returned to Yerba Buena Gardens on Saturday and Sunday, August 8 and 9, from 11am to 5pm. Saturday opened with a parade down Market Street from the Civic Center area. This was the 33rd annual.
Stern Grove Festival Closed the Season
The free Stern Grove Festival played its last four shows this month at Sigmund Stern Grove in the Sunset, closing with Big Picnic Weekend: Public Enemy on Saturday, August 15 and Al Green with Goapele and The Glide Ensemble on Sunday, August 16.
Pokémon World Championships at Moscone
The 2026 Pokémon World Championships run August 28 to 30 at the Moscone Center, with the finals at Chase Center on the 30th. Badges are sold out and there is no entry without one, but the competitions stream free at PokemonXP.com. Howard Street between 3rd and 4th is closed through September 1, with partial closures on nearby blocks over the same window.
Free Museum Days
Four free days fell in the first week of August. The Asian Art Museum was free on Sunday, August 2. The de Young, the Legion of Honor, and the Conservatory of Flowers were free on Tuesday, August 4. The GLBT Historical Society Museum in the Castro was free on Wednesday, August 5. The Museum of Craft and Design in the Dogpatch and BAMPFA in Berkeley were both free on Thursday, August 6. The de Young and Legion of Honor are also free every Saturday for residents of the nine Bay Area counties with valid ID. Our August free museum days guide has the full list, and the September edition is now up.
Museum Exhibitions
Two shows closed early in the month. Boom and Bust: Photographing Northern California ended at the de Young on August 2, and Drawn to Venice ended at the Legion of Honor on August 16. On August 15 the de Young opened A Gallery of Their Own: Women Artists from the Carr and Goldblum Gift, a show of photography, printmaking, and drawing by women artists working since the 1960s, including Louise Bourgeois, Judy Dater, Jay DeFeo, Lee Krasner, and Yayoi Kusama. The museum’s 2026 advance schedule gives its run as August 15, 2026 to February 14, 2027. The de Young opened its next show from the Svane Gift, Superficial Matters, on the same day, August 15, running through April 11, 2027; an earlier version of this guide gave September 5 as that show’s opening date, which the museum’s own advance schedule contradicts. Yerba Buena Center for the Arts opened GaHee Park: Behind the Curtain on August 7, the painter’s first solo institutional show in the United States, running through January 3, 2027. Longer runs continue: Graciela Iturbide: Between Two Worlds at SFMOMA through November 29, O. Smith: Artivist at SFMOMA through June 20, 2027, The Etruscans at the Legion of Honor through September 20, and One Hundred Plays of the Noh Theater at the Asian Art Museum through February 2027. SFMOMA adds Jacob Hashimoto: Giant Arc in its free ground-floor gallery on August 22.
One August show is on a clock. Matisse’s Femme au chapeau: A Modern Scandal runs at SFMOMA through September 13. The painting belongs to SFMOMA and stays on view after the show closes, but under the terms of its bequest it cannot travel, so the exhibition has no second venue.
Two closures landed in the second half of the month. SF Camerawork closed its Fort Mason gallery on August 16 after 52 years. The Museum of the African Diaspora is closed through September 29 for exhibition installation and reopens September 30 alongside Nexus: SF/Bay Area Black Art Week.
One more August closing date to know for next month: Vivid: Immerse Your Senses ends at the California Academy of Sciences on September 7, and the Academy’s Tiny Chef exhibit runs to September 30.
Bay Day at the Exploratorium
The Exploratorium held Bay Day on Saturday, August 1, from 11am to 4pm at Pier 15.
Free Events at Yerba Buena Gardens
The Yerba Buena Gardens Festival programs free performances on the Great Lawn most weeks, including Dance Outdoors at noon on Wednesdays.
Sunday Streets in the Bayview
Sunday Streets closes streets to cars for a free neighborhood block party. The August event was in the Bayview on Sunday, August 23, from noon to 5pm. Routes and times are posted by Livable City, which runs the program.
Fort Mason Night Market
The free Fort Mason Night Market runs one Friday a month on the northern waterfront, with craft vendors, food trucks, and live music. The August date was Friday, August 21.
Baseball at Oracle Park
The Giants play 16 home games in August. Cincinnati visits August 24 to 26 and Arizona August 27 to 29, with a doubleheader on the 29th. The Giants host Pokémon Worlds Night on Thursday, August 27, with Pokémon GO activations around the ballpark and a themed drone show after the game. Oracle Park is at 24 Willie Mays Plaza, a short walk from the Embarcadero and Montgomery BART stations.
Basketball at Chase Center
The Golden State Valkyries clinched a WNBA playoff berth on August 17 with a win over the Dallas Wings. The WNBA pauses from August 31 to September 16 for the FIBA Women’s World Cup, so home dates before the playoffs are limited.
Getting Around This Month
Four transit changes land in August. MuniMobile stopped selling single rides and Muni-only day passes on August 1; our Muni payment guide covers what replaces them. BART changed its systemwide schedule on August 10, with longer trains and reworked train spacing. BART also cancels Green Line service on the weekend of August 29 and 30 for track work near Fremont, with two more Green Line weekends in September. In Chinatown, the Broadway Tunnel closed fully on August 16 and 17 and is now down to one lane in each direction through a single bore, a configuration Public Works expects to hold until about October 2027. At the end of the month, Muni changes its own schedules on August 29, moving the 1 California and the N Judah to a bus every nine minutes and adding stops for the start of school.
On the freeway side, Caltrans has lane reductions on US-101 through the Hospital Curve from 11pm Friday, August 21 to 6am Monday, August 24, ahead of full northbound closures over Labor Day weekend and again September 18 to 21.
Weather and What to Pack
August is still fog season along the western half of the city. Mornings in the Sunset, the Richmond, and along the coast are often gray and cool and usually clear by midday. The Mission, Potrero Hill, and Dogpatch stay sunnier and warmer, sometimes by 15 degrees on the same afternoon. Bring a layer for the evening even when the afternoon is warm, and plan for wind at Ocean Beach.
Next Month
September brings the San Francisco Opera and Symphony season openings, free Opera in the Park, the Chinatown Autumn Moon Festival, Portola at Pier 80, and four museum shows closing. See our guide to things to do in San Francisco in September 2026.
Last Month
See our guide to things to do in San Francisco in July 2026.
