Thousand pack SF for Memorial Day weekend, including Carnaval, Chinatown Pride

SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) -- Thousands came out to San Francisco on Saturday to kick off Memorial Day weekend and to celebrate two big cultural events.

For the past 40 years, Carnaval San Francisco celebrates the cultures and confluence of Latin American and the Caribbean in the city's Mission District.

"We come out and celebrate our culture every year," says San Francisco resident, Robert Martinez. "The music is fantastic. Just makes you move and celebrate life. And we need that right now."

Martinez has celebrated Carnaval many times. And like many, here to share in the music, the food and festivities of the region. He adds, it shows that the vibe in San Francisco, as a city, is starting to bounce back.

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"It started to get better and it's getting even better now. No complaints here. We are going the right direction," says Martinez.

This year's theme is "AfroMundo," paying tribute the resilience of the African diaspora - with the big parade on Sunday.

"Everyone is proud of their culture, whatever it may be, and they are showing it. And I love that!" says Delia Thomas, who came out for Carnaval.

Across town, a few hundred came out to celebrate the first-ever, in-person Chinatown Pride as the month of May closes out AAPI heritage month.

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"When LGBTQIA+ and immigrants are under attack, you being here is a force for solidarity and resistance," Jenny Leung, executive director of Chinese Cultural Center of San Francisco, told the crowd.

Juicy Liu, the founder of QTAPI Coalition of the San Francisco Bay Area, says it's a call to: "organize, mobilize, educate and advocate."

A march through Chinatown seen as a celebration of resistance through art, dance and storytelling.

"Through art and cultural affirmation, that is what is needed when in this time, when this Trump administration is trying to erase LGBT people, trying to get rid of immigrants and refugees. People who don't look hetero-white basically," says Liu.

Organizers believe San Francisco' Chinatown Pride is most likely the first-ever in the country.