Winter Walk returns to San Francisco's Union Square after 5-year hiatus
SAN FRANCISCO (KPIX) – After a five-year absence, the Union Square Alliance will kick off the return of the Winter Walk Friday evening, inviting families to enjoy holiday activities with food and live entertainment.
The event hopes to bring new customers to small businesses featured during the 10-day event.
"I think this is gonna put me on a map to other pop-ups like I started with the little [pop-ups] but this one, I want to stick with them for a while," said Nadine Jobe, she has run Nadine's Sweet Treats for seven years as an online business. "The need to look for opportunities is there, it's a daily thing, you know, in order to schedule your next event, you need to be in the in the mix today."
From 2015 to 2018, the Winter Walk on Stockton Street was an annual gathering place peaking with 2.2 million visitors in 2018. The concept hoped to help connect Chinatown and Market Street during construction of the Central Subway.
City agencies and business groups worked together to bring back the Winter Walk in 2023, a chance to bring more people to Union Square at a time when that part of San Francisco has struggled to keep attracting people back into the neighborhood.
"They've created something really amazing, we're feel very privileged to be invited in and we hope to not only have a place to support local micro businesses but we also hope to bring more energy and foot traffic to the businesses around us," said Angie Petitt with Sunset Mercantile.
Petit's team was asked to bring her team's approach to pop-ups for the holidays from the Sunset District to Union Square.
"It's tough because there's a lot of small businesses so you need to find your niche and get it trending and never mind what everybody else is doing your niche will get you there so I'm staying, I'm staying in my lane," said Jobe.
Winter Walk runs through Dec. 24. Hours on Monday through Wednesday are from noon to 7p.m., while Thursday through Sunday hours are 10 a.m. to 9 p.m.
Additional information can be found on the Union Square Alliance website.
