Government Shutdown: San Francisco Italian Heritage Parade helps bring visitors to North Beach neighborhood after slow Fleet Week

SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) — San Francisco’s Italian Heritage Parade helped bring North Beach to life Sunday amid what’s been an unusually slow Fleet Week with the government shutdown.

“This is October in San Francisco. It’s our summertime. North Beach, it’s alive, it’s electric, just like San Francisco. We’re a city on the rise,” said Mayor Daniel Lurie, while marching up Columbus Avenue.

North Beach businesses were also hoping for a boost during what’s been a tough week.

There’s definitely been, you know, a lack of foot traffic,” said Kim McKeown, a bartender at The Savoy Tavoli. “We would usually notice, like an uptick in foot traffic and people in the bar, and we’re not seeing that this year.”

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And the regulars were also feeling the void Sunday.

“Usually, when the soldiers are in town, they don’t pay for a drink,” said Mark Deadder, who’s lived in the neighborhood for 34 years. “The locals line their pockets with cash, and they buy the drinks for the soldiers. I haven’t seen that happen once in the last few days and probably won’t happen today, because they’re not marching in the parade.”

“Fleet week is generally our busiest week of the entire year, and we’re not seeing that tourism,” said Teague Kernan, owner of Tupelo on Grant Avenue. He’s also served on the North Beach Business Association Board.

“It’s pretty devastating. Small businesses — like ours, bars, restaurants — rely on an influx of tourism on certain, you know, weeks, days of the year. If we lose one or even two days, it can be really devastating for our overall picture,” he said.