Twelve laser beams are going to shine up much of the length of Market Street next week like they did over the past two Pride Weekends — but they probably won't just be rainbow-colored this time.
Illuminate, the non-profit that installed the lasers both last year and this year, independently raised funds for this reinstallation, as KRON4 reports, with help from the Civic Joy Fund. The lights will shine at night from November 13 to 16, during the APEC summit, and as long as it stays clear you'll see them across three miles of Market Street.
"Emanating from Harry Bridges Plaza in front of the Ferry Building and beaming at a 3-degree angle over Market Street, just clearing the top of Twin Peaks, 'Illuminate San Francisco' will create a city-wide activation," the organization says. "The installation will run from sunset to sunrise, starting Monday evening and concluding on Friday morning."
"This is the spirit of San Francisco," says Manny Yekutiel, who co-founded the Civic Joy Fund along with mayoral candidate and philanthropist Daniel Lurie. "We are delighted to help Illuminate manifest this important vision."
The Civic Joy Fund also recently bankrolled the reactivation of the Castro for Halloween, which included a day full of events at the Castro Theatre.
"We look forward to helping San Francisco shine when the eyes of the world are upon us," says Illuminate founder Ben Davis. "Especially with international media in town, sending images to the more than 3 billion people of the APEC nations."
Davis adds, "This is one of the truly great cities in the world. It’s time we reminded everyone that San Francisco is a city that knows how."
Over this past summer, Illuminate brought several temporary installations to different parts of the city. These included a mostly fog-shrouded display at Sutro Tower over the July 4th holiday, and lasers that shined up at the sky from Coit Tower.
Unfortunately, Illuminate's largest installation to date, the Bay Lights on the Bay Bridge, remain in limbo as the organization seeks to raise money to reinstall the lights for another decade.
Illuminate's crowdfunding effort for next week's installation has raised $25,000 of its $150,000 goal. But it sounds like the Civic Joy Fund plans to make up the difference? In any event, it seems like they are still asking for donations.
Look for the lights to come on Monday evening.
