In case you missed it, singer, songwriter, and producer Chaz Bear aka Toro y Moi was the headliner at Downtown First Thursdays last night, and a major crowd showed up for the day-after-New-Year's-Day event.

San Franciscans aren't too accustomed to outdoor monthly events that don't pause for the winter months. But amid some balmy weather Thursday, a whole lot of you turned out for Downtown First Thursdays, as the nine-month-old downtown event kicked off the new year on Second Street. Organizers with Into the Streets and the Civic Joy Fund said they were expecting 18,000 to 20,000 people to attend Thursday, but photos and video from the event suggest the crowd may have been even bigger than that.

"Holy. Moly," writes organizer Manny Yekutiel in an Instagram story, which shows video from an upper story of a building on Second Street showing the large crowd gathered in front of the Howard Street Stage.

Toro y Moi did a DJ set featuring plenty of upbeat, danceable tunes, and crowds also spilled over into the alleyway Discoteca Stage on Minna Street, with its enormous disco ball, where DJs Gemini Santiago and Magnolia Polaris were spinning. And the Dancehall at Natoma Cabana was popping off as well.

Sanaz Deldar, a nearby resident in downtown, told the SF Standard of the crowd size, "We’re always waiting for it to happen," adding, "I hope it goes on forever."

Downtown First Thursdays has been fairly popular from the outset, and is one of multiple activations of the downtown area that have been bright spots for small businesses, especially, who have suffered a few very quiet years.

The events are reportedly funded through April — which would mark 12 months since the inaugural event last May. But it seems likely there will be community support to keep them going beyond that.

The Downtown First Thursdays event on December 5 was also very well attended, with Rebecca Black performing and DJing.

Top image by Manny Yekutiel