by Sara Kloepfer
A&E Editor

Only in San Francisco would riding the bus with a man dressed in neon hot pants and body glitter be part of a normal Saturday in October. My fellow passenger and I were on our way to LoveFest, renamed this year to LovEvolution.

LovEvolution, San Francisco’s sixth annual celebration of love, transformed the normally calm workplace of Civic Center into a crowded rave where revelers danced, hula-hooped, and hugged down Market Street.

The all-ages event perfectly represented the melting pot of San Francisco residents and the bridge-and-tunnel crowd who flocked to San Francisco for the celebration. Teenage girls dressed in tutus and sparkly tube tops danced alongside groups of men with gay pride flags painted on their chests. Occasionally an old man wandered by wearing nothing at all.

Advertised as an event where “25+ floats become stages for an all day celebration of community, tolerance, peace, and yes, love,” LovEvolution began with a parade of elaborately themed floats making their way to Civic Center, before parking and blasting dance music from monstrous speakers.

Watching the antics of the crowd alone was worth the newly-established $10 entrance fee, a portion of which went to non-profit organizations such as NextAid and AIDS Housing Alliance. Many people seemed intent on climbing any available surface; street signs, parked trucks and floats with loose security quickly became covered with dancing people.

LovEvolution brought out my love for my city even more than the love shared with others. Being able to party in the streets besides total strangers in crazy costumes is an experience unique to teenagers growing up in San Francisco. There was a feeling of community in a day worthy of double takes.

LovEvolution’s Web site describes it most eloquently: “We do not dance in the streets to escape the reality of our times — we dance to face them as a community, pointing the direction to a better way, set to beats and the full color of our expression.”