THIS WEEKEND'S TOP TEN AROUND THE SAN FRANCISCO BAY AREA | SEPTEMBER 24–27

<p>This is the weekend the season turns.</p> <p>Three companies open their years in four days, six productions close on Sunday, and the Bay Area throws two Oktoberfests, a Korean harvest festival and a Native Ways festival in the same seventy-two hours.</p> <p>Mike's 10 for the Weekend has a ballet with a live symphony in the pit, eight and a half hours of free music in Mill Valley, and a 144-year-old band playing its last concert of the year.</p> <p>“The big events are easy to find. We’re looking for the ones that aren’t.” — Mike MacPherson, SF Bay Weekend</p> <p>Now, here are Mike's 10 for the Weekend:</p> <p>1. The Australian Ballet: Oscar</p> <p>Zellerbach Hall, Berkeley — Friday 7:30 PM, Saturday 1:00 & 7:30 PM, Sunday 3:00 PM — from $60</p> <p>Christopher Wheeldon's Oscar Wilde ballet, in its North American premiere, opens Cal Performances' season.</p> <p>Here is the part that makes it: the Berkeley Symphony is in the pit playing Joby Talbot's score live.</p> <p>Not a recording, not a click track — a full orchestra, which is increasingly rare for touring ballet and is the single best argument for the ticket price.</p> <p>Two hours ten.</p> <p>Book in person at the Zellerbach ticket office if you can — the $15 per-order service charge is waived there and charged everywhere else.</p> <p>If you're going Friday, leave early and think about BART. Cal Performances is warning that Friday's performance runs against a Cal football game and campus parking will be difficult. Downtown Berkeley station is about a ten-minute walk to Zellerbach, and on that particular night it's the easier arrival.</p> <p>2. San Francisco Symphony Opening Gala with Hilary Hahn</p> <p>Davies Symphony Hall, San Francisco — Tonight, 7:00 PM</p> <p>Giancarlo Guerrero conducts, Hilary Hahn plays the Mendelssohn, and the Symphony opens its 2026–27 season.</p> <p>The rest of the programme is still listed as to be announced, which is its own kind of invitation.</p> <p>Proceeds go to the Symphony's education and community work.</p> <p>3. Walnut Creek Oktoberfest</p> <p>Civic Park, Walnut Creek — Friday 5–9 PM, Saturday 12–9 PM — FREE</p> <p>German brews, brats, live oompah and a kids' carnival on the Civic Park lawn, five minutes' walk from Walnut Creek BART.</p> <p>Free to get in; you pay for what you eat, drink and ride.</p> <p>Saturday is the long one — nine hours.</p> <p>4. Concerts in the Plaza</p> <p>Mill Valley Downtown Plaza — Saturday, 11 AM–7:30 PM — FREE</p> <p>Eight and a half hours of live music in the middle of downtown Mill Valley.</p> <p>No ticket, no gate, no wristband.</p> <p>The City's own description is “a FREE day of amazing live music, dancing, and amazing community vibes” and that is exactly what it is.</p> <p>The biggest free day in Marin this weekend, by some distance.</p> <p>5. Golden Gate Park Band Season Finale + SF German Day</p> <p>Golden Gate Park Bandshell, San Francisco — Sunday, Band at 1:00 PM, Festival 11 AM–4 PM — BOTH FREE</p> <p>The Golden Gate Park Band has played since 1882.</p> <p>Sunday is the grand finale of its 144th season — marches, waltzes and polkas with local dance groups, under the title “Celebrating German Culture.”</p> <p>And it plays inside SF German Day, which runs on the same stage from 11 to 4.</p> <p>Two free events, one blanket, no planning required.</p> <p>6. Marcus Miller: We Want Miles</p> <p>SFJAZZ Center, San Francisco — Thursday–Saturday 7:30 PM, Sunday 7:00 PM — $60–$145</p> <p>Miles Davis's own bassist and producer marking the Davis centennial with the electric-era book, four nights running.</p> <p>Note Sunday starts half an hour earlier than the rest.</p> <p>7. Bay Area Chuseok Festival</p> <p>Presidio Main Parade Lawn, San Francisco — Saturday, 11 AM–4 PM — FREE</p> <p>Songpyeon, hanbok, drumming and traditional games on the Presidio lawn for Korea's harvest holiday, now in its eighth year.</p> <p>In a weekend stacked with German beer, a Korean harvest festival is the counterprogramming — and it costs nothing.</p> <p>8. 7th Annual California Native Ways Festival</p> <p>Ohlone Park, Berkeley — Saturday, 12–5 PM — FREE</p> <p>This year's festival centres on California Indian traditional foodways, alongside basketweaving, beadwork, jewelry making and other traditional crafts — on Ohlone land in the middle of North Berkeley, between McGee and Grant.</p> <p>Donations invited, nothing required.</p> <p>One of the most distinctive free afternoons of the year and almost nobody outside Berkeley knows it happens.</p> <p>9. Last Chance: Six Productions Close on Sunday</p> <p>If you have been meaning to see any of these, this is it.</p> <p>Show Where Final Performance Eureka Day Contra Costa Civic Theatre, El Cerrito Sun 2:00 PM A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder Palo Alto Players Sun 2:00 PM Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike Masquers, Point Richmond Sun 2:00 PM Footloose California Theatre, Pittsburg Sun 2:00 PM The Revolutionists Los Altos Stage Sunday The Glass Menagerie Center REP, Walnut Creek Sunday</p> <p>One to watch out for: Footloose plays a 2:00 PM matinee on Saturday with no evening show — unusual, and easy to arrive for at the wrong time.</p> <p>And Crowded Fire's Manning closes a day earlier, on Saturday, at Potrero Stage.</p> <p>10. Marin Oktoberfest</p> <p>Marin Country Mart, Larkspur — Sunday, 11 AM–5 PM — FREE</p> <p>The weekend's second Oktoberfest, and the one you can reach by boat — the Mart sits across from the Larkspur Ferry Terminal.</p> <p>Biergarten seating under the big tent, the Zicke Zacke Band all day, stein-holding and best-dressed contests, and pretzel crafts for the kids.</p> <p>Free to walk in.</p> <p>HIDDEN GEM Cinema on the Square: The Conversation</p> <p>Union Square Plaza, San Francisco — Saturday, pre-show 5:00 PM, film 7:15 PM — FREE</p> <p>Coppola's 1974 masterpiece about a surveillance expert who hears something he shouldn't — screened outdoors, for free, in the exact square where Gene Hackman's character tails his targets in the opening sequence.</p> <p>You are sitting inside the shot.</p> <p>Pre-show starts at 5 with trivia, prizes, performances, popcorn and drinks; the film runs 113 minutes.</p> <p>Bring a low chair and layers, because Union Square after dark in September is colder than the afternoon suggests.</p> <p>FAMILY PICK Bluey's Big Play</p> <p>Orpheum Theatre, San Francisco — Saturday 10 AM, 1 PM & 4 PM; Sunday 10 AM & 1 PM</p> <p>Five performances across two days, which means if one sells out there are four more.</p> <p>The stage show from the Australian series, at the Orpheum.</p> <p>Prices via the box office.</p> <p>Free alternative, same Sunday: the inaugural Concord Pedal Fest, John F. Baldwin Park, 10 AM–2 PM — a bike rodeo and skills course, free helmet fitting, free mechanic checks, an upcycle programme for outgrown kids' bikes, live music and food trucks.</p> <p>Free, and a rare new East Bay family festival that isn't a beer garden.</p> <p>WORTH KNOWING</p> <p>Dolly Parton turns up twice. Dolly Day SF takes over Union Square on Friday, 12–3 PM, free — San Francisco's leg of the first national Dolly day.</p> <p>Then on Sunday, Dollygrass: A Tribute plays The Chapel at 7:00 PM, $24–$28, with bluegrass arrangements of the catalogue.</p> <p>Same weekend, two completely different rooms.</p> <p>Filoli opens two things at once on Saturday. Nightfall, its after-dark autumn event, and Autumn Days — the pumpkin meadow, hay maze, scarecrow field and the railway through the redwoods.</p> <p>Two cautions.</p> <p>Autumn Days is included with admission, which is not the same as free: admission starts at $39.</p> <p>And Filoli membership does not cover Nightfall — members get 20% off, and only the top Circle tier gets in free.</p> <p>Check before you drive to Woodside.</p> <p>Free hours are narrower than they look. Saturday is a free-admission day at the de Young and the Legion of Honor — but only for residents of the nine Bay Area counties, only the permanent collection, with ID checked at the door and advance reservation expected.</p> <p>The special exhibitions still cost full price.</p> <p>The big events are easy to find.</p> <p>We're looking for the ones that aren't.</p> <p>229+ events. 105+ venues. 32+ cities. 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