Official site of Yerba Buena Gardens Festival

Free outdoor performing arts in downtown San Francisco

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Salsa Nights

Photo of people salsa dancing at Yerba Buena Gardens Festival

Yerba Buena Gardens Festival transforms the Gardens into an open-air dance party with live bands playing the bustling sounds of Cuba, Puerto Rico, Mozambique, New York and beyond!

Salsa Nights Calendar

The outdoor, monthly salsa event takes place at Yerba Buena Gardens. From May to October, folks are invited to dance into dusk to amazing live salsa bands. Many musical acts hail from the Bay Area and some from out of town, all bringing electrifying salsa sounds to the Gardens.

Starting just before sunset, Salsa Nights is a casual, outdoor event to get your body moving under San Francisco skies. Fun for first-time and seasoned salseras/salseros, or music lovers enjoying rhythms of the syncopated top-notch performers. Salsa Nights is a unique dance experience, just one of many cultural activities the Yerba Buena neighborhood has to offer. And it’s FREE! Friends, families and conga-lines welcome.

Past Salsa Nights artists include:

  • Carlitos Medrano & Sabor De Mi Cuba
  • Manny Martinez y la Rebeldia
  • Ricardo Lemvo & Makina Loca
Credit: Jim Watkins Photography

What people are saying about Salsa Nights…

  • Third Thursdays are rad! Thank you for your work organizing them! This kind of public space + community is the SF I want to live in.
  • Thank you for bringing us together. My life is richer for it!
  • I don’t miss any of the events. Thank you!
Credit: Jim Watkins Photography

Check out all of the incredible artists performing at upcoming events listed below.

Mark your calendars and make Salsa Nights FUN, OUTDOORS and FRESH!

What to expect at Salsa Nights…

The Yerba Buena Gardens Festival occurs each year from May through October in Downtown San Francisco. As always, these excellent performances are FREE, outdoors, and ADA-accessible to be enjoyed by all. There is limited, open-air bench seating. Please be dressed for San Francisco weather. For Park Rules and Regulations, please refer to Yerba Buena Gardens Management’s website.

Salsa Nights performances begin promptly at 6pm (unless noted otherwise), so plan ahead and arrive early! Performances are approximately 90 minutes long. Yerba Buena Gardens are conveniently located near Montgomery & Powell BART stations, and several MUNI lines. See detailed information on the Visitor Map.

Looking for a yummy place to eat or a museum to explore? Find out more on the Visitor Information page.

Salsa Nights Calendar

3 programs found.

Programs

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Today
  • July 2026

  • Thu 2
    Profile view of Ricardo Lemvo from the shoulders up, earing a yellow top and orange scarf, his head tilted slight up and his long dreadlock hair swung up in the air, a shadow cast on the wall behind him.
    Thu, Jul 2, 6:00pm – 7:30pm

    Ricardo Lemvo & Makina Loca

  • August 2026

  • Thu 6
    Edgardo Cambón wearing a grey straw fedora hat, glasses, dark blue shirt and grey vest, smiling, leaning to the side agains a bright red conga drum with black headphones on top of it.
    Thu, Aug 6, 6:00pm – 7:30pm

    Edgardo Cambón

  • September 2026

  • Thu 3
    Obrayan Calderon smiling, wearing a red suit standing next to Dayron Calderon wearing a black suit, each holding out a trombone in one hand, smiling in front of a black background.
    Thu, Sep 3, 6:00pm – 7:30pm

    Los Caldarones

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A guest on traditional, unceded Ramaytush Ohlone Land.
VENUE: Yerba Buena Gardens, Mission St. between 3rd and 4th Sts., San Francisco
OFFICE: Yerba Buena Gardens Festival, 760 Howard St., San Francisco, CA 94103
PHONE: (415) 543-1718

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