Fall’s Journey, Stop 3: SF Botanical Garden Sunset + Friendsgiving Dinner

🍁 Fall’s Journey, Stop 3: Thanksgiving Sunset at SF Botanical Garden + Friendsgiving Dinner

Spend Thanksgiving afternoon among the maples, then share a Friendsgiving table with new friends.

The San Francisco Botanical Garden has one of the best fall color displays in the city. Its centerpiece is the Moon Viewing Garden, where stepping stones follow a small stream down to a still pond surrounded by Japanese maples. Across the garden’s 55 acres you’ll also see ginkgos turning bright gold, dogwoods going deep red-purple, and vine maples turning orange.

Admission is free for everyone on Thanksgiving. Whether you’re new in town, your family is far away, or you just want some fresh air and good company, come spend the holiday with us.

This is the third stop of Fall’s Journey, TownFlame’s weekly series of foliage socials, at sunset.

📅 Thursday, Nov 26 (Thanksgiving) · 2:45pm–dinner
Location: Main Gate, 1199 9th Ave, Golden Gate Park
Schedule

• 2:45 Meet at the Main Gate. Welcome and self-intros, including one thing you’re thankful for this year.
• 3:00–4:15 Fall color walk: the Temperate Asia garden, ginkgos, the Redwood Grove and other color across the garden
• 4:15–4:40 Golden hour in the Moon Viewing Garden: maples reflected in the pond
• 4:40 Closing circle and a group photo in the last light. Sunset is at 4:53, and we walk out together as the garden closes at 5:00.
• ~5:15 🦃 Friendsgiving dinner. We’ll walk to Irving St & 9th Ave, the neighborhood’s restaurant row, and our scouts will find us tables. Pay your own.

💵 Cost: The garden is free for everyone on Thanksgiving. You pay your own dinner.

⏰ Important: Last entry to the garden is 4:00pm, and latecomers can’t get in after that. If you can only make dinner, meet us at the corner of Irving St & 9th Ave around 5:10.

🚇 Getting there: Parking around Golden Gate Park and the Inner Sunset is tight on holidays, so take transit or carpool if you can. The Muni N-Judah line runs along Irving St nearby.

👟 Bring: Comfortable shoes, a camera, and a warm layer. San Francisco gets cold fast once the sun goes down.

🍂 Fall’s Journey

1. Hakone + Montalvo (Nov 15)
2. Golden Ponds of Niles (Nov 22)
3. Thanksgiving Sunset + Friendsgiving (Nov 26) ← you are here
4. Stanford finale

Honorable mention: a self-organized evening at Filoli Holiday Lights

🔥 Want to help? We’re looking for a few volunteers to greet people, take photos, and scout restaurants for dinner. Tell us at the closing circle or message the hosts.

Hosted by [captain name] · TownFlame stewards