Forget Flower Crowns and Fanny Packs: Fitness Festivals Are All the Rage Now

Photos via Facebook/Virgin Sport

Just when you thought you had a grasp on how to handle music festivals, there's a new type of multi-act gathering to contend with: the fitness festival. 

For some people, working out once a day might be enough, but for the uber-fit crowd you see chalking up new attendance records in your favorite boutique bootcamps and cycling classes, fitness festivals could be the next craze. In April, there was Wanderlust. In May, Movemeant Foundation's Dare to Bare. This fall, there are two more coming to the Bay Area.

First up is the City Fit Fest at Crissy Field on Saturday, September 16. Organizers describe it as a "grondbreaking fitness and wellness experience embracing functional movement, mindfulness, and healthy living." The festival includes group classes all day at Crissy Field, instruction from top trainers, activities, music, food, and selfies with the Golden Gate Bridge. (Yes, that is one of their actual selling points.) 

General admission tickets for the event are $70, and include sessions in the "activation areas" with Barry's Bootcamp SF, World Calisthenics Org, Kokoda Fitness, The Pad Studios, Outdoor Yoga SF, Represent Running, and more. The instructor lineup features Kerri Verna of Beach Girl Yoga, Kaisa Keranen of KaisaFit, Janet Stone Yoga, Shauna Harrison with TRX, Acro Ninja Travis Brewer, and Marcus Martinez and Eric Leija from Onnit Academy. Participants can also purchase "level up" add-on sessions for $30 each for one-on-one in specific areas like handstands, muscle-ups, kettlebells, and "animal flow."  

The event runs from 10 am– 7 pm. Tickets are available through Eventbrite. 

The second next exercise-focused is Richard Branson's Virgin Sport Festival of Fitness, October 15-16 in Civic Center Plaza. The event will include a new San Francisco half marathon race, a Twin Peaks mile challenge, and a "Go Fit Yourself" workout area, but there aren't many other details right now. (Virgin says there will be fitness classes, good, music, art, and beer, and encourages you to "stay tuned" for more.) What we do know about the festival is that runners must be ticketed for their races, but the fitness classes are free to the public.

Ticket prices for the Virgin Festival vary according to what activities you want to do and how much swag you want with your workout. The basic Twin Peaks mile, for example, is $29 and includes your race entry, access to a packet pick-up party and the Go Fit Yourself lineup, a finisher item, a nuun waterbottle, a tech t-shirt by Asics, a complimentary beer, and "free photos of you busting your quads." A similar entry package for the half-marathon is $99. If you want extra perks with your half-marathon entry—like a ticket to the Sweatworking Reception, you can score VIP entry for $189. If you're a glutton for punishment, you can pay $119 for the SF Half and Twin Peaks Mile combo package. Tickets are available through Virgin.

Hit up either. Hit up both. Avoid them altogether. Whatever you choose, it looks like the fitness festival trend is here to stay in San Francisco.