End of an Era

If you're a San Francisco resident, does the above scene look familiar? You may recognize the street or the church in the background, but this probably looks like any other race/marathon in SF.

Look closely and you'll notice a few costumes, balloons and even naked people. Known as one of the most famous events of San Francisco, Bay to Breakers is a race for runners and people looking to dress up, have fun and possibly throw back a few beers here and there.

For the past 98 years, San Francisco has been the home to the annual Bay to Breakers which is notorious for the crazy costumes, large themed floats and even public nudity and urination. Yes, sounds a little gross, but it's an amazing event that every person should experience at one point or another.


Earlier today, ING announced that they would be enforcing new safety measures and an alcohol policy to the annual Bay to Breakers in San Francisco including:
Zero tolerance policy on alcohol. Anyone openly drinking alcohol or displaying public drunkenness will be subject to fines and prosecution.
All wheeled objects and floats are prohibited. Inappropriate equipment on the streets is dangerous and can prevent runners and walkers from completing the race in a timely manner.
Leave no footprint. Additional dumpsters will be placed along the course for trash.


Will banning alcohol and floats really keep all of the liberal free-spirited San Franciscans away? How would the police actually regulate thousands of people in the street? Yes, public urination and trash is absurd and needs to be controlled, but it feels like these new regulations take out a lot of the fun involved with B2B. With a lot of the chaos being alcohol induced, you would not experience SF in its entirety without a 70 year old naked man running past a couple of policemen or a line up of Elvis impersonators urinating on a fence. Are the new rules going to stick? Is this the end of an era?

I checked out the official ING Bay to Breakers Facebook page where most people seemed to be outraged by the new policies. Here are two of my favorite wall posts:

Jon Schwartz wrote at 3:47pm Hey ING! Great call. Way to ruin the number one greatest day of the year. You just gave me huge motivation to boycott everything related to your irrelevant company. Fix this mistake or plan to pay the consequences of a wrath so fierce, so strong, so unbounded. A cold future lies ahead for you my friend, a cold cold future. SO very cold!

Berkeley Kauffman (Santa Cruz, CA) wrote at 1:54pm PPS- And may I point out that "you" are not 98 years old. Bay to Breakers died in some board room at some point after it's 97th birthday.

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Sign the petition and join the fight against the new rules and regulations here.

Or join the boycott group on Facebook.