(Left to Right: Jennifer Manger- Sponsorship & Marketing Director, Pete Fraser - Music & Parade Coordinator, Sean Norris - Board Member, Treasurer)

It’s the middle of August, and downtown San Francisco is a bit cloudy with grays and whites encapsulating the usually energetic and breezy shopping center in Market Street. Everyone seems to be a bit calmer than usual but then again maybe it’s just boredom. Just around the corner lies an aging building made of bricks and wood with a soon-to-be bar underneath – for those in the know, it’s the headquarters to the first North American Love Parade.

I’ve been told to give the bell a ring and allow the occupants some time to arrive (as they are on the third floor), but it has been nearly ten minutes, and I’m a bit worried…it’s like being stood up on a date!

Finally, I am greeted by San Francisco Love Parade Treasurer and Board Member Sean Norris. He smiles and apologizes for the delay – it seems the bell isn’t working. Afterwards, I find my way to ‘ground zero’ and Jennifer Manger shoots over a “Hi, welcome.” The Sponsorship and Marketing Director, and a very busy girl of late, she oversees the funding for the Love Parade and is helping to ensure the parade is a reality for a second year.

When the three of us are seated and comfortable, Norris recalls how we went to the original Berlin Love Parade in its earliest years. Unlike anything he had ever experienced before, he says with an enthusiasm bordering on obsession, “Man, I thought we needed to do the same type of thing (in the United States) here.”

Back in the States, as early as six years ago, Norris began bringing together a group of like-minded individuals. “I met with several owners of bars and night clubs and they all thought it was a great idea, but weren’t willing to do anything with it,” he says. However his quest to realize the project lead him to the current Love Parade President, Joshua Smith. To get the approval from the Love Parade board, Norris and his fellow members would have to go to Mexico City, and though everything went smoothly, it would be still be another year until San Francisco would be approved.

During that time, while Norris was forming a core group of people in support of the parade, a war was looming. It was 2001, and two towers fell. With the war beginning, a few of the members became sidetracked, wanting to throw a parade based around a protest, but as Norris points out, “We said “No, no, no.”” In his mind, the parade wasn’t about separation, but about unity, and love. The very reasons he was engaged by it to begin with.

Still the lack of promotion of the first parade was a bit puzzling as with a “first” for anything, you always expect something grand. Even with the 10-year history from Berlin and its world recognition as one of the most unique global events, American audiences still didn’t know much, if anything, about it. Norris learned first-hand how tight money can be in business, and as a non-profit organization, that money was non-existent.

“Most of us dipped into our own pockets to pay for the initial cost” admits Norri, describing the hardships borne since the San Francisco Love Parade was first conceived. Even with the limited funds, it was Jennifer Manger who realized the power of an age-old tradition; “We’re playing on the grass-roots. That’s all we can play on. We’re still a young organization.” Word of mouth and the Internet greatly increased awareness across the States as well as abroad, turning an anticipated showing of 8,000 into a gathering of 37,000. “It was packed! We uh, defiantly were blown away by the response and excitement,” says Manger.

Following that excitement, Manger has slowly been embraced by the corporate world. “Our media sponsors have been so gracious and so accepting and excited by the event. Seeing the potential of growing this into an annual and impactful entrainment entity in San Francisco, and in the world of electronic music, we’ve been able to communicate that with the objective and people have become willing to participate in the event. We can’t thank them enough. We wouldn’t be here without them.”

Already, in its second year, the city of San Francisco has asked the Love Parade to move into a new venue; instead of returning along the scenic Embarcadero, the parade will now move along San Francisco’s main shopping district in Market Street. Manger says that the infrastructure is there to support the larger event with attendances expected to double the previous year.

Though the move itself is a bit of a risk, it looked to be the only option to take; “We would have loved to continue that same route. We love it and we didn’t plan to move to Market Street for another 2-5 years,” says Norris. However with a parade that may draw hundreds of thousands of people to San Francisco, the city can see the immediate growth in giving people another reason to visit the city that Tony Bennett left his heart in.

“That weekend, you know, if you don’t have a hotel room, you better get it. If not, you better look at some friends.”

After witnessing the success of the first parade and understanding the concept behind it, the city is now 100% behind it, and as Manger says, “It’s going to be the hugest weekend for San Francisco.” Norris wisely warns me “That weekend, you know, if you don’t have a hotel room, you better get it. If not, you better look at some friends.”

Local support has been building to a new level around the creation of what Norris and Manger call “Love Week,” the additional parties and events surrounding the parade. Norris’ vision of what the Love Parade will be is a national parade, one in each of the major markets in the United States; bringing awareness to the mass popularity of dance music and the old saying from founder , DJ Dr. Motte, “Love, Peace, and Pancakes.”

Though the parade is still in its infancy here, a quiet storm has been brewing abroad courtesy of those eager participants abroad who have only just found out about San Francisco’s version of the Love Parade. “It’s funny because after the float apps finished, we got more calls from people outside the Bay Area and from the UK. The problem was that they just didn’t hear about it until it was too late,” says Manger. “It’s like the double-edged sword. You have to promote it a bit, but then you need to build it so you can have a rounded entity, which is what the Love Parade should be,” says Norris.

With 220 DJs on 27 floats playing in last year’s parade, and taking into account the increase this year, Manger stresses “Diversity, diversity, diversity. [We] can’t have 25 house floats,” in a parade that represents all of dance and electronic music, not just one sub-genre. The increased excitement levels brought on by the participation of world class DJs like Paul Van Dyk, Carl Cox, and The Crystal Method, now means anyone who has more than a passing interest in dance music is drooling on the notion of seeing the best of the best in a free parade.

Norris also stresses, “Our genres range very wide. We’re not going to box ourselves.” A fact backed up by the fact that at one point they became giddy with the idea of the inclusion of a death metal act, “Well, electro-death metal” clarifies Norris. Alas, that particular submission didn’t make it to the final stages of approval but hmmm, it kinda makes you wonder what that would’ve been like!

Manger says, “We have a huge electronic culture and I think San Francisco is a hot bed that pushes electronic music.” Given the city’s history in dance music and music in general, it’s fair to say that most people also feel that it is the natural choice.

Manger also points out that the third year will be their “coming out party” in the States and the global community. That is, elevating it as an art form for the underground, while still directing its appeal towards the mainstream.

“Last year was an incredible experience for so many people as it was the first one. We really pulled it off by the seat of our pants. People had such a great time; no one had experienced something like that before. That heat, vibe and energy fuelled how the parade will progress and grow. If you think where the whole world is going, we’re moving towards interactivity. Text messaging, communication via the web and dance music is such an interesting genre. I’m still new to the culture and how it’s done, but I like learning it. It’s interesting as everyone is a DJ, or they either have tried to be a DJ or have been a DJ once. It’s amazing as you have a whole culture of people who have the same experience; whether good or bad, they understand it. So here’s a parade where everyone can interact and be in the parade rather than being on the sideline” says Manger.

With that in mind, I asked what about holding the four Love Parades in joint unison? What better way to celebrate dance music then with the people next to you, in front of you, and everywhere else all at once; united and free for the world to see. “It’s too early for us. The thing too, is that each parade has it during a different time. In San Francisco we have it in September during our Indian summer. If they try to play it off our season, theirs might be freezing. I don’t know, you never know,” laughs Norris about the possibility of having a global parade where each parade’s weather is the polar opposite.

As my allotted interview time draws to a close, the Love Parade’s free spirit suddenly reminds me of another similar outing decades ago – Woodstock - and I can’t help but see the Love Parade as Woodstock’s revenge on mainstream culture. With its colorful take on clothing, its racy liberation of the human body, to its choice of music that does not cater to the establishment, and its “everyone participating” and nothing is forbidden attitude, I can’t help but draw comparisons between the two. Yet there is still one thing separating the two, which Jennifer Manger points out, “Too bad we don’t have camping areas”.