Best Things To Do Labor Day Weekend In The Bay Area

This widely popular happening is a blast, and it's the Bay Area's largest and best Labor Day weekend event. The 2014 Last Blast of Summer event showcases a huge Mardi Gras–style festival pulsating downtown Millbrae streets with over 200 artists, 20 food vendors including festive and artisan specialty foods, a microbrew tasting tent, fine wines and margaritas, tons of live entertainment with a great musical lineup, a totally awesome kids' area including zip-liners, bungee jumps, Waterballerz, children's rides and amusements, and a "Classically Cool Car Show," but that's not all. Check out the Home & Garden Exhibits area, and the Organic, Healthy & Green products showcase where festival-goers can get free product samples for a greener lifestyle. The proceeds from the festival help fund the Millbrae Chamber of Commerce, whose dedicated efforts and volunteers make this event a reality each year.

The San Francisco Shakespeare Festival has been bringing professional, free performances of Shakespeare's greatest works to diverse audiences around the Bay Area and beyond for over 20 years. The festival has grown to be one of the nation's top free Shakespeare producers, and is an important regional arts organization. This year's free play is "Taming of the Shrew," one of Shakespeare's most enjoyed plays, and features favorite Shakespearean plot twists, silly disguises and amusing clowns along with a rousing love story. This is a terrific opportunity to introduce kids to the wit and wonderful story telling that is Shakespeare.

The 62^nd Annual Sausalito Art Festival is a Labor Day weekend event that brings together over 30,000 art lovers to one of the top art festivals in the United States to view and purchase work of 260 artists from across the country. The artwork exhibited includes paintings, woodwork ceramics, mixed media, photography, jewelry, glass, fiber arts and more. The juried show features artists both local and highly respected artists from across the country and Canada. Listen to continuous live music from more than 20 local and national bands on two stages while enjoying yummy international food and premium California wines — of course — plus top microbrews and Stella Artois, the Main Stage sponsor. New this year is a Beer Garden, making a fantastic event even better. Visit the website for complete information.

City Guides, a group of knowledgeable local volunteers "who love the City, its history, lore and legend," are eager to take you on amazing tours all around San Francisco, and share what they know and adore with you. Select from a list of tours or select a neighborhood to explore here. Labor Day weekend tours include Pacific Heights Mansions, Coit Tower Murals, Castro: Tales of the Village, Haight-Ashbury, Gold Rush City, Japanese Tea Garden, 1906 Earthquake and Fire, North Beach by Night and much more. See the Labor Day weekend tour schedule here.

San Francisco's Union Square steps up its energy every spring through fall with Union Square Live, a variety of free cultural performances on Wednesdays and Sundays when you can enjoy downtown San Francisco al fresco in Union Square. Performance events range all over the map and include salsa dancing, blues sounds, swing music and dance, jazz sounds, circus arts, country music, film nights, Filipino world music, opera, tango dancing, Hawaiian music and traditional dance, Brazilian music and so much more. Labor Day weekend 2014 brings Miko Marks onstage, named by People Magazine as one of "Nashville's Hottest New Country Stars." Visit the website to view the entire 2014 event lineup.