San Francisco Will Pay Stern Grove Festival a $225,000 Settlement

Almost four years after a flood in a San Francisco park forced Stern Grove Festival to cancel one of its most anticipated performances, the producers of the summer concert series will receive a $225,000 settlement from the city.

The San Francisco Board of Supervisors approved the settlement at its Tuesday meeting months after the festival’s operator sued in August 2024.

“We really appreciate the city’s commitment to helping to make us become whole over the situation, and their partnership and relationship with the Stern Grove Festival Association,” Bob Fiedler, the group’s executive director, told KQED ahead of the vote.

The producers of Stern Grove say it’s one of the country’s oldest outdoor music festivals; it has hosted free summer concerts annually since 1932. In 2021, the festival had to call off its season finale with Too $hort and Tower of Power because over 700,000 gallons of water burst out of a broken water main operated by the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission (SFPUC). According to the 2024 lawsuit, a “landslide of water and debris” flooded Stern Grove.

The ensuing cleanup by the SFPUC cost approximately $23 million, according to a city report, and included removing 63 eucalyptus trees and historical rock walls.

“The SFPUC deployed several emergency contracts to clear debris, remove hazard trees, dry out and restore any damaged structures, and stabilize the hillside beneath the break,” that report reads.

The Too $hort and Tower of Power concert was supposed to double as Stern Grove’s annual fundraiser, and the cancellation caused “significant financial harm” to the association, it said in the lawsuit. Stern Grove set that combined revenue loss and the associated cleanup and restoration costs at $335,941. Fiedler told KQED that the lawsuit was only done “out of necessity.”

Too $hort and Tower of Power went on to kick off the 2022 Stern Grove season, which also included livestreams of several shows, putting attendance at over 72,000 people.

Stern Grove has since returned to annual concerts, featuring Chaka Khan and Lucinda Williams on the 2024 lineup. The festival has already booked The Pointer Sisters for its 2025 series, which kicks off June 15.