You can smell it can’t you? Spring that is. And what a plethora of activities we have in March to keep us busy.  Sail Grand Prix gives you a chance to view stunning boats racing in the bay and the tulips are coming to celebrate Spring in Union Square. The DeYoung has a must-see photo exhibit from Paul McCartney and all the arts are in full “bloom”.  A renowned South African artist brings a surreal tale of Vichy France to Berkeley Rep and a Pulitzer Prize–winning play plops a queer Black kid into an adaptation of Hamlet set at a family barbecue. Crafters rejoice at Fiber Fest at the Museum of Craft and Design. Oh, and much, much more. Enjoy spring in the bay!

March 22-24. Sail Grand Prix

The most exciting racing on water, will return to the Bay Area for the Oracle San Francisco Sail Grand Prix, March 22-23, 2025. Witness national teams battling it out in identical high-tech, high-speed, 50-foot foiling catamarans, racing faster than the wind at speeds approaching 60 miles per hour! Featuring world-class, water’s edge excitement, and an après-sail atmosphere. Racing will take place in the heart of the Bay, with our Golden Gate Bridge serving as a stunning and dramatic backdrop. The official viewing area is located on the Marina Yacht Club Peninsula. SAILGP

March 22. Tulip Day

 Tulip Day is coming to the bay with a colorful display of more than 80,000 tulips that will cover Union Square. And you are invited to visit the square and pick your own bunch of tulips. This is such a fun and festive event where you have the chance to pick 6 of these gorgeous beauties all for free. 80,000 tulips are there for the picking but get there early because the event closes at 4:30 when all tulips will most likely be home and in someone’s vase. Tulips

Now-July 6. Paul McCartney Photo Exhibit

We all know, many times over, what Paul McCartney’s ears hear. But what do his eyes see? Specifically, what were his eyes attuned to during the Beatles’ meteoric rise in the early years of their meteoric rise. Paul McCartney Photographs 1963-64: Eyes of the Storm is on view at the de Young Museum in San Francisco, answers the question with more than 250 recently unearthed photos taken by the famous musician. Perhaps more than anything, the photos in Eyes of the Storm capture sheer bewilderment — not just at being suddenly thrust onto the global limelight as a teen idol, but at America itself. “We were fascinated with what we were doing and what was happening to us,” McCartney says in the exhibition wall text. “I’ve never lost that sense of wonder. PAUL MCCARTNEY

Making Their Mark: Works from the Shah Garg Collection

 Installation view: Making Their Mark: Works from the Shah Garg Collection, Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive, October 27, 2024–April 20, 2025

This exhibition brings together more than seventy artworks from the Shah Garg Collection, which is committed to amplifying the voices and visions of women artists. BAMPFA’s exhibition is the first museum presentation of this important collection, which premiered in New York in 2023. Making Their Mark juxtaposes contemporary practices with pathbreaking historical works to illuminate transgenerational affinities, influences, and methodologies among artists from the postwar era to the present.

Featuring a wide spectrum of artworks spanning almost eight decades, the exhibition emphasizes dialogues between artists who circumvent and break through conventions in art making, embracing craft techniques, uncommon supports, and alternative materials. Accompanied by a major publication produced in advance of the exhibition, Making Their Mark assembles significant examples by artists whose works go beyond prescribed definitions of art making established within a historically patriarchal field. WOMEN ARTISTS

March 13-April 12. Spotlight Women Artists

For Women’s History Month, the Jonathan Carver Moore Tenderloin gallery spotlights women artists. The show, which will include painting, mixed media and sculptures, aims to honor the experiences of women navigating hard times and focus on stories of healing rather than trauma.  jonathancarvermoore.com

Now-April 6. Wild With Happy

Oscar-nominated actor (Rustin, Sing Sing) and red carpet fashionista Colman Domingo got his start in theater (and met his husband) here in the Bay Area. His 2012 play, Wild With Happy, returns to the stage and takes a road trip with the protagonist and his late mother’s ashes. Critics called it sweet, funny, and irreverent. Now through April 6^th at the New Conservatory Theatre. WILD WITH HAPPY

March 14-15. The Great Yes, The Great No at Berkeley

This is South African artist William Kentridge’s latest creation for the stage. It is a chamber opera that fictionalizes a 1941 escape from Vichy France. The cast of characters includes Josephine Baker, Leon Trotsky, and surrealist Andre Breton. The performance combines video projection, choral music, dance, poetry, and animated drawings.  At Zellerbach Hall  March 14-16  (Berkeley) calperformances.org

March 20-April 19. Fat Ham at SF Playhouse

The fabulous Margo Hall, cofounder of Campo Santo and professor of some lucky students at U.C. Berkeley, directs James Ijames’ Pulitzer Prize–winning Fat Ham. Did you guess that it’s a reinvention of Hamlet? Instead of being a prince, our hero is Juicy, a Black queer man who’s struggling with how to think about identity, masculinity, and avenging his father’s murder at a family barbecue. March 20 – April 19^th at SF Playhouse 450 Post St.  sfplayhouse.org

March 15. Fiber Fest

Crafters and creatives will want to go to the Museum of Craft and Design’s Fiber Fest on Saturday March 15h from 12 – 5 p.m. Your $10 ticket gives you the chance to engage in a celebration of creativity while showcasing local artists from diverse disciplines. Each one offers hands-on projects for you to try. This day of hands-on learning with expert makers explores the threads that unite us in the world of fiber arts. This day is inspired by the current exhibition at the Museum entitled Rug Life. Fiber Fest