Bay Area/ San Francisco
Published on April 13, 2016
Event Spotlight: Baby Goats, Goat Cheese & More At Ferry Building Goat FestivalPhoto: Amy Verhey

Each week, we'll feature an especially interesting event in the neighborhood based on the event submissions we get, and what we hear about while we're out on the beat. If you want to be considered for next week, please submit your event here.

The Center for Urban Education about Sustainable Agriculture (CUESA), which hosts the Ferry Building Farmers Market each Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday, devotes one Saturday each spring to all things goat. From goat cheese to goat tacos to live baby goats, you can get your goat fix from 10am-1pm this Saturday at the eighth annual Goat Festival.


Last year (which happened to be the Year of the Goat on the Chinese calendar), the event went viralThe waterfront was completely swarmed with goat-crazy fans, who dubbed the event "Goatchella." This year so far, more than 1,800 have said they're going, according to the 2016 Facebook event page.

This time around, CUESA is more prepared for the crowds. The goat petting tent is already on a wait list (long lines last year prompted organizers to require tickets), but don't let that keep you away: you can still view the baby goats. Advance tickets for goat cheese tasting plates are sold out, but first-come, first-served plates will be served for $5 starting at 11am.

And CUESA urges people to show up for several other features, including a free goat cheese-themed cooking demo with chef Mark Dommen of One Market Restaurant at 10:30am at the CUESA Classroom (under the white tents in front of the Ferry Building, behind the info booth), a free animal welfare talk at noon, and a goat-inspired market scavenger hunt featuring items like goat barbacoa tacos at 4505 Meats and goat cheese grilled cheese sandwiches at The Farmer's Wife.

In addition to goat mania, we rounded up a few other events in the coming days you might want to check out: