SF Giants FanFest Tour set to kick off in Napa with a return to the North Bay

A sign that baseball season is right around the corner is when the SF Giants do their annual FanFest. Last season, the Giants explored a new idea of stopping in various places throughout the Bay Area for FanFest. 

In 2025, the tour will kick off at Napa Yard, Oxbow Gardens, right in the heart of Napa on January 18th. The tour will also stop in San Jose on January 25th, Sacramento on February 1st, and San Francisco on March 8th.

After coming to Napa last year, there will probably be some things that are the same and others that are different. Last year's FanFest was a hit, but since it was the first year, there will always be some areas to improve the experience for Giants fans in their only tour stop in the North Bay.  

SF Giants FanFest Tour returning to the North Bay in Napa

During last year’s event at Oxbow Garden, it seemed as if things weren’t necessarily in the right spot. For example, the player and coaching staff autograph signing area was buried in the corner. The players and coaches are who fans come to see. They should do this closer to the KNBR stage anyway as they will also do interviews on the flag-station network during the day. 

At the entrance to the Napa Yard last year, members of the Giants were also giving away freebies to fans who attended. I got some of these myself. I hope they continue this in 2025. 

The second issue I had was with the Oxbow Garden itself. They need to open more food places. After all, the place is massive and should offer many different types of food to showcase what Napa has to offer with its great culinary scene. I would even like to see some food trucks brought in to offer even more options for fans and keep lines down around the facility for food because last time, the lines were long and not worth it to wait in. 

One thing that I am looking forward to is having Matt Chapman come to FanFest. Last year, Bob Melvin came and so did Matt Williams. Chapman appears to be the face of the franchise. Bringing him to Napa should help get the fanbase excited about the new season.

Ryan Walker will also be coming to FanFest. He came on as one of the best players at the end of the season once being thrust into the closer role which is a role he will reprise in 2025. Of course, we all hope team mascot Lou Seal shows up again this year.

While it’s probably a lot to ask for, it would be nice if the new President of Baseball Operations Buster Posey made an appearance. There are so many Giants fans who associate Posey with the glory years of the franchise when he helped the team win three World Series championships. It would also be great if he did an interview live with KNBR so fans can hear more about how the off-season roster construction has gone. 

No matter how you slice it, Napa generally shows up for something big like this and the Giants like to put on a show. Hopefully FanFest year two in Napa is even bigger and better than the first year was.