Golden Gate Park's Speedway Meadow to be Renamed to Honor Warren Hellman

(With acknowledgement that there is no Novato angle to this story, we share it because of all the Novato folks who have attended the Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival in the past ...)

A public memorial will be held next month for San Francisco financier and philanthropist in a part of Golden Gate Park that was recently renamed after him.

Hellman, the founder of the free music festival Hardly Strictly Bluegrass who died in December at 77 after a battle with leukemia, will be honored Feb. 19 in Hellman Hollow.

The spot, formerly known as Speedway Meadow, was renamed after Hellman by the San Francisco Recreation and Park Commission to recognize his contributions to the city.

Hellman's accomplishments included helping to found the San Francisco School Alliance, an advocacy group for the city's schools, and serving as chairman of the board for the Bay Citizen, a nonprofit news organization he helped found in 2010. He also founded the private equity firm Hellman & Friedman LLC.

Hellman's family and friends already gathered for a colorful memorial service for him Dec. 21 that included performances by singer Emmylou Harris as well as the Wronglers, the band Hellman played banjo with at his festival.

More details about the public memorial service on Feb. 19 are expected to be released soon, according to the Hardly Strictly Bluegrass website.

The music festival will continue; organizers have already set the dates for this year's shows for Oct. 5-7.

— Bay City News Service