San Francisco contest blends pumpkins and politics, with cameos from Mayor Breed and D.A. Jenkins

State Sen. Scott Wiener has put on the only-in-San Francisco event for much of the last decade, except for a pandemic disruption in 2020.

“It’s an uplifting event” that lets him catch up with long-time constituents and meet new ones, Wiener said, after polishing off a slice of pizza. Some residents come to talk shop while others are there for the festivities, he said. This year, Mayor London Breed, Supervisor Rafael Mandelman and District Attorney Brooke Jenkins stopped by.

The festive mood was blunted slightly by a group of protesters speaking at the edge of the park and holding signs with slogans like “Stop tranzing gay kids” as a few police officers looked on.

Wiener called the demonstration “despicable” but added they had the right to say what they wanted. Wiener has authored legislation to to make California a safe place for youths who are coming from elsewhere seeking gender-related health care, as states like Florida and Texas have passed laws to marginalize those who identify as trans.

BeBe Sweetbriar, one of the drag queen judges, wasn’t letting the protest blunt her good time. Dressed in a black witch’s outfit with a pointed hat that occasionally sailed away in the wind, she said she loved seeing the kids racing around the park between bouts of pumpkin-skewering.

A young boy ran up to Sweetbriar and growled, baring a set of day-glo green plastic fangs. “Aaaa!” Sweetbriar yelped with delight.

Some of Wiener’s long-time constituents, like Paul Silberschatz, came to show support for Wiener and his policies.

“I really resonate with his housing policy,” Silberscahtz said, as his daughters, Emily and Katie, discussed their Halloween costume plans nearby. Wiener has introduced legislation to streamline housing construction over the years, with the goal of easing the worsening shortages in California and the Bay Area.

Silberschatz said he’s been coming to the event long enough that his kids have appeared in Wiener’s campaign mailers in years past.

Emily even has a nickname for 6-foot, 7-inch Wiener: “The tall man with the pumpkin patch.”

Then what started out as a neighborhood gathering morphed somewhat into the kind of flesh-pressing political event that foreshadows the looming November election.

District Attorney Brooke Jenkins showed up, at one point servin g as a roo st for two brightly-plumed pet birds, Aidan and Bebe that belonged to a woman named Mellody Gannon. The duo briefly took up residence on Jenkins’ hand, the other perched atop her head, as she laughed.

Jenkins’ presence, along with that of District 8 Supervisor Rafael Mandelman and eventually Mayor London Breed, seemed to explain the unusually heavy police presence around the park, although ensuring the integrity of the pumpkin-judging seemed paramount.

Mandelman and Wiener both took to the microphone to declare their support for one another as well as for Jenkins, who is facing voters for the first time since being appointed by Breed in the wake of former District Attorney Chesa Boudin’s recall in June.

Breed mainly thanked Wiener and praised his work ethic.

Taking the microphone, Jenkins joked it was hard to avoid the free pizza at the event and said it was important to “eat r ight when you’re campaigning and trying to turn the city around.”

Mandelman joked that Jenkins was “a crazy leftist” too, but said “sometimes we need to use the leverage of the criminal justice system to get results.”

If nothing else, the event was a chance for undecided voters, like Gannon, the bird parent, to meet people running for local office and ask them questions.

“She seemed real and approachable,” Gannon said of Jenkins. She liked that she played with her birds and “listened to what I had to say. “She got my vote today,” Gannon said.

Once the speeches wrapped up and Breed made her exit, the real business of pumpkin judging could begin.

Bebe Sweetbriar, along with Katya Smirnoff-Skyy and D’Arcy Drollinger, dubbed Devon Roshan Eisner the winner of the adult competition. Roshan Eisner received a $25 gift certificate to Cliff’s Variety story in the Castro for her rendering of Jack Skellington, the protagonist of the animated movie the Nightmare Before Christmas, in pumpkin flesh.

“I love Jack,” Roshan Eisner said, although the thrill of victory was nothing new for her. She had taken the prize once before in 2019.

In the children’s category, Nicky Zurita’s two-faced, doubled-sided Jack-o’-lantern took home the title and a $25 gift certificate to Small Fry’s children’s store.

“I was nervous when I saw the competition,” Zurita said, so he was doubly pleased when his pumpkin was picked. “My jaw dropped,” he said.

Chase DiFeliciantonio is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: chase.difeliciantonio@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @ChaseDiFelice