Pavas, sapos, and perreo at Mission Lotería’s Bad Bunny look-alike contest

The vibrant rows of papel picado hung outside of Valencia Street danced delicately in the wind, presiding over the massive celebration that spilled out of San Francisco’s first-ever Bad Bunny look-alike contest.

The February 5 event brought hundreds to what was initially meant to be a pre-halftime show twist on a weekly game night hosted at Tacolicious by local organization Mission Lotería. “The main idea was to bring some extra foot traffic into our lotería game night, and then I think it ended up taking a life of its own. We were just happy to welcome everyone that came to the door,” said event organizer and Mission Lotería founder Luis Quiroz. The initiative aims to support businesses based in the Mission District and create community-based cultural events across the city.

“The primary goal of the contest was to hype up the Mission and all of the Latinos in the Bay, because having the Super Bowl here and especially having Bad Bunny [perform] is a historic event. We definitely wanted to carry that celebration forward, starting on Thursday and then throughout the week, and give people a safe space to celebrate,” said Quiroz, who also noted that he hopes this event provides an opportunity for the San Francisco Latino community to gather.

“There’s not really a lot of Latin clubs or Latin music at the bars in the city compared to San Jose or Oakland or other parts of the East Bay. In San Francisco it’s like, ‘Where are the Latinos at?’ So this event is a [way] for us to create that space,” said Quiroz.

While the event was free for both attendees and contestants, preregistration was crucial; Reuters reported that the event’s VIP tickets ran out in two days and that its waitlist soared to 600 people. Because of the colossal turnout, an outdoor catwalk was added into the contest so the hundreds of onlookers outside of the restaurant could watch the contestants parade by. Waiters braved the sardine-packed crowds both inside and around the restaurant to deliver shrimp aguachile and Coca-Cola braised carnitas tacos to grateful tables. 

Mercedes Gallo, six-time attendee of Bad Bunny’s concerts, came prepared. Her homemade Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio big-head cutout sign sat next to salt-rimmed margarita glasses on the prime table she’d grabbed with her friends, who were people-watching as they waited for the contest to begin.

“I’m a Bad Bunny fan because he elevates women’s voices against the machismo that is a huge issue within our culture,” said Gallo. “For a man to want to [do his] nails, wear a dress, it’s huge for our community. What he says and does tracks with what he represents.”

Many attendees and contestants ultimately came in search of community and togetherness during a time of senseless terror, fear-mongering, and hateful rhetoric sweeping across the nation.

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“[Right now] when people are so polarized, having fun and bonding over something like music helps bridge the gap between every demographic in the States,” shared contestant Nizar Benotmane, clad in the white pants and red button-down worn the singer wore in his Puerto Rican residency shows. “Being the child of immigrants, it makes me feel seen to be here amongst other Black and Brown and especially Latino people. Regardless of nationalities, we’re all here in a Latino brotherhood, and it’s beautiful.”

“I feel the love. The event just keeps growing and growing and growing—I haven’t seen so many Latinos out in the Mission since the ‘90s,” said San Francisco local Addy Chumpitaz, one of the many standing in the line wrapped around the block hours before the contest’s starting time. “It’s really what we need in times like this—I’m so happy to see so many people coming out to support Puerto Rican papi, you know?” 

Chumpitaz noted that many individuals dressed up as the sapo concho, featured heavily in Bunny’s DeBÍ TiRAR MáS FOToS album imagery, and that some of them were passing out buttons to those waiting in line with the amphibian’s likeliness that read “Chinga La Migra”. The Puerto Rican crested toad, at risk of extinction due to human infringement on its environment, was a popular costume at the event. Many could be spotted in the crowd dancing with attendees and Bad Bunnies.

“There’s no shame in celebrating our culture, because it’s beautiful. What’s happening right now is very unfortunate, and there’s very little that we can control, but this is one thing we can do: come out and show our love for our culture,” said Nathan Martinez, another Benito look-alike, who was motivated to join the contest by his two-year old sister’s reaction to seeing the singer on TV. 

“She thought he was me!” Martinez laughed, showing off his outfit mirroring Bad Bunny’s 2025 appearance on “The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon”. Martinez noted that everything from his suit to gold jewelry and aviators, along with a version of the singer’s iconic shearling hat that was worn by many of the evening’s contestants, was comprised of items that were already in his closet. “This is my real hair though—I didn’t get it permed. I just want to make that clear,” he said.

“What’s more San Francisco than a Bad Bunny look-alike contest?” asked Michelle Barrigan as she adjusted a stick-on mustache, dressed head-to-toe in an outfit similar to one worn by the singer at the 2026 Grammy Awards. Barrigan, who made it to the contest’s top four, carried a “STOP ICE” sign during her spotlight moment on the catwalk, reflecting Bad Bunny’s outspoken stance against American immigration policies and ICE raids. “I’m glad Bad Bunny is using his very large platform to speak out against injustice. He’s on the right side of history,” she said.

Quiroz emphasized that the event was meant to center joy in the face of hate. “There’s this misplaced anger and scapegoating that’s going on in the world, and it’s heartbreaking. Even with the controversy of a Puerto Rican performer [chosen for the halftime show], it’s like, ‘Um, hello? Puerto Ricans are U.S. citizens.’ I’ve been guilty of doomscrolling, getting in my head about it and having to pull myself out, because it’s so easy to fall into the trap of being afraid, especially as an immigrant myself. If ICE were here, if I were in Minnesota, I would for sure be a target, even though I have every right to be here.” 

“In the Bay Area, we’re not seeing what’s happening across the country happen here. I feel like we sometimes do live in a bubble and I don’t take that for granted, but I think it’s just an example to show up, speak out and not be afraid. The community has our back—there’s strength in numbers,” he concluded.

After each contestant had their time to shine, an applause meter cut the group down first to 11, then four. The crown was finally placed on the head of Abdul Ramirez Arroyave, a professional Bad Bunny impersonator and reggaeton singer from Colombia. After his win, “Abdul Bunny” led the restaurant in a verse of “DtMF.” 

“My life is about Bad Bunny, always,” said Arroyave, wearing the singer’s signature pava, a traditional wide-brimmed straw hat. “I go all around the world with my tribute, it’s crazy, and I enjoy my life. All the people around here love Bad Bunny, so I feel amazing.” 

“This is community at its finest,” said Quiroz. “We could sit in silence, dim our lights, but there’s no sense in living in the shadows. We’re living free, and we’re living our best lives.”