Why did a plane skywrite hearts over the Golden Gate Bridge?

Those looking toward the Golden Gate Bridge on Sunday noticed a surprising sight: A gigantic heart appearing in the sky right over the world’s most famous span.

The amorous skywriting was sponsored by San Rafael-based theater group Antenna Theatre, who dubbed it the “Love Plane Experience.”

“This idea, from Chris Hardman Antenna's artistic director, is to gather the tribes to express our common love near the Golden Gate Bridge, to bridge our differences and to unite us,” says Antenna’s fundraising site.

The event’s Facebook page also called for “every peace-loving sail boat, power boat, windsurfer, dug out canoe and kayak, to fill the bay flying flags of flowers and hearts and peace signs.”

That’s cute, but it’s now October. Aren’t Antenna a bit late celebrating the Summer of Love, even with a generous grace period for very, very late summer revelers playing hooky?

As it turns out, no.

Nominally, longtime San Franciscans and historians mark the end of the original 1967 Summer of Love as the “Death of Hippie” march staged on October 6, 1967, in which the anarchist street collective the Diggers paraded a coffin down Haight Street in a sardonic gesture of mourning for the conclusion of the landmark season.

Which means that those San Franciscans with a hankering for more retro Flower Power even now still have a few days left before the anniversary technically ends.

• Love Plane Experience [Facebook]
• Antenna Theater [Flip Cause]
• Death Of Hippie [Digger Feed]