Celebrating Viva Fiesta San Antonio!

This year my daughter, Amanda, and I took a girls trip to our first Fiesta in San Antonio! We stayed at Hotel Contessa on the San Antonio River which was perfect for us. Not only were we able to walk to restaurants and La Villita (where SA began), but we were one block from the Flambeau Parade route as well!

Viva Fiesta

Fiesta is a 10 day celebration originating with Battle of the Flowers in 1891. This was a citizen birthed parade event honoring the heroes of the Battles of the Alamo and San Jacinto. From here, throughout the years, Fiesta developed as a massive celebration consisting of many events which raise millions of dollars for charities. Included are multiple parades, parties, coronation, fair, run, live music, and a handful of significant kings and queens all making up the ‘party with a purpose’. One of the main events of Fiesta is still the Battle of Flowers Parade, the 2nd largest parade in the country. 

We had to catch on pretty quickly since we were only there for the weekend, and we found out that is a very short time to experience Fiesta. Luckily, my cousin who lives in San Antonio had given us a shortlist of her favorite events. We were able to make some of those and stumbled upon others. We had a great weekend and cannot wait to go back next year. 

San Antonio Riverwalk

The San Antonio Riverwalk is a main attraction in San Antonio no matter what time of year. It is a wonderful walkable area below street level where you will find restaurants, bars, hotel entrances and pretty landscaping. Just like most things in San Antonio during Fiesta, this area is kicked up a couple notches. Besides extra tourists (an estimated 3 million people attend Fiesta), there are activities on and around the river to celebrate. 

Texas Cavaliers River Parade

The colorful floats, in the Texas Cavaliers River Parade, float down the river with much enthusiasm and celebrating. The river-front amphitheater is filled with partying spectators watching as the parade floats under Rosita’s Bridge and directly in front of them. Straight across the river is the Arneson River Theater stage hosting live music and parade royalty, the traditional Texas Cavalier’s King Antonio. 

NIOSA in La Villita

The last time I was here it was more sparse, but charming. The original, around 300 year old, adobe structures had been preserved and used as shops. Now, La Villita has transformed into an event space with many shops, restaurants, etc all stemming from the, still preserved, original adobe homes. That morning they were restoring the village back to it’s typical state, post NIOSA. We found busy workers and plenty of party traces, but it is still an amazing original start to San Antonio that thankfully has been protected and is thriving all these centuries later. A must visit. Maybe our next visit will be during NIOSA. 

Night In Old San Antonio is a several night long Fiesta party in historic La Villita, just off the Riverwalk. This was on my cousin’s list and although we missed it, Amanda and I went to the historic La Villita Saturday morning. 

King William Parade and Fair

Taking place in one of the oldest SA neighborhoods, is another large parade, the King William Parade. Later in the day, in the same neighborhood, 100s of food, art, etc vendors line the shaded streets for the King William Parade. We had a great time here, among the beautiful homes, where the streets were full of shoppers in festive hats, bright floral headbands and sporting their Fiesta Medal collections.

Fiesta Medals

There are many traditions surrounding Fiesta and the collection of medals is a big one! I had heard a little about this before we arrived, but I had no idea! Businesses, personalities and events have unique medals made to sell, and sometimes even giveaway, during Fiesta. Many of the medals that are sold raise money for community non profits. Fiesta medals are highly collectible and prominently worn on display during the festivities. Sashes pinned with years of Fiesta medal collections are extremely common to see. 

We have a long way to go, but we were able to start our on collections this year thanks to the Rey Feo Transportation Minister giving us our 1st ones! We had just come back to Hotel Contessa after the Flambeau Parade and King Rey Feo and several of his court were in the lobby. When they found out it was our 1st Fiesta and that was our 1st medal, the King threw in his medal too. Of course, we had to add Hotel Contessa medals to our new collections. We will have to add even more next year. 

Flambeau Parade

The Flambeau Parade was awesome and one of the events that we just stumbled upon. We had gone to eat dinner with our SA family-aunt, uncle and cousins, and Amanda noticed a band across the parking lot when we returned.  We walked that way and were fortunate enough to take in almost an hour of the night parade. The bands, floats and participants were all decked out in lights as they were marching and dancing along the streets. Very fun to experience one of the major parades of Fiesta. 

Calendar of Events

There are so many other scheduled events of Fiesta and you can follow the official calendar of events online every year. Many of the events will require tickets which you can purchase via links there. You will find free events and lots of live music all around tho. We walked right into a large celebration with food, vendors and a live band set up outside San Fernando Cathedral. 

Also, when we attempted Mi Tierra and The Mexican Market, it was packed and featured more live music. We could barely navigate thru here. We were literally inching our way down the street. The market wasn’t as crowded and shopping was manageable. The wait was several hours at Mi Tierra, but they directed us back to the drink counter to place a to go order and sit and wait for it. Here you get a feel of the restaurant’s festive decor and can hear the mariachi band at nearby tables.  

When we went to Pearl District, we were taking pics with their VIVA backdrop and enjoying the Fiesta decorations in the shops and street. This celebration/fundraiser has a way of drawing everyone in. 

Although Fiesta week may be the worst week to explore San Antonio, it’s the best week for a fun celebration! Restaurants, The Alamo and other typical attractions sometimes were challenging to navigate with the larger crowds and blocked off areas, but that was a small trade off for such a fun girls weekend immersed in hopefully a new tradition for us! 

Click here for more San Antonio and Pearl District highlights.