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Celebrating the diverse history and culture of San Antonio, Fiesta is an 11-day festival originally meant to honor the heroes of the Alamo. With 3.5 million people attending, Fiesta is a truly Texas-sized festival with over 100 events in April all run by local nonprofit member organizations and volunteers. Over half of the events are FREE -- consult the official Fiesta schedule to get admission details.

It all started in 1891 when a group of ladies paraded in front of the Alamo in decorated horse-drawn carriages and threw flowers at each other. This tradition continues today and Fiesta's Battle of Flowers parade is now one of the nation's largest, second only to the Tournament of Roses.

Information on Fiesta

The Order of the Alamo is one of Fiesta’s oldest organizations and meets once a year to choose the next year’s queen and her court. The coronation ceremony involves intricately detailed dresses and trains that some speculate can cost upwards of $10,000. The early festivals had royal Kings such as King Cotton, King Selamat (tamales spelled backwards), King Omala (Alamo spelled backwards), and King Antonio until the Texas Cavaliers started naming a King Antonio every year.

A Night in Old San Antonio, or NIOSA, draws in 80,000 visitors to the largest historical preservation festival in the nation with non-stop entertainment and elaborately decorated food and drink booths to celebrate the city’s unique heritage. The St. Mary’s Oyster Bake has been a tradition for over 90 years and has over 100,000 oysters served raw, baked, or fried, musical entertainment, and an amazing firework finale. Cornyation is another Fiesta favorite that is geared towards a more mature audience and pokes fun at politics, current events, and Fiesta itself by crowning its own royalty to preside over the show.

Things to do for Fiesta:

Other events include a Pooch parade and costume contest, the official Miss San Antonio contest that crowns a winner to move on to the Miss Texas pageant, plus many art fairs and carnivals featuring entertainment and food that shows the rich culture found in the Alamo city.
 

For more information on Fiesta activities:

Learn about the Sights and Sounds of Fiesta.

Visit the official Fiesta San Antonio site.

Be sure to check out the schedule of events to see what’s going on. With so many different events (many of them free), Fiesta truly has something for everyone to enjoy!