Fiesta San Antonio 2025

Fiesta San Antonio 2025

Fiesta San Antonio celebrates the city’s rich heritage with vibrant parades, food-centric events, and lively, local entertainment. The Gay Fiesta parties include masquerade balls, block parties, drag queen chili cook-outs and more.

• Visiting for the event? Stay close to the gay bars and clubs at the Hotel Emma at Pearl, rated “Exceptional” by guests with a stunning outdoor pool, modern gym and stylish rooms.

The Event

• Next Edition: Thursday 24th April 2024 – Sunday 4th May 2025 – What started in 1891 as a way to honor the heroes from the Battle of the Alamo has transformed into a way share in the fun of celebrating the city’s largest city-wide party with a purpose, Fiesta San Antonio.

Fiesta Medals

• Awaiting dates – from 4 pm to 11 pm at Alamodome’s H-E-B Plaza, an indoor multi purpose stadium.
• Kick off the festivities with Fiesta Fiesta, an opening ceremony complete with locally-themed medal exchanges.
• As a long-standing tradition, people go on a mission to obtain and wear as many Fiesta medals as possible.
• You’ll see people wearing their weight in medals – fastened to sashes, jackets, hats and more.
• Get your own Fiesta medals at the Official Fiesta Store or at various events throughout the 11-day celebration!
• From thrilling carnival rides and games, live entertainment that’ll have you dancing the night away, to delicious food that epitomizes the spirit FIESTA.

Battle of Flowers

• Awaiting dates – From 9.55 am. 
• Participants and floats in the parade showcase elaborate floral decorations, living up to its name.
• The use of flowers as a main decorative element pays homage to the practice of throwing flowers as a sign of celebration or victory, tying back to the parade’s origins.
• Unlike many other parades that take place in the evening, the Battle of the Flowers Parade is traditionally held during the day. This daytime schedule allows spectators to fully appreciate the intricate floral designs and colorful costumes under natural light.
• The Battle of Flowers Parade is the founding event of Fiesta San Antonio, attracting crowds of more than 550,000. It is the only parade in the United States produced entirely by women, all of whom are volunteers
• Check the parade route map.

The Fiesta Flambeau Parade

• Awaiting dates – Parade Route Downtown San Antonio – From 7 pm to 11 pm.
• Make plans to attend one of several spectacular parades including Fiesta Flambeau, the largest night parade in the country.
• Stay close to all the events at the Drury Plaza Hotel, rated “Fabulous” by guests with spacious rooms in a historic building.
• The Fiesta Flambeau Parade began in 1948. The parade’s name comes from the French word for a candlestick or torch. In the event’s early years, four-man brigades marched between the other units, carrying torches on five-foot poles.
• It is viewed by over 750,000 street spectators along a 2.6-mile parade route.
• Today Boy Scouts carry safety flares. All the floats in the Flambeau Parade are lighted.
• Don’t forget your cascarones – colorful eggshells filled with confetti – for sharing (and breaking!) along the parade routes.
• Check the parade route map.

The Texas Cavaliers River Parade

• Awaiting dates – 7:00 pm – 9:30 pm, San Antonio Riverwalk
• For years King Antonio had no set tradition for his official arrival at Fiesta. He used planes, trains and automobiles.
• When the Works Progress Administration completed improvements to the San Antonio River in 1941, the Cavaliers decided to introduce the king in a river parade—the first event to take place on the river after the improvements.
• Today the River Parade is one of the few in the nation in which the floats really do float. About 250,000 people line the banks to enjoy the event.
• Check out the top hotels close to the Riverwalk and stay right in the heart of the party!

Night in Old San Antonio (NIOSA)

• Awaiting dates – 5:30 pm – 10:30 pm, La Villita 418 La Villita Street.
• For fun with food and drinks, don’t miss Oyster Bake, A Night in Old San Antonio, a Taste of New Orleans, and more.
• Listen to jazz and enjoy beignets and escargot in French Quarter. The old west comes alive in Frontier Town with its famous Shypoke Eggs and country music. Drink Irish beer in Irish Flats.
• Check out the top hotels close to La Villita Historic Arts district.
• Tejano sounds and famous handmade Maria’s tortillas can be found in Haymarket. Have nostalgic fun in Clown Alley. The music in Froggy Bottom rocks as you wait for the famous Chicken on a Stick.
• It’s always 4th of July in Main Street USA. The Mexican Market area features great music and the very popular Anticuchos beef-kabob. Find sizzling sausage and a German Oompa band in Sauerkraut Bend. Sample cuisine influenced by Northern Mexico in South of the Border. Colorful Spanish murals will surround you in Villa España.
• It takes about 16,000 volunteers each year to stage NIOSA.

Gay Night at NOISA

• Awaiting dates – Gay Night at Noisa – take the gay Annual Pride Ride Shuttle from the Main Avenue Strip to the gates of NIOSA and back. Shuttle runs from 5:00 PM to 10:30 PM. Cost is $5 roundtrip.

Day in Old Mexico

• Awaiting dates – Other events where you can explore the city’s distinctive culture with deep roots include A Day in Old Mexico in Rancho del Charro.

Gay Events during Fiesta San Antonio

• San Antonio’s Main Avenue is interchangeably referred to as “The Strip” and “The Gay Strip,” but it’s gay no matter what you call it. Located just north of downtown, in Tobin Hill, this central gayborhood district doesn’t fall short on rainbow flair.
• The best hotels closest to the gay district are found downtown, in the Riverwalk district. 

The Webb Party

• Awaiting dates – The Webb Party – a gay ball raising funds for the Aids foundation, at The Witte Museum.

The Ram Party

• Awaiting dates – RAM Party – San Antonio Fiesta Main Event – Join Daddy Ersin and his crew of beefy bears for the biggest gay gear circuit event in Texas this April.

Other Gay Events

• Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil The 9th Annual Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil masquerade party will benefit Fiesta Youth, a nonprofit that offers peer support, friendship, enrichment activities for LGBTQ Youth. The event is held at The DoSeum Museum . Masks are encouraged.
• The Chili Queens Cook-Off presented by the Happy Foundation at the Bonham Exchange.
• For three nights  – Fiesta Cornyation – the “raunchiest and cheapest” event of Fiesta.  The extravaganza is part drag show, part satirical revue, part beer hall bawdy-fest, at the Charline McCombs Empire Theatre.

Where to stay in San Antonio?

The following hotels are all close to the gay bars and clubs:

Grand Hyatt,  The Westin Riverwalk,   Hilton Palacio del Rio,  Marriott Riverwalk