Things to Do in San Antonio - 2

Sports

The San Antonio Spurs basketball team is not only the city’s only major sports franchise, and one of the best-performing teams in any sport over the past decade, but is arguably the most beloved entity in the city. The team’s “Go Spurs Go” slogan is displayed in myriad ways in neighborhoods all over San Antonio, and yet tickets for games at the AT&T Center, on the city’s East Side, are relatively affordable and attainable during the regular season.

The AT&T Center is also home to the annual San Antonio Stock Show & Rodeo in February, which features top-notch rodeo athletes, country music performers and proud FFA students with their livestock for a two-week run in which San Antonians dig through their closets for their cowboy hats, boots and Wrangler jeans.

 

• Cowboy up at the San Antonio Stock Show & Rodeo, held each February.

SACVB

The other major sports and events facility is the Alamodome, at the southeast corner of downtown. In addition to hosting the annual Alamo Bowl in late December, the Alamodome is one of the NCAA’s favorite sites for men’s and women’s college basketball tournament games in March. During the fall, the facility also hosts high school football games—a serious tradition in Texas—and starting in 2011, will host college football games for the fledgling program at University of Texas at San Antonio.

San Antonio Festivals

The downtown area comes alive during the San Antonio Fiesta, the annual festival that takes over the entire city for 11 days during the latter half of April. While those parts of downtown ready-made for festivals bustle with additional music, food booths, and reverie, other parts of the San Antonio core area that are normally more sedate turn into parade routes, carnival grounds and Tejano music festival sites.

 

• The Cavalier Parade travels through San Antonio’s popular River Walk attraction during Fiesta.

Al Rendon

Though San Antonians are by and large the type of people to go with the flow, Fiesta can be a bit overwhelming at times for both drivers and pedestrians. It’s best navigated with patience and mindfulness about the people-watching possibilities. One more helpful Fiesta tip: If someone comes at you with a brightly-colored egg in hand, they’re indulging in a long-standing Fiesta tradition. Cascarones are eggshells filled with confetti, and it’s customary to crack them (gently!) over the heads of either those near and dear to you, or to strangers who seem open to festivity. [Read more tips for visiting Fiesta.]

Fiesta’s certainly not the only festival that transforms the city. On the first Friday of every month, the King William neighborhood—part of several neighborhoods south of downtown known as Southtown—hosts the Southtown First Friday ArtWalk. Designed as a gallery walk featuring the works of the city’s active visual artists, the event also includes a number of late-night live music shows and happenings. [Read more about San Antonio Arts.]

 

• A booth at the Texas Folklife Festival.

ITC/SACVB

The other event that makes an annual impact on the city is the Texas Folklife Festival each June. Held at the Institute of Texan Cultures in HemisFair Park, at the southeast corner of downtown, the festival celebrates 40 different cultures through performance, arts and crafts, and, not surprisingly, food.

San Antonio Food

One of the major pastimes in San Antonio is eating—in fact, locals will often talk about eating experiences at various restaurants while dining out. Certainly, San Antonio is best known for its abundance of Mexican restaurants, and while that’s arguably what the city’s best at preparing, San Antonio’s different cultures and gastronomic inclinations go beyond mere Mexican fare. [Read more about San Antonio Restaurants and San Antonio Family Dining.]