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The citywide celebration Fiestas Patrias begins on Friday and continues all through September, which is Hispanic Heritage Month.
“Fiestas Patrias [is] the time where San Antonio comes together, along with the Diez y Seis Commission, which is an official commission of the City of San Antonio. It brings together a commemoration of Hispanic Heritage Month and also Mexican Independence Day,” said Krystal Jones, executive director of the City of San Antonio’s Department of Arts & Culture.
There are several events on the schedule, including a parade. “They start at Historic Market Square with the El Grito civic ceremony and cultural program,” she explained. “This is where everybody comes together with music. And then it culminates with an El Grito at the end of the celebration or the battle cry.”
The parade, she added, is "on the corner of Brazos and Guadalupe Street. A parade to really celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month and, of course, the Diez Y Seis holiday.”
Urban 15 will stream film screenings from Sept. 16-23.
For music lovers, Jones explained, “there is a Mariachi festival at La Villita, and this is Sept. 30. This will be happening downtown, and that time will be very, very much activated with many different events, including Jazz'SAlive."
She added that "the Diez Y Seis Mariachi Festival will bring high school students that are part of part of mariachi groups to La Villita historic arts village so that people can really get a taste for the talent that we have here with our youth and music.”
October will also offer similar events.
“The Guadalupe on Oct. 13 is going to have a really wonderful celebration with music, with dance at the Guadalupe Theater on Oct. 13, and then at the very end of the celebration for the month, on Oct. 14 and 15, the San Antonio Charro Association will have an anniversary charreada, and that's at Padre Park,” she said.
More information about all these events is at getcreativesanantonio.com.
