The 40th annual Jazz’SAlive Festival in September will double as the grand opening of the highly anticipated Civic Park, Hemisfair’s largest green space and the festival’s new home.
The San Antonio Parks Foundation announced Thursday that the $28 million park on the former site of the 1968 World’s Fair will officially open during the two-day event, which is free and open to the public.
Built on five acres along the west side of the Henry B. González Convention Center, Civic Park is opening two years later than originally planned after pandemic related delays.
The long-awaited park will allow downtown San Antonio to host music festivals and other events with as many as 15,000 attendees, according to Hemisfair officials.
Civic Park was was designed to be the “grandest” of Hemisfair’s park series, officials have told the San Antonio Report, a great public place not unlike urban green spaces in other major cities, including Millennium Park in Chicago and Prospect Park in Brooklyn.
In 2017, voters approved allocating $26 million of a bond program for the construction of Civic Park, and Hemisfair broke ground on phase one — the section opening in September — in January 2022.
Voters approved another $18 million for phase two in the 2022 municipal bond.
The park’s grand opening will take place at 4:30 p.m. on Sept. 29, before the Jazz’SAlive Festival music kicks off on the main stage at 5 p.m. Performances on opening day include artists Kirk Whalum, Jackie Venson, the Aaron Prado Sextet featuring Azul Barrientos and the Jazz Protagonists.
“Partnering with the San Antonio Parks Foundation for one of the largest free jazz festivals in the country is a natural fit for the opening of ‘One of the World’s Great Public Places’ as we welcome the whole country in celebrating this momentous occasion,” Hemisfair CEO Andres Andujar said in a statement.
While the Jazz’SAlive Festival is free, ticket upgrades are on sale starting at $60.
