San Antonio’s Holidays on Houston Street is moving to La Villita Historic Arts District this year, one of several changes that are coming to the traditional event.
Centro San Antonio announced during a meeting of downtown stakeholders on Tuesday that Holidays on Houston, despite the name, will be hosted several blocks away in La Villita instead.
The free public event that brings vendors and holiday themed festivities to downtown during one weekend in December has been held along the street central to the urban core for three years.
For La Villita tenants, the news is like Christmas came early.
Alex Cerna, who has owned the arts store Yolix Luna since 2020, said she is looking forward to the event and what it will mean for her business.
“We need the foot traffic,” she said. “We’ve spent months and months with not a soul walking by. We’ve been fenced-in for six years.”
The COVID pandemic followed by construction in La Villita and protracted road work on Alamo Street hurt many of the businesses in the area.
During the pandemic, Cerna said, “I would say it can’t get worse, and it got worse.”
But La Villita has everything the Holidays on Houston market experience needs to be successful, she added.
“You’ll see a spread there of food vendors, non-food vendors … all kind of niched and baked in, so they become part of the village,” said Nadine Fonseca, a special events planner for Centro. “It’s not going to be a giant row of tents that’s separate from the village. We want all of the current retailers and artisans and restaurants that are in La Villita to get that foot traffic, too.”
Centro SA also is expanding the event to the first and third weekends in December to coincide with the San Antonio Marathon programs, Dec. 4-6, and the NCAA Women’s Division I Volleyball Championships, Dec. 17-20.
The change in location to La Villita allows space for more artisan and food and beverage vendors, a Centro SA representative said.
“I love the fact that we’re going to be in La Villita, which means little village, so it becomes like this little magical Christmas village,” said Centro SA President and CEO Trish DeBerry.
But she assured the group that Houston Street will be draped in lights as it has been for the last several years. More than 393,000 mini-LED lights will illuminate approximately 80 trees along the street, according to Centro.
“We’re trying to spread the wealth and take the event to all parts of downtown and really involve as many people as possible,” said the city’s Chief Downtown Officer Shanon Miller.
The annual city-sponsored Taste of Holidays community dinner that is part of the event will remain on Houston Street near the Majestic Theater. Tickets will be sold here when they become available.
