Luminaria in San Antonio

I originally posted this on my other blog on Monday, March 16, 2009

We decided to make a trip to San Antonio on Saturday, March 14, in order to watch our favorite St. Patrick's Day Parade down Alamo St. After a quick tour of the Alamo, we stood in the drizzling, bone-chilling rain to view a shortened version of the parade. Once again, I watched in amazement at the blending of the Hispanic and Irish in one of my most favorite cities in the world.

After the parade, we noticed a lot of booth building up and down the street and found a flyer that let us know what was going on - Luminaria, Arts Night in San Antonio. I hadn't heard of this before so I was very curious as to what was being planned.

We headed to La Villita to show our friend that wonderful place but were disappointed that the plaza was empty and many shops were closed. We assumed that the weather had put a damper on the outdoor activities but soon realized that everyone was getting ready for an evening of arts celebration.

Luminaria booths and platforms were being built from Peacock Alley near the Emily Morgan Hotel all of the way down Alamo St past the Convention Center to the Instituto Cultural de Mexico. There were ten different venues along the way with the festivities starting at 6 p.m. and running until the midnight conclusion of a fireworks display!

I have to say there was too much to see. We saw the Karilagen Phillipine Dance Company, the Natyanjali Dances of India, ModaCoLab, Jazz Meets Classical, glass blowing demonstrations, the San Antonio Symphony, and much more. Absolutely one of the best nights we experienced in a long time.

We are already making plans to attend the Luminaria next year.

UPDATE: Yep, it's Luminaria time again! We are heading out to visit San Antonio tomorrow morning, March 13, 2010.