San Antonio’s famous River Walk feels like two different places by day and night. When the sun’s up it’s a pleasant enough way to explore the city and visit some of its restaurants, bars and hotels. It really comes to life at night, though, when darkness imbues it with mystery and an enchanting atmosphere that feels more European than Texan. And, on at least one night of the year, it becomes a third thing entirely: a bright, festive celebration of lost family and friends.
For five years San Antonio has observed Dia de Los Muertos with The Day of the Dead River Parade. A procession of colorful barges float down the San Antonio River, honoring Mexico’s day of remembrance as well as the various cultures that have forged Mexico’s identity. Most of the boats are festooned with distinctive iconography from the holiday, including marigolds, butterflies, ofrendas, elaborately decorated skulls, and fancy Catrinas. At this year’s parade floats sponsored by local businesses, international brands, the Mexican consulate, and the U.S. military made their way down the river, with two of them carrying different mariachi bands (including one made up exclusively of women), and others devoted to alebrijes, loteria, luchadors, the importance of corn to Mexican cuisine, and more.
Some of these floats were almost breathtaking in their ambition and level of detail. On a Cointreau-sponsored barge a brightly lit up, multi-hued sea serpent alebrije rippled from one end to the other, with streaks of red and green dotted with splashes of blue and yellow as its body seemingly coiled beneath and up through the boat. A toothy grin and flickering tongue joined a wide-eyed, goofy expression that made this monster look adorably harmless. (You know that meme with the three-headed dragon, where the first two heads look mean and fearsome, and the third head looks like a lovable dope? This float’s definitely the third head.)
Other floats simply wanted to stoke the parade’s party-like atmosphere. In addition to the two mariachi floats, there were a few with troupes performing traditional dances, or even just representatives of local companies in costume waving boisterously to the crowd. A simple, elegant Pride float had a brightly illuminated rainbow arch on one end and a rainbow-colored heart reading LOVE on the other, with three costumed members of San Antonio’s LGBTQIA community celebrating between them. Whether a float was intricately designed or stripped down, every approach was equally valid, as long as it was in keeping with the joyous spirit of the day.
There was also a float with a human-sized turtle wearing sugar skull face paint and a giant diaper. Okay, it was a mascot suit, not an actual human-sized turtle, but it still seemed to be wearing a diaper, and it was still weird and confusing and impossibly cute. Her name is Marina, she’s the mascot for the main boat tour company on the River Walk, and she might not be wearing a diaper after all (I mean, it certainly looks like one). That doesn’t make her any less lovable, though.
What might have been the largest ovation of the night greeted one of the most subdued and reserved barges. Joint Base San Antonio, a facility made up of multiple Army and Air Force bases, is such a major presence in San Antonio that it’s earned the official nickname Military City USA. A float honoring all five branches of the military, with one member of each aboard, was decorated with a classic flag motif, an eagle statue on the bow, and the logos of each branch; the crowd seated at the Arneson River Theater, many of whom were active or former military themselves, welcomed it with hearty applause.
The Arneson, an outdoor theater at the heart of the River Walk with rows of grass-covered seating facing a small stage on the other side of the river, is the ideal place to watch the parade. A host introduced each barge to the audience, occasionally tossing T-shirts out to the crowd alongside two assistants in fantastic full-body Catrina costumes. Puppeteers operating oversized, illuminated skeleton and alebrije figures danced on a nearby bridge, and a DJ spun popular songs from various decades between the floats. It was basically a party all its own; occasionally a barge would stop and perform a dance or song in front of the theater, which made it feel a bit like Herald Square during Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. And as soon as the parade ended, a band took the stage to wind down the night with live music.
You don’t need to get a ticket to the Arneson to enjoy the parade, though. Seats are set up all along the River Walk, and many watched from street-level above. You’ll need to do some bit of preparation to make sure you get a good vantage point, but there’s ample space if you’re interested.
As a first-timer not just to the Day of the Dead River Parade but to San Antonio itself, I was surprised that this was a relatively new tradition. This year’s parade was only the fifth; that includes one that was televised with no live audience at the height of the pandemic in 2020. The event was created by chef and restaurateur Johnny Hernandez, who started a catering business in San Antonio in 1994 and has since opened several restaurants throughout the city. (On the same weekend of the parade Hernandez also organizes San Antonio’s annual Tasting Texas culinary event, which highlights both local chefs and national celebrities like Richard Blais, who once ran a very short-lived “gourmet hot dog” restaurant in Atlanta in that was like a two minute walk from my apartment.)
There are a number of other Dia de los Muertos celebrations throughout San Antonio—you can find them at Hemisfair, Market Square, the La Villita Historic Arts Village, and elsewhere—but the River Parade offers something that’s both unique and uniquely San Antonian. It capitalizes on San Antonio’s most famous and beloved attraction, the charming River Walk, to celebrate the city’s abundant Mexican heritage in a way that can’t be replicated in most other cities. It’s an unforgettable evening that breathes vibrant life into this venerable Aztec celebration of the dead, and hopefully it becomes the decades-old San Antonio tradition I initially assumed it was.
Senior editor Garrett Martin writes about videogames, comedy, travel, theme parks, wrestling, and anything else that gets in his way. He’s also on Twitter @grmartin.