 Best New Year's Eve Community Party:San Antonio!
By Logan Hawkes & Carla Land
Sure, San Antonio is noted as the second most popular convention city in the United States. And yes, they prove every year they know how to throw a good party (Fiesta de San Antonio). But if you've never attended New year's Eve festivities at La Villita (old San Antonio) across from the Hemisfair Plaza, then you've missed one of the premiere events of its kind in the world.
No kidding! Imagine over a quarter-million people turning out to the central city for a street party and fireworks display fired from the top of the 750-foot tall Tower of the Americas! There's a party going on the Riverwalk, a party - including children's activities - in Old San Antonio. There are sound stages and live music performers spread all across the front of the San Antonio Convention Center. Crowds have gathered on the roof tops of central city parking garages and office towers; they have filled the bridges overlooking the Riverwalk in a dozen or more places. Hotel balconies are full of visitors who have come to see and hear the sounds of the New year in the historic Alamo City.
In our opinion, the only possible rival celebration on New year's eve comes from New York's Time Square celebration and Sydney, Australia's New Year bash - and of the three, San Antonio gets the nod as the most all around safe and exciting event!
We could start naming the reasons, but there are far too many good ones to list them all. But for starters, San Antonio - the 8th largest city in the U.S. - feels "safe" downtown. At least this is true on New Year's Eve. Of course, there are plenty of law enforcement officials on the street and River Walk. But as you look around at the diversity of the crowd, something becomes immediately apparent. The majority of revelers are families, and are exhibiting outstanding behavior considering the nature of the celebration and the huge throngs of people who have come from all across the world to experience San Antonio at its finest.
 True to San Antonio's tradition as being a "rock-n-roll town", most sound stages are filled with rock bands. There were even a few head-banger groups bombarding the streets with hard rock. At one point, during one band's rendition of AC/DC's "Highway to Hell," we noticed even San Antonio's on-duty police officers were swaying (dancing?) to the beat!
What we didn't see were fights or arguments or scuffles with police. Certainly that must have happened somewhere in such a huge crowd. But we never saw such behavior, or hear of any major incidents in the downtown area.
All along the River Walk, the music was a contrast to the streets above. There were strolling mariachis, jazz and blues rang from sidewalk cafes and clubs. Country music filled the air at one point along the winding River Walk. And everywhere faces of every age and description wore festive party hats and rattled and blew their noisemakers in jubilant celebration.
Our first night of our three-night stay we headquartered on the 36th floor of the magnificent Marriot River Center Hotel. Because of the large crowds, we chose to watch the fireworks (on the Tower) from one of the many walk bridges that cross the river near the popular River Center portion of the River Walk. This way we were just steps away from our hotel room and had a magnificent view of the fireworks.
Stay tuned in the days ahead and read our reviews of the Marriot River Center Hotel, the Hilton Palaceo del Rio (where we spent the next two nights), the India Palace Restaurant, the romantic and rural Grey Moss Inn Restaurant, plus our very crowded dining experience New Year's Eve on the River Walk at a local Italian eatery. We'll tell it like it is, so you know where to go and what to avoid.
But overall, our San Antonio experience was a great one, with maximum points going to a community that has learned how to organize and manage large events and has managed to keep them enjoyable for all ages and a diverse collection of visitors from around the world. Viva San Antonio! Hats off for a job well done.
NEXT: The Marriot River Center Hotel review (later this week). LH/CL
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