Nightmare Before Christmas: San Antonio Krampus Parade to return to King William in December

A Krampus stalks the parade route through the King William District during last year’s inaugural parade. Credit: Jaime Monzon

The San Antonio Krampus Parade will return to the historic King William neighborhood for its second annual Ghoultide celebration on Friday, Dec. 5, according to details shared by organizers.

Last year’s illuminated night parade drew as many as 10,000 attendees and participants, and organizers expect this year’s celebration to draw throngs once again. The parade, which is free and open to all ages, will begin at 7:30 p.m.

Krampus’ triumphant return comes after much remonstration from certain community factions, including fundamentalist Christian groups and a few influential King William residents.

Despite the controversy the event generated when it made its debut last year, most respondents to a King William Association survey said they wanted the parade to come back for a second installment.

After much ado and some pushback from within the King William Association, the German folklore tradition will once again be held in the historically German neighborhood. And for this year, organizers are answering naysayers with a message of positivity centered around the German concept of gemütlichkeit, or togetherness.

“Gemütlichkeit is sort of […] another way to reinforce the idea that we’re here to have a good time,” Grand Marshall Bob Crittenden told the Current. “And I hate that I have to say that, because 10,000 people understood that. But we want to just remind everybody that we’re here to have a good time. And that’s why we are embracing this concept of gemütlichkeit.”

Like many words in the German language, there’s no literal translation of gemütlichkeit, which is frequently used in beer hall toasts. However, Crittenden said the word encapsulates “a sense of warmth, community, social fun, being together, having fun.”

“That’s what this parade is all about,” he added.

In addition to the new theme, this year’s parade will incorporate other changes.

First of all, only members of parade krewes can march in the krampuslauf. Those who wish to march can register at KrampusPortal.com.

Credit: Jaime Monzon

This update is a response to last year’s issue of fundamentalists crashing the parade, which marred the experience for some children and families, parade organizers said.

“The only people scaring little kids were the protesters saying, ‘You’re going to Hell,’” the late David Uhler, then-president of German biergarten Beethoven Männerchor, told the Current in April about the presence of demonstrators who inserted themselves into the parade.

This year’s parade route has also changed.

Rather than lining up at Blue Star Arts Complex and ending at bar and bowling alley Hermann Sons, the route will be a loop, starting and ending at Beethoven Männerchor, 422 Pereida St. The route length has also been extended by a half mile, now totaling 1.7 miles.

Crittenden said the event’s afterparty has also been moved to Beethoven Männerchor to accommodate a crowd of 1,000 as opposed to the 100-capacity Hermann Sons Rathskeller bar, which resulted in many would-be revelers being turned away last time.

DJ Sue Problema and DJ Thurderatt will provide the soundtrack to this year’s post-parade festivities.

Crittenden also said organizers are working to close off traffic so they can host a block party in front of the outdoor biergarten, doubling the afterparty’s capacity. However, that plan has yet to be finalized, he added.

Beethoven Männerchor is also a more secure location, Crittenden added.

“[P]erhaps Krampus Gate will not grip the city this year. But if it does, we know that there’s a 7-foot-tall wrought iron fence around Beethoven,” Crittenden said. “So […] that is a secure location for people that want to enjoy festivities without the distraction of protesters, if that should even happen.”

The route for this year’s Krampus Parade will be a loop as opposed to last year’s, which began at Blue Star Arts Complex and ended at Hermann Sons. Credit: Courtesy / San Antonio Krampus Parade

Though Hermann Sons initially enlisted Crittenden to put on last year’s parade as a way to celebrate German tradition and draw crowds to the bar, he said the venue hasn’t reached out since the barrage of angry phone calls it received last year.

“I haven’t heard anything from them,” he added. “But the Valkyries [the Krampus Parade organizing committee] were so touched by the support of then-President David Uhler and the Beethoven Männerchor last year that they jumped at the opportunity to partner with them.”

In German folkloric tradition, Krampusnacht always falls on Dec. 5. This year, that also happens to be First Friday, a monthly arts event that already generates plenty of traffic and parking woes in King William.

As such, Crittenden recommends carpooling, arriving early and parking outside the parade route to minimize congestion.

Like last year, participants are encouraged to incorporate illumination into their costumes in the form of lanterns, strings of lights, battery-operated candles or other light-up features, since the parade route is dark at night.

This year’s parade will feature new krewes, including groups representing whimsical beer garden Elsewhere, the San Antonio River’s Go Rio river barges and horror bookshop Ghoulish Books.

Krampus Parade organizers have been fundraising all year in preparation for the return of the December festivities, including a Fiesta Krampus Pachanga. During Krampus’ foray into Fiesta, parade krewe Bewitching Brujas performed a skit opening up the “demonic portal” that fundamentalists warned the inaugural parade would bring down upon the city.

The “demonic portal” has since become a long-running joke for parade organizers, who even sell merchandise reading “Puro pinche Krampus portal” as a playful sendup of the controversy.

Through the various fundraisers, organizers have pulled in enough cash to cover expanded traffic control, insurance and other expenses, Crittenden said. However, he added that the parade is looking for sponsors going forward.

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Nightmare Before Christmas: San Antonio Krampus Parade to return to King William in December

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