When Southside San Antonio native Cecilia Chavez saw that NIOSA was canceled for 2027 after 78 years as one of the biggest Fiesta events, she joked that she’d just throw her own. Known for the popular Facebook page 210 La Chismosa, Chavez is no stranger to community organizing — but that one joke has turned into real plans for an alternative to the scrapped celebration.
Chavez told MySA that alongside vendors who’ve already reached out, former NIOSA volunteers, sponsors like Gamez Law Firm and other organizers, 210 La Chismosa is putting on an event in NIOSA’s wake that hopes to return to “the prices from pre-COVID.” She mentioned $15 admission, which more closely resembles 2019 tickets instead of this year’s: $20 in advance and $25 at the gate.
She said keeping vendor application fees low gives vendors an incentive to lower prices because they have fewer expenses to cover. That may also lower the barrier of entry for vendors who haven’t been able to participate in official Fiesta events, Chavez believes.
“It’s gonna feel like a Fiesta rewind almost,” she said. “It’s gonna be … an event that you can bring your family to, and you’re not gonna break the bank, and you’re not gonna feel like you have to take out a loan after this. I want it to be like a family event … and hopefully just a temporary Band-Aid until NIOSA can figure out what else they can do.”
The event will run from 5 to 11 p.m. on April 21 and 22, 2027, at King of Padel Sports & Entertainment Center, located at 314 Nolan St, San Antonio, TX 78202. Expect chicken on a stick and lots of beer, as usual. The downtown venue is spacious, and being indoors also offers refuge from that all-too-familiar Fiesta rain. Chavez said she expects to host “at least a couple thousand” eventgoers, along with hiring security and adding measures like bag checks and metal detectors. Organizers are meeting twice a week to continue planning, but they’re still looking for more sponsors and vendors.
“NIOSA is like really the whole Fiesta,” she said. “To hear that it’s not there, it felt just like ‘Wow, Fiesta could come to an end.'”
210 La Chismosa began during the COVID-19 pandemic and grew into a Facebook group with more than 221,000 members posting everything from personal drama and stolen items to police activity and fundraisers. Chavez started it on TikTok, but it quickly spread to other platforms and even became a podcast. Recently, the group helped provide food, water and other supplies to thousands of Westside San Antonians who were without power after a massive storm.
“Down from how we did the stuff in the West Side to this, it just shows if everything else would have worked like this, we’d just be in so much better ways because it’s just a matter of us working together to make something happen,” Chavez said.