Enhancements<\/a> included closing off the event perimeter with fencing and safety scrim and screening attendees with private security. The event hours, which previously lasted until 1 a.m. on multiple days, were also reduced.<\/p>\nThe extra security came with a cost, though \u2014 about $200,000, De Los Santos said. So, instead of raising money, she said the Consejos ended up losing $143,000. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe tried to keep the festival free last year, but unfortunately it cost our organization a lot of money. So we went ahead and decided $5 is not a huge, huge fee,\u201d she said. \u201cWe realize that it\u2019s hard on families right now. We feel we\u2019re also competing against the other organizations like (A Night in Old San Antonio) and (La Semana Alegre), and all those organizations charge at least $20.\u201d<\/p>\n
The ticketing services are expected to cost the Consejo about another $100,000, she said.<\/p>\n
Pushback<\/p>\n
The San Antonio City Council still needs to approve the fee. It\u2019s scheduled for a vote on April 9, just over a week before Fiesta de los Reyes begins April 17.<\/p>\n
Yvette Ramirez, the president of the San Antonio Farmers Market Plaza Association, represents the 54 business in the Farmers Market Plaza at the western edge of the Market Square. <\/p>\n
She said her group will be at the council meeting to speak against the fee, which she thinks will keep out families and potential customers for the small businesses in Market Square.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is a public market,\u201d she said. \u201cWe just can\u2019t afford to privatize that market for 10 days. Because this year it\u2019s $5. What\u2019s next year, $10?”<\/p>\n
Ramirez thinks organizers should find a different way to cover the cost of the security, without a gate fee, or at least less of one.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have let the city know that if the charge is after 6 p.m., we don\u2019t have the issue like we would if prior to 6 p.m.,\u201d she told KSAT.<\/p>\n
De Los Santos told KSAT the Consejo had already reduced the number of hours they want to impose the fee, and she did not know of another way to raise the money to cover the security costs.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s a lot of expenses. I mean, I think over $300,000 goes into just all the music and the entertainment and the talent. And so again, means all these little bitty things add up really, really quick,\u201d De Los Santos said.<\/p>\n
Read also:<\/p>\n
Copyright 2026 by KSAT – All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SAN ANTONIO \u2013 There goes another $5 out of your chicken on a stick budget. The Fiesta de…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":234395,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[7185,14621,82,84,83],"class_list":{"0":"post-234394","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-san-antonio","8":"tag-fiesta","9":"tag-market-square","10":"tag-san-antonio","11":"tag-san-antonio-headlines","12":"tag-san-antonio-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/234394","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=234394"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/234394\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/234395"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=234394"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=234394"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=234394"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}