SAN ANTONIO – The King William Association, along with hundreds of vendors and thousands of neighborhood residents, are getting ready for the 52nd annual King William Fair, which is set to begin at 9 a.m. Saturday.
“The fair is a giant street fun fest,” said Zet Baer, interim executive director for the association. “It kicks off with a fun, quirky, funky, wild crazy parade. It goes from Brackenridge High School, through the neighborhood, and then comes back out and exits and goes back out to the high school.”
In addition to the parade, there will be 200 arts and craft vendors, 65 food booths and vendors, five stages and street performers.
“We have blocked off the fair zone, which is about 15 streets here in the King William neighborhood, to set up the tents and stages,” Baer said. “It is just a little bit of everything here.”
For decades, the King William Fair Fiesta event has raised several thousands of dollars for nonprofit organizations geared toward children and education.
“As we say at Fiesta, 'It is party with a purpose,'” Baer said.
The number of those in attendance grows every years.
“It started in the beginning with neighbors just flipping burgers and making tacos in their front yards and opening their homes to have people come in to visit,” Baer said. “Now, it has grown to almost 50,000 people last year.”
Though there is no parking inside the fair zones, Baer said, there are many options for people to choose from to get to the event.
“There is some parking out in the neighborhood, where some nonprofits are selling parking spaces,” Baer said. “There is parking at the Alamodome, as well.”
She said she recommends people come to the event without a car.
“We really encourage people to bike in or Lyft, which is one of our sponsors to come in with rideshare. VIA also has park and ride options, as well,” Baer said.
Scooters are also prohibited from the event.
“A lot of people bring strollers, and it is hard to even get a stroller through, so (it's) just for people’s safety. You know, with the accidents that have been happening with scooters.”
The event is expected to last until 6 p.m. Saturday.