SAN ANTONIO – 2018 was a big year for San Antonio as residents and visitors celebrated the city's Tricentennial with dozens of celebrations focused on the rich history of the city.
As the year wraps up, so do the Tricentennial events.
With SA 300, the city was on the global spotlight, with the king and queen of Spain visiting the Alamo City.
The NCAA Men's Final Four basketball championship also put San Antonio in the national spotlight, as the event was organized with the Tricentennial in mind.
The SA 300 Commission hopes the big events resulted in a huge economic impact and visitors.
Laura Mayes, of the SA 300 Commission, said the numbers won't be ready until February 2019.
But Mayes said the service initiative of the yearlong celebrations resulted in 19,000 volunteer hours at city parks, which is a win for San Antonio.
"When you look at that on a federal mechanism, if they were to hire out that staff to conduct those volunteer projects, (it's) about a $480,000 economic impact," Mayes said.
The Tricentennial project's cost was $21.2 million, with the city and county pitching in $13.1 million and $8.1 million raised through donations.
Of that, $200,000 went back to the city for historic preservation and cultural arts projects.
Mayes said the Tricentennial brought in more than just money. It reunited the community to make a better future for the city.
"It asked us to really evaluate what kind of culture we want to be today, and for the future as we think about our kids and grandkids," Mayes said. "What do we want to leave behind the next 300 years? That's what it really gave us in the end."