133rd annual Battle of Flowers set to take over the streets of San Antonio

SAN ANTONIO — The 133rd ‘Battle of Flowers Parade‘ will take over the streets of San Antonio on Friday.  The parade attracts more than a half a million people who come from all over the country.

The Vice President of Fundraising for the Battle of Flowers Association Helen Meyer took KENS 5 inside “the den”, which houses some of the festive floats.

“This is where all the magic happens,” she said. “These are our public school floats.”

Every year, the Battle of Flowers Association picks ten public schools to participate. 

“They have a theme within a theme,” she said. “And this year is Celebrations We Love.”

Their theme ‘Celebrations we Love about San Antonio incorporates many things known in the city. For example, Southwest High School has a float called ‘cut the cake’, which honors quinceañeras. There is even a float paying respects to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. His silver statue on the float is made with 40 pounds of glitter.

The Battle of Flowers parade, the founding event of Fiesta, is celebrating 133 years this year.

“We are the largest parade of all women volunteers in the country,” she said.        

Meyer said it is made up of 400 volunteers, which are all women.

This year’s overall theme is Viva Amor 2024.     

“How the Battle of Flowers loves doing this for our community,” she said. “You are going to see hearts everywhere. The floats are spectacular this year. You say this every year, I don’t know how we can get better, but we do. We also have great balloons this year.”

There’s also a concern of mother nature.       

“We are anticipating it is going to be fine,” she said. “It is just going to be a light drizzle. “It is not going to rain on our parade.”

The parade starts at 10:30 a.m. The route starts at San Antonio College on north Main and will make its way through downtown, and end on east Martin. This year’s Grand Marshal is San Antonio Food Bank President and CEO Eric Cooper.