The annual Ford Holiday River Parade this Thanksgiving Friday will ring out the city's Tricentennial year, News Radio 1200 WOAI reports.
Maggie Thompson of the San Antonio Riverwalk Association says the theme will honor those 300 years.
"We have been around for 300 years, and we have been celebrating 300 Christmases," she said. "So our theme this year will be Christmas in San Antonio."
She says the theme of all of the floats in the brightly lit parade will be iconic San Antonio Christmases, from the boots at North Star Mall to the Christmas Day Spurs Game to Mariachi Mass.
The Grand Marshal will be Alamo Heights State Rep. Joe Straus, the retiring Speaker of the Texas House.
The Ford Holiday River Parade is one of the biggest and most widely presented institutions in the city. It is televised across the U.S. Canada, and the 100,000 lights along the Riverwalk routinely bring tens of thousands of spectators to the parade.
The lights are illuminated the night of the parade, and remain on from sundown to sunrise daily until after New Years.
Richard Oliver of Visit San Antonio says now that July 4th is in the rear view mirror, the holidays aren't that far off.
"168 days to Christmas, with means it is only 136 days until the Ford Holiday River Parade," he said.