"'Is that real?' is one of the best questions you can ask in a museum." Witte Museum President and CEO Michelle Cuellar Everidge opens her Express-News commentary on the museum's 100th birthday with that line. It ran on Oct. 7, 2026, the day before the anniversary.
In Mahncke Park the answer is yes, and it is about to get loud. Between now and the end of January, the neighborhood's two big neighbors keep overlapping calendars. The crowds start out at daytime events on Broadway and end up at nighttime events on Funston Place. That last stretch has a written plan with dates, street names and a phone number.
Thursday is the actual birthday
The Witte's official history dates the museum's opening to Oct. 8, 1926. Alfred G. Witte left $65,000 for a museum in Brackenridge Park, the city matched the bequest, and Ellen Schulz Quillin is credited as founder. Everidge's piece adds that students raised money toward the Attwater natural-history collection in those early years, and that a new book about the Witte launches at the official birthday gathering.
The public party comes two days later. The Party of the Century runs Saturday, Oct. 10, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. at 3801 Broadway. It has live music, animal encounters, interactive art, local vendors and food. Everyone pays the kids' admission price. An after-hours party with its own ticket follows. Witte members get into the daytime event free and get a discount on the evening one.
The party is one Saturday. The exhibitions behind it run longer, and they are what neighbors on foot can come back to over the next few months:
| Exhibition | Runs through | Ticket |
|---|---|---|
| The Witte Museum: 100 Years | Jan. 9, 2027 | Museum admission |
| Gather 'Round the Table: Texas Food Traditions | Feb. 7, 2027 | Special exhibition ticket |
| Adventures in Texas Deep Time | March 14, 2027 | Included with admission |
The Witte Museum: 100 Years opened April 11 and uses more than 115 objects to tell the museum's own history. Gather 'Round the Table opened Sept. 12 in the Kathleen and Curtis Gunn Gallery, with H-E-B as presenting sponsor. Its centerpiece is an interactive table where visitors build a Texas plate from breakfast tacos, barbecue and potluck favorites. Then they see what their choices say about geography and family tradition. Two food events tie into it: La Tamalada on Wednesday, Nov. 11, and the Conference on Texas: Our Culinary Roots on Nov. 12 and 13. Adventures in Texas Deep Time covers Bexar County mosasaurs, Big Bend dinosaur fossils and the Battle of Medina.
The centennial year also takes the museum downtown. KSAT reported in July that the Witte will be grand marshal of the Holiday River Parade on Nov. 27.
Across Broadway, the Garden is already staying open later
The San Antonio Botanical Garden at 555 Funston Place handles the same weeks differently. Jardín de las Catrinas runs through Monday, Nov. 2. It features eight Catrinas by San Antonio artist Regina Moya, some up to 16 feet tall, with more than 10,000 marigolds and hundreds of living plants. Each figure draws on refranes, the traditional sayings handed down through families. The exhibit grows out of a short local tradition. The Garden's Día de los Muertos display began in 2023 with 10,000 marigolds. In 2025 came Nana Echeri, a 16-foot living Catrina built with botanical artist Layni Langham, her skirt planted with more than 100 living plants.
For people who live a few blocks away, the hours matter more than the sculptures. Through October the Garden stays open until 8:30 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays, and members can come in starting at 7 a.m. every day. The Garden's own page recommends coming later in the day to see the Catrinas in a different light. In November, hours shrink to 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. daily.
The October program schedule is packed around the exhibit:
- Oct. 10: Family Workshop: Ofrenda Candle Making & Decorating, the same day as the Witte party
- Oct. 16: Sip 'n Paint Plein Air Watercolor: Catrinas
- Oct. 21: Painting with a Hike: Día de los Muertos
- Oct. 25: Build Your Own Memory Journal
- Oct. 28: Entre Cuerdas, voice and guitar with Azul Barrientos and Joseph Palmer
- Oct. 29: The Art of Dining
- Oct. 30: Marigold Flower Crowns
- Oct. 31: Celebrate Día de los Muertos
On Oct. 10, both institutions have something on at once, on either side of Broadway. From there the Garden's season moves into the evening, ahead of what's coming next.
The night season already has a street plan
Illuminate returns Friday, Nov. 20, and runs through Jan. 10, 2027, with timed entry in the evening. Member tickets are $24.99, and nonmember adult tickets start at $29.99. A Sensory-Friendly Night is set for Dec. 1 and Family Night for Dec. 11.
The Catrinas fill daytime and early-evening paths inside the Garden. Illuminate puts its crowds on Mahncke Park's streets after dark. The Garden's Traffic Control and Community Coordination Plan was presented at a Sept. 29 open house and posted on the Mahncke Park Neighborhood Association's special events page. It estimates 1,200 to 3,000 visitors a night, with a nightly average of about 1,400.
The full plan lays out the effect on residential blocks by date:
| When | What happens | Where |
|---|---|---|
| Oct. 5 to Nov. 16, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. | Intermittent closures to through traffic during installation | Old Austin Road |
| Nov. 18 | "No Thru Traffic" barricades delivered | Parland Pl., Elmhurst Ave., Parland and Millie |
| Nov. 20 to Jan. 10, 5 to 9 p.m. daily | No through traffic; residents enter normally, possibly with a check-in | Parland Pl., Elmhurst Ave., Parland and Millie |
| Jan. 11 | Temporary signs removed | Neighborhood-wide |
| Jan. 11 to Jan. 30, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. | Intermittent closures during load-out | Old Austin Road |
Several details in the plan affect specific blocks. Residents of Parland, Elmhurst and Millie can show a resident postcard badge to the officer on site for faster entry. The plan says the physical cards would be available for pickup at the Sept. 29 open house. Off-duty peace officers work from 5 to 9 p.m., with officers in vehicles at Parland and at Elmhurst and a crossing guard at Funston and New Braunfels Avenue. Lighted directional signs go up at N. New Braunfels and Parland and on Funston. On peak nights, a fourth officer is added at Parland and Millie to keep the exit route clear. Security staff may also be posted at Pinckney and Old Austin to steer visitors toward parking reached by Pinckney or Pershing.
The plan names its peak periods. Attendance is expected to run highest Friday through Monday and during school holidays, Nov. 21 to 29 and Dec. 18 to Jan. 4. The Garden closes Nov. 26, Dec. 25 and Jan. 1, the three quietest nights of the run.
Sound, parking and the phone number to keep
The plan sets a firm end to each night. Last entry is 9:30 p.m., and sound goes off by 10 p.m. Garden staff measure sound levels at several points around the perimeter about 30 minutes before opening each night. Speakers point inward, away from houses. The plan cites the city's 63-decibel daytime limit, which runs until 10 p.m. Monday through Thursday and until 11 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays. Garden horticulture and operations crews will pick up trash around the perimeter. For problems in real time, the plan lists the Garden's on-site security line, 210-956-2520, and the guest experience line, 210-536-1414.
Parking is the one point the published materials do not agree on. The Garden's directions page describes on-site parking as limited and free, and recommends carpooling, transit or rideshare, especially Friday through Sunday and on holidays. The Illuminate plan mentions a paid lot opening at 4 p.m. and, separately, security guiding visitors into a free parking area off Old Austin. The plan says the Garden will publish a guide to no-parking areas on its website and social channels and email it to ticket buyers. Until then, the exact rules for visitor cars near the curb are not settled.
The plan also commits to a post-event review after the run, covering how well it worked and what neighbors reported.
A calendar for the blocks in between
Put the two institutions' schedules side by side and the fall comes out as one sequence. The Witte marks its birthday on Thursday, holds the party Saturday, and keeps three exhibitions open into 2027. The Garden runs its Catrinas until 8:30 on weekend nights through October, then closes at 4 p.m. for most of November while Illuminate is installed off Old Austin Road. On Nov. 18 barricades arrive on Parland and Elmhurst. From Nov. 20 on, the neighborhood's evenings follow a 5-to-9 schedule with an officer at the corner. The Witte rides at the front of the river parade on Nov. 27, the day after the Garden's Thanksgiving closure. The 100 Years exhibition closes Jan. 9, Illuminate goes dark Jan. 10, and the signs come down Jan. 11.
Living near the Witte and the Garden comes with these seasonal schedules, and they show up in how a house feels to live in and how it shows. If you're thinking about when to list a home near Funston Place, or wondering how a December evening on Parland might look to a buyer, Ryan Hoskins is glad to go over the calendar with you and plan around it.
