Arboretum San Antonio is jumping into Fiesta season with its very first on-site celebration, ¡Viva El Bosque!, this Sunday from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. The free, family-friendly gathering at the future tree park on Southeast Military Drive will feature park tours, food trucks, music, a tree giveaway, and hands-on birding and craft activities for all ages. Organizers are using the Fiesta weekend buzz to spotlight the project long before the site’s full opening, and the Bajo los Árboles 5K hosted by Latino Outdoors has already sold out online.
Quinones gets her hands dirty
In the runup to the big day, Adriana Quiñones, the arboretum's president and CEO, has been right in the mix, spreading mulch as crews prep the grounds. "Welcome to a small organization where a job title is just a job title," Quiñones told San Antonio Report. She said the small staff is leaning hard on volunteers and partner groups to turn the former Republic Golf Club site into a celebration of trees and neighborhood programming.
What you'll find at ¡Viva El Bosque!
The event lineup is stacked. The Arboretum's event page lists guided tours, an Artist Bird Walk, screen printing with Jose Sotelo, a pruning class with a certified arborist, a Nature Playscape and music by DJ Nova Soul, according to Arboretum San Antonio. The Latino Outdoors run is part of the day’s festivities, but registration is closed, and Eventbrite shows the Bajo los Árboles 5K as sold out.
Funding and the schedule
Behind the party is a major fundraising push. Organizers say the Fiesta event is helping move the capital campaign forward: San Antonio Report notes a $1 million donation from H‑E‑B and a $500,000 challenge grant from the First Day Foundation, all aimed at an overall fundraising target of roughly $40 million. Project materials have also described a roughly $50 million Phase 1 effort, and leaders say the site itself will not be fully complete and open to the public until 2029, while "Phase Zero" programming carries on in the meantime, according to reporting.
Small staff, big plans
To pull off these early activations, the organization has been quietly building a compact team. Arboretum San Antonio has announced Logan Bartlett as chief development officer and Juan Lopez as director of operations and facilities, and it is still hiring a programs director, according to Arboretum San Antonio. Along with operations manager Marline Díaz and CEO Quiñones, the group says these Phase Zero events are about connecting with neighbors, testing out programs and unlocking matching gifts that keep the campaign moving.
