A nationally touring Asian food and culture festival is set to make its first San Antonio appearance this fall, bringing more than 70 food vendors, live performances and a slate of panda-themed attractions to downtown's Hemisfair. Panda Fest will take over Civic Park on November 21 and 22, offering a two-day, family-friendly celebration of Asian American and Pacific Islander cultures.
According to CultureMap San Antonio, the event will feature food, crafts, performances and panda attractions spread across the venue, with vendors serving more than 150 dishes from across Asia. The festival is a spinoff of Dragon Fest, and organizers describe it as one of the fastest-growing cultural festivals in the United States, having already sold out stops in Atlanta, Boston, Seattle and Philadelphia.
Founder Xuan “BiuBiu” Xu said San Antonio's culinary landscape and community made it the perfect destination for Panda Fest, and that the event will bring an authentic celebration of Asian food, art and culture to the city, per the same report. The San Antonio stop comes amid a year of Texas expansion, with a Dallas stop scheduled for November 6–8, 2026, according to Panda Fest.
How Panda Fest Grew Into a National Touring Brand
Xu launched the concept as a single-day New York City pop-up called Panda Day in 2024, aiming to translate the calming feeling of watching online panda videos into an immersive physical festival, as Hoodline previously reported. Xu started the pop-up to address what organizers saw as a lack of modern Asian street culture events in New York.
Before Panda Fest, Xu had already built a track record in experiential pop-ups, launching the Egg House concept in New York in 2018, according to Medium. Xu also founded the non-profit Mulan House in 2023 to mentor Asian women entrepreneurs, and the predecessor festival, Dragon Fest, drew more than 500,000 attendees across 21 events in 2023 and 2024, the outlet notes.
Since launching its nationwide tour in 2024, Panda Fest produced 13 events across 11 U.S. cities in 2025 alone. Hoodline's earlier coverage of the Pittsburgh stop associated more than 500,000 attendees with 2024. Tour attractions have included a signature 15-foot inflatable panda centerpiece, and the Cincinnati stop featured a panda bounce house.
What San Antonio Visitors Can Expect at Civic Park
The San Antonio lineup will include a marketplace with artisan crafts, clothing and heritage goods, along with live performances ranging from lion dances to modern music showcases, per CultureMap's report. Attendees can also expect calligraphy, sugar painting, and themed panda games and photo opportunities scattered throughout the park.
Tickets go on sale September 28 at 10 a.m. through pandafests.com, with early bird pricing at $10, general admission starting at $14, and VIP passes priced at $35. The Pittsburgh stop also listed prices in that range, according to Panda Fest.
Panda Fest's Civic Park Venue
The festival will take place at Civic Park at Hemisfair.
Asian Americans were Bexar County's fastest-growing demographic group between 2010 and 2020, with U.S. Census data showing a 65% population increase from 39,561 residents to 65,217, according to the San Antonio Express-News. Asian residents accounted for nearly 9% of total Bexar County growth over that decade.
San Antonio has hosted Asian celebrations, including the UTSA Institute of Texan Cultures' Asian Festival, which was back in 2023, according to the San Antonio Report.
The festival's Hemisfair debut adds San Antonio to the Texas schedule, alongside a Dallas date set for November 6–8, 2026.
