After abruptly suspending its traditional Fiesta event a month ago, leaders of the Conservation Society of San Antonio appeared Friday to offer disgruntled members hope for an eventual return of the popular event.
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That hope seems tied to where A Night In Old San Antonio (NIOSA) would be held, which could stem the financial losses that they said hosting the event has brought to the organization in recent years.
At an online meeting, nearly 200 people signed in to hear from the organization’s president and officers during a petition-forced meeting over the decision last month to cancel NIOSA for 2027.
Organizers had pointed to declining attendance and sales as the reason to suspend NIOSA, a signature fundraiser for the Conservation Society and a cornerstone of the city’s bounty of springtime Fiesta events.
They also cited challenges with the longstanding “Old San Antonio” location of NIOSA, the city-owned La Villita Historic Arts Village.
Members dissatisfied with that explanation attended a Sept. 23 meeting to confront the society’s leadership. Then, leaving the gathering dismayed by the actions of the board, they circulated a petition calling for a special meeting and demanding answers.
Friday’s meeting hosted online was the result of that petition and, at one point, 173 people were watching.
Conservation Society President Betty Bueché thanked members and said she welcomed their questions. “We also very much appreciate the suggestions that have been submitted for consideration as we work to bring forward new possibilities for fundraising events and activities,” she said.
Bueché addressed several questions outlined in the petition — requests for more information about meeting agendas, officers and board members and the decisions they made. She directed members to an online portal.
But in a reflection of how contentious the issue of canceling NIOSA had become, Bueché said she would not name the members of a fundraising task force she appointed in June because those individuals had “received threats and feel that they have been harassed.”
Deborah Sibley, introduced as the task force chairwoman, also gave a presentation during the meeting on NIOSA finances, detailing several years’ worth of a downward trend in profits.
The 2024 event lost over $50,000, and in 2025, almost $660,000, she said. “In 2026, we lost $140,957.53. So just in the three-year period that we’re showing you right now is a loss of $851,730.17.”
Attendance had also dropped off. In 2004, turnout for “the party with a purpose” reached what the group considered 100% attendance, at almost 92,000 people, for the four-night event, Sibley said. By 2024, it was about half that number.
“After weighing that declining attendance and past financial performance against the future projections provided by the Night In Old San Antonio committee, there was no evidence of a positive financial trajectory, and it was determined that continuing the event risked compromising the fiduciary responsibility to the San Antonio Conservation Society,” she said.
Sibley, who was NIOSA chairwoman in 2004-05, also discussed factors related to hosting the event at La Villita that had made it especially challenging.
A dwindling footprint, competing Fiesta events during the same time, and increased costs for security, labor and use of the venue were major hurdles that couldn’t be overcome.
“Holding NIOSA at La Villita under the license agreement with the city necessarily had included in it certain fixed costs that we were not able to change,” Bueché said.
The organizer, for example, is required to use for its security needs officers with the San Antonio Police Department, she said, whose pay rates are specified in a collective bargaining agreement. Other venues might allow for security at less cost.
“There are certain things that we didn’t have any choice about by remaining at La Villita,” Bueché said. “Because of that, our exploration necessarily included the possibility of having NIOSA at other locations where we could potentially reduce some of the overhead cost, and we have studied some of those locations.”
In late September, the city accepted the Conservation Society’s request to end its 10-year lease of the venue, with nine years remaining in the contract.
Sibley said the organization has already looked at other venues that could provide better accessibility in terms of parking, overnight accommodations and public transportation.
More space is another criteria — one that can handle 20,000 people a night — for the sake of guest comfort and safety.
There is hope, she said.
“The entire task force is committed to doing the very best job we can to identify how we can bring A Night In Old San Antonio back,” she added. And, “how we can bring other fundraising activities forward, so that we have the opportunity to continue the mission of the San Antonio Conservation Society.”
Meeting attendees also sent questions to Bueché via online chat, asking about the board’s accounting expertise, what’s included in direct expenses and how beer sales and attendance is reconciled.
They asked how costs could be reduced and the economic impact of NIOSA, whether the board had sought event sponsors and had considered raising prices.
Abbi Power, who spearheaded the effort to bring the petition, said she left the meeting feeling “incredibly frustrated” over tech issues during the meeting and some questions left unanswered.
She said her phone was “blowing up” with messages from other members similarly frustrated that they couldn’t view the slides or participate in the chat, and were not sure why.
Organizers said the slides would be made available on the group’s website by Friday afternoon.
Power said the group of concerned members have talked about next steps.
“We generally accept that NIOSA 2027 is probably not going to happen so, therefore, our intention is to address issues with leadership of the society, be that removal or reorganization or something, because these people are not representing what we feel is the majority of the members of the society,” she said.
Longtime society member, volunteer and former officer Frederica Kushner, who tuned into the meeting, was more resigned saying [suspending NIOSA] is something that should have been considered before now. But, “pulling the plug on it has been very, very upsetting,” she said.
Trish DeBerry, president and CEO of Centro San Antonio, the organization charged with activating downtown, said there’s a “huge opportunity” in reviving such a nostalgic event for 2027, even if it looks a little different.
“However, you go dark for a year, there’s somebody that fills the void in another event that people are like, ‘Well, maybe I didn’t miss as much as I thought I would.’ That’s the danger for me,” DeBerry said.
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