Costumed revelers get into the spirit during December’s Krampus Parade. Credit: Jaime Monzon

December’s San Antonio Krampus Parade proved so popular that the folkloric Yuletide demon is reappearing for Fiesta.

The parade’s organizers will host the Krampus Fiesta Masquerade Pachanga on Thursday, April 24, at King William bar and restaurant The Good Kind. Tickets start at $42.50 at the event’s official website. Attendees of the event are encouraged to come in Krampus-inspired costume for the official Fiesta event.

“After the parade last year, which was free to the public, the city asked us to do some things to scale the parade, because we didn’t think it would be that big,” organizer Bob Crittenden said.

Organizers originally expected about 150 people to show for the parade through the King William Historic District. Instead, thousands did.

The Krampus Fiesta Masquerade Pachanga will serve as a fundraiser for the holiday parade, enabling it to be “bigger and better” this time around, Crittenden added. Those upgrades will include more traffic control measures along with barriers to keep would-be saboteurs from joining along the route.

While the Krampus Fiesta event has a pragmatic basis, Crittenden acknowledged the challenge in making it jibe with German folklore.

“It’s hard to get a handle on why Krampus is here [at Fiesta] in the first place,” he said.

But all is revealed in Occulto, a cheeky publication the parade produced ahead of Fiesta. The tabloid includes a tell-all about another beloved San Antonio demon, the Devil in the Dancehall.

The satirical Occulto tabloid explains Krampus’ ties to San Antonio. Credit: Courtesy Photo / Bob Crittenden

As urban legend has it, a handsome stranger appeared in 1975 at El Camaroncito Nite Club off Old Highway 90 and dazzled on the dance floor. However, when his hapless cumbia partners looked down, they noticed chicken feet poking from the bottoms of his trousers where boots should be. That’s when the dashing diablo disappeared, leaving only the strong smell of sulphur: the scent of Satan.

Splashed across the front page of Occulto, a story reveals the true identity of the Devil in the Dancehall, who’s quoted as saying, “My name is Kiko, and Krampus is my primo,” according to Crittenden.

Occulto is available at the parade’s official website. Physical copies can also be picked up at locations including Halcyon, Hi-Tones, Lighthouse Lounge, Alamo Drafthouse Park North and Déja Vù Esoterica, he added.

A flyer for the event promises that it will finally open San Antonio’s “demonic portal,” referencing a warning some Christian evangelical pastors made about last winter’s parade.

“The gossip on the supernatural grapevine is that Krampus had so much fun in San Antonio, he wants to come back,” Crittenden said. “But he doesn’t have a way to get here, because he doesn’t have a portal.”

Crittenden says that the Bewitching Brujas, a witchy dance troupe and the first krewe to sign up for the inaugural parade, will recreate the El Camaroncito legend through dance. They will be joined by Kiko, the Devil in the Dancehall himself, who will get a phone call from his cousin Krampus saying he misses San Antonio, but he doesn’t have a portal to get here.

“Kiko will say, ‘I can open you a portal right now and it’s Fiesta, come on over!” Crittenden explained.

A roster of San Antonio bands will perform at the pachanga, including Tex-Mex punks Piñata Protest.

“We had protesters last year, and now we have our own Piñata Protest,” Crittenden said.

Bexar Brass also will perform a New Orleans second line in homage to the Big Easy’s parade culture, while DJ Sue Problema will be on hand to provide spooky cumbias.

$42.50-$75, 6-10 p.m. Thursday, April 24, The Good Kind, 1127 S. St. Mary’s St., (210) 801-5892, krampusportal.com.

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This article appears in Apr 2-15, 2025.

Stephanie Koithan is the Digital Content Editor of the San Antonio Current. In her role, she writes about politics, music, art, culture and food. Send her a tip at skoithan@sacurrent.com.