Downtown San Antonio becomes a Christmas wonderland of lights [Video]

SAN ANTONIO – The City of San Antonio and its partners are investing significant time and money to transform downtown San Antonio into a winter wonderland for visitors and locals.

Kelly Saunders, with the City of San Antonio, says the setup takes about six to eight weeks and involves collaboration with various partners to create a magical experience.

“It takes us, you know, quite a lot of thought and planning into putting the lights up each year. We actually have to start right after Labor Day to hang all of the lights. We have 200 trees, 200,000 lights. If they were laid side by side, the strands, they would cover 25 linear miles,” she said about the lights at the River Walk.

Other illuminated areas include the Pearl, Travis Park, Market Square, La Villita, and most recently, Houston Street. Saunders said there’s ongoing discussion about adding more.

“In the last couple of …