From October 1 to January 3, The Rock at La Cantera has scheduled something almost every week, and most of it is free. The only open stretch is the middle of November. Across the parkway, The Shops at La Cantera and The Rim added a Dallas wine bar, a Boerne brunch spot and San Antonio's first Crate & Barrel this summer. Together they give residents of The Dominion a full weekend within a short drive, and they arrived within about four months of each other.
The Calendar Belongs to The Rock This Year
On August 24, the Spurs announced "Rocktober" for The Rock at La Cantera, with themed events every week of October and a Halloween Spooktacular on the 31st. General manager Duane Randall said, "We look forward to seeing Rocktober become a beloved annual tradition where San Antonians can gather and make memories every fall."
As of today, October 5, the first rockFit night class and the first Sunday Scaries afternoon have already happened. The rest of the season is still ahead:
| Date | Event | Time | Cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sundays, Oct. 11, 18, 25 | Sunday Scaries happy hour and live music | 2–6 p.m. | Free entry; drinks for 21+ sold separately |
| Sat., Oct. 17 | Pumpkin Palooza | 11 a.m.–9 p.m. | Free |
| Oct. 17–Nov. 8 | Coyote's Corn Corral on Frost Plaza | Weekends 12–9 p.m., weekdays 4–9 p.m. | Ticketed |
| Sat., Oct. 24 | Howl-O-Ween | 4–6 p.m. | Not stated |
| Oct. 28–30 | Fall Flix movie screenings | Nightly | Free |
| Sat., Oct. 31 | Halloween Spooktacular | 6–10 p.m. | Free |
| Sat., Nov. 21 | Rink opening and tree lighting | Rink 11 a.m., tree lighting 7 p.m. | Free entry; rink ticketed |
| Nov. 27–29 | Wrap & Rock Holiday Market | Fri.–Sat. 6–10 p.m., Sun. 1–5 p.m. | Free entry |
| Sun., Dec. 13 | Jingle Bell Bark | 3–6 p.m. | Free entry; pet supply donations encouraged |
| Thu., Dec. 31 | Rock the Clock New Year's Eve party | 8 p.m.–1 a.m. | Ticketed |
A few of these events are more specific than the names suggest. Pumpkin Palooza runs ten hours, with live music, pumpkin carving, pumpkin bowling, a pretzel toss and a stein holding contest. At Howl-O-Ween, dogs trick-or-treat, pet vendors set up booths, there is a costume contest, and SNIPSA brings an adoption station. Fall Flix shows "Hotel Transylvania," then "Twilight," then a "Hocus Pocus" double feature. For the Spooktacular, Ice Ice Dady and Roca & Martillo plan a themed menu that includes a "Vampire's Punch" mocktail, a "Devil's Deviled Egg" and a Jack Skellington's Snowcone, along with trick-or-treating and a costume contest.
Holidays at The Rock is in its second year and runs from Saturday, November 21, through Sunday, January 3. Daily programming is free to enter, and the expanded skating rink, open Thursdays through Sundays, requires a ticket.
The Quiet Week, and Who Fills It
Coyote's Corn Corral closes Sunday, November 8, and the tree lighting is Saturday, November 21. The announced calendar has nothing in the twelve days between them.
The City of Shavano Park runs a smaller calendar alongside The Rock's, and its dates rarely conflict. Every event is on the City Hall grounds at 900 Saddletree Court:
- National Night Out: Tuesday, October 6, 6–8 p.m.
- Trunk-or-Treat: Sunday, October 25, at 4 p.m.
- Holiday Festival: Saturday, December 5, 3–6 p.m.
The one overlap is October 25. Trunk-or-Treat starts at 4 p.m., and the last Sunday Scaries afternoon at The Rock runs until 6. The Holiday Festival lands on a Saturday between the Thanksgiving-weekend market at The Rock and Jingle Bell Bark, so a household could attend all three without two of them falling on the same day.
Dinner on Either Side of the Event
Much of The Rock's programming ends at an hour when a family or a pair of friends would still want somewhere to sit down. This summer, two places opened that fit those hours.
Sixty Vines is a Dallas wine bar chain, and its first San Antonio location is at 15900 La Cantera Parkway. It was listed as open by August 12. The restaurant's posted hours are 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Monday through Thursday, 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. Friday, 10 a.m. to 11 p.m. Saturday, and 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. Sunday. Those Saturday hours line up with The Rock's two biggest Saturdays. The doors open an hour before Pumpkin Palooza begins on October 17, and the kitchen is still serving for an hour after the Spooktacular ends at 10 p.m. on Halloween. The dinner menu includes bacon-wrapped dates, burrata, tuna crudo, several pizzas, Atlantic salmon and a Cabernet burger.
Sunny's All-Day Brunch & Bar started in Boerne. On June 15 it opened a second location at The Rim. The Rim's directory lists hours of 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. Sunday through Thursday and 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays. Sunny's own site advertises an After Hours service on Fridays and Saturdays from 9 p.m. to 1 a.m. The two sources don't match, so call ahead before planning a late Saturday there. An 8 a.m. Sunday opening does leave plenty of time for brunch before Sunday Scaries starts at 2.
The Errand That Used to Require a Highway
Retail is the other half of what changed this summer. Crate & Barrel opened its first San Antonio store on August 20 at 15900 La Cantera Parkway, Unit 12050. My Neighborhood News put it plainly: San Antonio shoppers "no longer need to make the drive to Austin or Dallas" to visit the store. The store is about 20,000 square feet on two levels. It carries furniture, kitchenware, tableware, bedding, lighting and rugs, as well as the Crate & Kids collection.
The Shops at La Cantera posted a "now open" announcement for Herman Miller dated the same day, August 20. That means two serious furniture showrooms opened at the same center on the same day. Comparing a dining table, a desk chair and a rug no longer requires a trip up I-35.
One more is on the way. On August 4, CultureMap reported that Creed plans its first San Antonio store at La Cantera. The San Antonio Business Journal listed the French perfume house with Jo Malone London and Sixty Vines among the new concepts slated for the center. Neither report gave an opening date, so check before making a special trip.
This is why the calendar and the storefronts belong in the same story. A Saturday can start with a showroom visit at Crate & Barrel and continue with lunch at Sixty Vines. The pumpkin carving contest at The Rock is still going when you leave, because Pumpkin Palooza runs until 9 p.m. Every stop is on La Cantera Parkway, and none of them needs a ticket.
Getting There This Season
On the Shavano Park side, De Zavala Road is close to normal. The city reported the project substantially complete on July 30. That day it lifted the temporary 25-mph construction limit and restored the usual 35 mph, leaving only minor closeout work. Some cleanup crews may still appear, but the long construction zone is finished.
Loop 1604 will take longer. On its Loop 1604 North Expansion page, which carries no date, TxDOT estimates that the segment from I-10 to US-281 will be finished in 2026. It puts completion of the I-10 interchange segment in 2028 and says construction across the wider corridor continues through 2028. The interchange estimate is the one that matters for the La Cantera end of the corridor. Expect the event dates in the table above to coincide with active roadwork on the interchange for the whole season.
That makes the fall calendar easy to plan. Sunday Scaries continues each Sunday through October 25. Pumpkin Palooza and the opening of the Corn Corral share October 17. The Rock closes October with Fall Flix and the Halloween Spooktacular, and the tree lighting on November 21 begins a holiday season that runs until January 3.
If the new showrooms at La Cantera have you thinking about refurnishing a room, or about how this end of the corridor is changing week to week, Mallory Baird follows the Northwest Side closely and is glad to talk it through. Contact Mallory.
