Hot Headlines

San Antonio hotel's grand opening leads this week's top 5 stories

The Sol Cypress, formerly the Wyndham Garden Inn, is now taking reservations.

Sol Cypress/marriott.com

Editor's note: It's time to look back at the top San Antonio news of the week. This week's most popular stories include the debut of a renovated San Antonio hotel, restaurant openings, and Hill Country festivals. Get the details below, and then find your best bets for weekend fun in this guide.

1. Rebranded San Antonio hotel debuts with new Cajun restaurant and cafe. A San Antonio hotel has undergone an $11 million renovation over the past two years. Sol Cypress, the first Tribute Portfolio Hotel by Marriott in the city, celebrated its grand opening with a public event on March 19.

2. Houston chicken tender chain to open 3 locations in San Antonio. A new fried chicken restaurant is swooping into San Antonio: Called Urban Bird, it's bringing tenders and sandwiches to three new locations.

Fried chicken at Urban Bird.Photo courtesy of Urban Bird

3. Poteet Strawberry Festival hosts first-ever free opening night of music. The Poteet Strawberry Festival has gotten even sweeter. It's hosting its first-ever Berry Bash Musical Thursday on April 10, which kicks off the four-day festival with a free night of music.

4. San Antonio chef seasons Hill Country garden center with new eatery. A San Antonio chef and coffee shop owner is applying his culinary skills at a new eatery in the Hill Country. Desert Spoon opened in Spring Branch, north of San Antonio, on March 15.

5. Hill Country resort breaks out hot air balloons for Easter weekend fest. An over-the-top Easter celebration is returning to Horseshoe Bay from April 18-20.

a bug's life

Cirque du Soleil's unique look at insects crawls into San Antonio

CIrque du Soleil performers as ants in OVO

Photo by Marie-Andrée Lemire

Cirque du Soleil's OVO takes audiences inside an insect colony.

The dazzling spectacle and exciting aerials that are hallmarks of any Cirque du Soleil performance will be on display in San Antonio this fall, as a spellbinding new production of OVO comes to the Alamo City.

Performances will be at the Frost Bank Center from September 25-28. Tickets are on sale now. San Antonio is one of three Texas stops on the tour. OVO will also appear at the Toyota Center in Houston from October 2-5 and the Moody Center in Austin from from October 9-12.

OVO, from the Portuguese word for egg, tells the story of a fascinating insect colony, using 53 acrobats and musicians in the performance. Audiences can expect to see an array of beguiling bugs, from mighty crickets bouncing off trampolines to a hypnotic spider contorting inside her web.

Since its opening in Montreal in 2009, the show has been seen by more than seven million people in 40 different countries. This tour, the production has been entirely reimagined, including a new set design and acrobatic acts, revamped costumes, original characters, and reinvented music.

San Antonians of all ages are bound to be captivated. Cirque du Soleil is synonymous with spectacular displays of flexibility, acrobatics, and gravity-defying aerial work. Blending music, fantastical stories, and sheer wonder, the artistic troupe has legions of fans across the globe.

Along with the tour announcement, Cirque du Soleil has released a preview trailer for OVO.

Photo by Marie-Andrée Lemire

Cirque du Soleil's OVO takes audiences inside an insect colony.

circus cirque du soleil tours