The popular celebrations start with the coronation of the children and youth queens and end with the San Blas Half Marathon. The fiestas use to be held at the town's plaza until the 19990's, when they were moved to the sports complex. The move was due to the need to accommodate the increasing daily amount of local and international visitors, now in the thousands. During the ten days of the festivities, the sports complex is filled with stands selling local food, drinks, crafts, and more, as well as the stage offering daily concerts by local and international recording artists. A number of civic, cultural, and sports activities take place all over town during the ten days of celebration.

A morning reveille (5:00 am) announce the start of the fiestas the last Friday in January. The Youth Queen Pageant takes place on that evening. After a fireworks display around 8:00 pm, the Youth Queen and her court will parade through the streets, and end at the main stage. The second day of the fiesta is the Children's Queen Pageants, which also parades to the main stage.

The second Saturday of the fiestas (the day before the San Blas Half Marathon) is the Rising of the Flags Ceremony. During this event, the athletes participating in the Half Marathon parade representing their respective countries. They are welcome by the Delta Phi Delta Fraternity, organizers of the Half Marathon, as well as government officials and local sport leaders. The even ends with the raising of the flags of all participating countries.