With Two weeks To Go – Old Spanish Days Leaders are Prepping for Santa Barbara’s Biggest Event
John Palminteri
SANTA BARBARA, Calif. – Santa Barbara’s biggest event, Old Spanish Days, will take place in about two weeks and thousands of people traditionally take part in the festivities.
Old Spanish Days Division Chief of Pageantry Casie Killgore said “personally, for me, Fiesta Friday is the best day of the year in Santa Barbara. ” She was born and raised in Santa Barbara and said, “I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else. And I would never take a vacation on Fiesta Friday. It’s a place to be.”
Although some summertime activities have seen lower turnouts in Santa Barbara County, including the just-completed County Fair, the Executive Board of Old Spanish Days is going all out for the event’s 101st year.
El Desfile Historico, the Fiesta Parade will again, be on Cabrillo Boulevard. The route at noon on August 1st will be direct from Castillo St. to Calle Cesar Chavez. It will not go past the Hilton Santa Barbara Beachfront Resort.
The carriages are expected to return to Pershing Park on a route that includes Yanonali and Garden Street.
Overall it will be slightly different. “It is a little shorter this year, but we want to pack the people in. We have announcing booths every half block. We have kits and help do a live, broadcast. And we’re just excited to bring the fun back into Fiesta,” said Killgore.
There will be many Fiesta activities including Fiesta Pequena, Las Noches de Ronda, the Children’s Parade and the downtown Mercado are all in the preparation stages. Just added has been the Casa de la Guerra entertainment stage of dance and music.
In the next two weeks groups involved in floats for the famous parade will be spending hours decorating to their themes. That work will be done in the back lot of the Carriage and Western Art Museum in Santa Barbara.
In the next week, there will be other announcements about Fiesta activities, any special additions, and ways families and friends can take part in the largest and most celebrated event of the year in Santa Barbara.
El Presidente Fritz Olenberger said, “after 12 or 15 years of photographing it, Gretchen and I are going to be in it in a carriage, and our kids and grandkids are going to be in a wagon. They’re going to be in the circus wagon. So that’s like the family circus.”
Killgore says it will be a full parade. “We’re coming back with 58 entries. We will have 27 carriages and we’re returning to a very equestrian focused parade with a lot of charro groups coming out. And we’re just really excited to bring back that Fiesta flair and some fun. “
Second Vice President Tony Miller said support from businesses has been a key factor to the Fiesta budget and the way many events are offered for free. “Year in, year out. And no matter what happens, they come back and they support our community. We can’t do this without them.”
The history of this parade and those who want to experience it every year have a way of bonding the community especially in challenging times.
Killgore said, “it’s one day for us to come together as a community and celebrate and, you know, enjoy all the horses and really just enjoy the day as a community.”
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