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News Channel 3-12

Below is a press release from the California State Parks Foundation regarding their Photo Contest

SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. – California State Parks Foundation is inviting park visitors and photography enthusiasts of all ages and experience levels to capture the natural beauty, recreational activities, and unique landscapes of California’s state parks. The California State Parks Foundation Photo Contest is now open for submissions and runs through September 30, 2025.

“We’re excited to open submissions to the California State Parks Foundation Photo Contest,” said Rachel Norton, Executive Director of California State Parks Foundation. “This is a fun opportunity for Californians to highlight and raise awareness for the parks they love. With hundreds of state parks around the state, we expect to see a diversity of photos that include beaches, mountains, urban parks, rivers, people enjoying nature, and more.” 

The California state park system includes 280 state park units, over 340 miles of coastline, 970 miles of lake and river frontage, 15,000 campsites, 5,200 miles of trails, 3,195 historic buildings, and more than 11,000 known prehistoric and historic archaeological sites. Earlier this year, California State Parks Foundation highlighted some of these beloved places with their first-ever “Best of California’s State Parks” – a poll that asked their members and followers to vote on their favorite places for camping, hiking, picnicking, and more.

Participants can enter up to three photos in the photo contest in the following categories: 

Scenic Landscapes — Natural beauty across all seasons

Wildlife & Nature — Flora, fauna, and ecosystems

Recreation & Activities — Hiking, surfing, camping, and more

People in Parks — Enjoying parks responsibly and sustainably

California History — Cultural and historic sites in parks

There is no entry fee to participate in the contest. Category winners will win a California Explorer Vehicle Day Use Annual Pass ($195 value, vehicle entrance to 134 state parks) and be featured in California State Parks Foundation’s 2026 calendar. Honorable mentions will be showcased in an online gallery and on social media. All winners will also receive a 2026 calendar. 

Submissions will be judged on creativity and originality, technical quality, relevance to the category, emotional impact and storytelling, and aesthetic appeal. For more information and the official contest rules and photo guidelines, visit calparks.org/photocontest. 

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Caleb Nguyen

ISLA VISTA, Calif. – The Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Office is asking for community aid in finding an at-risk missing adult last seen in Isla Vista.

Sonia Lang Crestfield, 85, was last seen at Friendship Manor on July 11 at 11:30 a.m., and suffers from dementia that could lead to confusion or disorientation, according to the SBCSO.

Crestfield is a white woman with gray hair, brown eyes and stands five feet, eight inches tall, weighing 128 pounds, detailed the SBCSO.

She was last seen wearing a black sweater, dark blue jeans, black tennis shoes, white gloves, and carrying a blue walker, according to the SBCSO.

Those with more information on Crestfield’s location are asked to call the Sheriff’s Office dispatch number.

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Dave Alley

SANTA MARIA, Calif. – The Santa Barbara County Fair wrapped up Sunday night ending its five-day run at the Santa Maria Fairpark.

According to Santa Maria Fairpark Board of Directors President Kevin Merrill, the fair was an overall success, but ended up finishing with lower attendance numbers compared to previous years.

“We really enjoyed some great days,” said Merrill. “Our numbers were down a little bit, but I think the folks that came out had a really good time.”

Merrill felt that outside circumstances related to current immigration enforcement was a primary reason numbers were lower this year.

“I think we had a lot of challenges here with attendance,” said Merrill. “There was a lot of stuff going. One of the big things we’re hearing about fairs all up and down the state is the ICE raids that are going on and people are a little bit afraid to come out and that did affect us.”

Official attendance numbers won’t be known for at least a few days, so Merrill was unable to provide detailed information on how just how much the attendance dropped this year.

“I think given the demographic we have here in Santa Maria, the ICE rates are a real concern of those folks, and they get scared about coming out here. They see the potential for something going bad and so they didn’t come out. Our numbers will come out later, but we know we are down this year, but I think it was good news for the folks that were here. They had a good time. They didn’t have long lines and the weather was perfect.”

While fair attendance was down, the Junior Livestock Show and Auction ended up with solid numbers compared to past few years.

“We had a great sale on Friday and Saturday,” said Hailey Rose Switzer. “We had a small animal sale Friday morning, a heifer sale Friday evening, and our large livestock sale on Saturday all day. Our sale ended up at 9:00 on Saturday night. We broke over $2 million on the sales altogether. It’s a great number. I know last year was similar. We still have “add-ons” open, so there’s still money coming in for all the kids.”

The overall amount brought in during the two-day auction was $2.3 million. The number of animals sold was just under 1,000, a bump up from the 2024 total.

Our livestock number here is very large compared to most county fairs,” said Switzer. “We put about 1,000 lots across the block. Most county fairs are a lot smaller than that, so we’re very lucky here in Santa Barbara County. We had some great local support here over the two days of sales that we had.”

With this year’s fair now over, planning already starts for the 2026 edition, which will be held during a still-to-be-determined five-day run next July.

“A lot of the staff is already working on that,” said Merrill. “They look at the things that work really well and how we can build on those, and they are going to look at the things that didn’t work quite so well, such as which vendors helped, which didn’t. There’s a lot of challenges and a lot of moving pieces here to a fair.”

Merrill added one of the biggest challenges to this year’s fair was a lack of a chief executive officer, which the Fairpark has been without the past few months.

Since previous CEO Caitlin Miller left in March, the Fairpark held its two biggest events, the Santa Maria Valley Strawberry Festival in April and the Santa Barbara County Fair, without a top executive.

In the interim, temporary leadership from neighboring fairs in Antelope Valley and Kern County were brought in to help assist with operations.

Now, with the fair over, the Fairpark Board’s top priority will be to find a new CEO as soon as possible.

“The Board will start working on that here shortly,” said Merrill. “We will be working with the State up in Sacramento and we’ll get somebody in here who has some experience and can guide us in the right way and get us back on track. We need somebody who really knows that industry and we’re be looking out for them.”

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Patricia Martellotti

SANTA BARBARA, Calif. – Directors of the nonprofit AHA! received a powerful response from California’s First Lady who surprised the AHA! teens at the Connected Voices Conference.

She shared a heartfelt video of support.

Her words uplifted their spirits, as well as their voices and honored their leadership, commending them for advocating on behalf of their communities.

She also praised them for raising awareness among their peers about mental health and the importance of access to support during these challenging times facing Californians.

As part of their commitment to change, the teens have written powerful letters to Governor Gavin Newsom, calling for expanded mental health resources, stronger protections for immigrant communities, and increased funding for schools and programs that offer mental wellness support.

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Tracy Lehr

OXNARD, Calif. – West Coast artists showcased their work today at the 2025 Channel Islands Harbor Fine Arts Festival, a free, two-day event held Saturday and Sunday at Harbor Landing, 2810 Harbor Blvd.

The festival filled part of a parking lot near Channel Islands and Harbor boulevards, drawing approximately 45 featured artists presenting coast-inspired paintings, carvings, sculptures, glasswork, and jewelry.

Artists displayed a wide variety of mediums—clay, metalwork, photography—and engaged directly with collectors on site. Some, including JD Shultz, have had their pieces installed in celebrity homes; Shultz’s work is in the collections of Steve Young, Ryan Seacrest, Alanis Morissette, and others.

The festival is organized by West Coast Artists and hosted by Channel Islands Harbor. It runs from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and offers visitors the opportunity to meet artists, learn about techniques, and purchase original works.

The show remains a favorite among California art collectors, celebrating coastal culture in a casual, outdoor atmosphere.

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Patricia Martellotti

CARPINTERIA, Calif. – It’s lunch hour at the Carpinteria Children’s Project.

Ivon Huerta checks in on her children at the center, a place she says they wouldn’t be without financial support.

“It would be incredibly difficult. I don’t think they would have an opportunity to get the early education that they need to better their future,” said Huerta.

The center, which has long served low-income and immigrant families, was already set to receive a $100,000 grant from the Women’s Fund of Santa Barbara.

But in the wake of last week’s ICE raids that shook many immigrant families in Carpinteria, the timing is especially meaningful.

“We work with the kids, but we know that some of the parents do work at some of those farms. We do have immigrant parents and a lot of staff here are immigrants as well so it really hits close to home,” said director of development Arianna Rodriguez of the Carpinteria Children’s Project.

The funding will strengthen services that support early education, emotional well-being, and stability, all crucial for families navigating fear and uncertainty.

“The demand is very high. All our classrooms have a robust waitlist. We’re very fortunate that this year we were able to support five families with 100% scholarships,” said director of early learning Guadalupe Perez of the Carpinteria Children’s Project.

Managers at the center say the grant will help ease the burden for more families in need of care and connection.

“It provides such a financial relief that allows me to focus on being able to provide a stable home for them without having to worry,” said Huerta.

The move comes as the City of Carpinteria voted to allocate $5,000 in emergency funding for nonprofit organizations impacted by recent immigration enforcement actions.

The organization’s dual language immersion preschool program is receiving the grant for the 2024–25 school year.

The funds will provide scholarships to support children from low-income families, helping ensure greater access to high-quality early education in a bilingual learning environment.

The initiative aims to promote school readiness and language development through the center’s dual language curriculum.

With this funding, CCP will be able to provide scholarships that partially cover enrollment costs for 20 to 40 new students from low-income families.

The center anticipates at least 70 percent of limited-English-proficient children will be rated “Ready to Go” or “Almost Ready” as determined by the Kindergarten Student Entrance Profile when they enter kindergarten.

The U.S. Census QuickFacts data from 2019 to 2023 estimates about 35.9 percent of Carpinteria residents aged 5 and older speak a language other than English at home.

For more information, visit the Carpinteria Children’s Project website

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John Palminteri

SANTA BARBARA, Calif. – Announced with enthusiasm and confetti on June 16 in Santa Barbara the Downtown Club has now canceled the Fiesta Carnival it had planned.

The event, Fiesta Carnival de Los Niños, was to coincide with the annual celebration of Old Spanish Days July 30- August 3. No other changes with the citywide events are expected. This will be the 101st year for Fiesta.

This year’s event will include a downtown Mercado, Fiesta Pequena at the Old Mission, Las Noches de Ronda at the Courthouse Sunken Gardens and El Desfile Historico (the famous Fiesta Parade) on Cabrillo Boulevard.

The Downtown Club on Canon Perdido Street had hoped to fill the gap when an official Fiesta Carnival plan could not be worked out this year. It had put together a smaller version with rides, food trucks and entertainment.

“Due to recent uncertainties in the community, and to assure the safety of the kids it serves, The Downtown Club is cancelling its planned Fiesta Carnival de Los Niños,” said Downtown Club Executive Director Mark Alvarado. “Because the carnival was planned as a major fundraising opportunity for The Club, we now need to step back and take into consideration how hosting a carnival today could possibly impact our fundraising.”

Alvarado is committed to all-inclusive events saying, “if we’re going to create a gathering, we want everyone to gather and if folks are, for whatever reason, staying home and not coming together then we don’t want  to exclude folks.”

Putting on a carnival is a major investment, “and not turn a profit like this would damage our ability to  continue serving the way that we have,” said Alvarado.

He noted over the weekend, “the swap we have at the high school, the (St. Joseph’s 68th annual) carnival in Carpinteria showed a lower attendance and it gave us a bit of cold feet in turning a profit as a non profit in an fundraiser environment we decided we didn’t want to take the risk.”

Steve Monser is a worker on Milpas Street who noticed the drop in pedestrian and vehicular traffic in the past few days. He is hoping there are more solutions like town hall meetings, so the public feels safe. “Anything that gets the community talking  and bringing them together so they all understand where they are going  works from me.”

In the long run, Alvarado says, “we’re a resilient community.  We’re a good bunch of folks here when you are born  and raised here in SB you have a legacy of experiences that can build upon being positive and bringing everyone together and bringing he community together. This is a difficult time we are going through and we will get past this.”

Full News Release:

THE DOWNTOWN CLUB CANCELS FIESTA CARNIVAL

Due to recent uncertainties in the community, and to assure the safety of the kids it

serves, The Downtown Club is cancelling its planned Fiesta Carnival de Los Niños.

This was not an easy decision, according to Club officials. Historically, the Club serves

under-resourced children. Its doors are open daily. Today, Club officials said the

community and the children served represent many of the diverse working families of

Santa Barbara. The safety and well-being of the kids remains The Downtown Club’s

number one priority.

“Because the carnival was planned as a major fundraising opportunity for The Club, we

now need to step back and take into consideration how hosting a carnival today could

possibly impact our fundraising,” said Downtown Club Executive Director Mark

Alvarado.

“We honor the mission of our club everyday by providing services and programs to

enrich the lives of our children. The unforeseen financial risk of staging a carnival now

could affect our ability to provide the needed services we offer our kids on a daily basis.”

Club officials said it looks to the future enthusiastically when a community atmosphere

would be more favorable for a family-oriented Carnival.

Downtown Club officials said they are appreciative and want to thank everyone in the

community who has been collaborating with The Club to make the Fiesta Carnival

special for the kids.

“We thank everyone for their continued support of our Downtown Club,” said Alvarado.

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Tracy Lehr

VENTURA, Calif. – The downtown street closure known as Main Street Moves in Ventura is set to end in November, following a vote by property owners that halted efforts to make the closure permanent.

Although Mayor Pro Tem Doug Halter supports the pedestrian-only model, which began in June 2020 to support outdoor business operations during the COVID-19 pandemic, he said the Pedestrian Mall Act was voted down by impacted property owners on July 8.

Those owners say they’ve lost millions of dollars in revenue since the closure began, citing reduced vehicle traffic and parking access as key concerns. With the vote, the city cannot reintroduce the proposal for at least a year under state law.

Halter said a proclamation to reopen Main Street to vehicle traffic on Nov. 2 will be considered during a Sept. 16 City Council meeting. Leaders are also expected to weigh the pros and cons of the closure and explore other alternatives.

The closure initially transformed five blocks of Main Street and a section of South California Street into a pedestrian promenade. Over the past four years, the city developed design guidelines, conducted environmental reviews, and gathered public input to make the change permanent.

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Andie Lopez Bornet

SANTA BARBARA, Calif. –The annual Dolphin Derby Festival took place Sunday at Chase Palm Park in Santa Barbara – a fun, free event for community members.

Acting as a fundraiser for the Rotary Club of Santa Barbara, attendees join in on the fun and exciting event by racing plastic dolphins down a 100 foot pool watercourse.

The free event had four races for cash prizes and is a environmental-friendly event, reusing the water for each race.

“This is our annual fundraiser for both our community and international project, we’re a service club and this funds all the great work we do in Santa Barbara and in other countries,” said Rotary of Santa Barbara President, Liz Alves. “I think we live in such a digital world where we’re doing so much on screens that this spectacle of thousands of plastic colorful dolphins just racing down a water slide, it’s just pure delight.”

Kids had the chance to decorate their dolphins for the kid race and participate in fun activities like face painting and play with bubbles.

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Caleb Nguyen

ISLA VISTA, Calif. – UC Santa Barbara Baseball’s strikeout king is now their highest-drafted player ever. With the second overall pick in the 2025 Major League Baseball Draft, the Los Angeles Angels selected Gaucho pitcherTyler Bremner, making him both the first college player and the first pitcher selected in this year’s draft. He joins Michael McGreevy and Dillon Tate — who was previously the program’s highest-drafted player as the fourth overall selection in 2015 — in the club of Gaucho pitchers to be selected in the first round.

An All-American in both 2024 and 2024, Bremner established himself as the best strikeout pitcher in program history this season, ranking eighth in the nation with 111 strikeouts in 2025, the most of any pitcher west of Oklahoma and the ninth-most in a single season in program history. He also shattered the 42-year-old program record for career strikeouts, bringing his total up to 295 in Blue and Gold this season. Over the final seven weeks of the season, Bremner turned in six double-digit-strikeout performances, including a career-high 13 in two different games.

 The newest Los Angeles Angel is the 68th Gaucho drafted since Andrew Checketts became UC Santa Barbara’s head coach, the most in The Big West over the last 14 years. He is the fifteenth Gaucho selected by the Halos, with Jack Dashwood their last pick out of UC Santa Barbara, back in 2019. The Gauchos have now had a player selected in the first ten rounds of five straight drafts and six of the last seven.

The first three rounds of the MLB Draft continue on ESPN Sunday evening, with rounds four through 20 taking place on Monday, streamed live on MLB.com.

(Article courtesy of UC Santa Barbara Athletics)

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