City College and County Cowards Cancel Parade… But Fiesta Spirit Prevails

By Celeste Barber

Courtesy of www.sbfiesta.org

Early this past Monday morning, following five days of Santa Barbara’s annual Fiesta celebration, I checked Facebook and found a post about another Fiesta, written by local historian Betsy Green. In her post, Betsy describes Fiesta from 100 years ago, celebrated just five weeks following the earthquake that devastated our city in the early morning hours on June 29, 1925. Old Spanish Days was in its infancy still, marking its 2^nd anniversary, so no one would have squawked had Fiesta been cancelled.

While downtown was still in ruins, townspeople chose, instead, to hold their party. To quote from Betsy Green’s post, this excerpt from the Santa Barbara Morning Press: “Forgotten for a night were the masses of crumbling ruins on Estado [State Street]. . . . only the laughter and gaiety of ‘A Night in Spain’ were remembered” (8-15-1925).

So, why did Montecito Bank withdraw its sponsorship from this year’s Old Spanish Days celebration just hours before the festivities were to commence last Wednesday?

And why did the Santa Barbara City College Board of Trustees remove its entry at the last minute from Friday’s Fiesta Parade, and so late that KEYT’s hosts read from a script that still included SBCC’s wagon?

Both of those highly respected local institutions reasoned that a community celebration would be inappropriate at this time, given the ongoing presence of ICE law enforcement and the fear their presence has generated – unquestionably and understandably – among many in our community.

It is precisely for that reasoning why “gaiety and laughter” were most needed. To celebrate – openly and unabashedly – who we are as a community. How appropriate that this year’s Fiesta theme was “Capture the Spirit” because that is what we witnessed throughout the five days – a spirited capture of our beloved city and her traditions.

The bank and the college got it wrong. Those two local institutions did not consider the great harm that would have been done, had others followed suit and Old Spanish Days been cancelled – as had been demanded in the days just prior to Fiesta.

It’s called buckling under. Months of preparation are invested into the annual Old Spanish Days celebration. Fundraising. Coordinating. Volunteers. Rehearsals. Logistics. And children. The hundreds of children who look forward to Fiesta every year: as dancers performing at nursing facilities and for community events; the Flower Girls who distributed flowers along the parade route; little ones dressed in their Fiesta best in Saturday’s Children’s Parade, and youngsters spilling cascarone confetti over their parents’ heads.

For those who demanded that Fiesta be cancelled, what do you say to the children, their families, and the thousands of community members for whom Fiesta becomes five days to joyfully share our heritage? Those five days require a full year of dedicated hard work to present a celebration that generations of Santa Barbarians have enjoyed for over 100 years.

Santa Barbara has a rich and diverse history. Nearly 500 years ago, Juan Rodriquez Cabrillo landed on one of the Channel Islands. To place into perspective, the United States will celebrate its 250^th year of independence on July 4, 2026. Santa Barbara’s is an old history, predating much of colonial America. Among the people who walked and lived this stretch of coastline: Chumash, the First People; the Spanish; followed by the Mexicanos and Californios, and then statehood to the Union. Old Spanish Days reflects the interwoven tapestry of Santa Barbara’s melded culture, customs, costumes, architecture, cuisine, music, and dance. The first week of every August, we celebrate our heritage.

Consider the local dance troupes who rehearse all year to perform Flamenco and folk dance at De La Guerra Plaza. The thrill of performing Flamenco under the lights on the steps of the Old Mission. Or those other troupes that travel from East Los Angeles and Mexico – every year – simply to perform for us their traditional dances.

I wonder, Montecito Bank and SBCC trustees, did you consider the impact of a cancelled Fiesta on our local Hispanic children, whose mothers and grandmothers danced in past Fiestas, a beautiful tradition passed down across the generations. Many of those same families trace their ancestry to forebears who were posted at the Presidio and whose family names we see every time we drive across town: De La Guerra, Carrillo, Castillo, Cota, and others.

Or the many Hispanic families who set up tables selling homemade food and handcrafted wares, including the cascarones. What would Fiesta be like without the colorful eggs and their confetti? These folk, our neighbors, work throughout the year preparing for Fiesta, not only to supplement their income but also as a treasured family tradition. Did Montecito Bank or SBCC consider the effect of a cancelled Fiesta on them?

And what would the bank and the college say to “Little Fiesta,” as I call Our Lady of Guadalupe Church’s celebration. The little Catholic church on the Eastside hosts a vibrant fiesta patronized by many across the community.

Our Lady of Guadalupe’s tamales are famous.

Should the church have cancelled an important fundraiser that supports its Parish families?

Should they have buckled like the bank and the college?

I am a relative newcomer to Santa Barbara, tracing my roots back a scant 45 years. Yet, I’ve been to enough Fiestas to feel my own place within our community. This July, I attended three pre-Fiesta events where I enjoyed up close the artistry of Flamenco dancing, including the thrilling performances of this year’s Fiesta Spirit, Natalia Trevino, and Junior Spirit, Victoria Plascencia. Should they not have been permitted to dance on the Old Mission steps before an audience that spilled over and across the street to the Rose Garden? Should that memory they will hold for the rest of their lives have also been canceled?

Following my weekly visit to the downtown Farmers Market on Saturday, I strolled State Street to De La Guerra Plaza. Along the way, I listened to a Mariachi band outside La Arcada’s entrance. Further down, I watched young girls performing traditional dance at Paseo Nuevo. I enjoyed taquitos in De la Guerra Plaza at a table shared with a father and his young daughter. I watched as troupes dressed in traditional costume performed the same dances as did our Spanish, Mexicano, and Californio forebears 200 years ago. Everywhere I heard joyful Mexican music. As I walked those two hours, I exchanged smiles with strangers, joined in with the applause, and everywhere heard the sounds of laughter.

These days especially, we could sure use more laughter in this battered world of ours.

In celebrating our unique heritage, we stand up to fear and injustice. We proclaim that we are not a divided community, nor that we will tolerate being divided. Old Spanish Days is Santa Barbara’s fearless dance before the world. That’s who we were 100 years ago in the aftermath of an earthquake. It’s still who we are. Old Spanish Days 2025 will go down in the books as among the best – ever.

We don’t buckle.

Viva La Fiesta!

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