VIVA LA FIESTA

by Pat Fish

Big Changes In Store for This Year’s Fiesta

All of Santa Barbara ought to be looking forward to this year’s Fiesta, the 100^th!

But in line with the continued mismanagement and poor judgment seen in so many “executive” decisions being made by our local officials, vital parts of what used to draw our community together for the annual version of Mardi Gras are being changed for the worse.

Three different groups of Mexican horse riders (that I know of), for example, have been told they are not going to be allowed in the parade this year. One group was told they didn’t get their application in “on time,” and others – who sent their paperwork in in plenty of time – were also told they are not welcome.

One group paid $600 with their application, for the registration, insurance, and the party afterwards…. and it has still not been refunded even though they have already been told they are not welcome to participate.

Noe Pena Alvarez on his stallion Marcos (2022). They were among a group of riders disinvited for the centennial. Courtesy Pat Fish

There has also been no response to my inquiries, and I have been unable to get to the real reasons.

A few years back there was talk of forbidding stallions, but the “committee” backed off on that one. The charros with their dancing horses are a big crowd-pleaser, and a tradition. Their flashy stallions are well controlled.

No Organization, No Parking Spaces

Years back, when the parade switched to Cabrillo, I immediately contacted the Old Mission and El Desfile coordinators and asked what route they had prepared for the return journey to the Pershing Park assembly area or SBCC parking lots where horse transportation rigs would be parked. But no, no return had been organized. This leaves all participants to stand waiting (for an hour or more) at the end of Milpas, to then walk back along the disassembling parade route, as busses come for the old folks and trucks drive onto it to pick up chairs and shade structures.

That is a challenge for the stallions, I assure you.

Now the parking at SBCC is not available, even though there doesn’t seem to be a carnival listed on the Fiesta calendar online. So, the horse people have been trying to figure out whether they should try to find space for their rigs over by the Santa Barbara Zoo.

So many details that require planning ahead.

Looks like everyone will bunch up at Calle Puerto Vallarta again – leaving fussing horses to stand in the hot sun – before straggling back on Cabrillo in reverse order. Or disperse into neighborhoods to wherever they were able to park their horse transportation rigs. 

Riding home back along the parade route as the crowd packs up.

Yet another example of mismanagement.

La Monja Muerta on her magnificent mule. Courtesy Pat Fish

Where’s the Inclusion, the Equity?

My mule – he being a superior hybrid and a reasonable fellow – and I, of course, can walk to the parade from where we live, but I like to come with the charros who have now been told they are not welcome.

I am baffled, 

Why discourage these enthusiastic participants from being part of the special 100th Fiesta Parade?

Many of these men have participated in the parade for 25 years or more, they are bitter and angry about being excluded.

And horrific headlines, such as “Specter of Mass Shootings Casts Pall over State Street Parades” don’t help.

“Will there be parades in the future for State Street?” the Santa Barbara Independent asks. “According to inside sources,” its article warns, “public safety officials are worried about the potential risk posed by a mass shooter. They’d be negligent if they weren’t.”

What the heck?

What kind of FUD (Fear, Uncertainty, and Doubt) is that? 

How completely irresponsible of the local weekly to even suggest that the reason parades are not on State Street any longer is because “inside sources” think some sniper nut job is going to pick off participants from a rooftop (with an assault rifle?)? 

People need celebrations, occasions to get out and gather and see neighbors, dress up and maybe even get drunk. In the sense that the journey is what is important, not the destination, local events ought to be designed as community-building cooperative endeavors, not as just a tourist attraction. We so desperately need to get the kids off their phones and into the real world, participating and learning and having fun and making friends.

Every time the people in power make decisions to limit citizens’ freedom, saying it is for safety, for their own sake, for the common good…. we lose just a little more of what makes America special.

And now Santa Barbara is losing much of what makes it special. 

Father Larry and Pat Fish (2016). Courtesy Pat Fish

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