[Noozhawk’s note: Montecito Bank & Trust withdrew its Fiesta Historical Parade entry, not its sponsorship of Old Spanish Days. This commentary has been corrected.]
Last week, following five days of Santa Barbara’s annual Old Spanish Days Fiesta celebration, I found a Facebook post about another Fiesta, written by local historian Betsy Green.
In her post, Green describes Fiesta from 100 years ago, celebrated just five weeks following the devastating earthquake on June 29, 1925.
Old Spanish Days was in its infancy still, marking its second anniversary, so no one would have squawked had Fiesta been canceled.
While downtown was still in ruins, the townspeople chose instead to hold their party.
Green’s post included an Aug. 15, 1925, 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.”
“Laughter and gaiety.” So why did Montecito Bank & Trust withdraw its Fiesta Historical Parade entry from this year’s Old Spanish Days celebration?
Why did the Santa Barbara City College Board of Trustees remove SBCC’s entry from the parade at the last minute, so late that KEYT’s hosts read from a script that still included its wagon?
Both of these respected local institutions reasoned that a community celebration would be inappropriate at this time, given the ongoing presence of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers and the fear ICE 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. They did not consider the great harm that would have been done had others followed suit and Old Spanish Days had been canceled — as had been demanded in the days just prior to Fiesta.
It’s called buckling under. Months of preparation are invested in 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 cascarón confetti over their parents’ heads.
For those who demanded that Fiesta be canceled, 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 more than 100 years.
Santa Barbara has a rich and diverse history. Nearly 500 years ago, Juan Rodríquez Cabrillo landed on one of the Channel Islands.
To place this into perspective, the United States will celebrate its 250th 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 Santa Barbara 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 & Trust and SBCC trustees, did you consider the impact of a canceled 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 and Cota.
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 folks, our neighbors, work throughout the year preparing for Fiesta as a means to supplement their income, but also as a treasured family tradition. Did the bank and the college consider the effect of a canceled 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 Lower Eastside hosts a vibrant fiesta patronized by many from throughout the community. Our Lady of Guadalupe’s tamales are famous!
Should the church have canceled an important fundraiser that supports its parish families? Should it 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.
In 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 Spirit of Fiesta, 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? It is a memory they will hold for the rest of their lives.
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 Plaza’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 wonderful Mexican music.
As I walked those two hours, I returned 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 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!
