A new spring festival is coming to Isla Vista next month after the Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday approved a license for the event.

The festival is meant to provide a safe alternative to the unsanctioned street party known as Deltopia, which draws tens of thousands of college students to the community each year. The county supervisors recently approved a 72-hour ban on amplified music during Deltopia, which this year is planned for the first weekend of April.  

Myah Mashhadialireza, community programs and engagement director with the Isla Vista Community Services District, made it clear that this is not a new Deltopia.

“This event is a demonstration of how public safety and community celebration do not need to be mutually exclusive,” Mashhadialireza said. “This is a demonstration of how solutions that do not only involve the community, but include them as active participants drives success.”

To help with safety, she said, there will be four first aid tents, four safety stations, two ambulances, 70 bathrooms, more than 4,000 gallons of water, two sheriff safety stations and more than 70 security guards. 

The event is funded by $140,000 from the community services district and $140,000 from UC Santa Barbara Associated Students, along with some sponsors. 

Jonathan Abboud, IVCSD’s general manager, said the district believes the festival is the best way to ensure economic growth for Isla Vista businesses while maintaining public safety.

“I want to emphasize that this festival is a means towards public safety, not an end within itself,” Abboud said. “We’re not doing this for the sake of doing this. Our goal is zero medical calls, zero arrests, zero citations, no public disturbances and less people near the bluff’s edge.”

However, some longtime residents fear the event will bring the same public health and safety issues of Deltopia.

Sarah Erickson, who said she was raised in Isla Vista, criticized the community services district for using its budget on the festival. 

“Spring Fest is really Deltopia by another name; it’s giving mixed messages,” Erickson said. “Spring Fest and Deltopia are not for all the residents of Isla Vista. It’s exclusively for college students.”

Isla Vista Foot Patrol Lt. Joe Schmidt proposed the noise ordinance late last year to reduce the large crowds of locals and visitors partying in the streets and on the cliffs, and to change the harmful culture of the event. 

Since 2013, there have been two deaths reported, a riot in 2014, and yearly arrests and hospitalizations from incidents during Deltopia.  

Additionally, Deltopia has reportedly cost the Sheriff’s Office $400,000 in overtime since 2023.

Despite the amplified music ban in effect for this year, Schmidt said police presence will remain as heavy as it has been the past three years as they don’t know how the ordinance will affect crowd size. 

Deputy presence in the actual festival will be very limited and event security will be handling most issues. Sheriff’s deputies and other law enforcement will mostly be on Del Playa Drive and Sabado Tarde Road during that weekend, according to Schmidt.

The ordinance would be in effect in Isla Vista for 72 hours from April 3-5, and would apply to all of Isla Vista and The Cove, a residential neighborhood on the northwest corner of Storke Road and El Colegio Road. 

The Isla Vista Community Services District festival will be held on April 4.

In January, Mashhadialireza shared that the event will include three band stages, three DJ stages, a 21-or-older beer garden, art structures, a thrift market, an interactive art zone, a silent disco, free food, and bathrooms around Embarcadero Del Norte and Embarcadero Del Mar, south of Pardall Road.