La Fiesta Pequeña celebrated the 100th anniversary of Old Spanish Days at the Mission on Wednesday night. The sun set behind the mission, leaving it aglow for a night of music, dance, and celebration of past traditions.

The evening included performances from dancers at local studios, musical moments, and reflections of the city’s past 100 years.

It closed with a performance to “Bulerias” to celebrate 75 years of the Spirit of Fiesta and included several past Spirits from the 1960s to present day.

It was Sherry Methling’s second time attending La Fiesta Pequeña, after attending it for the first time last year as a new Santa Barbara resident from Chicago. 

“It has everything, it’s beautiful, fun festivities, excitement and entertainment events, food, happiness,” Methling said. “You know, we got to focus on the happiness around us because it’s a wild world we’re living in right now.”

Methling said she plans to go to more Old Spanish Days events this week, specifically the El Mercado De La Guerra, a downtown festival held Wednesday through Saturday.

The evening began with a performance from the Mariachi Divas, a greeting from the Old Spanish Days ambassadors, Los Niños De Las Flores, and an official welcome and prayer from Father Joe Schwab, the Order of Friars Minor President. 

“We ask for God’s grace to fill our hearts, that we can all be brother and sister to each other, that we who have found this beautiful place to be our home, along with our Chumash people from before, people from every continent and every nation that have come to live here and call this home,” Schwab said. 

Following the prayer was a video from Chumash Elder Ernestine Ygnacio-De Soto, who spoke the Lord’s Prayer in the Barbareño Chumash language.

This year’s El Presidente Brian Schwabecher invited his own family to join him on the steps of the Mission as he emphasized the importance of family during Fiesta. 

“This festival started 100 years ago, but it’s evolved so much,” Schwabecher said. “Nothing says Old Spanish Days Fiesta like family, heritage, history, and unity.”

The evening also included performances from the 2024 Spirit of Fiesta Georgey Taupin and Junior Spirit Aleenah Soriano. 

Taupin danced to “La Flora Blanca” while wearing a white dress and holding a pink fan with “100” written on it.

Soriano, a fourth grader at Roosevelt Elementary, danced to “Guajira del Navegante.”

The large crowd enjoyed dance performances from Garcia Dance Studio, Avellana Studios, Puro Flamenco, Grupo Folklórico Cielito Lindo, Zermeño Dance Academy, Grupo Folklórico De West Los Angeles, Xochipilli De Santa Barbara, Maria Bermudez Flamenco, Danza Folklórica Quetzalcoatl, and Alma De Mexico of SB.

History of La Fiesta Pequeña

La Fiesta Pequeña hasn’t always looked the way it does today. In the early years of Old Spanish Days, the Mission served as a venue for a sunset reception with prayer and spoken word.  

In 1927, as the work to repair the Mission from the 1925 earthquake was nearly complete, Father Augustine Hobrecht wanted a more lively celebration at the mission. He invited a single dancer, Juan Cota, to bring more life to the evening’s festivities, according to David Bolton, Old Spanish Days historian.

“Even from the very first years, it was always an event of hospitality, and that’s something that’s very important to the Franciscans, and that is something that continues today,” Bolton said. “What evolved and what changed was moving from a standing around kind of reception with prayer and spoken word to this big entertainment show that everybody really enjoys today.”

Even with dance introduced in 1927, the gatherings at the Mission were small. It wasn’t until the mid 1950s, when group dances became part of the gathering, that it really started to become La Fiesta Pequeña that the community knows today. 

In the 1980s the celebration was first broadcasted live on television and in recent years it’s been live streamed online, allowing people from all over the world to get a taste of Old Spanish Days. 

“Nothing brings the community together today quite like La Fiesta Pequeña,” Bolton said. “From the families that gather on the lawns, to those that are fortunate to have a seat in the front area, to those that are watching on television, La Fiesta Pequeña is a showcase event for our community.”

View more photos from the event by clicking through the gallery below.