Newly crowned 2022 Spirit of Fiesta Tara Mata, left, and Junior Spirit Layla Gocong greet the Lobero Theatre audience after their winning performances at the Old Spanish Days Spirit auditions. 
Layla Gocong, a Crane Country Day School third-grader, danced a tanguillo in her winning audition for Junior Spirit of Fiesta. 
Tara Mata, a Santa Barbara City College student, danced a cantinas in her winning audition for Spirit of Fiesta. 
Spirit of Fiesta Tara Mata. 
Layla Gocong is crowned the Junior Spirit of Fiesta. 
Tara Mata is crowned the Spirit of Fiesta. 
Newly crowned 2022 Spirit of Fiesta Tara Mata and Junior Spirit Layla Gocong. 
Newly crowned 2022 Spirit of Fiesta Tara Mata and Junior Spirit Layla Gocong.
More than 500 people packed the Lobero Theatre on Saturday for one of the most anticipated traditions of Santa Barbara’s Old Spanish Days celebration: the auditions for Spirit of Fiesta and Junior Spirit.
After a day of lively dancing and music by eight Spirit finalists and 11 Junior Spirit finalists, Old Spanish Days said in a news release, La Presidenta Maria Cabrera announced the judges’ selections:
» Tara Mata, a 19-year-old Santa Barbara City College student who danced a cantinas, was selected as the 2022 Spirit of Fiesta.
» Layla Gocong, a 9-year-old third-grader at Crane Country Day School in Montecito, was chosen as the 2022 Junior Spirit, having danced a tanguillo.
The two dancers will lead the official celebrations during Old Spanish Days, which runs Aug. 3-6, and will be dancing an exhausting schedule of public appearances from now until then.
Their selection was preceded by outgoing Spirit Ysabella Yturralde and Junior Spirit Savannah Hoover, who performed their farewell dances to thundering applause from the audience.
This is the second consecutive year that the Spirit auditions were held at the Lobero, which opened in 1924 and was where the first Fiesta was held a few months later.
Click here for more information about Old Spanish Days.
— Noozhawk publisher Bill Macfadyen can be reached at wmacfadyen@noozhawk.com. Follow Noozhawk on Twitter: @noozhawk. Connect with Noozhawk on Facebook.