Oct 18 Saturday
October 1- 31 - Join us for a month-long celebration of new vegan dishes all over Santa Barbara!
For the second year in a row, businesses across the region will showcase exciting special vegan menu items for an entire month, giving everyone the opportunity to explore creative plant-based dishes crafted by talented local chefs.
How It Works:
1- Visit participating restaurants across Santa Barbara.2- Try their exclusive vegan offerings.3- Share your experience—rate and review the dishes you try, comment, post photos of your favorite meals, and tag us at @veganchefchallengeWest.
This event is open to everyone, not just vegans! It’s about bringing our community together to celebrate incredible food and support our region's chefs.
Get Involved: Looking for ways to connect? Volunteer with us! We’re seeking passionate individuals to help with outreach, event promotion, and community building throughout the month. It's a great way to meet like-minded people and make a difference! Volunteer using this link: TinyURL.com/VOLVCC
Join us in making Santa Barbara an even more inclusive, vibrant, and compassionate community.
For details on participating businesses, menus, sponsorship opportunities, and more, visit our website at veganchefchallenge.org/SantaBarbara.
In its 41st year, the Santa Barbara Vintners Festival is truly the Original Santa Barbara Wine Festival.
Don’t miss the opportunity to taste wines from 60+ wineries and sample regional cuisine from dozens of restaurants, chefs, and food producers, while strolling through the picturesque vines at Vega Vineyard and Farm. Chat with the winemakers and winery owners and enjoy live music from Generic Clapton. At the Rio Vista Chevrolet Bubble Lounge, sample sparkling wines from some of the region’s top producers.
An Early Entry Admission ticket grants access to the festival at noon, 60 minutes prior to General Admission tickets, providing the opportunity to interact more personally with winemakers, owners, and chefs in a more spacious, open, and uncrowded environment.
Peek behind-the-scenes of our chocolate factory to get a high-level overview of the chocolate-making process, from bean to bar! This event is great for families, corporate groups, bachelorette weekends, and anyone new to chocolate or curious about where their food comes from. You’ll get to taste warm, flowing dark chocolate from our tempering machine, and you’ll get to sample our single origin 75% dark chocolate bars.
Oct 19 Sunday
Oct 20 Monday
Oct 21 Tuesday
Oct 22 Wednesday
Oct 23 Thursday
This event is for someone with a high interest in single-origin dark chocolate, where it comes from, how it's processed and the technicalities behind making shiny, lusciously smooth chocolate from what starts as a small, bitter bean. You’ll get to taste chocolate at every stage, from bean to bar (including sampling through all our single origin dark chocolate bars), as well as other products we make, like caramel and chocolate-covered espresso beans. We’ll describe the stages of roasting, sorting, refining and tempering. You’ll come away having tasted a lot of chocolate and having learned more about our specialty!
The Simi Valley Family YMCA is hosting an Alumni Reunion and Open House on Thursday, October 23, from 5:00 p.m. to 6:30 pm to celebrate the YMCA’s 40th anniversary. The community is invited to join the celebration.
Since first opening its doors a little over 40 years ago, the Simi Valley Family Y has been a second home for generations of families. From swim lessons and summer camps to teen leadership programs, after-school enrichment, youth sports and fitness classes, the Y has touched tens of thousands of lives over the past four decades.
Guests can enjoy a walk down memory lane with a display of photos from the YMCA’s early years, reconnect with alumni and staff and hear about Y’s upcoming expansion plans, with construction slated to begin next year.
Beverages and light hors d’oeuvres will be served. The Simi Valley Family YMCA is at 3200 Cochran St. Event registration is required. To register, go to https://www.sevymca.org/events/ymca-alumni-happy-hour-open-house.
