Viva La Fiesta!
It’s a three word phrase which will be replacing hello, and goodbye in the Santa Barbara area for the next five days. It’s Old Spanish Days, better known as Fiesta.
There’s live music and dance, parades, food, and lot of parties. But, the celebration takes on a special wrinkle this year. It’s the 100th anniversary of Old Spanish Days.
The Santa Barbara Historical Museum has a new exhibition highlighting the event's history, especially its iconic annual Fiesta posters.
"We have our exhibition Project Fiesta Centennial where we put together the highlights of our collection beginning most importantly with the posters," said Dacia Harwood, who is the museum’s Executive Director.
It includes the first poster, from 1924. Where there are gaps, they reached out into the community, borrowing posters from private collections. In some cases, people gifted their posters to the museum's collection.
There’s been some controversy about Fiesta over the years. Native Americans suffered when the Spanish, Mexicans, and Americans moved into the Tri-Counties. But, Old Spanish Days wasn’t intended to be a history celebration, like July 4.
Harwood says it was started by community leaders to boost tourism. Santa Barbara was a popular spot for tourism during the winter, but it was slow during the summer. The idea was to make it a cultural event, with music, dance, and parties.
"The more that you know, the more than you understand about the origins, and the intention," said Harwood. "We spent a lot of time going through proclamations, planning minutes, and things like that from the organization. They are really looking to celebrate Santa Barbara, and bring tourists here to enjoy all that we enjoy every day."
"When it comes to what you would consider to be the controversial portion of it, there is not a focus on the Spanish as conquistadors or anything like that," said Harwood. "If you look through the original materials, they talk about architecture, and the amazing cultural offerings in Santa Barbara at the time, with the Lobero Theater opening."
Harwood said while parts of Fiesta have evolved over the years, it’s still rooted in gatherings of family and friends.
Besides the posters, the special Fiesta centennial exhibition features a number of artifacts like costumes, and badges which were sold annually to raise money for the celebration.
On a screen you can also see some rare film clips of the very first Fiesta Historical parade in 1924.
Harwood said it’s amazing that some of the first Fiesta traditions of song and dance continue to this day, with free shows on the steps of the Santa Barbara Mission, and in the Sunken Gardens at the Santa Barbara County Courthouse.
The Project Fiesta Exhibition runs through October at the Santa Barbara Historical Museum.
Admission to the museum is free. It’s open from noon-5 p.m. Wednesdays through Sundays, and noon-7 p.m. on Thursdays.
