In a collection of buildings off of Garden Street in downtown Santa Barbara, people are putting the finishing touches on a crazy assortment of floats and costumes for what’s become a South Coast tradition.
It’s the Santa Barbara Summer Solstice Parade, which looks like a cross between a parade at Disneyland and the creations of a group of bohemian artists.
"We're expecting a really amazing parade," said Solstice Executive Director Penny Little. "The theme is Wild World, and so we have all this wild creativity happening over here in the wild world of Solstice.
She added that the parade is a fun reality break with everything happening in the world right now.
"When you think about our theme, Wild World, we are in a wild world, and a lot of people are experiencing a pretty wild ride," explained Little. "What we provide is what I call the homeopathic remedy to all of that. We give joy, we bring connection, plus collaboration, teamwork, and creativity to people."
Jonathan Smith is working in a warehouse-sized building on a project that includes the garage-door-sized facades of some iconic Santa Barbara buildings.
"I'm working on a float/ensemble called Shaky/Quakey 25," said Smith. "I think most people are aware that this (June of 2025) is the anniversary of the earthquake. This (ensemble) is the earthquake that will be going up the street. The Granada (a huge facade of the Santa Barbara building) is going to lead our ensemble because it's large, it's the largest building here in Santa Barbara, and also the peculiar thing that it never fell down because it was overbuilt by the architects. The buildings behind it, at the very back, we have the Mission, which we are working on right now. We know part of that collapsed. Part of it will collapse (during the parade) and then we'll put it up again."
Solstice Parade Artistic Director Riccardo Morrison said the staff at the non-profit Solstice Workshop works with people to turn their ideas into floats and costumes.
"The creativity, I think it has an interesting flow," said Morrison. "I feel like I'm the facilitator of flow, to allow people's ideas to have space and tools and materials to be manifest. Sometimes someone comes in with an idea, and they know how to make it. Other times, someone comes in, and they're not sure what they're doing, so we have a bunch of donated materials and materials that we repurposed and recycled. It just goes from there."
"Helping everybody to build their dream, and to get their platforms, and their decks, and their floats prepared as much as possible is what we are doing," said Nobeel Masery, who is the Workshop's Operations Manager. He talked about working with people who have ideas for the parade. "There's always something incredible going on, and we have to try to figure out how to try to get it on a float."
Ashley Emma is making masks for one of the parade’s ensembles. "We are creating masks, animal masks, that are going to go on top of hats," said Emma. "A giant elephant is going to have a see-through stomach, and dancers are going to dance, and you can see them through the stomach."
In a nearby building, EJ Huerta gives us a tour of a room filled with masks. "We are in the masks, puppets, and props department," said Huerta. It looks like a place you'd see at a Hollywood studio. "Lots of masks, lots of giant props, I bring these in really to show people the possibilities," said Huerta. "We never like to do a repeat. We like to do something new."
About a thousand people are expected to take part in the parade, and roughly 100,000 will be on hand to watch it on Saturday. It begins at the intersection of Santa Barbara and Ortega Streets in downtown Santa Barbara, then heads up Santa Barbara Street, ending in Alameda Park.
The Solstice Celebration will be in Alameda Park, with food, music, dancing, and activities for kids. It’s from 4 to 9 p.m. Friday, 12 to 8 p.m. Saturday, and 12 to 7 p.m. Sunday.
