It’s the biggest annual community event in the Tri-Counties. Five days of music, dance, food, and margaritas are all part of Santa Barbara’s Old Spanish Days. It’s a celebration of the community’s heritage. But this year, there’s some uneasiness behind Fiesta. It’s a concern about raids that have targeted the region’s immigrant community.
"The real thing is the fear. The fear and intimidation which I am most concerned about," said Santa Barbara Mayor Randy Rowse. "The events are going on as planned, all the businesses are geared up, and the nonprofits are ready to go. How people feel about the situation, that's hard to say. As a city, we can't intercede with ICE, but we are trying to keep our people as safe as possible on every level that we can."
He said it's upsetting to see how the situation has impacted longtime community members. "There's law enforcement, we understand that, but militarizing things was about intimidation, and that's the part that's most regrettable," said the Mayor. "It intimidates a lot of people that don't deserve to be intimidated. It's one thing to apprehend lawbreakers, but it's another thing to take an entire population and intimidate them just because their skin is brown."
Here at De La Guerra Plaza, dance troupes from throughout the region take the stage to entertain the crowds who have come to get food, shop at the crafts booths, and, most importantly, see friends and neighbors.
The entertainers include members of Lompoc’s Garcia Dance Studio. Dozens of Laura Garcia's dancers are performing, but she admits a few decided not to participate because of concerns about the possibility of immigration raids.
"We do have a few students that aren't able to participate in Fiesta this week due to (concern about) the raids," said Garcia. "The parents feel uncomfortable about them coming, so they've chosen not to dance this week during Fiesta."
What do fiesta goers think about the situation? "I think people are definitely thinking about it, they're worried about it, but I'm not sure if it's going to have that much of an effect," said Dave Voros.
On State Street, Henry Mendez is continuing a family tradition. For decades, they’ve prepared thousands of Fiesta cascarones. They are eggshells which have been emptied, painted with colorful designs like Easter eggs, and filled with confetti. You break them over the head of a friend, showering them with confetti. It’s a long-time tradition.
Vendors come from throughout Southern California to sell the eggs, with many undocumented residents trying to pick up extra money. As Mendoza looks around State Street, he thinks many vendors were afraid to come this year.
"I see less people selling cascarones," said Mendoza. "I don't see that many this year. It's gambling. The agents don't care if you are legal or not. If you look brown or Latino, they want to pick you up; they don't even ask you anything. They don't care."
Despite the concerns, Old Spanish Days is offering a full schedule of its traditional events, from parades to entertainment. Will it be impacted by the immigration raid concerns? We won’t know until it’s over, but many people think it's off to a relatively normal start.
