Right now, Santa Barbara is in recovery mode. The beginning of this week marked the end of what is always an EPIC celebration in the city of SB. The celebration is called Fiesta. It's a big deal. This is my first summer away from Fiesta in a few years, and to be perfectly honest, I've had a bit of a withdrawal.
While it's pretty clear that almost NO-ONE in Santa Barbara knows why the heck we celebrate Fiesta, with some quick internet research, I myself have just discovered the origins [which I will of course share]. Taking the liberty to summarize, Fiesta is meant to be a celebration of the city's heritage from Spanish founders from the Spanish, Mexican, and North American pioneers who first settled in SB and built the city. Basically, this translates into a week-long party throughout the whole city.
State street shuts down for a HUGE parade that is filled with bizarre and random floats (although the Summer Solstice celebration takes the cake for the craziest parade). The Fiesta parade usually has bunches of people in traditional Mexican costumes, and lots of men riding horses. It's safe to say that one of the horses usually freaks out, and there are often incidents involving spectator injury. No big deal. It's all very entertaining to watch while you're eating street taco's from one of the many vendors.
Did I mention that the entire city of SB is also covered in a layer of confetti during this week as well? There are TONS of people selling confetti filled eggs on the streets. The purpose of these eggs is simply to purchase them, and ultimately smash them onto the heads of your friends and/or complete strangers--henceforth showering them in a blanket of multicolored tiny pieces of paper. From about August-February you'll continue to find confetti in the strangest of places throughout your house and the city. We're talking THOUSANDS and THOUSANDS of these eggs. I'm sure the production of these little gems starts the week after Fiesta and goes through the whole year to prepare aggressive and over-zealous egg smashers. To note: any future Fiesta attendee's must be willing to eat some confetti with their traditional Mexican food.
For Fiesta entertainment you can enjoy several carnival-like rides, watch the cutest little Mexican Hat dancers you've ever seen in your life (little girls who are 3 and 4 years old), go to various performances at the Court House, listen to the mariachi bands that are meandering on State Street, and if you're lucky...search and take a picture with the SPIRIT of FIESTA!
It's truly a great week in Santa Barbara. However, it comes with the drawbacks of epically high cover prices to all restaurants and bars, NO available parking, clothing staining confetti, and crazy out-of-towners. I'm sure there's a sigh of relief in SB to have completed another successful Fiesta. I'll make it back one of these years. Maybe I'll apply to be the Spirit of Fiesta 2011. I'm pretty sure that one of the pre-requisites is to be fully Mexican, but maybe I can somehow get around that rule....
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