The More Things Change, the More Fiesta Feels the Same

Every August, Santa Barbara turns into a different kind of town. Confetti ends up in the streets… and in your sheets. You can’t walk two blocks without stopping to watch a street performance, hearing mariachi, or catching the smell of fresh tortillas warming on a griddle at a mercado stand. Fiesta has a way of getting under your skin—in the absolute best way.

Old Spanish Days has been doing that since 1924, when the first celebration was dreamed up to honor Santa Barbara’s Spanish and Mexican heritage. Back then, it was a few parades, some dancing, a rodeo. Now it’s an all‑out, city‑wide tradition—parades, flamenco in the plaza, mercados packed with food, mariachi, and people who’ve been coming for generations.

The Santa Barbara Historical Museum recently pulled old Fiesta photos from their archives—kids in bright embroidered dresses, families leaning on wooden fences watching the parade, friends raising paper cups of horchata in the August sun. Almost a hundred years later, the storefronts have changed, but the spirit in those faces hasn’t.

And that’s the thing. Fiesta isn’t just a party—it’s culture. It’s a tradition that ties us back to the people and stories that shaped this place. It’s the reminder that “home” isn’t just a house. It’s a community you belong to, where the same streets you walk today have been danced down for nearly a century.

So whether you’re front‑row for the parade or just here for the corn and a cold beer in the sun, you’re part of it. This week is Santa Barbara at its most alive.

See what’s happening this weekend: Old Spanish Days Fiesta Schedule »

¡Viva la Fiesta!

Photos courtesy of Santa Barbara Historical Museum