Thousands come out to celebrate history and traditions with El Desfile Historico during Old Spanish Days
SANTA BARBARA, Calif. - With a perfect waterfront setting, the 99th Old Spanish Days Parade presented a story of culture and community dating back to 1924.
This year's theme was "Let's Fiesta!"
The Spirit of Fiesta Jack Harwood danced the route and wore a stylish white hat that wowed the crowd.
The Junior Spirit of Fiesta Olivia Nelson was escorted in a carriage by Mayor Randy Rowse.
The parade is one of the largest equestrian events in the nation. It had about 500 horses and longtime riders say it never loses its deep meaning with them.
Santa Ynez Valley resident Steve Golis rode up on his horse with a stars and stripes bandana and said, "Viva la Fiesta. This is my 25th year in the parade!"
Former El Presidente Anthony Borgatello rode with former El Presidente's and La Presidenta's. "It's an honor. I wouldn't miss it. It is a great experience every year and to share it with my wife and a great group of past presidents, it's awesome."
Father Larry Gosselin who is normally on a float, mounted a horse that was, at times, trying to redirect the parade course. He waved his hat, flashed a smile and yelled "Viva la Fiesta!" over and over to the responding crowd.
The route went from Castillo St. to Calle Puerto Vallarta along Cabrillo Blvd. It was on this path last year as the community began returning to events after the pandemic. This year had a renewed spirit and energy that was somewhat lost during the health crisis.
Many of the riders and horses met up with their vehicles at Dwight Murphy Field nearby, and the carriages came back to the carriage museum on Castillo Street.
Some of the spectators were new to town and overwhelmed by what they saw.
Sharon Staley lives in the Bay area. "We didn't even know. We came down here from the Bay area, we did not know this was going on, so we are enchanted and delighted and we came here at 10 o'clock and put our chairs down ."
Her husband Roger said, "we didn't even plan to stay the whole weekend. Now we made some extra plans to hang out and enjoy the whole festival."
It was an interactive crowd, cheering and waving from the sidelines and on the balconies of the hotels along Cabrillo blvd.
Parade spectator Betty Garcia said, "the horses, the dancers. Everything . It is spectacular, especially the good looking guys oh yes."
While many people came out to see the floats and the carriages, some decades old, it appearsed as if the Charo bands and the amazing horses were among the most popular with this audience.
El Presidente David Bolton was in a carriage that had a rich history involving past presidents and historic names.
Pausing in the parade, Bolton told the NewsChannel 3-12 live audience, the carriage he was on was, "recently refurbished. It's the first time and and it's truely an honor for us to be in this carriage which is a representation of the Oreña, De la Guerra and the Rickards in the history of Santa Barbara"
This year's fiesta was a blending of history, cultures and community at every turn.
Santa Barbara resident Martin Irabien said he loved seeing the public come together in this way, and with families that span generations. "Absolutely we are a melting pot it doesn't change it just gets better every year. "
In the end the fire departments whipped around with their hoses and doused the crowd with Fiesta spirit in the form of water and confetti.
Sara Hawthorn and her child Logan got "confetti and candy!"
The water spray left the audience smiling and of course screaming about this annual Fiesta event.
"Ariba Ariba! Viva la Fiesta!," Irabien said while sporting a purple beard.
After the parade many people continued on with their Fiesta and began making their way to the downtown and waterfront mercados, along with a very popular three-day mercado at Our Lady of Guadalupe Church.
