Edhat Staff
By edhat staff
Old Spanish Days announced their annual Fiesta Pequeña event at the Santa Barbara Mission will be closed to the public and Noches de Ronda at the courthouse will be canceled.
On Tuesday morning, Old Spanish Days organizers held a press conference stating the events will continue with COVID-19 safety protocols only to reverse course later that day and cancel some events due to the rise in infections.
Fiesta Pequeña, which normally takes place on the Wednesday evening of Fiesta week, features an evening of dancers and singers on the steps of the Mission. Spectators and locals would crowd around the Mission lawn to watch the festive display while local news station KEYT would conduct a live broadcast for those at home.
KEYT made the decision to cancel the live broadcast in order to keep their employees safe, according to KEYT reporter John Palminteri. For Wednesday evening, the Mission Lawn will be closed to the public and only open to performers.
Additionally, Las Noches de Ronda will be canceled entirely. The events usually take place on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday nights feature dancers and musicians on the steps of the Santa Barbara County Courthouse Sunken Gardens.
The Fiesta Mercado at the De La Guerra Plaza was canceled last week “to preserve the health and welfare of our community,” organizers stated.
However, Old Spanish Days still plans to hold its Celebración de los Dignatarios event, a large party that includes eating, drinking, and dancing at the Santa Barbara Zoo. The Horsemen’s Rendezvous at the Carriage and Western Art Museum is also still planned to take place as well as the Fiesta Rodeo at the Earl Warren Showgrounds.
The unofficial mercado at Our Lady of Guadalupe appears to still be taking place, according to John Palminteri, although this event is not hosted by Old Spanish Days.
The Santa Barbara County Public Health Department announced on Tuesday that mask mandates will go into effect on Friday for anyone who is indoors, regardless of vaccination status.
Write on, SACJON! This “Digs” event is TOTAL elitism! So, so sad. They’d better put down the Sangria now, and get off their high horses! What’s next, peons with pitchforks and torches storming the entrance of the Zoo? I hope all the animals turn their backs on the gussied up guests. This sucks cascarones! We won’t forget this! I’m choking on my recycled confetti as I write! In the meantime . . .Viva La!
This is an absolutely ridiculous decision done at the 11th hour. Adding insult to injury, somehow these idiots thought it would be a good idea to block the view with large trucks in addition to cancelling the television broadcast! Last time I checked this is a PUBLIC space, owned by the PEOPLE, not the moron, noodle brained, wimpy bureaucrats who did this in hiding. Who made this decision? We deserve to know who exactly made this decision and they deserve the wrath of their choice.
What a joke. This is an open air event. So people can still attend, they just have to pay? And the community can’t get a livestream because some KEYT staff are in danger while filming outside? It would be perfectly safe for crew to operate outside and film this. This is literally becoming a hysteria. And the “dignitarios” will be partying it up at a paid event at the zoo while the rest of us will be barred from enjoying any aspect of the Fiesta that is open (and free) to the public?
Why was the KEYT live stream cancelled? How is it safe to record it to be shown later, but not safe to show it live? Is this due to some warping of the spacetime continuum that I did not learn about in my physics studies?
Reminds me of Newsom’s French Laundry outing; “do as I say, not as I do.”
JOEG !! YESSS! We should cancel it for eternity! Cruelty to animals is not “entertainment”. It’s shameful. Shut it down! If your “tradition” involves terrifying and harming other sentient beings, time to move on from it and EVOLVE. Thank you.
Chill the gratuitous class envy. Go out and get your own piece of the pie.