Final Solstice Workshop Fun and Help Needed

By Robert Bernstein

Santa Barbara Summer Solstice is in the final ten day stretch to get everything built and ready for the parade on June 24! Everyone is welcome and help is very much needed! You can stop by and take a look at the Workshop at the corner of Ortega Street and Garden Street.

Here are my many photos of progress arranged in galleries by day!

The theme this year is “Roots”, but that can cover a wide range of meanings.

At center is Emily Carey (L) and Polly Carey (R) who come back each year to build an imaginative family ensemble. This one involves a tree and roots.

Here Emily posed with the grand design!

Jim Sun Bear is the construction wizard and workshop manager, as well as creator of his own ensemble.

As things get ever closer, there is a lot of painting to be done.

Jeff Dutcher was the owner of the World Of Magic shop for many years. He used to help decorate me for Solstice in years past. Now he has his own fun ensemble involving flowers and butterflies. It is called “A Kaleidoscope of Butterflies”. Did you know that a group of butterflies is called a “kaleidoscope”?

He said it follows on his earlier ensemble “Flamboyance of Flamingos”. Yes, that is what a group of flamingos is called!

The couple in the foreground were married in the Solstice parade ten years ago, with the woman in the back as the officiant! This year they are reaffirming their vows in the parade!

Michael White and Cloud paused to make music.

Violet Coto used to run the MIT Enterprise Forum, which is how I originally knew her. She is now the Assistant Director of Solstice. Here she posed for a “Beauty and the Beast” shot.

Mae Logan is not officially Artist In Residence, but she sure is acting like one! Making a forest of Ents, from the Lord of the Rings stories. Notice the expressive Ent face she is creating. 

Mae’s mother Barbara has worked with Solstice for many years. Here they posed together.

And here Richard is creating other parts of the Ent forest. Richard has also been building things for Solstice for decades.

Phyliss Cohen is one of the master costume makers, including making my costume. She even is lending me a vest that used to belong to her father, who was a tailor. He and his wife (Phyliss’ mother) were also Holocaust survivors. I am honored to wear the vest in the parade. Phyliss also prides herself on keeping people fed with delicious treats!

Claudia Bratton was Executive Director for many years. She is building a ship ensemble to honor her family roots in the world of sailing, ship captains and shipping. There will be a big ship float as well as many ship headpieces.

Irene is building a Root Beer Float for the Roots theme!

Courtney is creating some innovative trim to the Root Beer Float.

The mask shop is busy with people creating a variety of masks and headpieces. Under the direction of British import Emma-Jane. She is creating her own ensemble of Punch and Judy characters.

Pali is back with a radically innovative inflatable art piece for the Grand Finale. Involving a Cosmic Mushroom. Quite a challenge, because it involves concave sections of the inflatable. Of course, aerial artists will be performing inside. Here Pali and his wife Raven posed with some mushroom headpieces.

My wife Merlie and our friend Matt are working on some of the headpieces and posed with Pali.

Vast amounts of fabric need to be cut to shape before being stitched together on a grand scale. For the first time, Pali trusted me to do some of the cutting.

Again, there are many ways to get involved in Solstice. If you have a big idea, you can create your own ensemble. An ensemble does not necessarily involve a float. It can be a group of people in costume doing a performance. Many ensembles are dance groups. Others provide music. Some years ago several of us unicyclists played a game with several other people dressed as traffic cones, forming a slalom course that made its way up the street!

An ensemble can even be just one person inside some interesting float.

Most people prefer to join an ensemble that is already underway. You can help build floats, sew costumes and help with painting, carving, gluing or making paper mache. If you don’t know how, you can learn new skills! I already knew how to do construction with power tools, painting and paper mache. But I decided to learn something new. The costume shop people were very patient with teaching me to use the sewing machines and cut out patterns in fabric.

Pullers are needed to pull the floats up the parade route and back afterwards. In some cases that pays money and you get to be in the parade!

There truly is a place for everyone in the community to be a part of this community event!

The Workshop is at the corner of Ortega and Garden Street. It is open every day as it gets closer to parade time. Come by and see the excitement, energy and creativity! And feel free to lend a hand! Everyone is welcome!