Drone of the Brave and More 4th Fun

To paraphrase an early Bruce Springsteen song, fireworks will be hailing over Little Eden on July 4 down at our own slice of heaven known as the Santa Barbara waterfront. Not so much out in Goleta, where the family-friendly Independence Day festival that ended each year with big aerial pyrotechnics that was quite popular, never came back after shutting down during the pandemic. But the city is trying something new and ultra-modern for the Fourth of July 2025, one completely fireproof and far less noisy. 

The area’s first-ever Drone Light Show will light up the night sky above Dos Pueblos High School’s football stadium with a 15-minute display that promises choreographed configurations both patriotic and personal to Goleta and the region. Just shy of 150 drones will create a plethora of patterns via a customized computer-controlled program created and run by DroneShow.com, the barely seven-year-old company in Utah that is one of few organizations capable of putting on the display. 

“The show was created to be relevant to the City of Goleta, full of connections to different elements that will resonate with the local people,” explained Jesse Stone, DroneShow.com’s founder who worked closely with Kelly Hoover, Goleta’s community relations manager, to come up with the concepts for the patterns. “That’s one of the things that makes drone light shows special, because they’re unique and customizable to any situation.” 

Without giving too much away, the show will contain stunning and colorful drone configurations depicting such patriotic graphics as the American flag and the Statue of Liberty, outlines of the state of California and the state flag, and both logos and words supporting UCSB’s Gauchos and Dos Pueblos’ Chargers teams. What won’t be depicted are approximations of a fireworks display. 

“You really can’t replicate the sort of random effect of an exploding firework,” Stone said. “But it’s pretty incredible what we can actually create.” 

The idea of making drone shows his life’s work came to Stone after seeing the opening ceremonies of the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea, when Intel produced a show in which drones formed such images as a snowboarder heading downhill and the Olympic mascot.

“That level of creativity through technology was unbelievable,” said Stone, who previously traveled the world as a leading ice castle sculptor. 

Now he’s co-creating drone shows for public events, private parties, and corporate retreats with his partner and co-founder Justin Egbert, a software and hardware engineer. The Fourth of July shows are one of their most popular events with communities seeking alternatives to fireworks that still light up the sky and thrill families and friends on the ground. 

“Drones are more environmentally friendly, there’s no smoke or noise to alarm pets or people who are sensitive or might have PTSD animals,” he said. “It’s incredibly creative in that you can adjust imagery and artwork to spark the imagination.” 

As with fireworks, a soundtrack accompanies the drone display, Stone said. 

“We do popular hit songs that are good for whether you’re 5 or 105, covering lots of emotions and something everyone in the community can enjoy,” he said. 

Even though the drones are programmed and flown by computer, safety will be secured by a team of certified pilots who maintain visual contact with the aerial devices, making sure they’re maintaining the five-to-six-foot minimum distance from each other, and ready to bring them home automatically in case of an emergency situation. And they have no payload or cameras attached. 

Only the multi-colored LED lights that are incredibly bright. 

In fact, Stone said, the 140 drones are the brightest drones in the United States currently available, and the show is visible up to seven miles away if the skies are clear.

“If the propellers aren’t spinning, we could actually melt the plastic on the drones because they’re so bright,” he said. 

Activities at Dos Pueblos High School get underway around 6 pm with music by DJ Darla Bea, line dancing, family-friendly games, a photo booth, and more, with the drone show set to begin at nightfall, around 8:30 pm. Guests can sit in the bleachers or plop down on blankets and lawn chairs on the stadium’s turf. Admission is free. 

Visit www.cityofgoleta.org/play/fourth-of-july-drone-lights-show

Bash, Beats, Baubles, and Bangs at the Beach 

Santa Barbara’s annual Fourth of July celebration at the waterfront boasts a full slate of festive, fun, free, and family-friendly activities that take place throughout the day leading up to the annual 20-minute fireworks display. The extra-wide Cabrillo Boulevard sidewalk at West Beach will be thick with food and vendor booths from 11 am to 9 pm, where visitors can stuff themselves with fare from Tink’s Old Fashioned Hot Dogs, Lidos Philly Cheese Steaks, Timbers Roadhouse, G Brothers Kettle Corn, Elubia’s Kitchen, and The Deli Doctor, and/or shop for holiday and other trinkets and wares.

Live music on the temporary bandstand erected on the sand at West Beach begins at 1 pm, with a lineup of eight local bands, including such stalwarts as Goodlanders, Ladyfinger, and False Puppet, leading up to the pyrotechnics presented by Garden State Fireworks with the soundtrack simulcast on KjEE (92.9 FM) and from the stage, ending the Independence Day festivities with a bang. 

Visit https://santabarbaraca.gov/things-do/city-events/fourth-july-celebration

Independent Afternoon Adventures 

The 51st annual Old-Fashioned 4th of July at the Stow House in Goleta is a five-hour (11 am to 4 pm) fun-filled festival featuring tractor rides, kids activities, vendors selling their handcrafted items, food trucks, exhibits of vintage machinery and Model A Fords, and music from The Cliffhangers and Cadillac Angels. Maybe the biggest attraction is simply enjoying the afternoon on the beautiful grounds of Rancho La Patera. 

Visit https://goletahistory.org/old-fashioned-4th-july

Santa Barbara’s Prime Time Band, composed of more than 75 amateur adult musicians (age 40 to 90), fill the space near the archway at the County Courthouse, where guests can enjoy the music and atmosphere from blankets and lawn chairs on the Sunken Gardens at 5 pm. The ensemble will play an all-American program of patriotic music plus selections from John Williams’ scores including Star Wars, Raiders of the Lost Ark, Superman, and Empire of the Sun and the Olympic Fanfare and tributes to the Granada Theatre and Old Spanish Days. Hits by Coldplay, Whitney Houston, and others round out the
free show. 

Visit www.ptband.org

Tennessee Two-step

Looking to avoid all the hoopla but still do something somewhat patriotic? The Chumash Casino’s Samala Showroom is hosting the “American Made Farewell” tour from The Oak Ridge Boys, the vocal quartet who rode a blend of country, gospel, and pop to sales of more than 40 million albums worldwide. The show, the culmination of a 40-year career with largely the same lineup (and more than 80 years after its founding), promises to include many of the group’s country hits and two pop smashes – “Elvira” and “Bobbie Sue” – that have earned them Grammy, CMA, and many other awards.  

Tickets at www.chumashcasino.com