Cue the Cascarones: Fiesta in Montecito has Arrived

Old Spanish Days. Possibly you’ve heard of this adorably sleepy little Santa Barbara tradition. Horses feature in the thing, I think. There is a little dancing. Some of the more intrepid participants don period costumes and wander about. But for the influx of an estimated 100,000 visitors for the five-day celebration, you could blink and miss it. Not. 

“Old Spanish Days in Santa Barbara,” 2026 El Presidente Colin Hayward says with an air of mild wonder. “As you know, it’s over a hundred years old, and major events like the El Mercado de la Guerra and the Fiesta Parade, and La Pequeña at the Mission; these are iconic events.” 

The whole of Santa Barbara’s Old Spanish Days melee, a celebration of the town’s historic beating heart, is in fact an unrivaled eruption of color and melody and laughter and dance and mercados absolutely thronged with community and life. Santa Barbara lets her hair down in a controlled sunburst of self-celebration which, just incidentally, features one of the largest equestrian parades in the United States, these huge animals – living symbols of the country’s onetime frontier adventurism – prancing alongside the sparkling Pacific Ocean, if you can imagine. Santa Barbara’s annual Fiesta, as it is colloquially known, really is the darndest thing.

“One of the main objectives every year,” El Presidente Hayward continues, “is to provide a forum and venues for our young people who are doing the dancing, the singing, the music. The Flamenco community in Santa Barbara is a huge partner of ours and we want to strengthen that all the time. But the ties with Old Spanish Days and the history, from Spain and from Mexico and from the local indigenous Chumash community… over the years, all parts of the community come together.” 

For all that, if you reside in an unreasonably enchanted woodland village called Montecito, around August every year it can seem like the party is largely happening in the neighbor’s apartment. 

“David Bolton has had a vision of coming back to Montecito for many years,” says El Presidente Hayward with a grin. “This has been a long time coming. The history of Fiesta in Montecito – we’re rekindling those embers that have long been glowing underneath the surface. We’re excited to be bringing Fiesta to Montecito!” 

New Old Spanish Days

The launch of a brand-new community tradition is a marvelous thing, one whose inaugural significance can be overwritten by excitement in the moment. So let’s state this as plainly as possible. From 4:30 – 6:30 pm on Thursday, July 30, our shade-dappled Coast Village Road will be transformed into an Old Spanish Days swirl of warmth and color, pageantry and celebration such asour woodland Village has never quite seen. It’s a fair bet thatwonderstruck 10-year-olds present at the celebration will still be talking about it years hence – as grinning grandparents themselves celebrating the 173^rd annual Fiesta in 2096. 

A widening embrace is a key part of El Presidente Hayward’s very intentional vision this year – a confetti-covered strategic plan that intersects nicely with a personal mission David Bolton has long had in the works. “We want to reach out to all the communities,” El Presidente Hayward emphasizes. “We want to bring people back under the tent of Old Spanish Days and really expand our reach.” The coming Fiesta on our dear Coast Village Road will be the warm and happily cyclonic Proof of Concept.

David Bolton is an imposing figure of about 7 ½ feet whose glimpsed silhouette suggests the Iron Giant in Fiesta finery. His sudden smile never fails to surprise. Bolton is a former El Presidente himself (2023), and this year’s Treasurer and Division Chief of External Relations for Old Spanish Days; a title whose OSD lanyard would have to be a foot wide. He explains Montecito’s Old Spanish Days pedigree, and what we can expect on July 30^th. Our cozy village thoroughfare does seem hecho a medida for this pre-Fiesta warm-up. It’s a vision David Bolton has been fostering for quite a little while, and to which George Leis’ community-adoring outfit has added the necessary octane, and the event’s official name. Old Spanish Days, Fiesta in Montecito, presented by CalPrivate Bank.

“I used to skateboard on Coast Village,” Bolton says, and one gets an immediate sense of both how personal and public Bolton’s Montecito dream mission has been. “I’ve wanted Old Spanish Days to be in Montecito again for many, many years. In the ‘50s, ‘60s, ‘70s, and into the ‘80s, Montecito became involved with Noche de Gale de Coral Casino. That was the event. Dignitaries, local residents, and the community gathered for a night of Fiesta elegance, dancing, music. It was something very special to Montecito. From the mid ‘90s on, though, it no longer continued. Fiesta as an official Montecito event went away.

The Coast Village Launch

“Two years ago,” Bolton continues, his voice growing animated, “Old Spanish Days worked with Casa del Herrero for a private Fiesta at their location, bringing Fiesta to Montecito again. Then, in talking with George Leis at CalPrivate Bank, the idea came up to make a public event so even more people in Montecito, even more people in our community can enjoy Fiesta. And this is really made possible by the generosity and the collaboration of CalPrivate Bank. Old Spanish Days is honored to partner with CalPrivate Bank, where flags are already up honoring Old Spanish Days.”

“The name of the event,” Bolton adds, putting a fine point on the institution’s centrality to Montecito’s new party, “is Old Spanish Days, Fiesta in Montecito, presented by CalPrivate Bank.” Reader, if you know George Leis by his habits, you will have predicted his exclamation at this juncture.

“The interior of our office is already celebrating Old Spanish Days!” George exults, as he will. “So for anybody that wants to come in and say hi, we’d love them to do that!” He calms and continues. “When Colin and David were explaining why they were so passionate about reestablishing a public presence for old Spanish days in Montecito, that struck me. Old Spanish Days is a celebration of our history, our traditions, and the remarkable sense of community here. One thing that moves me every single year is those dancers, the Spirit and Junior Spirit and the runners up. I’ve had the honor of watching the auditions, seeing the lifelong commitment of these artists. It is extraordinary. CalPrivate is all about community. So what better way to support community than supporting old Spanish days?”

Old Spanish Days on Coast Village Road – July 30, from 4:30 – 6:30 pm – will have its own Village heart and soul; a fitting precursor to the controlled madness of the celebration that follows several days thereafter. Beginning at 4:30 pm on July 30, the Old Spanish Days stage, set up in the parklet at Coast Village and Middle roads on the ocean side of the street, will ring with the sounds of Mariachi music, a mix of colorful dance groups, the 2026 Spirit of Fiesta, the 2026 Junior Spirit of Fiesta and both respective runners-up. And there will be an actual fashion show demonstrating Fiesta clothing tips for both men and women. 

Prior to the staged commotion, a Fiesta poster signing will be held further up Coast Village Road at Sunstone Wine Lounge with El Presidente 2026 Colin Hayward and poster artist Pedro De La Cruz. 

In other 2026 Old Spanish Days news, the absolutely inimitable John Palminteri is Grand Marshal this year, and if that delightful and inevitable fact doesn’t startle you into gentle laughter you may be new to the area. The beloved and boldly mustachioed journalist is approximately as embedded in the town’s lore as is our patron saint. But with a mustache. 

Old Spanish Days at the height of a Central Coast summer, and a party on Coast Village?! Here comes a heck of a time, if you’ll pardon my Spanish. July 30 begins a whole new Montecito tradition. El Presidente?

“It’ll just take a few years before everybody makes this a staple of the late summer festival in Montecito.” 

¡Estate allí o Ser Cuadrado! [¡No faltes o te lo perderás!]