Tag archives: Christmas
The annual beloved boat parade was back in the harbor for live viewing with social distancing and masks along Cabrillo Boulevard and Stearns Wharf. The theme for this year’s parade was “Magic Under the Moonlight.” A double-bell salute rang out to City of Santa Barbara’s Christopher Bell, the Waterfront Department’s administrative analyst and public information […]
Santa Barbara Beautiful celebrated Christmas with a boffo beano for 90 guests at the Mesa estate of new board member Santa Barbara County architect Robert Ooley. The 56-year-old organization gives out grants between $50,000 and $100,000 annually to help beautify our Eden by the Beach. “We are thrilled to be doing this,” gushed president Deborah […]
More than a dozen community companies around the country present Christmas Revels performances this December, including such places as Lebanon, New Hampshire; Boulder, Colorado; and Oakland, each of which reworks shows created by the flagship company in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The shows bring together people of all ages and backgrounds — both on stage and in […]
Santa Claus hats reigned supreme at Santa Barbara’s Carriage and Western Art Museum when entrepreneur Rick Oshay threw a heaving Yuletide fete for 170, helped by presidents galore from Old Spanish Days acting as cooks and bartenders. “It’s one helluva bash!” declared Rick, who has lived in our tony town for less than a year. […]
The pandemic has brought about a lot of changes to people’s everyday lives, with eating out replaced by delivery services, while brick-and-mortar shopping took a temporary backseat to online services. But, along the South Coast, small business is the spine of our community, the glue that keeps us all together. And that has never been […]
The 26th annual Christmas Walk at La Arcada Plaza, the charming thoroughfare just off State Street near the Santa Barbara Museum of Art, attracted more than a thousand spectators with strolling carolers in Dickensian garb, freshly popped popcorn, and even snowmaking machines turning the area into a winter wonderland with colorfully decorated Yuletide trees. Youngsters […]
The venerable Granada was socially gridlocked when Westmont College held its 17th annual Christmas Festival “Salvation For All” over two days given the demand for tickets. Michael Shasberger, Adams professor for music and worship, who is retiring in May after 16 years, created the hugely popular event and has directed it each year, normally at […]
With the theme “Holiday Magic,” it was indeed a magical evening for the 1st Annual Montecito Holiday Car Parade. Huge nod to the co-chairs Sharon Byrne, Mindy Denson, and Dana Newquist, along with their committee members, for a most upbeat treat for our town and its annual visitors. Kids from 1 to 92 lined the […]
Shopping local isn’t just something that Montecitans say, it’s something that they do — 365 days a year. That becomes especially apparent over the holidays, when boutiques, pop-ups, and mom-and-pop shops get the opportunity to help all of us provide a bit of holiday cheer through locally crafted gifts. The Upper Village in Montecito has […]
It was a welcome sight, two years in the making: the usual crowd of Montecito locals gathered this past Saturday to trim the giant tree near the Manning Park tennis courts on San Ysidro Road. The tradition took a hiatus last year because of the pandemic; the tree was trimmed quietly by a skeletal crew […]
The Montecito Country Mart might be a bit small, but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t pack a big punch. Just ask Kristin Teufel how busy she is nowadays trying to coordinate a multitude of events, pop-ups, and marketing of the holidays at the MCM. “I feel like I’m going around the clock,” Teufel said. “We […]
Were it not for a pandemic-induced postponement, former 20-year Laguna Playhouse artistic director Andrew Barnicle would have returned to Ensemble Theatre to direct The Wickhams: Christmas at Pemberley, playwrights Lauren Gunderson and Margot Melcon’s witty companion piece to Miss Bennet: Christmas at Pemberley and the second in a planned trilogy that serves as an imagined […]
This Saturday, December 4, Montecito Association presents the first annual Holiday Magic Parade of Lights. Twenty-five cars and vehicles, decked out in their holiday finery, will parade through Montecito beginning at 5:30 pm. The parade route will leave Upper Manning Park, turn onto North Jameson and onto Coast Village Road, through the roundabout onto Hot […]
To many, the 2021 Music Academy of the West Summer School and Festival was nothing short of a miracle. Despite the need to plan well in advance of the state’s reopening in mid-June, MAW not only managed to pull off a spectacular hybrid season that brought more than 100 fellows from around the world to […]
“The best way to spread Christmas cheer is singing loud for all to hear.” And Zooey Deschanel hasn’t stopped doing so ever since her musical introduction to the world in the holiday cult classic, Elf. As a 21-year-old at the time, Deschanel feels fortunate to have identified the script as one that was timeless — […]
‘Tis the season to hit the pavement to find the retail steals of your dreams, even if you are tempted to stay in your pajamas and do the ordering from the comforts of your cushy couch. But then you wouldn’t get to experience Mary Lynn Harms-Romo’s favorite holiday tradition. The longtime marketing director at Paseo […]
Yes, we’re going to do it: a nighttime holiday motor parade through Montecito on Saturday, December 4 at 5:30 pm. It’s been a tough few years for Montecito, and we could all use more light, love, and magic in our lives, particularly as we head into the time of year at the Winter Solstice when […]
The 17th Annual Westmont Christmas Festival appears for the first time at Santa Barbara’s famed Granada Theatre on Saturday, December 4, at 7 pm and Sunday, December 5, at 3 pm. Tickets, which cost $20 each, go on sale Tuesday, November 23, at 5 pm at westmont.edu/festival. Each year, the festival celebrates the birth of […]
NatureTrack is a nonprofit headquartered in Los Olivos aiming to champion access to the outdoors with field trips and new ways to engage with nature. Historically, NatureTrack has focused on introducing schoolchildren to outdoor spaces from the seashore to the inland oak woodlands of Santa Barbara County by providing cost-free outdoor field trips (more than […]
November 21-December 30 Santa Barbara Sounds at SOhO The popular restaurant nightclub took a little longer than almost all other establishments to reopen after the forced COVID closures expired at the end of spring, but the entertainment-every-night emporium is now fully back in action. Peruse the calendar carefully for the hangout owned for more […]
