New changes to Old Spanish Days prompt special security and operations plans

SANTA BARBARA, Calif,—For 100 years Old Spanish Days has adapted and grown overcoming challenges like the pandemic.

One of the major challenges this year was dealing with rising costs in Santa Barbara.

“I would say across the board and a lot of local businesses would probably attest to this. Costs are going up everywhere for organizations, including our organization,” said Old Spanish Days El Presidente Brian Schwabecher.

El Presidente says there were many considerations that took place behind the scenes to ensure a successful 100th year of celebration.

The biggest change? — all the Mercados will be consolidated in the Downtown corridor at De la Guerra Plaza.

“We’re getting rid of all the excuses for going anywhere else. Downtown's the place to be, and we really hope to help and support those business community. We have the Santa Barbara chamber behind us, the downtown organization. It's a it's a collaborative effort. We're really excited to bring it all downtown,” said Old Spanish Days El Presidente Brian Schwabecher.

There will be no Mercado de la Playa with carnival rides for the kids this year, but there will still be plenty of opportunities for family friendly fun with staples like Fiesta Pequeña and the Children’s Parade part of this year’s festivities.

Old Spanish Days El Presidente says this is a temporary change, but predicts it will be great for downtown businesses.

“The carnival really was very specific and unique venue and it always was supposed to be a fundraiser. It's unfortunate that we're losing that venue this year, but again, and tried to stay consistent with our mission and sustainability organization, we've decided to focus again on the downtown corridor. Now, that said, all of our venues are going to be similar to the past so that the supporting of our dance community and the youth in the stages, we're still going to have all of that. So, I mean, the children's parade on Saturday, the horse parade on Friday, the mercados with the youth dancing…the music. There's numerous venues throughout town. It's not going to be that much different,” said Schwabecher.

With large crowds concentrated in one area, the Santa Barbara Police Department is prioritizing public safety and have put together special security plans for this year.

They say to call 9-1-1 immediately if anyone sees suspicious activity taking place.

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