I want to thank the Santa Barbara community, sponsors, collaborative partners, City and County of Santa Barbara and Old Mission Santa Barbara for participating and supporting our successful 94th year of celebrating our tradition of Old Spanish Days Fiesta.
In coming together to celebrate our traditions we’ve strengthened our community and paid tribute to the history of our beautiful city. I wanted our community to “Celebrate Traditions” of their families and heritage this year; and for our city’s visitors to truly see what Fiesta represents. Traditions are the very foundation by which individuals and families construct their identities, thus creating the bonds of community.
Watching our community come together to celebrate our traditions and share them with our visitors was heartwarming. I was touched by every single person who expressed, “This is what we needed.” My family, friends and I truly enjoyed every moment of this journey. Special things happened this year and I will forever be grateful. I hope each of you felt special moments during your celebrations as well.
It was my honor and privilege to serve and lead Old Spanish Days as La Presidenta this 94th year. I will forever be grateful and humbled by the experience. Thank you for joining me and my family in this journey as we celebrated time-honored traditions and started new traditions to pass down to our community and families.
All of us at Old Spanish Days look forward to celebrating traditions for years to come.
¡Viva la Fiesta!
Celebrate Traditions - ¡Celebre nuestras Tradiciones!
Denise Sanford
La Presidenta 2018
