Local Stories by Local People
updated: Aug 03, 2012, 8:58 PM

By Edhat Subscriber

I was wondering if you could ask your subscribers and viewers if they actually enjoy fiesta?

Comments in order of when they were received | (reverse order)

PURPLERIDER	2012-08-03 09:32 PM
I don't partake.
COMMENT 304578P	2012-08-03 09:32 PM
Nope.
S.B.RON	2012-08-03 09:41 PM
Too many gangbangers & drunks 4 me....just sayin'
COMMENT 304581P	2012-08-03 09:50 PM
love the live music and festive happy atmosphere!
DILLYDALLY	2012-08-03 10:31 PM
All your responses will be negative because you asked this while all the people who do enjoy fiesta are out ENJOYING FIESTA. I just got back from a great time at the courthouse. Sorry I had to work and missed the parade. I will probably be out tomorrow as well. I have yet to see any gangbangers or drunks. (just sayin')
COMMENT 304588P	2012-08-03 11:11 PM
I avoid it.
COMMENT 304591P	2012-08-03 11:18 PM
Nope. I am creative in my driving routes while it's going on. Dillydally has a point. But I know some participants who backed out this year -- not that it was all Fiesta's fault.
REXOFSB	2012-08-04 12:55 AM
Actually--no. As a native Santa Barbaran, I've been through Fiestas since the 1950s. Things used to be different. There were shows at the County Bowl and Lobero that had a distinct Fiesta theme--"Rio Rita" at the Bowl and the Jose Manero Dancers and Zarita Felix at the Lobero, for instance. If you worked downtown you'd get dressed up in Fiesta drag and you'd buy an Old Spanish Days badge for a buck. Your employer probably insisted on it. There were no stabbings, shootings or gang activity. There was street dancing on East Carrillo Street and everyone had a good time. To be sure, there was the same amount of public drunkenness and stupidity that there is today, but it wasn't all that big a deal back then. You got drunk, you threw up, you went home. Today, if you get drunk and don't get assaulted or mugged in the process, you go to jail. Fiesta stopped being fun at about the same time that that stupid, awful song "La Bamba" became the unofficial song of Fiesta, some time in the early 1970s. "La Bamba" was everywhere, from La Pequena at the Mission to the galumphing dancers on the wooden stage at El Mercado. I'm sure it was just a coincidence. But that's when the taco vendors at El Mercado started using packaged Taco Bell seasoning in their tacos, and people stopped dressing up, and the gangs started moving in from Oxnard. And it's only gotten worse since then. Fiesta? No thanks. I do everything I can to avoid it these days, It did used to be fun, though.
COMMENT 304602P	2012-08-04 01:42 AM
I agree with REXOFSB. I am not a native, but have lived here for years. It used to be fun. Now, I avoid it.
JOHN WILEY	2012-08-04 02:09 AM
I like the parade. Lots of interesting people in the parade and on the street. Some really amazing horses and riders. Old timey fun.
COMMENT 304605P	2012-08-04 03:05 AM
It certainly does depend on the age of the participant! I guess and hope the flower girls enjoy it as much as I did. I was 11 or 12 and wouldn't be caught dead on foot or in a dress; I had to be on a horse. But because I was so young, that's the only part I knew. I didn't even go to the (only) mercado. Someone told me "it's all horses; Fiesta has to add some music, bands & dancers." This friend is multi-generation local and has been in the parade. But I like it because it's all horses. No accounting for taste. What year did it turn for you, Rex? You burned out on being a spectator? I didn't watch yesterday. I gotta agree -- I think the old characters from decades past would not hurt anyone, unless they punched their buddy or picked a fight which any decent friend would stop -- sure wouldn't have been people hunting people crimes like these days. (I dunno, Skip hit on my mom over American Indian jewelry. The necklace allowed him to stroker her breasts a bit. LOL. Did he fight?!)
FRESHPAVEMENT	2012-08-04 06:14 AM
I avoid it completely.
COMMENT 304610P	2012-08-04 06:16 AM
Avoid it like the plague though appreciate that so many tourists come to town to see it! I've been here since '67 and it hasn't gotten better.
COMMENT 304613	2012-08-04 06:36 AM
No. REXOFSB says it well. Over 40 years ago we were going each year but now the whole thing is barely recognisable. My favourite memory is the year the herd of steer lead the parade. They were on the beach before the parade and looked maginficent. How they managed to control them for the length of the parade was a miracle. Now the city with it's bumped up law enforcement can't even figure out how to get a parked car towed away!
PETER	2012-08-04 06:39 AM
Usually go down and walk around one evening, just to get a feel of the atmosphere, and to often take photographs of activity behind the scenes as source material for future paintings. Use to take my children to the parades when they were young.
COMMENT 304616	2012-08-04 06:40 AM
I'm stayin away
ROGER DODGER	2012-08-04 07:01 AM
I used to... But no matter what they say about no gangs or violence you know it's there. I'm too old for those games. I was at the .99 Cent store on FRYday just before the parade. I saw some horseys go by got a good feeling but then as I was leaving people started crowding in and I got the HELL outta dodge. I used to like going to McKenzie Park that was nice, alot of family. The past couple years I wanted to go to the church over here on Nopal and there were so many cops I thought they moved the police department. Times have changed.
FLICKA	2012-08-04 07:13 AM
I've been in the "60+ crowd" for a decade and love Fiesta. The 1st parade I was in was the 1st after the WWII, 1946. I was one of Jose Manero's dancers from 1947-1953, then got a horse and have ridden ever since. My family doesn't need to come home for the winter holidays, just Fiesta when we have a big party and all go in the parade (most ride in a wagon), the rest on horses. We go to the downtown Mercado, the Mission, etc. Gangs aren't new, in the 1950s and 60s motorcycle gangs would come from L.A., Mom said in the 30s she was downtown when gangs were throwing beer bottles, broken glass all around. My husband can't stand it!
COMMENT 304629	2012-08-04 07:20 AM
All you bah-humbugs. . . . get an attitude lift! You got too OLD too soon. I too was born here and remember how it usta was. So what! Fiesta has changed, but so have we. Enjoy what you can, and the Parade is still the Parade. But please don't run down Fiesta. It may have grown, but it is not all gangs. Your vision is warped. Noches de Ronda is free, it's a good show, and you can just go enjoy it. Go people watching. Collect pics of cute kids all dressed up. Count horses. Dress up funny and get your pic taken with appreciative tourists. Participate in your town! And kwit yer kavetching already. SOME of us still enjoy it. Proudly over 60 Fiestas old and NOT complaining.
COMMENT 304636	2012-08-04 07:44 AM
Like everything else in life you get out of it what you put into it. If your a negative person you will have a negative time. I love Fiesta and the people are great.
COMMENT 304637	2012-08-04 07:46 AM
Nope. Avoid it like the plague.
COMMENT 304638	2012-08-04 07:53 AM
I always enjoy the confetti crusted tourists. Historical parades tend to be(come) boring, as they repeat themselves. So the first-time is the best experience. Any party tends to be better than no party. So Viva onward!
REXOFSB	2012-08-04 08:01 AM
@617P: The gloomy lament to which you refer actually has basis in fact. Fiesta today is far different than it was not all THAT long ago. I realize that times change and so do traditions, but Fiesta has become a veritable cash cow for the city and local merchants, who place making $$$ higher on the list than giving Fiestarinos actual bang for their buck. The tourists, of course, love it. But those of us who have been here any time at all are sad at how Fiesta has morphed. Add visiting street gang thugs from Ventura and L.A. Counties to the mix and you have the perfect reason to stay away. Don't get me wrong--Fiesta has ALWAYS been a cash cow. Even back in the day I was disgusted that the Italian-Greek Market at State & Ortega almost doubled its price for beer and other items during Fiesta. And they weren't alone. Prices were jacked sky-high throughout the city. But hey, as Proctor & Ward said in their infamous Fiesta Parade coverage years ago, "The Spirit of Fiesta is 'bring money.' " And Fiesta WAS started in 1924 as a money-maker for the city, after all. But that was before El Mercado food vendors started mass-producing tacos and the like using seasonings from packets, rather than taking the time to do it right. And before out-of-town vendors invaded both Mercados, particularly Del Norte, with shoddily made t-shirts, toys and other tchotchkes that have little or nothing at all to do with Fiesta. Our nice little home-style celebration soon became a schlockfest. The turning point was some time in the 1970s. The local festivity gradually became commercialized and cheapened, and it was coincident with that that the floodgates opened for the out-of-area gangbangers to come here and stir things up. True, even at Fiesta time Santa Barbara isn't exactly a hotbed of gang activity, but it's enough that there IS a problem. Of course, Fiesta isn't all bad. You can still buy tamales at Our Lady of Sorrows, and you can hang around MacKenzie Park talking to acquaintances you haven't seen since last Fiesta. The crowds at La Pequena and Noches de Ronda have gotten huge. Meaning, of course, that Fiesta is obviously working. I realize that it's par for the course that geezers are going to carp and whine about how much better things used to be, but in the case of Fiesta, it's really true. There's an edginess about it now that just didn't used to be there. The tourists have se... [ more ]
PROGRESS	2012-08-04 08:05 AM
I haven't been downtown for fiesta for years, so was surprised that last night's venture onto lower State was totally fun! Great people watching (including watching the cops making arrests), street dancing (there was a talented group of salsa dancers moving slowly up the street, and giving free dance lessons). The mix of families, teens and drunks made for a colorful flow! And the food & music at DLG made plenty of people happy!
COMMENT 304645	2012-08-04 08:15 AM
I am 50, grew up in this town and have been in the parades, worked the food stands etc. This year, I am not sure I will venture in to SB for any of it. I would love to go to the courthouse tonight, but the last time I took my elderly mom, gang bangers parked at Our Lady of Sorrows were busy calling things to us, doing hand gestures etc. Big men bullying an almost 90 year old woman. Made me realize just how unsafe fiesta becomes. Walking from the downtown mercado the next year after the parade, with my kids a fight broke out between a group directly in front of me with a group that came up from behind. Bottles were broken and we were the in the center between both groups. Thankfully the cops were there fast and we were not hurt. I do not feel safe anymore
COMMENT 304646P	2012-08-04 08:19 AM
I don't hate Fiesta nor do I have any gang-related fear about the event (almost all gang violence is directed toward gang members) but I usually sit it out unless I have company in town. Getting around town and parking can be tedious.
ROGER DODGER	2012-08-04 08:22 AM
That's whats wrong with this country today too many Dog Damn judges that don't let people do what they want to do. You can't leave an opinion on Edhat without being verbally reamed by other people that want you to live your life "Their Way" and if you don't you get called names..I guess it's easier to enjoy yourself when your rich enough to afford it...
COMMENT 304648	2012-08-04 08:23 AM
Too rough and commercialized for us...it's become a low-rent event - and that doesn't mean inexpensive, just trashy. We enjoy the parade and concert, but the downtown turns even creepier than usual during Fiesta these days. Found cascarones filled with Mylar plastic chips - that's really irresponsible when the storm drains run to the ocean. Appreciate all the police presence in response to such a rowdy crowd, and regret that it's become necessary because the drunks and crazies come out to parteeee.
COMMENT 304649	2012-08-04 08:28 AM
I grew up here and I think Fiesta is entirely too long and out of hand these days.
COMMENT 304651	2012-08-04 08:31 AM
645: Sounds like you have had either really bad luck or currently have a "get tough on young Mexican males" agenda. With a gang unit, extra staffing, and an endless supply of geezers with cells phones, I bet you can go out tonight with your mom and whoop it up all you want and get home safely to watch Lawrence Welk. I won't let those mean hoodlums hurt you. Oh, and you'd be surprised how nice your fellow human beings are if you would stop scowling at them.
COMMENT 304652P	2012-08-04 08:32 AM
I love Fiesta. It's always near my birthday, so it's great to have the whole town celebrating with me. It seems like a really unique and local celebration when people take time off of work and celebrate Santa Barbara's heritage and enjoying friends. I will always love it.
FLICKA	2012-08-04 08:36 AM
I think Fiesta has always been about getting drunk, for alot of people. The ban on drinking on the streets has tamed things, especially during the parade. Also, parade participants have been refused entries if they had a history of being drunk while riding; one notable local (shall remain un-named) was not only usually drunk but really gross in his shouted comments to the crowd, Finally reinstated after a couple years with a promise to behave.
TWOBITS	2012-08-04 08:47 AM
636- AMEN!
COMMENT 304656	2012-08-04 08:52 AM
We had fun at the parade and downtown last night. Parking the bikes was a breeze! Lots of locals around as well.
COMMENT 304660P	2012-08-04 09:02 AM
The horse poop smell from the parade hangs over downtown for the whole weekend.
COMMENT 304667	2012-08-04 09:17 AM
651 645 here, we were not scowling at anyone. Mom and I were talking about the show and walking to the car and it was dark. I would not have even noticed the guys at the church if they had not started up. You need to think about your own attitude and prejudges. You really think a bunch of under 20's threatening two older ladies walking up the street is okay or justified? We were certainly not the cause of their actions, why would you blame us? Clearly if I was on an anti gangbanger rant, I would have never found myself walking from a mercado between two groups with issues with each other. To me it was a bunch of people enjoying the parade and the food. To the gang units, they knew who they were watching and that's how they stopped it so fast. Those bottles appeared out of nowhere before they were broken and we could have been hurt in their quest to get each other. We were just in their way along with 100's of people and children.
COMMENT 304669	2012-08-04 09:21 AM
636...right on!!!
COMMENT 304670	2012-08-04 09:22 AM
I agree with REXOFSB. I was born here and avoid it now.
COMMENT 304671	2012-08-04 09:22 AM
Good or not, IT IS SIMPLY TOO LONG.
COMMENT 304677	2012-08-04 09:32 AM
I too was born here and avoid it. Stopped going when it stopped being a local community event.
COMMENT 304682	2012-08-04 09:42 AM
I've only been living here for about 5 years, so maybe the novelty will wear off in the future, but for now I still love it! We went to Noche de Ronda last night, and the dancing and music were wonderful. I think because of the bit of rain we had earlier in the evening, there were less crowds, and we found a great spot. Lots of kids playing and running on the upper level while the 'grown ups' watched. I heard a beautifully haunting song accompanying a dance toward the end of the show...it was announced as 'Ayer y Ahora'. The singer sounded like Joan Baez. Sure enough, when I looked it up at home, it was she, singing 'La Llorana'. I'm definitely going to learn that song. Can't get it out of my head. El Mercado del Norte is a lot of fun. My 11 y/o and I worked a booth yesterday for the organization that he belongs to. The kids were great and we had a great view of the stage. Anyway, there's my 2 centavos! Viva La Fiesta!
COMMENT 304686P	2012-08-04 09:48 AM
I love the food and the horse parade, enjoy and the big happy, convivial rubbing of elbows rainbow crowds of a "rainbow" of people, talking with strangers more than I usually would over the little tables at the de la Guerra plaza. Not out at night so I am not there when the music is turned way up and evidently the drunks come out. Yesterday the gorgeous senoritas throwing confetti from the State Street balconies were such a wonderful throw-back. I think the implied homage to those who were here first in California is an important tradition and reminder, because the Hispanic living area of SB is dwindling away because of prices, and becoming the "poor" part of town. Here's an idea for Fiesta: Milpas Street, I believe, should be cultivated to become a prominent, publicized, second area of town for Fiesta, for tourists to know about, find attractive and interesting and distinctive enough to stroll along, instead of just driving into the area of well-publicized (totally fabulous) La Superica but then driving away. We're letting the Milpas Street area disintegrate instead of enhancing its tourist attractiveness. We need architectural integrity. We ought not, for instance, do things like undermine Milpas's unique little dollar-priced bodegas by putting a Dollar Store on State Steet. We need to completely put a stop to the fast passing- through traffic.
COMMENT 304689	2012-08-04 09:53 AM
Fiesta was fun for us when first moving here in 1956. Yes, it was different then -- less people, less glitz (Fiesta Del Norte). As the population of Santa Barbara grew so did my dislike of such events. Others may not mind huge crowds and transportation problems, but I will always avoid these no mater where I am. Luckily we were able to leave town the week of Fiesta.
COMMENT 304694	2012-08-04 10:01 AM
Fiesta was fun in the earlier days (1956, etc.). The population has grown to crowds that are impossible as far as my family is concerned and the glitz of El Mercado Del Norte and other events detracts from the early traditions. We feel fortunate to have enjoyed Fiesta many years ago and are able to leave town to avoid it now.
COMMENT 304699	2012-08-04 10:08 AM
OP here. #1, I'm 22, I've never liked Fiesta and most of the people my age group I ask feel the same way. Yes, people drink but it doesn't appear that too many college students these days need an excuse to drink anyways. I have much of the same reservations about fiesta, traffic, tourists (so many tourists) and the drunk idiots that parade downtown like they own the place. #2, DillyDally, I asked this question at around 11:30 yesterday morning and it took 9 hours to show up.
COMMENT 304707	2012-08-04 10:26 AM
Oh 629, how true are your words. I, too, am over 65 and my husband and I LOVE going to the Fiesta celebrations. The parade is always wonderful with riders and celebrants shouting hardy "Viva la Fiesta" at one another. Children in their darling outfits and all the nationalities mixing to enjoy the heritage of this city and California. It's wonderful to see all the surrounding cities and towns participating together. Gangs, never see them but know they are there, if you don't like them, it's your neighborhood, do something about it! Time to enjoy life every single day and look at the good things it brings instead of the negative...get over it!!!!
COMMENT 304708P	2012-08-04 10:27 AM
I grew up here, too. The family was involved with Fiesta since the earlier days and it was still a big thing for us in the 1950s. I agree with a couple of the other posters who said that the crowds are too big and they avoid crowds. I do, too. I have no problem with others enjoying Fiesta, however.
COMMENT 304709	2012-08-04 10:28 AM
I watched the parade, but only because I was downtown working, and taking a break for lunch. The atmosphere on the street had an "aggressive" edge, and - for me - was neither relaxing nor fun. Judging by the crowds, people appeared to be having a good time, do doubt largely fueled by alcohol. For me, the best part about the Fiesta parade is the horses - but not for the horses. Apparently some horses that take part have not been shod properly for lengthy pavement walks - presumably to cut costs - and by the time its all over, they are in pain.
COMMENT 304710	2012-08-04 10:29 AM
Depends what one means by "fun". People are different and do not always have to be put down and their mental state questioned for speaking their minds. I hate crowds, no matter where or what the occasion. I would skip the Olympics and shudder at the thought of my hometown, London, during the Jubilee mass hysteria. In my youth I turned doown front seat tickets to the Grand Prix in Monte Carlo for a picnic on the beach. Therefore the Fiesta for me is just a confusing noisy smelly crush leaving a sad trail of trash. But for those who get pleasure in this environment, I say " good on you ", enjoy but don't bug me if I say I am happy taking to the hills behind Santa Inez for my pleasure.
COMMENT 304713	2012-08-04 10:32 AM
I check it out Wednesday and Thursday while it's manageable. Definitely avoid Friday and Saturday night. There's hundreds of police for a reason.
GREG	2012-08-04 10:45 AM
For a 1935 MGM movie clip of our Fiesta with Judy Garland, her Gumm Sisters, Leo Carrillo, Gilbert Roland, Andy Devine and Buster Keaton, see Edhat's posting from previous years. Old and Newtimers can sit back and enjoy an easy, fun view of the event and also the singing of La Cucaracha.
COMMENT 304722	2012-08-04 10:45 AM
Loved it when I was younger and always took visitors, especially foreign folks like the staid & proper British educator who donned a cowboy hat and whooped it up after sharing a pitcher of margaritas. Things memories are made of.
CHILI_CON_ARTCARNE	2012-08-04 10:48 AM
I remember when I was a kid, people would have wheelbarrows of ice with beer in it going up and down the sidewalk on state during the parade, drinking all the while. Even giving some to the horses and riders while they were parading. I miss Proctor and Ward. Where are you when we need you most!
COMMENT 304729	2012-08-04 10:53 AM
565 again, I should add that the Friday afternoon broken bottle incident happened at DLG and State Street mid afternoon and with in 20 feet of the Police HQ RV How much more police enforcement can they do? Fiesta has changed and unless I have my guy with me, I will not attend.
ANIMALLISTNER	2012-08-04 11:08 AM
Fiesta is great, however as a native, i choose to avoid it, just NOT the same anymore, way too much crime, and crowds.
COMMENT 304739	2012-08-04 11:35 AM
I'm from here, and this year I decided to go to the fiesta at the Mission (we haven't been in like 10 years)... wow, it has changed for the worse! I was planning to listen to the music and watch the dancers. Not a chance, there were a crazy amount of people in the Rose Gardens drinking and STANDING UP so we couldn't see or hear anything. It kinda sucks, that when we think to go to an event from childhood, it's not anything like I remember. PLUS who are these people... I don't recognize a single soul.
REDTOP	2012-08-04 11:41 AM
Our taste for entertainment changes as we get older. Fiesta always makes us happy, but we participate in less as time goes on. Viva la Fiesta!
COMMENT 304752P	2012-08-04 12:08 PM
Am looking forward to going downtown tonight to see what the Fiesta scene seems like in person.
SMILODON	2012-08-04 12:19 PM
The best part of Fiesta is the temporary odor of horse-pucky. any REAL horse people love the smell. But, alas, it is soon swept away by an overly sanitized society who are coated in germophobic gel. the largest equestrian parade in the country is great, but the money-grubbing mercados and the drunks make it tiresome. After twenty years of the same old same old, I can take it it leave it. Solstice, on the other hand is always fresh and festive. It is also BIGGER, commercially, than Fiesta.
COMMENT 304768	2012-08-04 12:45 PM
I loved being a flower girl in the late '50's, and the horse parade the next day was fabulous. Always love to see the horses and riders. Went past the Mercado Del Norte and was astounded at the number of rides squished in to that space. No way interested is going anywhere near that! Too bad, it used to be a nice alternative to the frenzy of De La Guerra Plaza.
FLICKA	2012-08-04 12:57 PM
709, Horses aren't "in pain" after the parade due to how they are shod! Some (very few) with tough feet (usually mules) can go unshod. Some parade horses wear special shoes to keep from slipping, most are just wearing their regular horse shoes. Your statement makes absolutely no sense to me, a lifelong horsewoman who rides in the parade. 677, You claim it "stopped being just local"; never was, started to attract tourists in the summer (we were a winter resort). Bigger, yes, but put on by locals for locals and tourists.
COMMENT 304784	2012-08-04 01:58 PM
Love it!!! Viva la!!!
COMMENT 304791	2012-08-04 02:27 PM
Do Edhatters actually enjoy fiesta? That's quite some troll bait. You must be pleased with the results.
COMMENT 304792	2012-08-04 02:28 PM
Stopped being fun when using outside law enforcement agencies became a necessity. And it has become too commercial for my taste. The parade is still the best equestrian parade in the country though!
SBITIZEN	2012-08-04 02:43 PM
Grew up in town still enjoy Fiesta don't partake in all the things I used to or on all the nights but still enjoy it and have started doing some events would never have gone to when I was in the HS to early 20s. The best part of Fiesta is always run into someone I haven't seen for a few years.
COMMENT 304799	2012-08-04 03:16 PM
When I was very young we used to get a prime spot just below the tracks on State and had drinks and chairs and cousins. When I was in college, my friends and I would go to the Marina for the huge dance party, blocked off streets and parking lot and the office I worked in closed on Thursday afternoon. I'm older now and don't really want to eat the food, smell the smells and there are so many people, it's not fun. If I attended at all, it would be for the Children's Parade on Saturday and then home. But I don't do that, I look at all the photos on EdHat, share a few with friends back east and call it a success.
COMMENT 304840	2012-08-04 06:20 PM
I do enjoy the fact that roots reggae bands cornerstone and soul majestic will be playing soho tonight...that's the best part of fiesta!
COMMENT 304849	2012-08-04 07:32 PM
Avoid it like the plague-- too crowded, too many drunks.
COMMENT 304872P	2012-08-04 10:13 PM
After reading the frightful comments in the Edhat postings, I wanted to see in person what the Fiesta venues were like. I'm one of the those oldsters who has lived here 50 years and rarely visit Fiesta sites. It was surprising that there were a lot fewer people than expected, nothing felt menacing, people were outdoors, it was free, there were many families, fun was in the air. The vendors didn't seem to have that much business. (Is business slower this year?) Perhaps I returned home too early at 10 pm to see a bigger picture, but I suggest those who've stayed away to try Fiesta again.
COMMENT 304925	2012-08-05 09:09 AM
My friend says her main fiesta memory is " don't drop the baton in the horse pucky ! " Mine is street dancing with my Dad when I was 10. Now I stay away. It's not the same anymore, just another drinking contest, like halloween or Cinco de Mayo.
COMMENT 304953	2012-08-05 10:26 AM
I am in the 40's age range and love Fiesta! SB Native and have never missed a year, nor have my kids. We partake in many of the events and different venues and have never had any problems. Cannot wait for Fiesta 2013!
COMMENT 305031P	2012-08-05 06:25 PM
We're in Carp and there's no way we're going to SB. Screw that - we're enjoying the beach, having a beer at Island Brewing, and walking over to the Thai restaurant before walking home. Have fun SB'ers!
COMMENT 305210	2012-08-06 01:49 PM
My husband and I decided that Fiesta, like the Olympics, should be every four year!
PURPLEBEE	2012-08-08 02:42 AM
Absolutely hate it. It may be good for the tourist dollar, but for the rest of us, just trying to live our lives it is a mess that needs to be cleaned up after like those pretty horses they ride around on. People use it like they use Halloween in Isla Vista. They now have a reason to get drunk and act like idiots in the name of "Fiesta." Remember a few years ago when one of the poor horses actually fell down and died in front of the children that were seated in that particular section of the parade route? So glad it is gone again for another year.

50% of comments on this page were made by Edhat Community Members.

*** 2 comments were deleted from this thread by the Edhat Board Nanny for violating Edhat Comments Board policy. Click Here to see them.