Santa Barbara Summer Solstice was back in a big way for 2024! The 50th Anniversary! The theme was “Flights of Fancy”, which inspired a wide range of wings, propellers, jets, rockets and other flying-related things.
I am in a unique position to be one of the official Solstice photographers as well as being a performer in the parade. Official photographers need to keep moving so they don’t block anyone’s view, so it is already a bit of a workout before performing! Since I need time to get in position, I am only able to photograph the first half of the parade. But I am also able to photograph ensembles in the staging area and after the parade.
Here are all of my Solstice Parade Day photos and here is my video play list!
Pali’s creations led off the start and the end of the parade. The start was his Dragon, from the year 2000. Here Dusty and Georgia (center) and two others posed with the Dragon before the parade.
Here some of our Grand Finale group posed with Pali’s amazing Grand Finale Winged Sun creation: Danielle Bushar, Jessica Sierens, Raven Wylde, Katreece Montgomery. Pali was working so hard I never got a group photo with all of us!
It was fun having Danielle as my unicycling partner! She often is away for Solstice with her family back East. My friend Virginia came down from San Francisco to photograph the parade and she gave us this photo of us with Pali’s creation. Thanks to artistic wizard Mary Price for creating my amazing winged and pinwheel-covered headpiece and pinwheel pole! So much fun waving the pinwheel pole over the heads of the spectators!
Inside Pali’s Winged Sun were aerialist choreographer Ninette Paloma and her young students performing aerials. Here Ninette coached the aerialists before the parade.
The Brasscals Band led off the parade with their lively music, accompanying the Dragon.
Teresa Kuskey rounded up a hundred dancers this year for her extraordinary La Boheme Dance Group. Lots of work goes into those costumes and into the synchronized performance. It is difficult to capture all 100 of them in a single photo! Here is one that shows Teresa just right of center in the front. And famed DJ Darla Bea near the far left in front. I have several more photos of them all in my set, including some panoramas.
And here Teresa posed up close and personal for me!
And here they were in action in my video!
And here was their float, including Darla Bea and an aerialist and long time Solstice artist Joan Melendez.
Here Joan was doing her famed face painting work before the parade!
Local dancer and choreographer Yulia Maluta was flying high before the parade even started!
So was skilled stilt walker Ahni Radvanyi in her winged outfit!
The Brazilian dancers included an acrobat, who kindly showed off a bit for me before the parade started.
Solstice is all about whimsical and humorous performance and these Pink Flamingos were certainly in that tradition!
Emily and Polly Carey and the rest of the Carey family were back in a big way with their eclectic and whimsical collection of big artistic creations! I am always in awe of the work that goes into massive paper mache creations like their flying teapot!
Claudia Bratton was Executive Director of Solstice for many years. She organized her own ensemble that had a 1960s futuristic theme. Think of The Jetsons flying car and the diner service of that era!
Kids of all ages spread their wings for this ensemble!
There were two flashy Brazilian groups. First were these lovely dancers looking as if they just came out of Carnival in Rio.
They were followed by these Brazilian drummers.
Jim Sun Bear builds massive projects at the Solstice Workshop and here he landed on the ground to pose for me.
Sun Bear also helped re-create Chitty Chitty Bang Bang with the help of his lady friend Serena.
Young and energetic artist Mae Logan was back with yet another innovative creation. This was called “Murmerations” and included a murder of crows and a scintillating metallized Mylar structure. I am just sorry that I don’t have a better photo of this ensemble.
But she kindly posed for me in the Solstice Workshop in the crazy frenzy before the parade!
Of course, John Palminteri was there to cover the whole event! I am sure you recognize him!
For most of us, the parade was our big artistic performance and athletic workout. But the performance and activity continued in the park at the end of the parade. Notably, with Elevated Dreams doing aerials on silks. And Seventh Dimension Dance doing pole dancing. You might recognize Karen Lehman, who just finished the demanding dance up the street with La Boheme. Yet she still had the energy for pole dancing! She said it is the adrenaline rush and I was totally feeling it, too!
I am sorry that I was not able to photograph the Flying Pig ensemble during the parade. But here I got the main float before the parade. The brilliant creation of Irene Ramirez. When pigs fly, everything should be possible!
With nearly 1,000 performers I am sorry I cannot share more photos here! Please look at the galleries of my photos to see more! Here you can see all of my Solstice photos from recent years. https://swt.org/solstice/
I will add one more personal indulgence to show the preparation that goes into performing in Solstice for some of us. Here I unicycled along the Beachway as part of a five mile practice ride. That is about how far I usually ride in the parade, including all the looping up and down!
Most important of all: This is a community event where EVERYONE is welcome to participate! Come to the Workshop when it opens in May! Meet the artists! Get inspired to join an ensemble or to create one of your own!
And don’t worry that being in the parade means missing seeing it. You can still watch most of it even if you are in it! Mark your calendar for next May to come down to the Workshop and be a part of the Solstice Community!
– Robert Bernstein
Robert, You have outdone yourself getting so much of the Solstice Parade on video, plus photos ! Thank you VERY MUCH 🙂 ….. We had a front row seat but we didn’t see the other side of the street and there is always a lot more to see. Happy Summer !
@Ahlia Thank you for the very kind words! Yes, a lot is going on and it is easy to miss some of it. It would be great if someone could make a video of the whole Solstice Parade as KEYT did years ago.
In one of my photos of the Brazilian dancers I did not even realize I had photographed a good friend Clau Orono up close! She pointed out that she was the dancer standing directly in front of me in the photo.
Many of the ensembles have a back story that needs further explanation. Some of them are just hilarious and obvious, though. Like the flying pig. Thank you again for the kind words and thanks to everyone who participated in Solstice in any way. It is all about community participation!