sbrobert
Isla Vista is no longer a scary place for Halloween. Just lots of creative fun for all with the Isla Vista Haunted Pumpkin Patch! Here are my photos.
We also went downtown for the party at Wylde Works, that spilled out onto State Street. Here are my photos there.
Thanks to the Isla Vista Parks and Recreation District for sponsoring it. Thanks to the Fishbon and former Lucidity Festival people for creating and managing the artistry and performances. Thanks to Jonathan and Kym of the Environment Makers for the magnificent lighting and special effects.
Crawling bugs? One of their specialties!
Here Jonathan and Kym posed with my wife Merlie.
Entry to the actual Pumpkin Patch is only allowed after you have visited the characters and performances along the way. Originally this was verified by a passport that was stamped at each station. Last year it was verified by collecting a token from each station master or mistress. But it was a bit more free form this year, with some tokens being intangible concepts!
Our first stop was the photo booth. Not an official station, but fun to watch people pose and we participated, too.
Conniving Bunger wants to eliminate the parks in Isla Vista and replace them with high rise condos. He was played by our Solstice friend Bryan Snyder.
We used the money he gave us to play carnival games.
The 1922 film Nosferatu: A Symphony of Horror played in the park.
Nearby, people danced to a silent disco, wearing wireless headphones.
Another station featured Louie D’Ville played by Andres “Bo” Filmonia
The Oracle offered wisdom and orbs to those who were willing to share their deepest wishes. Played by Krystal Freedom. She is the daughter of “Protest Bob” Hansen, who you may remember was an ever-present advocate for the homeless and other downtrodden people worldwide. Hansen sadly passed away early this year.
Meighann Athena Helene played the Witch of Walkabout Woods. She posed with Merlie’s co-worker Stella and Stella’s partner.
Eventually we had enough tokens to enter the land of the Pumpkin Queen. This year she was played by Solstice creator and organizer Clare Carey. Here is one of many groups I photographed posing with her.
As we were leaving we encountered Zach Rosen, who is my wonderfully helpful editor at Montecito Journal! He posed with some other characters.
Now… On to Wylde Works and State Street! A big draw at Wylde Works: The Brasscals. They describe themselves as “A street brass band and community of musicians founded in Santa Barbara, California. We exist to unite people through a shared love of music.” What is impressive is that they will take in anyone who wants to join the group, yet their music is impressively professional in quality. They played almost non stop from 7-9PM!
This guy especially impressed me that he could play in this costume!
We were pleased at one point to experience them playing Hava Nagila while the crowd energetically danced along.
Another big draw? They were holding a costume contest, which created a steady stream of people in creative costumes streaming in and out from State Street. Our friend Justine Pannier is well known as a skater and Solstice participant for many years. She played the role of the Wicked Witch from the Wizard of Oz. She could not have planned it better to meet up with Dorothy and the Scarecrow. And Toto, too. But it all happened by chance!
Justin Gunn is another friend of ours from Solstice (who is also Solstice Board President). He was in full costume with his space ship.
His Tiny Car collaborator friend was taking delighted passers-by for a ride on his squealing guinea pig tiny car!
Here are a few more costumed revelers.
I don’t have room here to share them all. To see more of my Wylde Works/State Street photos: https://swt.org/events/halloween2024/wyldestate-2024-1031/
And to see the rest of my Isla Vista photos: https://swt.org/events/halloween2024/islavista-2024-1030/
It seems that the Isla Vista Haunted Pumpkin Patch is now an established tradition. Mark your calendar to check it out next year. Isla Vista Halloween is now just scary in a good way!
– Robert Bernstein
Great pictures….
@Summertime Thank you!