Isla Vista Halloween Pumpkin Patch 2025

Isla Vista is no longer a scary place for Halloween. Just lots of creative fun for all with the Isla Vista Halloween Pumpkin Patch!

Here are my videos.

Merlie and I bicycled over on October 30 and we returned on Halloween itself. Both nights were full of interactive fun and stage performances. When we first arrived, World Dance for Humanity performed a series of dances. Tied in with their massive Thriller performance a week before Halloween. Lots of cool costumes and classic Halloween appropriate music. This dance was performed to Stevie Wonder’s “Superstition”, which was released a week before Halloween in 1972 as a call not to get sucked into superstitious beliefs.

As in past years, the interactive theme centered on a parody of the late Charles Munger who gained infamy at UCSB for proposing the “dormzilla” with windowless rooms. He also led the battle for non-partisan districting in California, which put us at a disadvantage when Trump demanded that Texas gerrymander its Congressional districts. Proposition 50 would temporarily allow California to level the playing field. Charlie Munger, Jr poured money into defeating Prop 50. It passed in an almost 2-1 landslide.

The theme was updated a bit for this year with a parody of the Trump-Musk DOGE lawless slashing of Congressionally approved government agencies. Including USAID, which has already resulted in hundreds of thousands of deaths worldwide. Now that is really scary. The parody DOPE is the Department Of Park Efficiency. Here Charles Bunger (our friend Bryan Snyder) explained that there really is no need for multiple trees and multiple ducks in the park. One should be enough.

Louie D’Ville (played by Andres “Bo” Filmonia) offered coins in exchange for your uniquely individual soul.

Our friend Meighann Athena Helene played the Good Witch of Walkabout Woods. She offered to return peoples’ souls in exchange for the Bunger Bucks and D’Ville coins. She was surprised that people could be bought off so easily. She also taught the fine art of making a good cackle.

Near the good witch was a black light art exhibition. Here I posed with exhibit manager Julia (Jewels) Bowerbank in our black light friendly outfits. Nearby was a well-attended silent disco.

The big stage event of the evening before Halloween: Wildfire Arts with beautiful lighted toys skillfully being juggled and manipulated.

After completing the rounds of the adventures in the park, we were granted entry to the actual Halloween Pumpkin Patch. Entry was granted by offering physical tokens of the adventures and/or demonstrating the cackle or the howl we were taught along the way. The gatekeeper was our friend Justine Pannier, who used to be a regular on skates in Solstice. On this occasion, she was an albino raccoon!

And then we were inside, where the Pumpkin King (Brendan Carroll) and Pumpkin Queen (Clare Carey) greeted everyone and posed for photos with anyone who wanted. And, of course, everyone got a pumpkin to take home!

This was Merlie’s pumpkin choice, but we had to leave it there, since we were on bicycles!

We returned on Halloween to take in the costume contest. The top prize was $750 cash, so there were some good costumes! And it wasn’t just about the costumes. Contestants also had to perform on stage and be interviewed.

At the start of the event all contestants came out on stage. The Mistress of Ceremonies was Vivian Storm, who you may recognize from past events over the years. She now lives in Portland, but was eager to come back to Santa Barbara and strut her stuff. She is in the leopard outfit, standing next to Jesus near the middle.

All contestants came out one at a time. First just to make a brief appearance. And then again to do a 30 second performance. Here is my video of the full performance round.

Vivian Storm tried to eliminate some contestants in a crowd popularity round, but the crowd liked all of the chosen contestants! She went on to ask each contestant a question. Here is my video of this round.

In the final round, the judges selected three winners. Here is my video of that final round of awards.

Thanks to the Isla Vista Parks and Recreation District for sponsoring this event. 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.

Here Jonathan (polka dot top) posed with me and others you may know from Solstice and Lucidity: Jeremy Lamb, Greg Beeman, Christine Dawn.

Kym posed with the giver of candy at the entrance to the Pumpkin Patch.

I have 134 photos and I can only share a few more here. Please check out my full set here to see them all.

Here are a few more photos!

It seems that the Isla Vista 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!