Pure Gold
A giant face float makes its way along State Street in the 1986 parade.
Written by Joan Tapper
Photographs by Nell Campbell
Jodi De Marcos designed the first Solstice Parade poster in 1978,
The beginnings were modest, but the spirit of creativity was there from the start: On the summer solstice in 1974, artist and mime Michael Gonzales got a couple of friends to sashay up State Street in honor of his birthday. They ended up at the library lawn, where a few musicians and dancers and some intrigued passersby joined the fun. How that little parade has grown—to 1,000 imaginatively costumed participants, gargantuan puppets, elaborate floats, and plenty of art and music over three days this year, from June 21 to 23. The parade will make its way up Santa Barbara Street at noon on that Saturday, with entries that evoke the theme—Flights of Fancy—while adhering to the rules: no motorized vehicles, no live animals, no signs or logos. In honor of the golden anniversary, the SANTA BARBARA HISTORICAL MUSEUM has opened Here Comes the Sun: Celebrating 50 Years of Solstice (on view until June 28), with evocative photos, masks, banners, oral histories, and five decades of posters inviting everyone to Santa Barbara’s biggest and best party. sbhistorical.org
