Fiesta Kickoff

The theme of Old Spanish Days this year is to celebrate traditions. The Montecito Bank & Trust began a new one under the auspices of bank president George Leis, who says, “It’s my favorite time of the year.” They held their first Fiesta Party at the bank’s historic downtown branch on State Street for about 200 fiesteros.

My husband, Don, went up to the teller window and asked for $100,000. Instead they handed him a margarita. The place no longer looked or smelled like a bank but instead like a good Mexican restaurant. There were piles of guacamole and the four flavors of fresh tacos were absolutely yummy. 

But it was the churros that brought back memories of a tradition my family had when we lived in Spain. Every Saturday, we would go to the market and find a big barrel of bubbly oil and the churro man squeezing the dough into the oil. We couldn’t wait to taste the delicious treat – better than any doughnut, we thought. For this party, Fernando was cooking churros and Los Arroyos catered the rest.

There were flamenco performances by Jesalyn Contreras–McCollum (17), who is 2018 Spirit of Fiesta and Georgey Taupin (10) the Junior Spirit. Also three young ladies performed a dance: Lane Danhauer (9), Aracely Sagastume (10), and Natalia Trevino (9). Amanda Cuevas, who works for the bank and was a runner-up for Spirit a few years ago, also danced for us. VIVA LA FIESTA!

Oops

Fake news, bad source. So sorry: The winners of the Rally for Kids car event were Kristina and Scott Perry, 1^st place Roads Scholar.