Snapshots of Fiestas Past

Santa Barbara Historical Museum’s latest exhibition, Project Fiesta, marking the 99th anniversary of Old Spanish Days, was a Herculean task.

Museum president Dacia Harwood and her colleagues had to sort through thousands of photos in the institution’s Gledhill Library to pick just 99 shots, mostly black and white, taken since Fiesta was founded in 1924.

“We wanted photos that are representative of the history and the eras represented,” Dacia explained at an opening bash. “Some are by well-known photographers like J. Walter Collinge and Karl Obert, others by people merely attending the events.

“Many of them, many decades old, look like they could have been snapped yesterday. Just a handful are in color.”

The show runs through November 12, just in time for a bigger celebration marking Fiesta’s centennial next year.

Among those turning out were City College student Jack Harwood, 19, the first male Spirit of Fiesta; Junior Spirit Olivia Grace Nelson,10, a student at Roosevelt Elementary School; Saint Barbara Lisa Osborn; Luke Swetland; Sheila Snow; Brenda Blalock; Fritz and Gretchen Olenberger; former mayor Sheila Lodge; Das Williams; and El Presidente David Bolton.