Celebrating History
Fiesta del Museo
by Hattie Beresford
T
hough the beautiful and elegant Fiesta del Museo is cancelled this year, Project Fiesta: A History of Old Spanish Days is not. And what better place to see the latest exhibition than outdoors in the spacious and beautiful courtyard of the Santa Barbara Historical Museum, where fresh air and social distancing create an idyllic environment? In addition to panels highlighting five decades of Fiesta, two new exhibitions are on display in the arcade. One comes from the postcard collection of John Fritsche, an avid local historian and collector who donated dozens of albums to the museum because he wanted people to enjoy the thousands of images he’d collected, archived and preserved. Eclectic in nature, the albums include a section filled with Fiesta postcards that span the decades. Several panels display selections of these images and a streaming video of additional postcards plays nearby. Sometimes what’s written on the cards is as interesting as the pictures. For the photo of a carreta carrying six costumed revelers and drawn by
Unidentified beautiful woman leaning on a carreta circa 1940. Anyone know who she is?
In the 1960s, most of the elements of the modern Fiesta were in place, including Noches de Ronda and the Children’s Parade
two long-horn oxen, the witty selfstyled auto salesman wrote, “8 cylinder motors – streamlined body – disc wheels. Excepting for 4-wheel brakes, this speedwagon embodies the very latest specifications.” A postcard from 1936 shows a large crowd of spectators in front of the post office. This building was remod-
eled to become today’s Museum of Art, which is in the midst of another remodel today. On the back of one card, a visitor wrote that in late summer Santa Barbara always has “…a wonderful parade. Wealthy people have so many fine horses on their big ranches and they like to ride horseback. So much silver on their bridles
Resilient, Together
and saddles… Cindy.” One of those saddles is on display as well; its hand-tooled leather, silver medallions and turquoise embellishments are a fine example of Fiesta equestrian finery. The Oreña family carriage from 1885 is also on view.
HISTORY Page 344
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