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Our 165th Year
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Fiesta’s Saint Barbara crowned By ANNELISE HANSHAW NEWS-PRESS STAFF WRITER
RAFAEL MALDONADO/NEWS-PRESS PHOTOS
Santa Barbara Airbus staff, city officials and representatives from the South Coast Chamber of Commerce celebrated the first day of Santa Barbara Airbus resuming operations with a ribbon cutting Thursday morning.
Rolling to recovery Santa Barbara Airbus holds ribbon cutting, resumes service to LAX
By GRAYCE MCCORMICK NEWS-PRESS STAFF WRITER
There were more passengers leaving town on a Santa Barbara Airbus Thursday than there were passengers aboard an Airbus during the entire first week of the business’s opening in 1983. This fact gave peace of mind to CEO Eric Onnen — who cofounded the Airbus that year and has remained with the company ever since — as he and his staff cut the ribbon Thursday morning and resumed services to the Los Angeles International Airport. “We have been down for 409 days on our LAX schedule service,” Mr. Onnen said to the small crowd of city officials and leaders of the South Coast Chamber of Commerce gathered outside the airbus headquarters
in Goleta to celebrate. “So we are very anxious to get back.” Thursday marked day one of Santa Barbara Airbus resuming 10 trips a day to and from LAX. Mr. Onnen told the News-Press he still remembers when there were only five buses running in total in 1983, so after 409 days of being shut down, being able to reopen with 16 buses is still an accomplishment. “It will take years to recover financially, so it depends how quickly the industry rebounds,” the co-founder said. “But if we were at 60% of 2019 capacity by the end of this year, we would consider that to be a success. That doesn’t begin to approach financial recovery — that just gets us to stability.” He added that Santa Barbara Airbus, like many other
businesses with a significant capital investment, will have to play catch up to replenish that capital for future growth and modernization. However, he’s optimistic, and believes once international travel returns to normal numbers, his business, too, will start to see a return to normal. “The travel industry has worked diligently all through (the pandemic) to create the safest experience they can for their customers, so it’s not perfect, but it certainly is very mindful of those concerns that anybody traveling should have,” Mr. Onnen said. Current capacity on the buses is 30 to 32 passengers, compared to its usual 50 to 56 person capacity. Neither riders nor staff need to have received a COVID-19 vaccine
to ride. Over the pandemic, Santa Barbara Airbus generated a #RollingResponsibly campaign to train staff on everything from masking to distancing to proper hand washing. Each bus also has a treated air system, and staff uses sanitizing foggers to disinfect all seats after each trip. “Our staff is all trained on that prior to rehire, and then it’s what keeps everybody safe on the bus,” Samantha Onnen, the daughter of Mr. Onnen and the general manager of the company, told the News-Press. “Every 90 seconds, the air changes over in the bus and goes through a treated filter, so quite like the airlines, it’s treated air you’re breathing on the bus.” Bob Ruppel pulled one of the
The 2021 Old Spanish Days Fiesta’s Saint Barbara is Patricia Oreña, a six-plus generational Santa Barbaran perfect for this year’s theme of “Honoring Our Generations.” She was selected by her fellow members of Reina del Mar Parlor No. 126, Native Daughters of the Golden West, for her service to the group and the community. Ms. Oreña, the parlor’s first vice president, serves as a liaison to Mission Santa Barbara and Old Spanish Days for the parlor. She gives tours of the mission as a docent. She is the wedding and baptism coordinator at Saint Barbara Parish. “This is just wonderful to be able to represent the parish. It’s very meaningful to me, very meaningful,” she told the News-Press. She was emotional seeing the support of her friends, family and clergy (who gave a special blessing). “To me, it’s just a wonderful, wonderful honor. My family members are just very proud, and my parlor members are also very, very welcoming,” she said. Thea Palencia and Diana Replogle-Purinton, both past Saint Barbaras, spoke confidently about Ms. Oreña’s ability to perform the duties of her role, which includes: director on the Old Spanish Days board, membership on the Fiesta Pequeña and Noches de Ron-
KENNETH SONG/NEWS-PRESS
This year’s Saint Barbara Patricia Oreña walks out of the doors Thursday at the Santa Barbara Mission, holding a palm frond and chalice to represent the saint. Members of Reina del Mar Parlor No. 126, who select Saint Barbara every year, cheered loudly for their fellow member.
da committees, chair of the Misa del Presidente and Spirit AudiPlease see FIESTA on A6
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The Santa Barbara County Public Health Department brought their mobile clinic to The Lark restaurant in the Funk Zone on Thursday, offering the walk-in vaccine appointments to local passersby.
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The Lark holds walk-up vaccine clinic By MADISON HIRNEISEN NEWS-PRESS CORRESPONDENT
To increase the vaccination rate in Santa Barbara County, officials from the Public Health Department are starting to offer shots in some unique locations. One such place is The Lark res-
MORE INSIDE Santa Barbara County Public Health officer Dr. Henning Ansorg At left, current capacity on a Santa Barbara Airbus is 30 to 32 passengers, compared to the usual 50 to 56 person capacity. At right, “The travel industry has worked diligently all through this to create the safest experience they can for their customers, so it’s not perfect, but it certainly is very mindful of those concerns that anybody traveling should have,” said Santa Barbara Airbus CEO and co-founder Eric Onnen.
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explains why the COVID-19
taurant in Santa Barbara’s Funk Zone, where staff from the Public Health Department set up a walkup vaccine clinic Thursday, offering jabs to passersby without requiring an appointment. Upbeat music played through a speaker as locals wandered into The Lark’s back dining room to receive a shot of the Moderna vaccine, which public health officials offered between the morning and mid-afternoon Thursday. Within a five hour span, officials vaccinated 99 individuals, about 40 of whom set up an appointment before coming in. One Santa Barbara resident, Dil-
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Wednesday’s SUPER LOTTO: 6-11-17-27-39 Meganumber: 19
Thursday’s DAILY 4: 6-8-9-5
Tuesday’s MEGA MILLIONS: 4-27-32-57-63 Meganumber: 22
Thursday’s FANTASY 5: 9-15-17-34-39
Thursday’s DAILY DERBY: 01-04-11 Time: 1:44.11
Wednesday’s POWERBALL: 16-23-28-40-63 Meganumber: 1
Thursday’s DAILY 3: 8-2-0 / Thursday’s Midday: 2-6-8