Originating as a birthday celebration,
Santa Barbara, California
Santa Barbara ( es, Santa Bárbara, meaning "Saint Barbara") is a coastal city in Santa Barbara County, California, of which it is also the county seat. Situated on a south-facing section of coastline, the longest such section on the West Co ...
's Summer Solstice Parade began in 1974. This parade was created by Michael Gonzalez, a
Santa Barbara resident and a mime and artist.
The
parade is the largest single-day event in
Santa Barbara County
Santa Barbara County, California, officially the County of Santa Barbara, is located in Southern California. As of the 2020 census, the population was 448,229. The county seat is Santa Barbara, and the largest city is Santa Maria.
Santa Barba ...
,
attracting crowds of 100,000 people or more.
Weeks prior to the day of the parade, a workshop is opened where participating artists and technicians work with the community to conceive ideas, build floats, make costumes, and put their performances together.
History
In 1974, artist and
mime
Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions (MIME) is an Internet standard that extends the format of email messages to support text in character sets other than ASCII, as well as attachments of audio, video, images, and application programs. Message ...
, Michael Gonzalez gathered some of his street performer friends to dance down State Street in Santa Barbara, California, in celebration of his birthday and their gay pride. Each year the parade grew until this annual event encompassed street fairs, concerts, theatre performances,
floats, costumes, and
dancing
Dance is a performing art form consisting of sequences of movement, either improvised or purposefully selected. This movement has aesthetic and often symbolic value. Dance can be categorized and described by its choreography, by its reperto ...
ensembles.
The parade went on hiatus in 2020 and restarted in 2022.
Controversy
Because of an outlandish ensemble many years ago which featured a sexual bondage theme, guidelines and regulations for all floats and participants in the Solstice Parade since have been strictly enforced. There can be no words, symbols, or nudity, floats must be people-powered, and "cannot represent physical harm to any human being. The representation of blood (fake or otherwise), dominance/violence, and or sadmasochistic behavior is inappropriate ... whips, guns, knives, or weapons of any kind, or props intended to represent weapons of any kind are prohibited."
See also
*
Fremont Solstice Parade
*
Bohemianism
*
Culture jamming
Culture jamming (sometimes also guerrilla communication) is a form of protest used by many anti-consumerist social movements to disrupt or subvert media culture and its mainstream cultural institutions, including corporate advertising. It att ...
References
Tourist attractions in Santa Barbara, California
Festivals in California
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