Around a thousand spectators lined a confetti-strewn Cabrillo Boulevard Saturday morning to watch the 93rd El Desfile de los Niños (Children’s Parade). A favorite event of the week-long Old Spanish Days Fiesta celebration, the parade returned this year to Santa Barbara’s waterfront, where parking spots and viewing areas were notably easier to come by thanks to sparser-than-usual crowds.
Heading in the opposite direction from last year’s procession, the parade started near Cabrillo Park and proceeded along the palm-lined Cabrillo Boulevard toward Garden Street. Children dressed in colorful Spanish and Mexican costumes brightened up the otherwise overcast morning as they walked, danced, and rode in floats, carts, and wagons created and decorated by their parents, families, and friends.
Joining the colorfully clad kids along the short parade route were festively attired local leaders, including State Senator Monique Limón and Santa Barbara Mayor Randy Rowse, as well as Fiesta luminaries such as El President Fitz Olenberger and Junior Spirit Victoria Plascencia…