Old Spanish Days (AKA Fiesta) in Santa Barbara, CA

Santa Barbara is generally known as a party town, but there is no party that brings the community together like Old Spanish Days. Normally, Santa Barbara is pretty segregated along lines of class and ethnicity, but for one weekend a year all Santa Barbarians get together and paint the town red, white and green.

Old Spanish Days (AKA Fiesta) in Santa Barbara can be viewed as a celebration of the history of the old Mission town and its Spanish heritage or, depending on your perspective, it can be seen as a debaucheries, drunken festival perpetuated simply to increase tourism, public drunkenness and gang activity. You may be of the opinion that the two are not necessarily mutually exclusive - and I am occasionally inclined to agree - but in my honest opinion, I would go with the latter explanation.

Fiesta is a five day event, which includes, among other activities, Mission tours, Spanish dancers, Mariachi, Rodeo and parades. Streets in downtown Santa Barbara are completely blocked off in order to offer such tempting treats as corn-on-the-cob, freshly made tamales, tacos, hot dogs and kettle corn. There is a beer garden with live music and everyone's favorite local beer (and former Bachelor) - Firestone. Cowboy hats and flowery wreaths are for sale, along with colored eggs that have been hollowed out and filled with a rainbow of confetti, later to be broken over the heads of your companions or thrown from bar patios at passers-by, littering State Street from the Arlington Theater to Cabrillo Beach.

For those of you who have an in or a decent amount of cash to spare, there are private public parties such as Dignitaries, an event at the Santa Barbara Zoo, where you can spy the mayor and a number of other local VIPs getting toasted and boogieing down in their Spanish Senora and Mariachi costumes. Alternatively, you can sneak into the parade after party, located at the Stage Coach Museum, which features BBQ and several bars working on the drink ticket honor system. An excellent way to stay refreshed without spending too much cash is to wait until the volunteers are pouring or mixing your drinks to put the minimum amount of tickets in the coffee can provided. Make sure to let the person pouring know how many you were supposed to have placed in the can. This act ensures that you will not only never be without a drink in hand, but that you can tell your friends you got one for them, too - without necessary expense.

And don't worry, for those of you who prefer to get drunk for less than a hundred dollars a ticket, there are plenty of parties that you can crash for little or no charge. I wouldn't know which parties those were, because I managed to crash the important parties, rather than head to the low-rent parties across town, but I hear that all you need is a 12-pack of Coronas and a smile and you will be invited to a number of fabulous second-class bashes.

If you do decide to brave the event that is Fiesta, book your rooms early and try to stay close to downtown. Santa Barbara as a city takes in a lot of revenue from Fiesta revelers who choose to drink and drive. Besides, it is more fun to ride the trolley to the festivities than it is to spend a night in the drunk tank wondering how you will get your car out of impound without your wife or parents or (fill in the blank) finding out about it and reminding you of it for the rest of your life. Now, as a word of advice, you may also want to manage your alcohol consumption even if you are not driving, because the drunk tank beckons those who have lost count of how many tequila shooters they have downed and get a little too frisky with other Fiesta-goers, as well. I'm sure you get the gist.

Fiesta is a wonderful treat that should be enjoyed with caution. Plan well, plan early and remember to drink water in between Coronas and Cuervo - you'll feel better in the morning.