Santa Barbara Historical Museum will celebrate the opening of two new “Project Fiesta” exhibits honoring Old Spanish Days history with a festive party featuring live music, cocktails, dancing, and lively performances by the 2026 Spirit and Junior Spirit of Fiesta, Mariachi Sin Fronteras, and Elements Band.
This year’s “Project Fiesta!” exhibitions are “Arte de los Mantónes,” a showcase of their collection of Spanish shawls, and “Finding Saint Barbara,” which explores the city’s patron saint and marks one hundred years of her presence in Fiesta celebrations.
The opening night event includes cocktails, dancing, and lively performances by the 2026 Spirit and Junior Spirit of Fiesta, Mariachi Sin Fronteras, and Elements Band.
The Project Fiesta! History Celebration is held on Thursday, July 23, from 6:30 to 9 p.m. Tickets to the party are $65 for the general public and $55 for museum members. Museum admission is free during its regular hours of Wednesdays, Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays from noon to 5 p.m., and Thursdays from noon to 7 p.m. Visit www.sbhistorical.org.
“Finding Saint Barbara” in Fine Art and Pageantry
On December 4, 1602, Spanish explorer Sebastián Vizcaíno sailed the central coast of “Las Californias” and named the channel “Santa Barbara” in honor of the saint’s Feast Day. The city was officially established in 1782 with the founding of the Presidio. The exhibition reveals her story and how she was adopted as a civic symbol over the last century through religious iconography, sculpture, pageantry, and personification. An interactive call to action encourages locals and visitors to spot the city’s patron saint in public art and nearby landmarks.
“This city has been obsessed with St. Barbara,” said Emily Alessio, the museum’s director of education, who worked with guest curator Neal Graffy to organize the exhibition. “She has become important to the city’s identity, not just our name but a symbol of home. She is everywhere in town, and not only during Fiesta.”
Saint Barbara was born in Anatolia (modern-day Turkey) and converted in the early fourth century.
“Her father disapproved and locked her in a tower, to which she added a third window to represent the Holy Trinity,” said Alessio. “When she refused to break her faith, her father beheaded her and, in some stories, was struck down by lightning.”
One focus of the exhibit is the representation of Saint Barbara in fine art, and it features paintings and depictions from the museum’s collections, alongside those on loan from the Santa Barbara Mission Archive-Library and Santa Barbara Museum of Art, among others.
Among the featured works is a 17th-century painting attributed to Jacopo Vignali on loan from the Santa Barbara Museum of Art, which has a cannon near the tower, symbolizing heavenly lightning that avenged her. She is the patron saint of artillerymen, miners, firefighters, and those facing sudden death.
In the undated “Saint Barbara with Martyr,” attributed to Mexican painter Antonio de Torres (1666-1754), she holds a chalice and palm frond in the center, symbolizing her martyrdom, flanked by two smaller images – of her death and her father being struck by lightning.
In contrast is a contemporary sculpture by James Foster of the saint and her tower in bronze and stainless steel. Commissioned in 1965, it hung for years in the First Western Bank on State Street.
Among the other artifacts with depictions of the saint are several postcards sent to the museum by local history enthusiasts during their travels, a fruit crate label from a local grower, a historic souvenir plate featuring Saint Barbara among city landmarks, and a bottle from the Bythinia Water Company once located in Hope Ranch. That bottle is among the items on loan from Graffy, along with a flag for the 1920 La Primavera festival.
Saint Barbara as Seen in Parades and Civic History
“Even before the 1926 Fiesta, Saint Barbara was portrayed in community celebrations,” said Alessio.
A 1909 photograph features an elaborate float with Blanche Crabb as Saint Barbara during the Elks Convention Parade in Los Angeles – Graffy identified the location during his research. Another image captures an unidentified Saint Barbara in the 1919 July Fourth Parade, which had a Fiesta theme and took place five years before Old Spanish Days started.
Delfina de la Guerra, a direct descendant of Jose de la Guerra, is seen in a photograph dressed as the saint for the 1890 Trade Carnival. The image is from the Museum’s Gledhill Santa Barbara Glass Plate Negative Collection, which houses more than 10,000 glass plate negatives.
In a photo taken 57 years later, De la Guerra is in a wheelchair as she meets Josephine Pagliotti, who portrayed Saint Barbara in the 1947 Fiesta Parade. Pagliotti wears the burgundy robe with gold braid trim worn by Saint Barbara each year for parades held between the 1950s and 2015, which is displayed nearby.
The museum partnered with the Native Daughters of the Golden West, Reina del Mar Parlor, founded in 1901, to celebrate the fraternal and historical organization’s 100th year of selecting a member to portray Saint Barbara during Fiesta.
“The community has been so enthusiastic about our patron saint, and there are some serious collectors of Saint Barbara art and memorabilia,” said Allesio.
Longtime member and fifth-generation Californian Mary Louise Days, who portrayed Saint Barbara in 1965, has loaned the museum a portion of her collection of Saint Barbara statues and souvenirs from around the world.
The exhibit includes a roster of all the Native Daughters who have portrayed Saint Barbara for the past 100 years, along with photographs and newspaper clippings from the archives of the Santa Barbara News-Press, recently purchased by the Museum.
“Arte de los Mantónes” (“Art of the Shawls”)
A selection from the museum’s collection of more than 100 shawls is also on view in the intimate second gallery in an exhibition called “Arte de los Mantónes.” Spanning from the early 1800s to the early 1900s, the shawls were often used in traditional Spanish dance and worn during celebrations.
Many belonged to local Californio families, including the De la Guerras. Several are from the collection of Rosario Curletti, a native Santa Barbarian and author who wrote about local and California history, who donated numerous shawls from the mid-1800s to the museum.
“The vibrant textiles feature intricate embroidery of flowers, birds, plants, and animals,” said Dacia Harwood, executive director. “These are not just shawls; they are works of art.”
The Santa Barbara Historical Museum is located in downtown Santa Barbara at 136 East De la Guerra Street. Admission is free. Hours are Wednesdays, Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays from noon to 5 p.m., and Thursdays from noon to 7 p.m. Visit www.sbhistorical.org.
