She begins by poking a hole on the top of the egg. Then she drains the egg, rinses it, lets it dry and fills it with rainbow confetti.
Then the decorating begins.
It could be Nemo or Pikachu, or simply spray-painted to be bright and colorful. For Angelica Gonzalez and her family, that egg is one of the thousands of cascarones they sell during Fiesta week in downtown Santa Barbara.
“It’s a whole family passion,” said Ceily Manzanarez, Gonzalez’s sister.
About 50 members of her family—four generations of aunts, uncles and grandchildren—help prepare the cascarones year-round for their booth on the 600 block of State Street.
Making the handcrafted eggs on a daily basis has been their routine for around 50 years. Their cascarones are priced at $1 for three and $5 for a bag of 15.
Cascarones have reportedly been in Santa Barbara since the 1830s. It’s a cultural custom that began in Spain, but has evolved into a beloved Mexican cultural tradition.
This year, the city of Santa Barbara relocated most egg vendors to the 600 block of State Street, concentrating them into one area. In previous years, they were spread up and down State Street.
Each family member plays a different role in the cascarones business.
Different branches of family members are dispatched to collect eggs every week from bakeries spanning Santa Barbara, Lompoc and Ventura, Gonzalez said. For example, they collect eggs from Santa Barbara’s La Bella Rosa Bakery Cafe and Panaderia Veronica.
“We see a lot of people and they come from different towns,” Gonzalez said.
Gonzalez said she works at Costco from 4 a.m. to 9 a.m. during the week, then typically spends the rest of her day either coloring cascarones, taking care of her five children, or doing both.
In between music lessons, basketball practices and bible study, some children also help decorate the cascarones with glitter, Manzanarez said.
Angelica Villegas, Manzanarez and Gonzalez’s mother, started helping out with the family business at 5 years old. She said her mother started the effort back when there were only around 20 cascarones vendors stationed downtown.
Now, Villegas said she does most of the cascarones designing and hand-painting. Some of the cascarones are spray-painted with blends of blues and pinks, while others have intricate details and fine lines.
Villegas said she sources extra materials for the cascarones decorations, including mini sombreros from Mexico, and googly eyes, mini mustaches and colorful pipecleaners for 3-D accessories.
“It takes a lot of time, a lot of work, a lot of money,” she said.
On Sunday, the end of Fiesta, their family will take a break to recuperate, Villegas said.
But come next Tuesday, they will do it all over again ahead of next summer’s Fiesta.
“That’s the tradition that my mom said not to stop,” Villegas said.
