Setup for the 89th Solvang Danish Days celebration lurched forward Thursday—amid an unprecedented strike by city employees whose work usually supports the annual event.
“We’re still getting everything done,” Thomas Birkholm, president of the nonprofit Danish Days Foundation, said as he and crews prepped a stage, lights, tents and tables for the three-day event set to kick off Friday. “It has been more difficult.”
At the same time, official business slipped. And the split rocking City Hall widened.
Thirty workers remained off the job—roughly 75% of the city staff—and for a third day in a row many rallied for higher wages at Solvang Park or outside city offices.
The Solvang Design Review Committee failed to reach a quorum for its monthly Thursday night meeting, after two members of the appointed panel declined to cross a sidewalk picket line.
Chair Esther Jacobsen Bates and member Melissa Bates remained outside the Solvang Municipal Center as the 5 p.m. start time came and went.
Inside, members Richard Boyd and Charlene Goetz waited on the dais until Community Services Director Rafael Castillo postponed the hearing to a future date, delaying several potential sign approvals. Member Jennifer Johson was absent.
“Out of respect for the strike, I’m not going to cross the line today,” Jacobsen Bates said, adding she was disappointed to not address projects on the meeting agenda and hoped the dispute would end soon. “I’m sad about the whole thing.”
Danish Days ahead—and then what?
A flagship festival central to the city’s identity, Danish Days celebrates Solvang’s founders and roots and takes over the town core every September.
As event logistics came together Thursday, they came at a price.
In a stark departure from their office jobs, director-level employees—part of a skeleton crew still on hand—set up traffic cones, signs and barriers. They circled Copenhagen Drive shortly after 6 a.m. as the sun rose.
Rank and file public works employees normally keep an eye out to help solve problems, they said, adding they’re typically ready to assist all weekend long.
The street closures and detours they handle clear space for live music, dancing and parades.
This year, the problem-solving and closures fell to City Hall brass.
Pickets in the parade
Throughout the day, union members and representatives eyed the coming weekend warily.
“We’re watching the city do assignments, and we’re hoping they don’t do them wrong,” said Jeff Lee, an organizer with Teamsters Local 986.
The unionized employees vowed to not upend Danish Days; rather, the only plan they made was to march in the main parade on Saturday afternoon, they said.
“We’re not going to interfere,” said Johnathon Flynn, striking public works supervisor. “We’re not here to disrupt the event at all.”
Maggie Lopez, a maintenance worker, cradled her three-month-old daughter Gianna Lopez as she picketed midday at Solvang Park.
Plumbing, electrical systems, bathrooms—”it all has to be done a certain way,” Lopez said, adding a protracted dispute worries her. “It’s nerve wracking.”
Dollars and cents
At issue is how much of a raise affected employees should receive. From maintenance workers to accountants, engineers and planners, the striking workers come from a range of key departments.
Amid competing last minute offers and counteroffers, the City Council on Monday voted 5-0 to unilaterally impose a “last, best, and final” offer City Hall made on June 24.
On Tuesday morning, city employees walked off the job on strike for the first time.
The terms give affected workers annual raises of 4% over three years plus equity adjustments for three positions identified as “below market.”
The employees rejected that specific offer on June 25—with an understanding that non-unionized leadership staff received raises of 25% to 40%, Lee said.
Last week, the union said it would accept a 4% raise this fiscal year followed by two 6% annual raises, but the city on Monday declined.
Mayor Brown: ‘I don’t print money’
As striking workers rallied at the park, Mayor David Brown yards away crossed Copenhagen Drive at Second Street.
Flanked by a newly raised grandstand, Brown described the employees as friends and hard workers.
“I’m sorry we’re at this juncture,” Brown said. “I want a positive outcome. It’s a small town. We’re all here for the same reasons.”
At the same time, Brown pointed to Santa Barbara County. In July, the county government laid off dozens of workers to balance its fiscal year 2026-27 budget.
“I don’t want to lay anybody off,” Brown said. “But don’t put me in that position.
“For every dollar I pay them, I have to take it from somewhere else,” he said. “I don’t print money.”
‘A full celebration’
City Hall managers continued to only take questions about the strike in writing, they said.
Asked what challenges the city faced supporting Danish Days, Olivia Uribe-Mutal, assistant to the city manager, said in an emailed statement that officials expected a positive outcome.
“We’re looking forward to a full celebration,” she said. “Several of us will be out there throughout the weekend, as we always are, to help things run smoothly… The city maintains continuity-of-operations plans so that we can keep services running and events on track through any disruption, and that’s what we’ve implemented here.”
Asked about the status of labor talks, Uribe-Mutal declined to provide details.
“The city doesn’t comment on the specifics of active bargaining, but communication between the parties continues,” she said. “The city remains ready to reach an agreement while preserving its long-term relationship with its employees.”
Lee, the Teamsters representative, said communications had occurred but no bargaining had taken place since Monday. All previous offers were off the table, he added.
Like city leaders, Lee said residents need not worry about health and safety.
Two water and two wastewater workers are on the job through the strike—to handle spills or other threats, Lee said.
That arrangement, hashed out in an agreement with the city in anticipation of the labor dispute escalating, accommodates minimum essential services city leaders identified to the union, he said.
“No matter what, we don’t want to hurt anybody,” Lee said. “In the event there’s a true emergency, there’s not going to be any delay.”
