What's on in Santa Barbara, United States through the year

Busy — Winter / Christmas break in United States, school holidays in 2 of the markets that fill it

Nothing new starts in January.

Still on: Gray whale migration (15 Dec – 15 Apr (usually))

Busy — Santa Barbara Film Festival

• Festival

  Santa Barbara Film Festival

  4–16 Feb · usuallyCrowded

  Eleven days in early February with the awards-season names doing tributes at the Arlington, which is why the hotels fill in a month nothing else would fill them. Source ↗

Still on: Gray whale migration (15 Dec – 15 Apr (usually))

Busy — Spring break in United States

• Nature

  Backcountry wildflowers

  1 Mar – 25 Apr · usuallyWildflowers & blooms

  Poppies and lupine on Figueroa Mountain and the Santa Ynez hills for a few weeks in spring, and a dramatic show only in years the winter rain arrived on time.

Still on: Gray whale migration (15 Dec – 15 Apr (usually))

Shoulder season — an ordinary month

Nothing new starts in April.

Still on: Backcountry wildflowers (1 Mar – 25 Apr (usually)), Gray whale migration (15 Dec – 15 Apr (usually))

Shoulder season — an ordinary month

• Season

  May gray and June gloom

  1 May – 10 Jul · usuallyFog season

  A marine layer sits over the coast most mornings in early summer and burns off around midday, or does not. Ten minutes inland over the pass it is clear and much warmer. Source ↗

• Nature

  Blue and humpback season

  15 May – 15 Sep · usuallyWhale season

  Blues and humpbacks feed in the channel off the Channel Islands through the summer, the largest animal that has ever lived on a day trip from a small harbour.

Peak crowds — Summer Solstice Parade, Summer break in United States

• Festival

  Summer Solstice Parade

  19–22 Jun · usuallyMajor festivalCrowded

  A costumed, wordless parade up State Street on the Saturday nearest the solstice, with no motors and no written signs allowed in it. The town's counterweight to its own tidiness. Source ↗

Still on: May gray and June gloom (1 May – 10 Jul (usually)), Blue and humpback season (15 May – 15 Sep (usually))

Peak crowds — Old Spanish Days Fiesta, Summer break in United States

• Festival

  Old Spanish Days Fiesta

  29 Jul – 10 Aug · usuallyMajor festivalCrowdedBook early

  Five days from the Wednesday before the first Saturday in August: horses down State Street, dancing at the Mission steps and confetti eggs cracked over strangers' heads. Source ↗

Still on: May gray and June gloom (1 May – 10 Jul (usually)), Blue and humpback season (15 May – 15 Sep (usually))

Peak crowds — Old Spanish Days Fiesta, Summer break in United States

Nothing new starts in August.

Still on: Blue and humpback season (15 May – 15 Sep (usually)), Old Spanish Days Fiesta (29 Jul – 10 Aug (usually))

Busy — Summer break in United States

• Hazard

  Sundowner wind and fire season

  15 Sep – 15 Dec · usuallySmoke season

  Hot dry winds fall down the Santa Ynez range onto the town in the evenings of late autumn, which is when this coast's serious fires have started. The season ends with the first real rain. Source ↗

Still on: Blue and humpback season (15 May – 15 Sep (usually))

Shoulder season — an ordinary month

Nothing new starts in October.

Still on: Sundowner wind and fire season (15 Sep – 15 Dec (usually))

Busy — Thanksgiving break in United States

Nothing new starts in November.

Still on: Sundowner wind and fire season (15 Sep – 15 Dec (usually))

Busy — Winter / Christmas break in United States, school holidays in 2 of the markets that fill it

• Nature

  Gray whale migration

  15 Dec – 15 Apr · usuallyWhale season

  Grays pass down the channel to Baja through the winter and back north with calves from late February, close enough in that the boats out of the harbour are a half-day trip.

Still on: Sundowner wind and fire season (15 Sep – 15 Dec (usually))