This is a comprehensive list of festivals in California. Most festivals were postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Santa Barbara is a coastal city in Santa Barbara County, California, of which it is also the county seat. Situated on a south-facing section of coastline, the longest such section on the West Coast of the United States excepting Alaska, the city lies between the steeply rising Santa Ynez Mountains and the Pacific Ocean. Santa Barbara's climate is often described as Mediterranean, and the city has been dubbed "The American Riviera". According to the 2020 U.S. Census, the city's population was 88,665.
The University of California, Santa Barbara is a public land-grant research university in Santa Barbara County, California, United States. It is part of the University of California university system. Tracing its roots back to 1891 as an independent teachers' college, UCSB joined the ancestor of the California State University system in 1909 and then moved over to the University of California system in 1944. It is the third-oldest undergraduate campus in the system, after UC Berkeley and UCLA. Total student enrollment for 2022 was 23,460 undergraduate and 2,961 graduate students.
Lollapalooza (Lolla) is an annual American four-day music festival held in Grant Park in Chicago. It originally started as a touring event in 1991, and many years later, Chicago became its permanent location. Music genres include alternative rock, heavy metal, punk rock, hip hop, and electronic dance music. Lollapalooza has also featured visual arts, nonprofit organizations, and political organizations. The festival hosts an estimated 400,000 people each July and sells out annually. Lollapalooza is one of the largest music festivals in the world and one of the longest-running in the United States.
Children's Day is a commemorative date celebrated annually in honour of children, whose date of observance varies by country. In 1925, International Children's Day was first proclaimed in Geneva during the World Conference on Child Welfare. Since 1950, it is celebrated on 1 June in many countries, which follow the suggestion from Women's International Democratic Federation. World Children's Day is celebrated on 20 November to commemorate the Declaration of the Rights of the Child by the UN General Assembly on 20 November 1959. In some countries, it is Children's Week and not Children's Day. The Sikhs celebrate Children Day on 20 December to 27 December.
Coachella is an annual music and arts festival held at the Empire Polo Club in Indio, California, in the Coachella Valley in the Colorado Desert. It was co-founded by Paul Tollett and Rick Van Santen in 1999, and is organized by Goldenvoice, a subsidiary of AEG Presents. The event features musical artists from many genres of music, including rock, pop, indie, hip hop and electronic dance music, as well as art installations and sculptures. Across the grounds, several stages continuously host live music.
Josh James Brolin is an American actor. A son of actor James Brolin, he gained fame in his youth for his role in the adventure film The Goonies (1985). After years of decline, Brolin had a resurgence with his starring role in the crime film No Country for Old Men (2007). Brolin received a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for portraying Dan White in the biopic Milk (2008).
Wolfgang Johannes Puck is an Austrian-American chef and restaurateur.
El Capitán State Beach is a protected beach in the state park system of California. The most easterly of three state parks along the Gaviota Coast, it is located about 20 miles (32 km) west of downtown Santa Barbara, in Santa Barbara County. The beach is named for José Francisco Ortega, who retired from the Spanish Army in 1795 with the rank of captain and received the Rancho Nuestra Señora del Refugio as a land grant.
The Santa Barbara News-Press was a broadsheet newspaper based in Santa Barbara, California. It was founded in 1868 as the Post and merged with the rival News to form the News-Press in 1932. On July 21, 2023, it filed for bankruptcy and ceased publication.
Santa Bárbara d'Oeste is a municipality in the State of São Paulo in Brazil. It is part of the Metropolitan Region of Campinas. It lies about 138 kilometres (86 mi) northwest of the State capital. It occupies an area of 272.2 square kilometres (105.1 sq mi), of which 43.1 square kilometres (16.6 sq mi) is urban. In 2020, the population was estimated at 194,390 by the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics, making it the 43rd most populous city in São Paulo and the sixth largest in the metropolitan region of Campinas.
Thor Nis Christiansen was a Danish-American serial killer and necrophile from Solvang, California. He committed his first three murders in late 1976 and early 1977, killing young women of similar appearance from nearby Isla Vista. His crimes motivated large demonstrations opposed to violence against women, and in favor of better transportation for the young people residing in Isla Vista. In 1979, he killed a young woman from Los Angeles. A fifth intended victim escaped with a bullet in her head, and later identified him in a Los Angeles bar.
The Santa Barbara International Film Festival (SBIFF) is an eleven-day film festival held in Santa Barbara, California in February annually, since 1986. The festival screens over 200 feature films and shorts from different countries and regions. SBIFF also includes celebrity tributes, industry panels and education programs.
Refugio State Beach is a protected state beach park in California, United States, approximately 20 miles (32 km) west of Santa Barbara. One of three state parks along the Gaviota Coast, it is 2.5 miles (4.0 km) west of El Capitán State Beach.
Vampire Weekend is an American rock band from New York City, formed in 2006 and currently signed to Columbia Records. The band was formed by lead vocalist and guitarist Ezra Koenig, multi-instrumentalist Rostam Batmanglij, drummer Chris Tomson, and bassist Chris Baio. Batmanglij departed the group in early 2016 but has continued to occasionally contribute to subsequent albums as a songwriter, producer, and musician.
Extravaganza is an annual campus music festival held at the University of California, Santa Barbara that began in 1979 and has been held annually since 1989, except 2020. Named as the #1 event on the "Top 10 University Festivals to Crash" by College Magazine in 2013, it takes place towards the end of spring quarter and is funded by a student lock-in fee. The event is planned, promoted, and run by the Associated Students Program Board, part of the Associated Students of the University of California, Santa Barbara.
Deltopia, originally known as Floatopia, is a social event started in 2004 which takes place annually in Isla Vista, California. Deltopia was originated by University of California, Santa Barbara students and occurs on the first weekend following the start of UCSB's spring quarter around Del Playa Drive. Participants consist primarily of college students. In early years, attendance was estimated at a few hundred participants with later years seeing an estimated 20,000 to 25,000 attendees.
The 2014 Isla Vista killings were two misogynistic terror attacks in Isla Vista, California. On the evening of Friday, May 23, 22-year-old Elliot Rodger killed six people and injured fourteen others by gunshot, stabbing and vehicle ramming near the campus of the University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB), before fatally shooting himself.
Shane Robert Bieber is an American professional baseball pitcher for the Cleveland Guardians of Major League Baseball (MLB). He played college baseball for the UC Santa Barbara Gauchos baseball team as a walk-on. He was drafted by the Indians in the fourth round of the 2016 Major League Baseball draft. Bieber made his MLB debut with Cleveland in 2018, was named an All-Star in 2019 and 2021, and received the American League's 2020 Cy Young Award.
2023 in film is an overview of events, including award ceremonies, festivals, a list of country- and genre-specific lists of films released, and notable deaths. Warner Bros. and Walt Disney Studios celebrated their 100th anniversaries this year.