In October, Santa Barbara is teeming with things to do! There are so many festivals that celebrate the bounty that’s harvested from our rich soil, sea and vine. Free up your weekend and enjoy!
Here are just a few highlights:
26th Annual Avocado Festival
Advertised as three days of Peace, Love and Guacamole, the 26th Annual Avocado Festival in Carpinteria runs from Friday, October 5 through Sunday, October 7. Find three winning guacamole recipes from the 2011 guacamole contest on their website.
Focus on the Funk Zone
As the name implies, The Funk Zone is Santa Barbara’s unique arts, business, and industrial district that you’ll find between State and Garden Streets, from Montecito Street to Cabrillo Boulevard. Filled with artists’ studios, urban wineries, and quintessentially Santa Barbara restaurants and small markets, many of them are holding special events this Saturday, October 6.
11th Annual Santa Barbara Harbor and Seafood Festival
This is a fantastic event that takes place on Saturday, October 13 at the marina. Be prepared to eat fish tacos from Santa Barbara Fish Market or perhaps a little sea urchin. Maybe you’ll take home a few Santa Barbara spotted prawns or a Santa Barbara lobster or two (yes, from Santa Barbara, not Maine. Clawless and sweet perfection!).
And there’s so much more . . .
In addition to these must-see happenings, EPICURE.SB http://www.santabarbaraca.com/epicuresb/ has done a marvelous job organizing other October activities taking place throughout the month. From their website: a celebration of cuisine, libations and culture—or, as some have come to call it, a month to savor Santa Barbara. Now in its fourth year, epicure.sb has grown into a community-wide extravaganza when our crop of exceptional artistic and culinary talent converge for 31 days. Epicurious?