Santa Maria is getting ready for a hip hop music festival on Sat. Oct. 22, 2022.
Welcome to the 805 is bringing a big name and familiar face: Ice Cube.
“Santa Maria, your homie Ice Cube is in the building, yay, yay,” said Ice Cube in a promotional video for the festival that is circulating on social media.
Bone Thugs-N-Harmony, Xzibit, Kalan.frfr, and Digital Underground will also be performing.
“We went all out, we did a full line up, these many artists you don’t see around here,” said Pablo Ramos, the head organizer of the Welcome to the 805 festival.
The event will take place at the Elks Unocal Event Center. Gates open at 1 p.m.
There will also be VIP tents, seven trucks and AstroTurf will be laid on the arena for dirt control.
This is a family-friendly event and organizers are expecting 7,000 attendees.
Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Office confirmed they were hired to manage security at the concert.
“Security and safety is our number one concern. We have walk-through metal detectors, we’re going to have high security there, we’re going to have a lot of guards, hundreds of guards, sheriff’s on duty, CHP,” Ramos explained. “Safety-wise, we’re going to have an ambulance, EMT walking around making sure since it’s during the day taking care of any dehydration.”
Ramos, who graduated from Righetti High School, said he hopes this event puts Santa Maria on the map so artists will do more performances in this area given that it is strategically located between Los Angeles and San Francisco.
“People should be coming to Santa Maria for big shows […] We can go to LA and San Francisco, but it adds up. It’s expensive: gas, food, hotel,” Ramos said.
Tickets can be purchased online or at select locations across the Central Coast.
For more information, click here.
