The artists behind the annual Santa Barbara Summer Solstice Parade come for many reasons.
"It's magic. There’s a lot of magic. It’s epic. You do it for the children, the kids. It's a family and it brings art to the community," said artist Connie Sullivan.
This year is the 50th annual celebration and the 30th year artist Laura Smith Birchhill has been involved.
"I had always wanted to be an artist but got discouraged," Birchhill shared.
But once she started creating for Solstice, Birchhill thrived.
"You just learn how to do stuff from doing it every year and it just became like family. We even moved away to Minnesota six years ago and I still come back every year to do solstice," she said.
This year, she is focused on costuming.
With one day until the parade, artist Irene Ramirez was working furiously on the final touches for her flying pig.
"It's fun to come into a space, three-dimensional and large scale, and have the resources and the community to do it," Ramirez explained.
Artists say the floats are made mostly from recycled materials and this year's “Flights of Fancy” theme inspired a lot of wings... and took a lot of time.
"It's been over a month, a lot of hands, long hours," Ramirez said.
The two-month-long artist workshop hosts more than 30 pieces, according to organizers, with hundreds of people contributing.
"And to watch this happen in five weeks is magic, it's stressful, it's hard, but it's the most gratifying thing I do all year," Sullivan said.
The Summer Solstice Parade is a city-sponsored event happening on Saturday from noon to 1:30 p.m., traveling up Santa Barbara Street from Ortega Street ending at the Solstice Festival in Alameda Park.
