Every year, more than 100,000 people attend the Santa Barbara International Film Festival, according to event staff, and those tourists bring lots of business to local stores.
"I think it's a great thing for the town. It's wonderful to come and experience it. It's even fun to wait in line," said Kathy Wenger, Santa Barbara resident.
"We're going to be opening later than usual. We'll be staying open until eight, til after the films are out," said store owner Kathy Johnson of Canvas.
"It is busy and poppin' and we love it," added Madison Moriarty with Sirena.
For Edward France, with the City of Santa Barbara, the film festival brings heightened focus to public safety.
"We're in a dynamic time in public safety and there continue to be new threats that we need to take into account," he explained.
France says this year, the film festival reached out to the city to implement increased safety measures along the 1300 block of State Street.
"So we've set up these barricades, which will allow for northbound traffic during the day and then we can close it off for events," France said.
Kathy and Bob Wenger have lived in Santa Barbara for 13 years and say added security during the film festival is necessary.
"Because there's a lot of people that are, you know, coming to look at, especially the people that are coming to do the tributes and it's just needed," Wenger said.
"Our hope is that this is a significant improvement and also, we're going to learn a lot over the next few days and the city staff will be on-site monitoring and making continuous improvements," France said.
The barricades will stay in place until the end of the festival on February 15.
