The Santa Barbara International Film Festival attracts celebrities and tourists from around the world, showcasing more than 200 films over 11 days.
All of those festival attendees will be hungry — Marino Duarte, an employee at Ca’Dario Restaurant, says the film festival brings in large groups of people with the busiest hours between 5:30 p.m. and 6:30 p.m.
“Sometimes we have to use the back room and line up the chairs, flip them around, and make more space,” Duarte said.
During the film festival, the roads around the event are closed or crowded, which Wise Guys Barber Shop owner Isaac Alvarado says is a problem for his clients.
“They can’t park on the street, they can’t park in this area, they gotta either park a couple blocks down or in the parking garages, but it's hard because a lot of people are going to the film festival,” Alvarado explained.
To help ease the parking pains this year, Santa Barbara City Parking Program Supervisor Meghan Salas says the city is offering discounted parking for film fest-goers to encourage visitation to the downtown area.
“We would like to encourage people to go to dinner before seeing a film, or go shopping at some of our great shops downtown, just encouraging people to take advantage of what downtown has to offer without having to worry so much about the parking fees,” Salas said.
Parking permits will cost $33 and allow for unlimited access to the Granada Garage and Ortega Garages from February 7 to February 17.
You can purchase parking permits from the city here — https://santabarbaraca.gov/press-releases/discount-parking-permit-santa-barbara-international-film-festival
For a schedule of events during the Santa Barbara International Film Festival,click here.
