Bringing Families Together at Fiesta

The Clear Group float, adorned with fiesta decor and happy kids

Every August, Old Spanish Days Fiesta fills Santa Barbara with color, and few traditions capture that spirit like El Desfile de los Niños, the Children's Parade. This year, roughly 2,500 children and their families marched in traditional costume down Cabrillo Boulevard, from the Rainbow Arch to Casa Las Palmas, in front of a crowd Fiesta organizers estimate at 40,000.

For the first time, Clear Group had a float in the lineup. The project was organized by Philippe de L'Arbre, our Director of Administration, and brought together people from all three of our companies. Architecture supplied the original concept drawings, Millwork fabricated the float's carousel-house backdrop on our CNC machine, and a crew of our own team (plus their kiddos!) handled assembly, paint, new wheels, and a turf-covered base.

Rather than build the frame from scratch, we started with one that had already lived a full life: a structure donated by the Summer Solstice Workshop that served as a pirate ship in this year's Solstice Parade. Reworking it into a Fiesta-ready float meant less waste, and a head start on a project that came together in a matter of weeks.

Not only did Clear crew kids help decorate and paint the float, fellow classmates crafted the paper flowers that adorned it for the parade.

‍Noozhawk featured our float and team in their photo coverage of this year's parade.

Thank you to Philippe for organizing Clear's first year in the parade, and to everyone across Architecture, Construction, and Millwork who helped design and build the float and walk in the parade. To learn more about El Desfile de los Niños and Old Spanish Days Fiesta, visit sbfiesta.org.