Back in the day, Santa Barbara High School’s marching band brought the beat to El Desfile Histórico (The Historical Parade) on the first Friday of Fiesta. However, they have not participated in the parade in years.
Eighteen student musicians changed that this Friday. Due to administrative concerns over liability and funding, they were not allowed to be affiliated with the official Dons marching band. But they joined forces with alumni, who marched in the parade last year, to represent their school with pride.
“It was amazing, the crowd was cheering — it was very energetic,” said Alisa Krinsky, the band’s drum major. “A lot of people wanted to do the parade because we haven’t done it since 2019, and so many students volunteered.”
Student musicians from Santa Barbara High School joined forces with alumni to play in Friday’s Historical Parade along Cabrillo Boulevard. | Credit: Elaine Sanders 
Student musicians from Santa Barbara High School joined forces with alumni to play in Friday’s Historical Parade along Cabrillo Boulevard. | Credit: Elaine Sanders
The band practiced independently in Ortega Park from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. every day, with a couple of volunteer coaches, over the past two weeks. “There’s a lot of tradition at the school — it’s a really old school,” which is now in its 150th year, said Janett Emery, the parent of Jenna, one of the band’s members and a fifth-generation Don. “These kids just want to celebrate the school.”
She said the kids are “so dedicated and spirited” and receiving no school credit for participating in the parade. Likewise, coaches Karl Hernandez and Frankie Placencia are not receiving any compensation. It was a volunteer effort led by school pride and bankrolled by parents, who paid the registration fee.
“Back when I was a student at the school, we were in the parade,” recalled Emery. “Since my daughter has been in school, she was like, ‘Why aren’t we in the parade?’”
Arts and music programs have been slowly dying in many schools across the country, leading to tight budgets for music education and band camps.
But this may be changing. Tyler Ravelli, the instrumental music teacher at SBHS, told parents in an email that with new funds from Proposition 28 — The Arts and Music in Schools Funding Guarantee and Accountability Act — the school will be able to create a “mid-summer” band camp and hire instructors to come in and to prepare students for the parade.
“These types of programs take time to be established especially when working with public funds,” he wrote. “For this reason it was not possible for the program to offer this service this year; however, Principal [Edward] Gomez and I expect this to be possible for the summer of 2026.”
