Born in the fall of 1986, the Santa Barbara Independent is proud to be turning 40 years old in 2026, and we’re cooking up all sorts of plans to mark our awesome anniversary.
A big part of our mission as Santa Barbara County’s leading publication is to celebrate our entire community’s success stories and major milestones.
So we are reaching out to you. We want to showcase other businesses and organizations that have been in Santa Barbara for 40 years or more. If your business or organization fits the bill, please go to INDEPENDENT.COM/40THBIZ.
We also want to toast people who were also born in 1986 who were born here or live here now. If you’re a 1986 baby, please go to INDEPENDENT.COM/40THBDAYS.
And we want testimonials from readers, advertisers, and other fans who have good, fun, meaningful, or otherwise insightful things to say about what the Indy has meant to them over the decades. To share a testimonial please go to INDEPENDENT.COM/40THREADER.
Or you can email us at birthday@independent.com.
We will be collecting stories for the next few months and plan to stat publishing them in the spring.
We can’t wait to share your stories!
