Lobster Jo’s Camp Cancellation Draws Overflow Crowd at Santa Barbara City Council

The Santa Barbara City Council chamber filled quickly Tuesday afternoon — and kept filling — as parents, campers, counselors, and community members lined up to defend Lobster Jo’s Camps, a long-running youth program recently dropped from the city’s waterfront.

Nearly 30 parents, counselors, and young campers signed up to speak, each ushered along at the one-minute mark as the council worked to move through public comment.

Lobster Jo’s Camps, founded and operated by Joseph Evers, were informed earlier this month that the city’s Parks and Recreation Department would not renew their recreation contract, citing “program safety.” City officials have since declined to elaborate on the specific reasons for the decision.

The notice sparked an immediate response from families who rely on the program for low-cost, outdoor childcare — and who said they were blindsided by the cancellation.

“I was informed of the termination in a brief notice that didn’t cite any reason,” Evers wrote in a letter to the City Council. “But when I reached out for specifics I was told it was because of ‘program safety.’”

Evers said that explanation conflicted with his experience working with Parks and Recreation staff over the past five summers. According to Evers, Lobster Jo’s has grown from a small program he launched while attending UC Santa Barbara into a large-scale operation serving thousands of children, staffed largely by UCSB students and alumni.

“Throughout that time, I maintained strong working relationships with Parks and Recreation coordinators, site leads, and front-line staff,” Evers wrote. “Their feedback to me was consistently positive, and many expressed pride in the quality and spirit of the programs we were delivering.”

Evers added that staff members who worked with the camps daily later told him they were neither consulted nor informed before the decision was made.

“These are the very people who observed our operations, knew our families, and supported the day-to-day implementation of the camps,” he wrote.

At Tuesday’s meeting, speaker after speaker reinforced that concern. 

Garrett Gustafson, a Santa Barbara resident of 30 years and father of two campers, told councilmembers his children had attended Lobster Jo’s since its earliest years.

“He not only creates a safe, fun space for the children, but also hires some amazing people as well,” Gustafson said, “to foster what Santa Barbara community has come to love and enjoy.”

Multiple parents said Lobster Jo’s stood out not only for safety, but for affordability — a point repeated throughout the afternoon.

“It’s always the one camp she [his daughter] is stoked to go to … she has done all the camps,” said Danny Shepherd, an emergency physician and medical director for Santa Barbara’s 9-1-1 EMS agency. “Many camps are like day-one registration, they’re filling up. We don’t have enough camps in town for Lobster Jo’s not to be a part of that community.”

Several children also spoke at the lengths of safety that Evers goes to, such as repeatedly enforcing swim tests. 

“It’s taught me a lot about safety precautions around the ocean,” said Maverick Borlson, a five-year veteran camper. “Even though Jo knows me and knows that I can swim very well… he always makes everyone take the swim test.”

Parents and counselors referenced life jackets, color-coded swim groups, and constant supervision — details they said were visible to anyone passing by the public beach where the camp operates.

“I respectfully challenge that assertion,” Evers told the council during his allotted time. “Outdoor recreation programs operate fully in the public eye.”

Evers noted the camp operated within overlapping emergency jurisdictions, near a heavily trafficked bike path, and under constant parental observation.

“All of these parents entrust me with their most valuable asset — their children,” he said.

Several speakers asked why, if safety concerns existed, they had never been communicated or addressed through corrective action rather than termination.

“If there’s a concern about safety, I’d like to know what the issue is specifically,” Shepherd said. “We really have a lot of trust.”

Despite the overwhelming public support, there has been no final verdict contradicting the current suspension of the camp. Councilmembers acknowledged the volume of comment and concern but did not debate the matter, which was not listed as an agenda item.

In an email response to the Independent, Parks and Recreation Director Jill Zachary wrote that the decision followed “a routine evaluation of programmatic and operational needs” and that the city is “not at liberty to discuss the specifics related to contract determinations made by staff and the City Attorney.”

The department has not indicated whether alternative programming will replace Lobster Jo’s Camps at the waterfront this summer, nor whether Evers will be offered an opportunity to revise or appeal the decision.