The Isla Vista Community Services District approved a $10,000 budget increase for the Spring Festival, a community festival meant to provide an alternative space during Deltopia, Isla Vista’s annual unsanctioned street festival. With an $80,000 budget, the festival will have a “sobering center” and add three new on-site Emergency Medical Technicians this year.
IVCSD approved the $80,000 budget for this year’s Spring Festival. Nexus File Photo
Since 2022, the Isla Vista Community Services District (IVCSD) has hosted the Spring Festival during Deltopia on the first Saturday of spring quarter. Last year’s Deltopia saw over 20,000 attendees — a level unprecedented for the festival since before the COVID-19 pandemic. The Isla Vista Foot Patrol (IVFP) and partnering agencies issued a record number of citations.
“If this day is going to cause so much damage to our community, how can we use this day to do something good, too?” Myah Mashhadialireza, IVCSD community programs and engagement director and the festival organizer said.
The budget was approved at IVCSD’s Jan. 28 meeting. It accounts for 36 portable bathrooms, 5,400 cans of water, free tacos from Roger’s Tacos and Maria’s Tacos and performances by local bands. The sobering center, sponsored by Good Samaritan Shelter, will be located in the Isla Vista Community Center (IVCC), where people can rest, receive water and utilize other safety services.
Mashhadialireza said that one of the biggest concerns for locals regarding Deltopia is the strain it puts on local medical services. Last year, IVFP Lieutenant Garrett TeSlaa reported over 150 emergency calls.
“It’s declared a county medical emergency because of that, because of the strain that it puts on county medical services,” Mashhadialireza said.
Last year, a triage tent at the Spring Festival helped those who needed medical services such as Narcan, but Mashadialireza noted that many people there just needed a place to sober up.
“They don’t need an IV anymore, but they’re too drunk to get themselves home or to figure out where to go. And so those are the people that we want to redirect into the sobering center to sit and rest until they can find their friends and go home safely,” Mashhadialireza said.
Leading up to the festival, IVCSD will host a competition for local bands and DJs on Feb. 23, where the winners will receive a cash prize and secure a performance spot at the Spring Festival.
The top three bands will receive $1,500, the top two DJs will receive $500 and the top-voted artist will receive a music video production by IVCSD valued at $1,500. The performances will be live-streamed on Instagram, where viewers will vote for their favorite performances.
“We want the music video to be able to launch before Deltopia, to kind of hype up that top band or DJ who really won the public vote,” Mashhadialireza said. “You go to a festival because you want to see the headliner, you want to go support your friends who are artists. So we want to make sure that throughout our entire marketing process, that we’re uplifting these amazing artists, and so it’s crucial that we lock them in now.”
The event will also feature carnival-style activities, including a water-dunking game and a “paint and play section” where students can paint on canvases or on their bodies.
IVCSD is also trying to install a temporary rainbow crosswalk, similar to the one near Embarcadero del Norte and Pardall Road, between Little Acorn Park and IVCC to ensure people can safely cross the street without closing the roads. Local artists will design the crosswalk and it will be removed a few days after the spring festival.
“We’re doing that because we can’t close the roads,” Mashhadialireza said. “They need to be open for medical emergency personnel, but it’s also an incredibly dangerous place and a lot of drunk people are crossing the street.”
Isla Vista Compost Collective and Isla Vista Beautiful, programs under IVCSD, will be delivering breakfast the morning of the Spring Festival for the first time, with plans of biking down Del Playa Drive to deliver free bagels, electrolytes and safety kits including Narcan and drug testing strips, among others.
One of the biggest logistical challenges IVCSD has faced with planning the Spring Festival is acquiring permits, according to Mashhadialireza. This includes obtaining a special events permit through the fire department and renting the parks to ensure all food vendors comply with the Santa Barbara County Public Health Department.
Mashhadialireza said the festival intends “to give Isla Vista their own narrative about Deltopia” and provide safety resources during the highest time of traffic for I.V. in the year.
CORRECTION [2/18/2024, 3:37 p.m.]: A previous version of this article stated that IVCSD, along with Isla Vista Compost Collective and Isla Vista Beautiful, will be delivering breakfast the morning of the Spring Festival. The article has been corrected to state Isla Vista Compost Collective and Isla Vista Beautiful are programs under IVCSD.
A version of this article appeared on p. 3 of the Feb. 13, 2025 edition of the Daily Nexus.
