Parks and Recreation, City of Santa Barbara

The Shark Shack is back at the beach today! Go learn about sharks from the experts of Cal State Long Beach's Shark Lab. ESPECIALLY do this if you or someone you know is particularly afraid of sharks, because helping alleviate fear through education is the Shark Shack's whole thing. You'll find the Shark Shack on the grassy area near Skater's Point today from 11-3. In honor of their visit, we post this photo of the Kids' World playground shark, which makes us laugh every time we see it.

Can you imagine the high-quality nap you'd have after an afternoon out at East Beach flying KITES? We can, and again, we're a little jealous of our summer campers. And not just because of the napping potential at the end of the day. Flight Camp has three sessions left this summer, and there are a few spots left in each (mostly in the August session). Sign your kids up for a week of perfect afternoons, full of healthy activity down at the beach. Register online at http://sbparksandrec.org.

We know many of you want your kids out enjoying the fresh air, because they've had so much going on indoors and on screens in the past year+. But, if we were kids, we would be BEGGING to sign up for CSI Camp. Okay, not all of us here at Parks and Rec, but definitely three of us are feeling a little jealous of CSI campers. If your child is a future detective, or interested in forensics, this online dive into the science of crime scene investigations is not something they'll want to miss. Sign up for July and August sessions here: http://bit.ly/CSICampJuly2021 and http://bit.ly/CSICampAugust2021. We'll just be over here looking wistful, listening to true crime podcasts.

You may have noticed Snowy Egrets and Black-crowned Night-herons nesting in the trees near Los Banos Del Mar and the West Beach wading pool. Here's some information about the night-herons! A few more interesting things to know: At night, the night-herons (Nycticorax nycticorax) wake up and hunt in coastal and marshy areas, and you might hear their little wok! noises at any time of day. You might also notice our night-heron friends poop a lot, like any nesting birds, so it doesn’t smell very nice right around the trees during the spring and summer. Watch out as you walk underneath the trees, and try not to mind too much. Nesting birds are protected by the Federal Migratory Bird Treaty Act.

We love seeing how much fun our campers are having at Trapeze Camp in Plaza Vera Cruz! https://newspress.com/soaring-through-santa-barbara-2/

Exciting news! The Shark Shack, a super-fun, super-educational pop-up from the Shark Lab at Cal State Long Beach, is coming to Santa Barbara! They'll be visiting us four times this summer, and the first visit is TODAY. Find them in the grassy area next to Skater's Point skatepark from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Please stop by if you have a shark fan (or someone whose fear of sharks interferes with ocean enjoyment) in the family. They'll be happy to see you, and we bet you'll leave with a new fun fact about sharks to wow people with at upcoming social occasions. Shark Shack schedule linked in the comments.

Wondering what's going on this summer? How to play pickleball, whether or not you need to sign up in advance for a lap swim time (you don't), which of our rec centers and offices are open, etc.? Here's our reopening message with all the details about... everything! https://www.santabarbaraca.gov//depts/pa/news/details.asp

Signal boost for our colleagues* at the Santa Barbara Airport, because they are so so so excited about adding direct flights to San Diego and getting to run this contest with Alaska Airlines. Get in on it if you are starting to plan your future travel adventures, friends. * Little bit of municipal trivia for you: the airport is a City of Santa Barbara department, just like Parks and Rec! So airport employees are our coworkersthey just had to drive a lot farther to get to City meetings (in the pre-videoconferencing Before Times). Stay tuned to SB Parks and Rec Facebook for more local government fun facts.

Another fun surprise from a student in Allan Viscarra's first grade class at Peabody Charter School! Fletcher tells us East Beach is definitely the best beach, and we don't like to play favorites with our parks and beaches, but we think Fletcher's reasoning is sound on this. What do you think? What's your favorite SB beach?

Rose garden fans, our annual rose pruning day at the A. C. Postel Memorial Rose Garden is canceled this year due to restrictions related to COVID-19.

Here's what will be closed for Parks and Rec during the City of Santa Barbara holiday closure this year (December 23-January 3).

Congratulations to the Arts Alliance on their Spirit of Service award!

Playgrounds in our parks are open! Any special rules, such as maximum occupancy, will be clearly posted with signage at each playground.

City of Santa Barbara playgrounds are now closed due to the new stay-at-home order, but parks remain open, and Skater's Point skatepark and beach volleyball courts are open for now. Stay tuned for further updates.

We have requested a postponement of tomorrow's Planning Commission review for the Ortega Park renewal project, in order to provide time to prepare an evaluation of the feasibility of relocating murals on buildings and walls proposed for demolition. This evaluation will ensure that the environmental review of the park improvements will consider the significance of the murals and the best practices for their preservation, relocation, or reproduction. The Department will continue to work with the community on the proposed public art program for Ortega Park in order to integrate new art opportunities into the park design.