WILL YOU DON YOUR BERET... on Bastille Day? Or the day after, when France plays in the FIFA World Cup final? You can wear your chapeau with flair, and confidence, and the knowledge that other revelers will be out in their classic marinière shirts, colorful berets, and the occasional, crinoline-big can-can frock. Where to find such revelers, though? If you're in the American Riviera, and you're calling upon Oak Park, and it is Saturday, July 14 and/or Sunday, July 15, you're sure to see a few striped shirts and berets. For paying tribute to...
BEAUTIFUL FRANCE... via fashion and all-out panache will be the name of le game at the annual Santa Barbara French Festival, a staple of the city's summertime party calendar. It all began in the '80s, which means it has flowered into one of the West Coast's biggest Bastille-adjacent bashes. But it so happens that the large-scale French Festival will actually take place on Bastille Day in 2018, and the day after, for excellent measure. It's totally...
FREE TO ATTEND, which is magnifique, and there shall be franco-fun vendors, and a caboodle of performances, and the beloved Canine Cavalcade, which sees both pups and people dressing in honor of famous French figures (not everyone, of course, but some parade participants definitely go the distance in this category). Check the whole schedule to make sure that you and your beret and your stripey, scoop-necked boat shirt are at Oak Park in Santa Barbara on the right day at the right time. Hourra! It's time again for one of grosse fêtes of the California calendar.
