We had a ball at the 30th anniversary of the Goleta Lemon Festival this past weekend and loved seeing so many of you there!  Our City of Goleta booth area had non-stop visitors for the entire two-day festival. We enjoyed seeing all of the smiling faces and hearing the laughter as people spun the wheel for a chance to win some of our newly released Live • Work • Play themed giveaways. Some had to pass the City of Goleta beach ball or bounce it ten times to take it home, others did squats, jumping jacks, toe touches or arm circles to get a prize, but everyone walked away a winner. 

Here is a short video clip with highlights from the weekend: https://youtu.be/2fsSiOwpDzs.

More than 600 adults and children participated in the “Guess How Many Lemon Drops in the Jar” contest. Congratulations to Michelle Cronk of Camarillo who guessed the closest on Saturday and Stephen Crosby of Santa Barbara who guessed the closest on Sunday. Each will take home a Goleta Prize Pack with Live • Work • Play merchandise. For those wondering, the correct answer is 591 lemon drops.

We had pages and pages of new sign-ups for our City notifications, don’t get left behind! You can register for City information here.

The Goleta Valley Library booth right next to us was another popular spot with 1,500+ visitors learning about the wonderful programming options. In addition, 86 people signed up and received their free library cards.

Our Sustainability and Environmental Services team members handed out 1,800 Plastic Free Goleta reusable utensil sets, 1,700 metal straws, and 1,000 Creek coloring books.

While there were so many fun moments, one of the best parts as always was watching the pie-eating contests each day. Thanks to our distinguished judges, many including our Mayor and Councilmembers, for helping to pick the winners.

Thanks also to the Goleta Police Department and Goleta CERT for being at the largest Safety Street section ever at the Lemon Festival. The Sheriff’s Office was there in force showing off so many of their specialty units including a helicopter landing and the Mounted Unit.

Finally, we want to congratulate and thank the Santa Barbara South Coast Chamber of Commerce for putting on another awesome Goleta Lemon Festival. Can’t wait till next year to do it all over again.

Michelle’s relatives John and Cheryle Brion with her prize pack

Stephen Crosby holding his prize pack