'Safe and free in SYV': Pride Parade and Festival held in Solvang for fifth year

By Mike Chaldu · Fri Jul 03 2026

Local elected leaders speak out for LGBTQIA+ community, as members and allies colorfully celebrate Pride Month

By Mike Chaldu

For the fifth consecutive year, the local organization SYV Pride put on the 5th Annual Pride Parade and Festival, further making downtown Solvang the focal point of Pride Month.

The event, held Saturday, June 13, featuring the parade going from Alisal Road to Copenhagen Drive, and then back through Oak Street. That was followed by the Pride Festival in Solvang Park, which featured music, activities, booths for organizations serving the LGBTQIA+ community, and more.

There were also featured speakers at the park, including Santa Barbara County Supervisor Joan Hartmann, as well as Buellton Mayor David Silva, and Vice Mayor Carla Mead.

While this year's theme had the Pride event had the theme "Pride in Action," Hartmann coined another term that could have been a theme: "Safe and Free in SYV."

After marching in the parade, and even helping carry the banner that led her contingent, Hartmann praised the overall mood and atmosphere of the event.

"As elected officials, we end up in a lot of parades, but I can tell you that this one is the most joyous, with the most love going back and forth between people who are observing it and people who are in the parade," she said.

During her address, Hartmann also cited examples of people she had known who were in heterosexual relationships, and then reconnected with them after a number years and found out they had a same-sex partner.

"That made me think either people have had to suppress who they really are, or our sexuality is much more fluid than we would understand," she continued, pointing out the "rigid" ideas some people have about masculine and feminine roles. "The reason the parade is such a joyous occasion is that we're saying we're not getting into that stereotype."

At the end of her speech, Hartmann urged the crowd to "stay safe and free in SYV," and led them in a chant.

Before Hartmann, the crowd also heard from Silva and Mead.

Silva, who is running for re-election as Buellton mayor in this November's election, thanked the board members and community leaders who made the event possible, and said it is key for all disenfranchised groups to stand up for one another.

"When we look at Pride, it's a moment of celebration that love can overcome hat, and that's a testament of what we're here today to show," Silva said. "We have to show up for each other. We need to be out there fighting. We need to be out there demanding and showing up in the trenches."

Also speaking to the audience at the park was Mead, who was attending her first Pride Parade as a member of the Buellton City Council.

"I thank SYV Pride for inviting me. I speak not as member of LGBTQ+ community but as an ally, and what it means to be an ally," she said. "Our role is not to speak over LGBTQ+ voices. Our role is to make those voices louder. If we have privilege and influence, we should use it. If we have a seat at the table, we should make room for others."

The preceding parade through downtown Solvang was again a rainbow-colored event promoting acceptance and inclusion, with a lot of familiar entries, including Bethania Lutheran Church, led by Pastor Dan Brown; Aaron Crocker, a former owner of the Grocery Outlet in Lompoc, who drove his bright yellow van in the parade; and Lisa Baker-Tigard, who brought back her teal and white VW van, with a couple of mannequin likenesses of the grandmothers of her and her partner, Kiley Baker-Tigard.

Lisa Baker-Tigard reflected on the Pride Parade becoming a yearly thing for the last five years in Solvang.

" It's nice to see that the community's embracing it here," she said. "We bring so much love, so much participation, and it means a lot. Especially from the two of us, who were out in high school, and so it's, you know, important to finally start seeing this happen every year. What I enjoy is that Solvang's an older community that's been totally embracing."

Kiley Baker-Tigard said Solvang become like a center of activity during Pride Month.

"Were the only people in Santa Barbara County, I think, that have this during Pride Month," Kiley said. "Like, Santa Barbara doesn't have it this month, or Santa Maria, or Lompoc. So we get a lot of people from Santa Barbara County, which is great because we're kind of in the middle."

There were also some newcomers during this year's Parade, among them a group from the Lompoc Queer Alliance, a grassroots organization dedicated to building a safe, supportive, and active LGBTQIA+ community in Lompoc.

"We're a fairly new organization. I would say we've been together about two years, but we just became an official nonprofit," said LQA President K.C. Ochoa. "We're sort of a social organization right now — we focus on just providing safe space for queer people. We do book clubs, picnics, stuff like that."

Also, with the Queens Cup Coffee contingent, led by SYV Pride leaders Lauren Lastra and Alyce Barrick, was "Linda," who billed herself as the first "drag queen" to march in the parade. She performs in Santa Barbara and other nearby areas, and was pleased with the chance to come to Solvang.

"I'm very into the idea that people of small towns still deserve to have entertainment and feel care and joy," Linda said. "You shouldn't have to do an hour drive to get that, and I love bringing that to people. I want everyone to feel like they have that magical moment."