The Best Dam Dinner

Goleta community members gathered around bright blue-and-yellow checkered tablecloths ready with food they had brought or bought from one of the nearby parked food trucks for the annual Goleta Dam Dinner. The event, on Saturday, August 17, saw more than 400 attendees enjoy a convivial dinner alongside the Lake Los Carneros Dam.

The annual gathering is a collaboration between the City of Goleta and the Goleta Valley Historical Society to encourage community members to celebrate the end of summer and start of school with an outdoor dinner under the sun.

“People see familiar faces and meet new friends here,” said Kelly Hoover, Goleta Community Relations Manager. “And you can’t be in a bad mood,” she gestured to the growing laughter down the tables as family and friends embraced each other and pulled out seats. As parents set up, children ran alongside the tables with one another, seeking out the free face-painting station set up alongside the end of the long table.

Set up at every seat along the table was a set of reusable cutlery provided by the city to promote its plastic-free ordinance. Attendees enjoyed a live music performance from Nate Latta, a Goleta resident and long-time musician, as well as free shaved ice from the Kona food truck. There were also picture opportunities with picture frame props that read “Best Dam Dinner.”

This year saw some new changes to the event, including an extension of time so that attendees could enjoy plenty of time eating good food with friends and family and getting the opportunity to meet new people. The live music was also moved toward the center of the dam so that onlookers could watch the performance and take in the beautiful view of the dam in the background.

Goleta resident Lynn Kirby was one of the people who proposed the Goleta Dam Dinner when it started almost 10 years ago. Kirby has worked extensively with the Goleta community to put on events and start programs that promote wellbeing and community engagement. She explained, “I had been walking atop the dam and thought to myself, ‘Wouldn’t it be great to have dinner here?’” After a proposal and planning, she was on the committee for organizing the Dam Dinner in its first year. Now she’s returned with her neighborhood for a potluck dinner, sharing it not only with her friends, but with the hundreds of attendees that are either coming for their first time, or returning for another dinner.

“It’s our last kiss to summer,” Kirby joked, “so why not have a dam dinner!”