Old Spanish Days: Mass Appeal: Fiesta’s Thursday begins with Mass at the Mission

The chapel at the Santa Barbara Mission is filled Thursday for the Fiesta president's Mass, or La Misa del Presidente.
The chapel at the Santa Barbara
Mission is filled Thursday for
the Fiesta president’s Mass, or
La Misa del Presidente.

A crowd of devout Catholics, supporters of Old Spanish Days, curious tourists and others filled the Mission’s chapel Thursday for a Mass to open the first full day of Fiesta.

The night previous, the steps outside the chapel had been host to music and dancing in the official kickoff party, but Thursday morning’s traditional La Misa del Presidente was a quiet affair, although punctuated with hymns and grand organ music.

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