A Superbloom of Runners

How Art, Community, and Sustainability Power the Santa Barbara Half Marathon.

By Lily Dougherty

Every fall, thousands of runners lace up for the Santa Barbara Half Marathon presented by HOKA, yet long before race day, a very different kind of creative process is already underway. Each year, Run Local, the events company behind the race, hands the reins to a local artist and asks a simple question: what does Santa Barbara mean to you?

This year’s answer comes from artist Solange Aguilar, who earned the event’s first Santa Barbara Half Art Prize in partnership with the Museum of Contemporary Art (MCASB). It’s the first time the event has partnered with the MCASB.

David Monico, Event Director for the Santa Barbara Half explains that the finisher medal and event shirt set the tone for the whole weekend. “We want the artist to apply their vision of Santa Barbara,” he says, “there is a shared premise with art and movement serving to push our mental and physical boundaries.”

Aguilar is the fourth artist to take on the project, following DJ Javier, Madi Manson, and local illustrator Daniel Sulzberg. Each year’s design is shaped entirely by the artist’s instincts. Last year, Sulzberg centered his piece on a sun mascot with an almost cosmic feel. This year, Aguilar turned to the California poppy and coastal kelp. The poppy became the design’s focal point and is the detail that sparked this year’s theme of a ‘superbloom of runners,’ evoking the wildflower blooms Santa Barbara is known for.

Behind the scenes, the race’s production choices reflect an emphasis on minimizing environmental impact. Monico points to the medal, the shirt, and everything used on race day itself as the three places sustainability is heavily considered.

Medals, he notes, are the easy part. They are recyclable regardless of whether recycled material is used. Ribbons are far harder to recycle, a challenge shared by nearly every race and even the Olympics. Shirts are where the real trade-off lives: most events use polyester “technical” shirts that, recycled content or not, tend to end up in landfills rather than back in the recycling stream. That’s why, for the past two years, Run Local has partnered with Known Supply to produce 100% organic cotton, fair-trade shirts for the Santa Barbara Half. Known Supply owns at least one of its own factories, and each shirt carries a scannable label so wearers can “meet the maker”—the actual person who sewed it. 

On race day itself, the team has moved away from disposable plastic water bottles at the Finish Line in favor of reusable aluminum bottles, and partners with local nonprofits on cleanup efforts—as Monico puts it, “Leaving Santa Barbara better than we got it.”

Run Local took over the Santa Barbara Half in 2021, after a gap of a couple of year’s, although there has been a Half Marathon dating back decades. Run Local also applies the same philosophy to its Oakland Marathon and San Jose Half Marathon: design events the local community genuinely loves first, and trust that visitors will follow. 

Their approach seems to be working. The race drew just under 2,000 participants in its first year back in 2021 and sold out at 7,500 last year. It’s now the largest running event on the Central Coast. Road capacity and hotel availability currently cap growth, though Monico expects the field to expand a bit this year. Down the line, Monico says they may split the race into two days—a Saturday 5K and kids’ run, then Sunday’s half.

The race has also raised close to $200,000 for local nonprofits, with a particular focus on youth sports through a partnership with the Santa Barbara Running Association (SBRA). Since 1948, the SBRA has been at the heart of our local running community, championing the joy of movement and the power of connection. Through premier races and special events, SBRA celebrates athletes of all levels—from first-time runners to seasoned elites—while fostering a culture of growth, achievement, and community spirit. In 2025, it launched the Island Foxes Youth Track & Field team which blossomed into a 130+ kid team for the 2026 season.

Unlike many races that begin and end along Cabrillo Blvd, the Santa Barbara Half sends runners under Highway 101 and onto State Street before finishing in the Funk Zone, intentionally routing thousands of participants straight into the neighborhood’s restaurants, tasting rooms, and coffee shops. “We’re bringing runners to celebrate right amongst our town’s businesses,” Monico says, noting spots like Figueroa Mountain Brewing, Validation Ale, Topa Topa, Dart Coffee and Helena Avenue Bakery, all open early to greet the crowd.

That local-first design hasn’t stopped the race from drawing a national and increasingly global field. Last year’s participants came from 47 states and 16 countries, and this year’s roster includes groups traveling from Brazil and Mexico. Even so, the event remains rooted close to home: 54% of participants come from Santa Barbara’s tri-county region.

Race week itself has grown into its own mini-festival, with daily community runs, an event with the Museum of Contemporary Art, and a HOKA Club House celebrating Run Crews in the Funk Zone on Sunday.

Aguilar’s full medal and shirt designs can be viewed on the event’s website (https://www.santabarbarahalf.com/art) and Instagram (@santabarbarahalf). Looking ahead, Run Local plans to open a formal artist application process starting in 2027, likely in the late winter or early spring, giving future artists more runway. 

For Monico, the appeal of the race comes down to the same thing that drew him to Santa Barbara in the first place. “It's our job to not mess that up,” he says. “As long as we are good stewards of Santa Barbara, people love it here.”