"The work looks absolutely stunning, especially considering everything was done by hand!" That was the Los Padres Forest Association talking about Old Romero Road, as quoted by the Montecito Journal at the end of September. All of August, the association's trail crew, the Montecito Trails Foundation and the Santa Barbara Ranger District worked on the old road, brushing back growth and clearing slides. According to the association, some of it happened in triple-digit heat on south-facing slopes.
Old Romero had been closed since the early 2023 storms. Now it's open, and it sets the tone for the rest of the fall in Montecito. Through the end of November, the plans most worth making all depend on someone local doing the work. A crew rebuilt a trail by hand, six district teams will clean the path to Hammonds Beach on November 7, and the heirloom pumpkin patch at the Country Mart runs on the honor system. The calendar below follows that thread from the canyon down to the beach.
What reopened in September, and what's still closed
In a September 19 post, the Los Padres Forest Association said several Santa Barbara Ranger District trails had reopened "earlier this week" under a new forest closure order. They had been closed since the early 2023 storms. The list was Old Romero Road, Franklin Trail, Arroyo Burro Trail, Matias Connector Trail and North Tunnel Trail, more than 15 miles of trail across the Santa Barbara front country and mid-country. The association specifically thanked the Montecito Trails Foundation for supporting the work and handling the process.
The new Forest Service order took effect September 16, 2026, and runs through September 15, 2027. It doesn't list Old Romero Road among the closed trails. It still closes these segments:
- Franklin Trail, the backside section
- The Matias Potrero connector segment to Arroyo Burro Road
- Aliso Loop
- Santa Cruz Trail from 19 Oaks to the Guard Station
- Tunnel Trail from the Matias Potrero junction to Santa Ynez River Road
So "Franklin reopened" and "Franklin Backside closed" can both be true. They describe different segments. The Forest Service alert page carries the current order, and it's the reference to check before a long day out.
On Old Romero itself, the Montecito Trails Foundation describes the Romero Canyon route as roughly seven miles up to East Camino Cielo, restored in 2026. Above mile four it's built to a minimal standard, and the foundation calls the tread narrow, rough and in places indistinct. The lower miles suit a weekday morning. The upper miles are a full day and call for steady footing.
The same model, closer to the water
The work on Old Romero came from a mix of a nonprofit crew, a local trails foundation and a federal ranger district. The Hammonds Beach Trail at the other end of Montecito has long depended on a similar mix. Channel Islands Restoration describes Hammonds Meadow as a 2.96-acre Chumash heritage site in the Sea Meadow community, between Eucalyptus Lane and Channel Drive, next to a public beach. Santa Barbara County owns it, and the County Community Services Parks Division manages it. In 2020, the Montecito Journal reported that care of the trail was shared among neighboring homeowners, County Parks and Recreation, and the Montecito Fire Department. Sea Meadow emptied the trash cans, and adjacent homeowners took care of graffiti.
On Saturday, November 7, the whole village takes a turn. At this year's Beautification Day, the Montecito Association is running a special cleanup and improvement project along the Hammonds Beach Trail.
How Beautification Day is built this year
This year, Montecito's six districts will compete to see which one collects the most litter. A Montecito Association board captain leads each district team, and volunteers join the team for their own neighborhood. The association's site has a link for finding out which district you're in.
Here's how the day runs:
- Check-in starts at 9 a.m. in the Upper Village, in front of Tecolote Book Shop. Volunteers working the Hammonds project check in there too.
- Teams spread out across the community to pick up trash.
- Everyone comes back to the Upper Village for awards, a hot dog and chili lunch cooked by the Montecito Firefighters, and live music.
Sponsorships cover cleanup supplies, volunteer activities and the Citizen of the Year celebration. Every sponsor's name goes on the official Beautification Day T-shirts handed out to volunteers.
The poster deadline comes first
Before the cleanup itself, there's a deadline on Wednesday, October 28. Children are invited to make an original poster on this year's theme, "Our Village, Our Home." Posters should be 11 by 14 inches and delivered to the Montecito Association office by the 28th. They'll hang in local shop windows the week before November 7. Questions go to [email protected] or 805-969-2026.
That leaves about six days from publication to finish a poster. The Country Mart's Friday movie nights fall in the same window.
Fridays and the end of October at the Country Mart
The Montecito Country Mart has two Friday movie nights left this month in the center courtyard, both free and both at 6 p.m., according to the Montecito Journal. Finding Dory plays on October 23 and Coco on October 30. The Mart's listings mention popcorn and a Rori's offer that turns a single scoop into a double. The dates are on the Mart's events page.
The Mart's annual heirloom pumpkin patch runs on the honor system through October 31.
Halloween as a relay
October 31 falls on a Saturday this year, and two Montecito events are scheduled back to back. Moving from one to the other takes up the whole afternoon.
11 a.m., Montecito Country Mart. The Halloween Spectacular opens with a costume contest at the Trading Post. Trick-or-treating continues through the center until 2 p.m.
3 to 6 p.m., Coast Village Road. The Coast Village Association's Ghost Village Road and Great Pumpkin Challenge invites costumed families and holds a pumpkin-weight guessing contest outside Renaud's.
There's an hour between the two, enough for lunch and a costume repair. A week later, the posters from the October 28 deadline will be up in shop windows, and the same streets turn into Beautification Day routes.
After the cleanup, a quieter garden
Lotusland's Holiday Garden Walks are on Wednesday, November 25, and Saturday, November 28, from 9:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. at the Cold Spring Road garden. Each visit includes a garden walk and holiday shopping at the Garden Shop. These are members-only events, and members may bring guests. Lotusland says its 2026 public tour season is sold out, so a member's invitation is the way in this year.
Those two days close out a stretch that began in mid-September, when a hand-built trail reopened above the village. In between come movie nights, Halloween, a district litter challenge, firefighters cooking chili in the Upper Village, and a cleanup of the path to Hammonds.
At Hitchcock & Associates, we spend our weekends in the same canyons and on the same Upper Village sidewalks. When the season has you wondering what your own corner of Montecito is worth, request a complimentary home valuation and we'll walk you through it with the same local detail.
