Reclaiming the Heart of Santa Barbara: The Earl Warren Showgrounds, Reimagined

CONCEPTUAL LAYOUT & MASSING: Illustrative Axonometric Rendering of Potential Site Layout and Structures

For generations, the Earl Warren Showgrounds has held the pulse of Santa Barbara; rodeos beneath summer skies, school band concerts echoing across halls, and families returning year after year for fairs, festivals, and quiet moments of connection.

Over time, the rhythm slowed. As time does, facilities aged, community needs shifted, and this once-central gathering place craved for increasing its place as being central to daily life.

What remained, however, was the belief: this place still matters.

That belief turned into action. Educators, equestrians, cultural leaders, and neighbors came together, not just to preserve a site, but to reclaim its role as the living heart of Santa Barbara.

Enlarged Illustrative Plan of the Transformed EWS Community Campus

The question was never, "What can this place hold?" but "Who can this place hold?". And the answer was clear: everyone.

With MKThink, the community shaped a Master Plan that reimagines the 33.9-acre site as a flexible, future-ready campus, one that celebrates tradition while meeting modern needs.

Imagine a typical week at the Showgrounds. On Saturday morning, youth soccer teams take the field while families gather nearby to cheer them on. That evening, neighbors came together for a wedding celebration in a flexible community hall. The next day, the plaza fills with the aromas of a food festival, while emergency coordination quietly remains on standby in resilient staging zones. Later in the week, schoolchildren run laughing through agricultural education gardens, chasing chickens and learning where food comes from.

ACTIVITY USE: A dynamic mix of health, recreation, and events activates the site year-round.

This is not a dream. It’s a future designed to welcome everyone.

The transformation is more than symbolic. It’s measurable through in-depth analysis:

- 3.5× growth in annual use hours (27,700 vs. 7,800 today).

- 11 adaptable facility types to host everything from concerts to emergency operations.

- A phased, incremental roadmap to balance ambition with sustainability.

SITE UTILIZATION POTENTIAL: People-In-Use-Hours is a composite measure that accounts for the number of people occupying a space, the duration of use, and the area being utilized.

This is equity, resilience, and cultural vitality, made tangible.

As Steering Committee Chair Caroline Powers put it: “This place has always had potential. Now, it’s becoming something we can all shape, together.”

The Showgrounds is no longer just a venue. It is a campus for health, culture, readiness, and joy, where every square foot is designed to welcome, serve, and adapt, showing actual signs of what we call a Healthy Place.

When future generations walk through its gates, they won’t just be stepping into an event space. They’ll be stepping into a shared story of care, culture, and community.

The Earl Warren Showgrounds reminds us that spaces can be reborn when guided by community voice, clear vision, and thoughtful design. With the right framework, even long-standing places can grow into future-ready, resilient, and inclusive campuses.

Because when place aligns with people, it becomes more than infrastructure. It becomes identity.

Visit the EWS Master Planning Process here to learn directly from the showgrounds and access the proposed master plan.

Spaces hold stories shaped by the community woven in them.

What stories do you want your spaces to carry forward?

If you are thinking of reimagining your space and bringing the collective identity forward, we invite you to reach out and explore it together.