November 14, 2009 – January 17, 2010: Santa Barbara Contemporary Arts Forum presents Unusual Behavior, an exhibition that critically examines the unusual and absurd in art! Featuring 11 internationally acclaimed contemporary artists, this exhibition offers a diverse range of performances captured on video–such as Marie Losier’s musical, which stars ballerinas, boxers, and a drag queen; Julie Lequin’s humorous knock-off of NPR’s Car Talk characters Click and Clack; to Kalup Linzy’s outrageous, one-man rendition of a melodramatic “soap opera.” www.sbcaf.org
December 4: 57th Annual Downtown Holiday Parade lights up State Street with holiday cheer. www.santabarbaradowntown.com
December 4-6: Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History’s 23rd Annual Folk Tribal Arts Marketplace. www.sbnature.org
December 5: More snow, more sledding, and more fun this year at the Santa Barbara Zoo’s Sledding at the Zoo Snow Leopard Festival. www.sbzoo.org
December 6: The first annual Santa Barbara International Marathon starts 1 mile west of Camino Real Marketplace in Goleta and ends at Leadbetter Beach. www.sbmarathon.com
December 13: 24th Annual Harbor Parade of Lights including festive touches like carolers, Santa Claus and kids’ activities in Santa’s Village.
January 30-May 2: Delacroix to Monet: Masterpieces of 19th-Century Painting from the Walters Art Museum at the Santa Barbara Museum of Art. www.smba.net
February 4-14: The Santa Barbara International Film Festival rolls out the red carpet for its 25th year. www.sbiff.org
(Update: Colin Firth to be honored at 2010 Santa Barbara Film Festival. Click here
March 12-14: As seen in the film Adaptation, commercial and amateur orchid growers from the US and around the world will display thousands of their most perfect orchids at the 65th annual Santa Barbara International Orchid Show. www.sborchidshow.com