Santa Barbara County tried to shut down Deltopia parties. Crowds and arrests at Isla Vista spiked anyway

Isla Vista’s massive weekend-long Deltopia party, which draws thousands of local college students to raucous street parties near the beach, returned this year to a surge of arrests and citations, according to the Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Office.

The parties stretched from Friday to Sunday, despite a move by the county to close Isla Vista beaches with the sheriff’s office shutting down several roads in an attempt to put a stop to Deltopia.

More than 150 people were issued citations, while 23 people were arrested during the unsanctioned UC Santa Barbara parties, according to officials. The number of people in attendance was “significantly higher” than Deltopia 2022, the sheriff said. By Saturday, about 20 people had been hospitalized, mostly for “alcohol-related” issues, according to the sheriff’s office.

The number of arrests and citations ballooned from 2022 as well, with nearly five times as many citations this year compared to last, when just 34 people were cited. In 2022, only four people were arrested.

The party seems to be growing year to year following the pandemic, with authorities saying last year that the number of people in attendance was larger than in 2021.

The sheriff’s office reminded residents before the weekend that possessing an open container of alcohol in public is prohibited, but also said that those who committed minor infractions would be filtered into the county’s “restorative justice” program and required to attend a two-hour presentation on safety in Isla Vista.

People in the program will also be required to perform an hour of community service, the sheriff’s office said.

The arrests and citations did not come close to the mayhem in 2014, when revelers and police clashed in the streets leading to more 100 arrests and dozens of injuries.