NEWS BRIEFS

tels. Businesses will receive two warnings and then will be issued violations with citations.

Fifth Annual NatureTrack Film Festival Scheduled for October

The dates have been announced for the fifth annual NatureTrack Film Festival (NTFF), a festival curated with a focus on nature and outdoor-related films.

This year the festival returns Oct. 6-8 with new co-directors, addition of a development director to the team, and a new location — Metropolitan’s Fairview Theatre in Goleta.

With the tagline "Igniting Passion for Nature Through Film," The program will include both feature-length and short films in a wide variety of genres and subjects including documentary, narrative, animation, experimental, conservation, outdoors adventure, student films, and more.

Sue Eisaguirre, founder and executive director of NatureTrack Foundation, announced the festival dates on Feb. 22. In addition to the three-day festival in Goleta, NTFF will screen the award-winning films in Los Olivos, where the festival all began, for a "Best of the Fest" one-day event the following weekend. Location for this event will be announced soon.

Leading the emerging film festival are the new Festival Directors, Mitchka Saberi and Francisco Lopez, and new Development Director Gareth Kelly.

Film submissions are open now on filmfreeway.com. The early deadline for submissions was March 5, and submissions will stay open until the last deadline of June 30th.

Clean Air Express Schedule Started on March 1; Early Trip Restored

Good news for Clean Air Express starting March 1. Thanks to feedback from customers, an early trip between Santa Maria, Buellton, and downtown Santa Barbara will be restored. The new trip arrives downtown Santa Barbara before 7 a.m. and departs just after 4 p.m.

Additionally, pickup times for Santa Maria/Buellton routes serving Santa Barbara and Goleta will be adjusted to improve on-time performance.

Customers are strongly encouraged to visit www.cleanairexpress.com to view the new schedule and March 1 service adjustments.

Isabella Escobedo of Santa Ynez Makes Dean's List at Emerson College for Fall 2022

BOSTON — Emerson College student

Isabella Escobedo of Santa Ynez earned Dean's List honors for the fall 2022 semester.

The requirement to make Dean's List is a grade point average of 3.7 or higher for that semester.

Escobedo is majoring in media arts production and is a member of the Class of 2023.

Emerson College is a private school based in Boston. The College has approximately 4,161 undergraduates and 554 graduate students from across the United States and nearly 70 countries. For more information, visit emerson.edu.

Santa Maria Strawberry Festival Seeks Vendors

SANTA MARIA – Plans for the Santa Maria Valley Strawberry Festival are underway, and is seeking vendors for the event on April 28-30. If you are a vendor, a performer, or an artist then be sure to mark your calendars.

The Santa Maria Valley Strawberry Festival is a celebration of Santa Barbara County’s number one commodity. Attendees can expect the traditional favorites including carnival rides, strawberry tasting, and the children’s coloring contest. The festival is welcoming all businesses, big and small, to share their goods and services with an audience of tens of thousands of shoppers. The Center Stage is an opportunity to shine like a star. Performances are scheduled from noon until 10 p.m. daily. If you sing, dance, juggle, or can make a rabbit appear out of a hat be sure to fill out a performance application.

A new addition to this year’s Strawberry Festival is a Chalk Festival! The Fairpark is