Santa Barbara Street Parade

In the early 1950’s, a tradition began to decorate State Street with 40 foot tall Douglas fir Christmas trees during the holidays. These trees actually lined the center divider lines of what used to be a four lane street. Sponsored then by the Retail Merchants Association, the Chamber of Commerce and the Parks and Recreation Department, the trees were officially dedicated and lit during the Children’s Christmas Parade by the Christmas Fairy. The Children’s Christmas Parade is now known as the Downtown Holiday Parade and is held annually, one week after Thanksgiving.

The parade, now in its 62nd year, has since evolved into Santa Barbara’s only nighttime street parade. After 31 years of Saturday morning debuts, the parade returned to the Friday evening tradition in 1998. This year’s tradition takes place on Friday, December 5th officially welcoming the holiday season downtown!

Zoella Takes A Break From YouTube?!

Zoe Sugg, aka Zoella, has announced that she is taking a few days away from the internet following confirmation that her bestselling novel was ghostwritten.

In a recent statement, her publisher Penguin told The Sunday Times,

“To be factually accurate, you would need to say Zoe Sugg did not write the book Girl Online on her own… As publishers our role is, and always has been, to find the very best talent and help them tell their story and connect them with readers… For her first novel, Girl Online, Zoe has worked with an expert editorial team to help her bring to life her characters and experiences in a heartwarming and compelling story.”

While it’s not uncommon for people who aren’t authors to use ghost writers, it can be disappointing to hear your favorite YouTube star didn’t actually write her book. The revelation provoked a debate over the use of ghostwriters and to what degree celebrities should acknowledge any help they may have received.

Because of all the heat that’s been coming her way, Zoella this morning posted some shocking tweets.

Bare with me on vlogmas. I'm taking a few days out and off the internet because it's clouding up my brain. Thanks for understanding ❤️
— Zoë (@ZozeeBo) December 8, 2014

This was tweeted within the same minute of a tweet from her boyfriend, Alfie Deyes.

Just to let you know :) Zoë and I are going to take a few days out of daily vlogging to have some time to our selves x
— Alfie Deyes (@PointlessBlog) December 8, 2014

We've both been so busy recently working on different things so a little break will do us good as we haven't spent proper time together x
— Alfie Deyes (@PointlessBlog) December 8, 2014

Thanks for understanding! <3
— Alfie Deyes (@PointlessBlog) December 8, 2014

Sugg, who suffers from anxiety, has taken breaks from her YouTube channel in past. Here she is talking about a previous incident:

Now while it’s not explicitly stated, it’s fair to assume this might be due to the ghost writing controversy. On Sunday, the 24-year-old uploaded this message to Twitter as a response to reports of her use of a ghostwriter.

This might answer some of your tweets! X pic.twitter.com/NCuC3VhxiG
— Zoë (@ZozeeBo) December 7, 2014

Author Siobhan Curham is believed to be one of those who helped Sugg write the bestselling novel after being named in the acknowledgements. On Sunday she was thanking people on Twitter who were offering their support.

@NicoleBurstein thank you so much - very much appreciated right now x
— Siobhan Curham (@SiobhanCurham) December 7, 2014

UPDATE

Sugg returned to Twitter on Monday evening to criticise coverage of her announcement about spending a few days offline.

Deyes also hit out at those suggesting he had quit YouTube.

The stuff press write about it literally ridiculous! I AM NOT QUITTING YOUTUBE. Yet again, twisting stuff to gain views. Sad.
— Zoë (@ZozeeBo) December 8, 2014

Having to turn off my comments as some of you love to make up rumours that I've 'quit' youtube... Im allowed a few days break if I want to x
— Alfie Deyes (@PointlessBlog) December 8, 2014