"Michael had come to Santa Barbara after graduating from Oxnard High School in 1969. Until Oxnard, his family had moved repeatedly, following his father's obligations in the army. But in Santa Barbara, Michael found a home, eventually settling into a second floor studio overlooking the corner of State and Ortega. The Fithian Building, then known as the Park Theater, once provided affordable space where artists lived and worked.
Those residents, including Michael, formed the dynamic core of a thriving creative community in the Santa Barbara of the 1970's and early 1980's. Michael, largely a self-taught performance and visual artist, had natural gifts for drawing and performance, and developed simultaneously as a movement artist and painter. Talented and affecting as a mime he became a familiar feature on State Street where he performed with his hat on the sidwalk for donations. what other money he earned came from his art work.
As his skill as a painter advanced, he expanded into poster design, album cover work (Kenny Loggins 'Vox Humana', installations at the Santa Barbara Museum of Art and later set painting in Los Angeles. Michael taught theater and art classes for The children's Creative Project in Santa Barbara city schools, and he taught movement for actors at UCSB and at the Mark Taper Forum in Los Angeles, where he assisted Jack Lemmon, Estelle Parsons and Polly Holliday in preparing for a production. Aside from the hundreds of paintings and drawings Michael left behind, he is best known as the creator of the Summer Solstice Parade here in Santa Barbara."
On May 1, 1974, Michael and two friends paraded up State Street sidewalks in costume to celebrate his May Day birthday. IN subsequent years their parade moved to June to join with a Summer Solstice Music Festival coordinated by friend Michael Felcher in celebration of the longest day of the year. Felcher and Gonzales' group, Santa Barbara Mime & Music Theater was instrumental in developing the original Parade and Festival. The Mime Caravan, a private, non-profit theater company, turned the Celebration over to a community based Board of Directors in 1983.
Other aspects in the development of the Festival include Michael Felcher's grants from the Santa Barbara Museum of Art for music and festivals. Gary Sampson of the Neighborhood Arts Project taught Parade organizers about grants and fundraising. And there was Noel Young, publisher of Capra Press; he and other connected Gonzales to the Mountain Drive crowd and their yearly Bacchanal Festival. Smaller groups like the Knoll's Fellini Party, an annual costume event in Mission canyon, The Drum Circle gathering on the beach and many other enclaves had been celebrating and dressing up for years before gonzales first paraded up the street. but Michael was the striking point, the one who had the vision of a parade. He worked fervently to build this event as a reflection of the community. His efforts continue to inspire the artists and everyone involved to feel they are part of the spirt that created it and the backbone that sustains it.
Michael died in May 1989 from the consequences of AIDS. That June, a Maypole festooned with ribbons held high by his dancing friends led the Parade, Michael's ashes stowed in its heart."
Compiled by Ron Alexander, Tim Healy & Jenny Sullivan - April 2008
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