Zumba al Fresco on Oak Park’s New Dance Stage
Our Cardio Confidential Columnist Visits Iconic Santa Barbara Park for Aerobic Dance Class
Whether it’s the lengthening summer days or the latest COVID surge that has you itching to exercise outside again, Zumba classes in Santa Barbara’s iconic Oak Park present the perfect opportunity to get your groove on al fresco.
When I took the class for the first time in February, decades of patches had left the wooden surface of the nearly century-old dance stage uneven and full of gaps. Moving laterally, turning, and pivoting all felt rather perilous.
Originally built in 1926 on the occasion of a visit by Britain’s Prince George (great-great uncle of a certain prince who now resides in Montecito), the dance stage recently underwent a $100,000 renovation. According to Justin Van Mullem of Santa Barbara City Parks & Recreation, the project involved ripping up the old plywood, shoring up the supporting structure to promote drainage, having dancers vote on which top coat they thought best for the surface, and then applying enough TUFFLEX waterproofing to get 30 years of use from the new stage.
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