Local Heroes 2020

When David Bowie sang, “We can be heroes,” he was telling the truth.

On each Thanksgiving since our first issue was published in 1986, the Santa Barbara Independent has sought to honor the Local Heroes among us. People who go about their daily lives acting in ways that help make our community whole.

This year, in the hundreds of names our readers nominated, one theme dominated all the others, and that was the COVID-19 pandemic, the ongoing crisis we are living with every day.