GOINGS ON / SANTA BARBARA : The Longest Day : From sunrise to sunset, Santa Barbara celebrates summer solstice, midsummer festival and a light opera marriage.

In honor of the longest day of the year, Santa Barbara will celebrate all day long on Saturday during the Summer Solstice Celebration, the largest one-day event in the tri-counties of Ventura, Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo.

Through the centuries, summer solstice has always been a significant day for followers of primal belief systems. But 18 years ago, Santa Barbara embraced this day as a nondenominational, cross-cultural symbol of summer, fun, creativity, friendship, sunshine and everything else the beach side town stands for.

And in this spirit of Santa Barbara philosophy and lifestyle, an Adam and Eve of diverse heritages are preparing for Summer Solstice by working on their tans.

BJ Johns and Wendy Nishikawa will represent Adam and Eve in the parade, which kicks off the daylong celebration. Clad in fig leaves, this iron-pumping duo will parade down State Street tugging on the chains that bind them to a tree laden with cigarettes, booze, a television set and other temptations.

Michelangelo never pictured the Garden of Eden quite like this. But when artist Denise Woolery started thinking about the theme for this year’s celebration, which is “Garden of the Absurd,” her imagination took her to the creation of Adam and Eve and the Garden of Addictions. Some of the other parade ensembles are: What’s a Garden Without Snails?, Heard it on the Grapevine, Pots & Pansies, and Dandy Lions. Through the years, the parade has kept true to its non-commercial, artistic roots. Therefore, no written words or logos are allowed on the floats or the participants. Also, no motors or animals are allowed. It’s a people-powered event with an emphasis on movement and dance.

The parade begins at noon on the 500 block of State Street and will lead the way to Alameda Park where the celebration will continue with a festival featuring music, food and dancing.

The day will end with a performance at the County Courthouse Sunken Gardens at 7 p.m. Created by Randy Tico and Celeste Wiedmann, the evening event will feature about 100 people performing music and dance from around the world. A slide show of pictures taken during the day’s celebration will be projected on a screen. And there will be a play by the fifth-grade class of Waldorf School.

“There will be no breaks between the songs because we want the music to be like a torch that we pass on without letting the flame go out,” said Tico, who composed most of the music specifically for this event and who will perform on electric bass. “The nonstop music is like the ‘throughline’ connecting everything from classical to Middle Eastern music to swing to Brazilian drumming.

“The Summer Solstice is such a special event because the longest day of the year happens all over the world no matter what culture or what religion you are. It’s like a whole-earth anniversary of life. And I think that recognizing and celebrating it represents what’s going on in the planet right now. We’re trying to find those archetypal things we all share, like community involvement, art, music and dance, instead of trying to separate ourselves.”

All events are free. 965-3396.

After Saturday’s multicultural celebration, Santa Barbara will turn Scandinavian on Sunday. The Scandinavian Midsummer Festival will feature the decoration and raising of a Maypole plus ethnic music, food and dance. There will also be spinning, weaving, decorative woodcraft demonstrations and Scandinavian imports for sale. The festival is from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. at Grace Lutheran Church, 3869 State Street. Admission is free. 687-2628.

In a powerful example of life imitating art, two members of the Santa Barbara Civic Light Opera’s “Fiddler on the Roof” wed on stage Sunday on the closing day of the play.

The ceremony took place under the canopy used in the famous wedding scene while family, friends and the cast members, who all remained in costume, witnessed the event. The minister, husband of an opera performer, was assisted by Albert J. Lipson, who played the Rabbi in the production.

After the rites, the cast serenaded groom Steve Turner and bride Nancy Mathison with, what else, “Sunrise, Sunset.”

Turner, who was in the chorus, and Mathison, the company’s principal clarinetist, noticed one another during the final week of dress rehearsal. Six weeks ago, they met at the opening night cast party. And now they’re on a honeymoon cruise to Mexico.