Local Take: Strangely enough, this has been an ongoing seasonal repeating event, yet beyond locals,…read morefew seem to be aware of it...much as most non-Latinx do not know the wonders of the Nipomo Swap Meet on weekends. Of course, given the huge Mexican & Mesoamerican presence in Santa Maria, as well as in general SLO or Santa Barbara Counties, you would kind of expect events that non-Latinx may miss. It is their loss, since many of these events are quite wonderful & you can find foods, veggies, fruits, and more that you cannot find anywhere else, not even in most Latinx Markets....such as an edible purple flower with leaves that taste like spinach. Even after a Google search I still have no idea of what it really is, but it tastes great!
In any case, this seasonal event is noted on this Santa Maria website, which has the year wrong....but is otherwise informative :
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https://santamariavalley.com/events/santa-maria-downtown-fridays/
"Santa Maria Downtown Fridays
MARCH 30, 2018 @ 5:30 PM - SEPTEMBER 28, 2018 @ 8:30 PM
March 30, 2018 @ 5:30 pm - September 28, 2018 @ 8:30 pm
Town Center West
Corner of Main St. & Broadway
Santa Maria,CA93458United States
Santa Maria Downtown Fridays
Downtown Fridays is the place to be for families, fun, and community camaraderie. The weekly event features a certified farmer's market, live music, food booths, food trucks, kids' activities, and a beer and wine tent.
Every Friday starting on March 30th until September 28th, Santa Maria will be having Downtown Fridays! Each week will feature a different band as well as plenty of food and fun for everyone.
When: Every Friday from March 20th - September 28th @5:30pm - 8:30pm
Where: Town Center West
Santa Maria, CA "
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It takes place just across the street from the main indoor mall on the corners of Main & Broadway. There is a pedestrian bridge connecting the indoor mall with this outdoor older mall. We randomly lucked upon this event by stopping by to get something from this mall's Rite Aid, which is one of several interesting stores in this older strip mall.
The city's description is a bit dated, so here is what we did see this past friday night. There was a big grand stand for live music and close to it were at least a dozen food trucks and even a few free standing food tents. The food trucks were standard, but the Oaxacan Food Trucks offer some Mesoamerican food which not too many know about. Mesoamericans [some of which were contemporary with Aztecs & their former rivals], are ethnically, culturally, & linguistically rather distinct from each other and from Mexicans as a whole. The predominate group in California is called Mixteca and relatively little is known about the numbers of this group, the culture, their health needs, & more. They and other Mesoamericans are mostly a "hidden people" in the farming & vineyard landscape of much of California. While quite a few also speak Spanish, they mainly speak one of many hundreds, if not thousands of other languages or dialects. Consider them to be a very hard working underserved group, hidden within another bigger underserved group.
Other than food, there was a fair number of Swap Meet type tents with all kinds of things for sale including leather boots of all things. There was a tent giving haircuts, a tent for the police department, a tent for Hankock College, and quite a few more. As far as Farmer Product Tents, there was only a few, so calling this a Farmers Market is not quite accurate.
Of course, like the Nipomo Swap Meet, this is a fascinating cultural experience, and you feel kind of transported to what can seem like another far-off land in another country.
It is yet another example of what the Central Coast of CA has to offer those who wish to really explore the area.
If you do miss this seasonal event, I would recommend going to the Nipomo Swap Meet instead. We also have periodic SLO County Mobile Vaccine Clinics for now. Please check out the website for the times and location of this and other mobile or fixed clinics [ https://www.recoverslo.org/en/when-and-where-can-you-get-vaccinated.aspx ].