Cover Story
Big box beltway: Santa Maria celebrates Enos Ranch as a revenue and retail attractor, while some locals question the city’s development priorities
Acres of asphalt cover what used be rows of cauliflower and strawberry fields along Santa Maria’s Betteravia Road. The Enos Ranch development shot up quickly just off Highway 101 last year, raising steel beams and vaulted white walls in a matter of months. But the towering cranes and churning cement mixers are mostly gone, and…
MUSIC: Tales from the Tavern concert series expands to include the all-day Ya Ya Festival
More than a decade ago, siblings Ron and Carole Ann Colone decided to start a concert series in Santa Ynez Valley, a place where they say live music was sorely lacking at the time. The music-going community of the valley and the greater Central Coast was waiting for it, they said. The very first…
Competitive eater Raina Huang takes on the Santa Ynez Valley
How much of your favorite food do you think you could eat during one sitting? If you’re a fan of competitive eating, a popular event that’s gained steam over the years, you might have a chance to put your skills to the test. From Sept. 15 through 18, Raina Huang, a rising YouTube star in…
Mary Kay West’s work pays homage to classical realism
If you’re looking for broad, long-winded conversations about symbolism or complex theory behind works of art, don’t ask Mary Kay West. West, a skilled classical realist painter, prefers to keep it simple when discussing her art. “Honestly, I don’t intellectually analyze my work,” she said. “That’s not the way I do it. I just love,…
Local artists use acrylic pour painting process to create work
Paint has a mind of its own. Artists know this frustrating truth about the medium all too well. Sometimes it’s hard to blend; sometimes it decides to dry into a different color. It’s a sneaky element of the artistic process. But for some artists who specialize in a technique called acrylic pour or paint pour,…
Book sale to benefit Santa Maria Public Library
The Friends of the Santa Maria Public Library will hold a book sale to raise money for the library from Sept. 21 through 22 in the library’s Shepard Hall. A variety of books on topics including history, art, religion, science, and more will be for sale ranging in price from $1 to $5. Greeting cards…
Oceano’s Melodrama to present Scary Poppins
The Great American Melodrama is set to present Scary Poppins, a musical spoof recounting the story of Jack and Jill Peabody and their nanny, Mary Poppins’ twin sister, Scary. Jack and Jill (played by Ben Abbott and Annali Fuchs-Wackowski, respectively), live with their widowed father in London. Professor Peabody (Jeff Salsbury), an inventor who spends…
Local artisans sought for Guadalupe Makers Market
Local nonprofit Peoples’ Self-Help Housing is seeking crafters and artists for the first ever Makers Market in Guadalupe on Oct. 20. Peoples’ Self-Help Housing is looking for vendors for photography, fine art, pottery, clothing, jewelry, decor, and food. Priority will be given to those artists who live, work, or attend/attended school in Guadalupe or have…
Fact checking Justin Ruhge
I am responding to the letter “Too much Kool-Aid” (Aug. 16) by Justin Ruhge. There seems to be a pattern to his frequent letters and this one is no exception. First, he insults the person who wrote the commentary he is responding to (Ken McCalip’s “Misdeeds in La-La Land,” Aug. 9) and then proceeds to…
No excuse for Trump
Some opinions regarding politics or politicians in general never change among many individuals, even in view of the behavior of those politicians and their policies. Such is the case of a recent letter in the Sun’s Aug. 16 Opinion section (“Too much Kool-Aid”) that still attempts to give some credit to the erratic performance of…
The public good and oil profits
Recent letters and articles in local papers have promoted more oil development over and through the Santa Maria groundwater basin. Who will profit and who will be hurt by these new high-pressure intrusions through our diminishing drinking water aquifers? Aera Energy and ERG Resources, two oil companies, have recently been flooding the media with promises…
Veterans deserve better
The late Sen. John McCain will be remembered for his integrity, most notably demonstrated by his penchant for straight talk. There was a great irony locally when Bruce Porter wrote a column in the Sept. 2 Santa Barbara News-Press, simultaneously praising Sen. McCain’s integrity while contorting the truth and assailing 3rd District County Supervisor Joan…
Boycott In-N-Out, really?
California Democratic Party Chairman Eric Bauman is calling for a boycott of In-N-Out because they donated $25,000 to the Republican party. What has California come to? I know that California is a Democratic “controlled” state, but to boycott a company because they donated a modest donation (for a national company) to an opposing party is…
Blame game
Let’s play a game. Here are the rules: Pick whatever it is that bothers you about a community, and blame it on something you hate! It seems like a lot of Central Coasters are playing that game right now. You don’t have to look much farther than the pages of the Sun to see what…
Chase Artopoeus
The St. Joseph Knights were down 24-30. Only seconds remained. But in his typical fashion, quarterback Chase Artopoeus (pictured, No. 9) remained calm and helped his team gain 82 yards in less than 50 seconds. The Knights beat out Bakersfield Garces Memorial High School with a tie-breaking kick on Aug. 31, and head football coach…
California universities may be required to offer abortion medications
Each month, roughly 519 UC or CSU students seek medication abortions at off-campus clinics. And since 2000, more than 1.5 million women in the United States have terminated pregnancies through the use of abortion medication. That’s all according to a fact sheet released by the office of state Sen. Connie Leyva (D-Chino), the author of…
Spotlight on: The Terroir Project
Local beer lovers will have a chance to taste seven different one-off beers on Sept. 29 at West Ranch in Los Olivos as part of Firestone Walker’s Terroir Project, led by its craft Buellton location, Barrelworks. The event, which runs from noon to 4 p.m., will feature beers created from a recipe that draws both…
Panelists debate necessity of increased public safety sales tax at community forum
Things got heated–and a little off-topic–at a recent debate on the city’s proposed sales tax increase. At the forum, which was hosted on Sept. 6 by the League of Women Voters of Santa Maria Valley, panelists debated the benefits and costs of Measure U2018, a ballot measure that, if approved, would increase the city’s sales…
Library and city staff celebrate Library Shop’s reopening
Roughly 15 community members were all smiles at the Santa Maria Public Library’s grand reopening of its used bookstore on Sept. 11. The bookstore, which recently changed management amid controversy, is stocked with roughly 2,500 donated or discarded books, DVDs, magazines, encyclopedias, and art, according to Mary Housel, director of the Santa Maria Public Library.…
YMCA to take over GenSpan programs in October
After struggling to find volunteers, the GenSpan Foundation recently announced plans to dissolve its operations by the end of this month. GenSpan, a nonprofit that has provided social and educational programs in schools throughout Santa Maria since 2001, will continue many of its most popular programs through the Santa Maria Valley YMCA, according to GenSpan…
Santa Barbara County Supervisors declare ‘shelter crisis’ to secure funding
Millions of dollars in state funding will be injected into Santa Barbara County over the next two years to combat homelessness. The county will receive nearly $10 million from the state following a unanimous decision by the Board of Supervisors on Sept. 11 to declare a “shelter crisis.” The Homeless Emergency Aid Program will bring…
Jackson and Limón speak out against BLM plans for drilling and fracking
A pair of Central Coast state legislators took aim at the fossil fuels industry and the Trump administration by voicing their opposition to a plan that would open California federal lands to oil drilling and fracking. On Sept. 7, Sen. Hannah-Beth Jackson (D-Santa Barbara) and Assemblymember Monique Limón (D-Santa Barbara) sent a letter to…
