Get to fixin’
Five Cities Repair Café’s next event is scheduled for Feb. 21 at Grover City Grange—located at 370 S. 13th St. in Grover Beach—from 1 to 4:30 p.m. Visit repaircafe5cities.org for more information. Email fivecitiesrepaircafe@gmail.com to inquire about volunteer opportunities.
A loose screw. A disconnected wire. A ripped seam.
Sometimes all it takes to use an item for another decade is a little bit of collaboration, expertise, and elbow grease—the very reason repair cafés exist.
When Linda Busek lived in the Bay Area, she discovered the local repair café in Palo Alto. It was the very first location that popped up in the U.S. after the concept originated in Amsterdam in 2009.
To keep items out of the landfills, volunteers help residents fix small appliances and household goods free of charge. There are more than 3,800 repair cafés worldwide.
“There’s great energy at these events, people meeting their neighbors and learning new stuff and just having a good time,” Busek said.
One of her early memories at the Palo Alto gathering is bringing in her harvest gold Hamilton Beach blender. It was more than 20 years old. Volunteers disassembled it, determining Busek needed a small part, but they didn’t have it on hand. Instead, they showed her how to order it online (for just $5) and where to install it in the blender.
“I felt absolutely so accomplished because I was able to repair it myself once that little part came in,” Busek said.
She wanted to re-create the magic on the Central Coast and has been a lead organizer of the Five Cities Repair Café since 2019. Between 125 to 150 people attend each event, hosted by around 40 volunteers. The repair rate sits right around 80 percent.
Five Cities Repair Café hosts events once a quarter. People often leave with fixed lamps, vacuums, electronics, bicycles, and clothing. The general rule of thumb is if someone can carry an item inside, the “fixers” will look at it, Busek said.
Many fixers specialize in one area, like the volunteers from the Cal Poly Radio Club who can tackle anything in the technology realm. Other volunteers set up and take down the events and engage with people while they’re waiting for a fixer.
“We don’t advertise that it’s a community builder, but it is,” Busek said. “While people are waiting for their pairing up with a fixer, we have puzzles and games that they can play. … We provide a seating area, and they have a chance to talk to other folks and kind of make a connection too.”
Busek would like to help start more repair cafés on the Central Coast. She said there’s also a thorough manual from the “mothership” in Amsterdam about how to kick-start one.
“We just want to make it so that volunteers have a good experience and they meet people that are like-minded, that are caring and community oriented,” Busek said. “We can make a difference in our communities by fixing stuff and keeping repairable items out of the landfill.”
Highlights:
• Starting on Jan. 9, the Los Alamos library branch is extending its hours. Except for being closed on Saturdays and Sundays, it’ll be open daily from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. The library will host a new story time for ages 3 to 5 on Fridays at 10:30 a.m. focused on literacy skills and school readiness. The branch is located at 405 Helena St. in Los Alamos.
• The city of Santa Maria recently released a new episode of the video series, Santa Maria Today. The December 2025 episode features the Christmas tree lighting ceremony, the city’s light decoration contest, and a message from the Utilities Department about tree pickup in January. The episode is available in Spanish and English on the city’s YouTube channel and on cityofsantamaria.org/tv.
Reach Staff Writer Madison White at mwhite@santamariasun.com.
This article appears in January 8 – January 15, 2026.