Santa Maria Sun

For decades, New Times Media Group has asked local photographers to send their best shots our way as part of the annual Winning Images contest. This year, our judges sifted through 374 images to narrow them down to the top three in eight categories.

Winning Images 2026 - Santa Maria Sun For decades, New Times Media Group has asked local photographers to send their best shots our way as part of the annual Winning Images contest. Covering categories from Animals and Landscape/Seascape to In Motion and People, the images capture the beauty and strangeness across the Central Coast and....

Gayraoke is one of Santa Ynez Valley Pride’s staple community activities throughout June.

The Maverick Saloon hosts Pride-themed karaoke nights for the fifth year in a row - Santa Maria Sun Calling all singersPut yourself out there at the Maverick Saloon during gayraoke on Tuesday nights in June at 8 p.m. located at 3687 Sagunto St. in Santa Ynez. Follow karaoke DJ Sam Silva on Instagram . For more information about Santa Ynez Valley Pride activities, visit syvpride.org o...

Visit Lobo Butcher Shop in Roy’s Liquor and Market at 770 Guadalupe St. in Guadalupe.

A Guadalupe butcher cuts up quality meats for barbecuers on the Central Coast - Santa Maria Sun Ernesto Valle used to be known as the guy who cuts meat in the middle of nowhere. He opened Lobo Butcher Shop in Guadalupe four and a half years ago when the economy was still hurting from the pandemic. “For a couple months, I thought I was going to shut down in my first year,” […]

Director Alexandria Corn and many former dancers in the Pacific Legends felt a hole in their lives when the group disbanded during the pandemic. Corn took charge in 2025, starting to teach Polynesian dance classes and schedule community performances.

With help from her mentor, a Lompoc native reunites the Polynesian dance group she grew up performing in - Santa Maria Sun Michelle Lujan looks back at her wedding day with bittersweetness because although she didn’t know it at the time, the December day in 2019 was the last time the Pacific Legends danced before the pandemic exploded. “To me, that’s like the marker of when it ended, but we had no idea,” Lujan t...