Welcome to the City of Santa Maria, on California's beautiful Central Coast.

Known for our world famous Santa Maria style tri-tip barbecue, succulent strawberries and world-class wine country, we're also an "All-America City" where traditional America blends with cultural diversity.

Each year, Santa Maria hosts the famous Elks Rodeo and Parade, welcomes thousands of people to the Santa Barbara County Fair, and entertains families at summer concerts in the park. Sample our delicious red fruit at the popular strawberry festival in April and celebrate the agricultural heritage each October at the annual Grapes and Grains festival.

We have baseball fields, numerous parks and playgrounds, a popular community youth center with an outdoor swimming pool, and a championship lawn bowling green. We also have year-round theater by the 40-year-old Pacific Conservatory of the Performing Arts (PCPA Theaterfest). Immediately north of the City is the Santa Maria Speedway.

Perhaps Santa Maria's most beloved tradition is community barbecues of top block and tri-tip, seasoned with garlic salt and pepper, plus side dishes of beans, salad, garlic bread and salsa. Local civic organizations can be found cooking Santa Maria-style barbecues along Broadway every weekend.

Today, Santa Maria is home to more than 90,000 residents who value the City as a great place to live, work, raise a family or grow a business. We have a small town atmosphere, cool ocean breezes, a wide selection of shopping, a 167-bed hospital with a modern heart center, a community college, an airport with jet service, and pleasant neighborhoods. Unlike many cities in California, Santa Maria is not only business-friendly, we are also affordable.

The Santa Barbara-Lompoc-Santa Maria region is one of the top five places in the nation to live, according to Frommer's Cities Ranked and Rated, a book touted as the most comprehensive ranking of North American cities. The book by Bert Sperling and Peter Sander, ranks 400 Metropolitan Statistical Areas in the United States and Canada, putting the Santa Barbara-Santa Maria-Lompoc conglomerate in the top five, under Charlottesville, Santa Fe, and San Luis Obispo-Atascadero-Paso Robles, in that order. The authors evaluated 10 categories including Economy & Jobs, Cost of Living, Climate, Education, Health & Healthcare, Crime, Transportation, Leisure, Arts & Culture and overall Quality of Life.

Mayor Lavagnino driving his red 1957 Triumph

Our friendly City celebrated its centennial in 2005. In August 2008, we opened our new City library, a 60,000-square-foot structure packed with resources and a theatre to serve the community. This library is in the heart of our fast-growing City, where more families are drawn by the attractive housing prices, schools, shopping, festivals, nearby beaches and golf courses.

Santa Maria is known as a preferred business address on the Central Coast. We have numerous retail stores, various manufacturing operations, high-technology research and a strong agricultural economy. This year, the City again is the leader in job creation in Santa Barbara County.

We are approximately 260 miles south of San Francisco and 190 miles north of Los Angeles. With our business-friendly approach, airport, good air quality, abundance of water supplies and outstanding location, Santa Maria is a great place to live and work. Please explore our Web site. Come and visit us.

Larry Lavagnino


All correspondence to the Mayor should be addressed to:

	City of Santa Maria 110 E. Cook Street, Room 1 Santa Maria, CA 93454-5190	Mayor's email