The loud cars cruising down San Luis Obispo’s Higuera Street suddenly became a trend—driving away shoppers and diners from downtown.
The solution: Close the main drag to traffic on Thursday evenings and invite local merchants to set up tables outside in the street.
What started as a ribs cook-off in July 1983 has morphed into the second largest farmers’ market in the Western United States with more than 100 vendors and thousands of shoppers along six downtown blocks every Thursday evening all year round.
Shoppers are buying everything from berries, peaches, apricots, avocados, and tomatoes among them, including those grown by students at California Polytechnic State University in San Luis Obispo. There’s also jewelry and crafts and a chance to chow down on barbecue (one of the original participants 40 years ago, F.McLintocks, was doing stellar business with their ribs, chicken, corn and more). Others were eating caramel corn, tamales, and tacos, sushi and kabab; handmade caramels, mini donuts, and pastries. Kids were getting their faces painted and playing paintball.
While some of the farmers have been here for decades, Yolanda Rodriguez was in her first season selling her baked goods at Nana’s Place. A veteran business owner and grandmother of 30, she explained that having a stall rather than a brick-and-mortar business is far less stressful. And her grandchildren, she added, help with the baking. “We are doing fantastic,” she enthused, noting that their pineapple upside-down cake is a top seller.
“I love the atmosphere—music on every corner; such friendly people,” said Tanja Poley, selling bags and more from repurposed denim at Ten Four Goods.
We had to stop and gawk at Bubble Gum Alley, featured on Ripley’s Believe It or Not and the LA Times list of the weirdest stops in LA. Thousands of pieces of chewed gum are pasted on a 70-foot-long alley just off Higuera Street. “Kids must love this,” my teacher-daughter observed. San Luis Obispo (called SLO by locals) is halfway between Los Angeles and San Francisco on the historic coastal Highway One (currently closed for two miles on the Big Sur Coast, as a result of landslides).
With SLO’s bountiful outdoor space, dozens of Central Coast wineries (come for Harvest season), attractions (visit Hearst Castle), public art (more than 100 pieces), and museums, great restaurants, and dog-friendly lodgings and eateries, we thought it would be a great bet for a getaway with our daughter, Regina Foldes, and her dog, Chili Pepper. She and her husband live in San Francisco, and she had a little time before school started, while her husband had to be away on business. Too bad as he missed a great time!
