Open Streets closes roads for Santa Maria celebration
Open Streets debuted today in Santa Maria. The city closed Main Street from Broadway to Blosser to join the growing international movement. Thousands of Santa Marian’s came together to celebrate the community.
“I think it’s great because it brings the community together here in Santa Maria, and it gets the people to know about all the organizations here in Santa Maria, ” said Juan Velasco from Chivas Soccer Academy.
Open Streets is a concept that originally started in Bogota Colombia. The idea is to close roadways to give residents a chance to socialize. Today Open Streets helped neighbors discover the hidden things Santa Maria has to offer.
“I never knew that we had all these native plant societies and that we had all these other nonprofit organizations so that was neat to connect with them and get more information about them,” said Jovany Medina-Contreras from Corazon Del Pueblo.
Chivas Soccer Academy joined the celebration with a band to give tribute to their new famed soccer coach. While other attractions included fitness fun like dancing and roller skating.
“The reason why our team came out is because we really want to showcase all the sports that are available here in the community for women of all ages that are just interested in getting active,” said Dareroll Dixon from Cal Skate Roller Derby.
Cal Skate Roller Derby did demos to introduce new members to the sport that they say can get you fit while having fun. The best part of the day for most though was everyone coming together for a positive communion.
“It’s really cool to see we are all out here for the same thing. And we are not indoors doing our own thing and we are all connected as a community for once which is really nice,” said Medina-Contreras.
