Santa Margarita is not a city — you can clearly see that driving through on El Camino Real. We have no mayor, City Hall or paid public employees to charge with the everyday goings-on. We are in an unincorporated area within SLO County and, thanks to our wonderfully active community, are the embodiment of “small town America.. I’m not talking population-wise — you can find plenty of places around the same, more or less, in numbers. I’m talking about character. Santa Margarita is one of those close-knit communities where everyone knows everyone, welcoming new neighbors, looking out for each other’s kids, finding owners of wandering pets, watching out for and caring for one another, lending a hand when needed and getting involved in community improvement projects. Santa Margarita thrives on volunteer involvement and April is full of opportunities to come together with friends, families and neighbors for some fun Spring cleaning and beautification.
Santa Margarita’s Annual Community Clean Up events all began with a suggestion, at a CSA (Community Service Area) meeting back around 2007, to beautify the town and was off and running under the leadership of three enthusiastic volunteers. What began as a simple clean up day coordinated with the help of Mid-State Solid Waste has grown over the years in complexity, prompting the organization of the Santa Margarita Beautiful nonprofit (now under the Santa Margarita Village Association) to fundraise, organize and promote the concepts of “Reduce, Reuse and Recycle.” Past projects have included weeding, planting and clean up of the downtown, the Community Demonstration Forest and the Santa Margarita Cemetery as well as furniture painting, adding an information kiosk, planters, bike racks, benches and trash receptacles to the downtown area.
Having no city funding, this annual Community Clean Up event is truly community driven. Each year local businesses help as sponsors to cover event costs or by donating items for raffle prizes. The County of SLO provides promotion by including event flyers in with the water bills, residents, families and friends help by volunteering to clean up, beautify and work on various projects. Visitors help by purchasing raffle tickets, supporting downtown businesses and having fun finding treasures at the yard sales. And finally, Mid-State Solid Waste helps by providing extra waste pick up from local existing customers.
Now a highlight of the year, this annual event takes place over three weeks and includes awards for Santa Margarita Beautiful Home, Business and Citizen of the Year, Raffle Prizes (including a pair of Zip-Line tickets from Margarita Adventures) and the very popular Town-Wide Yard Sale!
Here in “small-town America” it’s funny to think of comments reported by some locals when people come into town asking where town hall is or when new folks to town say “you need to tell them to fix (this) or do (that)” or always the favorite “what you need to do is…”. Well, we are “them” so join us and let’s have fun
and get it done!
This year the Santa Margarita Village Association presents Santa Margarita Beautiful Clean Up 2019.
Saturday, April 13 – Volunteer for Community Clean Up Day, call (805)438-3898 to join a committee, meet at Santa Margarita Community Park to get into a group working around town or out at the Cemetery. Water and lunch will be provided.
Saturday, April 27- Town-Wide Yard Sale! Sign up for free to be listed on the map by April 21 (the more the merrier!). Sign up online, at the kiosk or at Something Blue.
If you would like to be a sponsor, donate, nominate, volunteer or for more information, call (805) 438-3898 or visit www.santamargaritabeautiful.org.