California city will pay tourists a visit: famous for barbecue and wine

A small town nestled among sprawling ranches on California's central coast wants you to come visit—so bad they'll pay you for it, writes SF Gate.

Santa Maria, famous for its barbecues and wineries, offers a $ 100 Visa gift card to pay for a hotel stay for at least two nights. You can also take advantage of this gift in nearby Orcatta.

While the state continues to discourage non-essential travel to any location 120 miles or more from your home, Gov. Gavin Newsom has lifted the stay-at-home order for all regions of the state, allowing hotels to reopen to tourists and restaurants to offer outdoor dining with compliance with safety measures. After a major, widespread shutdown during the winter, the state is slowly beginning to reopen.

“The Santa Maria Valley has remained open for business and welcoming throughout the pandemic,” said Jennifer Harrison, director of tourism for Visit Santa Maria Valley. “Our destination is less crowded than others in California and offers more for less to budget travelers. We are committed to driving travel to help our local businesses while ensuring a safe and memorable experience for everyone who travels here.”

Sunset Magazine named Santa Maria's BBQ the best in the Western United States. The area has its own way of making tri-type, seasoning it with black pepper, salt and garlic and roasting it on branches from local oaks.

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Touted as the first oak barbecue restaurant on the Central Coast, the Hitching Post opened in Kasmalia in 1952 and serves barbecue steaks, chicken and even quail at outdoor tables.

Other tourist attractions in the Santa Maria area include wine tasting at nearly three dozen tasting rooms in the area, beaches, sand dunes and hiking trails.

The offer, called "stimulus money" from the Santa Maria Valley Visitors Bureau, is valid for applications made between February 4 and March 31, 2021. There are two dozen hotels where the funds can be spent, including the Holiday Inn and Suites in Santa Maria Mary's, the Historic Inn in Santa Maria and the Cream of Tartar Inn in Orcutt.

Santa Maria is four hours from San Francisco and three hours from Los Angeles.

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