By Frankie Cruz-Aedo Three years ago, Jo Davis decided to create a social media page where foodies could write about and share their passion for all things San Miguel gastronomy. On Tuesday, July 14, Cent'anni Live Eatertainment and Crazy Horse Promotions will host the three-year anniversary celebration of SMA Food Porn. The event will feature two DJs alongside guest chefs Max from 3.6.9. pop kitchen, Chuy from Agavia, Andrés from Amatte/Hacintto, and Toño from Garnache, alon

By Randolph Rogers To arrive at Dos Búhos is to find a bucolic setting with the much sought, tranquilo. This beautiful white hacienda setting, flowering bougainvillea, succulents, and sweeping Peruvian Pepper Trees - Los Pirules, provide ample shade. This is a place where the afternoon slips by without a hint of regret. I’ll let others rave about the wonderful food at Dos Búhos, as I will obsess about their wines. Both are best enjoyed in the marvelous outdoor setting which t

By Isabel Castrejón Pascacio For founder Lindsey of Linyage, working with vintage lace was never part of a business plan. In fact, very little about her journey into bridal fashion followed a traditional path. What began as a childhood obsession with designing clothes evolved organically into a distinctive bridal brand built on artistry, sustainability, and deeply personal connections with women.Lindsey knew she wanted to be a fashion designer from an early age. Long before s

By Aaron S. Reisfield I distill plants in San Miguel de Allende for their aromatic oils and waters. I’ve distilled plants such as roses, pirul, cedron, jara, estafiate, cannabis, citrus blends, and a number of rosemary, lavender and lavandin blends, among others. But we’ll get to that in an upcoming edition of Atención News. And we’ll consider the subject of how we perceive plant perfumes at altitude. I’m writing this from my home in San Miguel, where fragrant vapors are said

By Amy G. Rothlin The energy was unmistakable. Walking into Parque Benito Juárez on Sunday during the 5th edition of San Miguel y sus Sabores, it was immediately clear why this festival has become one of the city's most anticipated culinary events. Over three days (June 12–14), more than 35 restaurants, local producers, traditional cooks, and artisans transformed the park into a vibrant celebration of what makes San Miguel's food scene so special. Organized by the Municipal G

By Catherine Marenghi Indigenous peoples of Mexico have treasured mushrooms for millennia, integrating them into spiritual life, healing practices, and daily sustenance. Their traditions are preserved in códices, ancient iconography, and later colonial-era accounts. Carved “mushroom stones” found in Maya regions date as early as 1,000 BCE. Some include supernatural figures on the stems, suggesting ritual significance. Early Spanish chroniclers also documented ritual mushroom

By Staff Writer The Music Society of San Miguel (MSSM) proudly presents the 2026 Chamber Music Festival, a celebration of artistic excellence, music education, and cultural exchange in San Miguel de Allende. Bringing together internationally acclaimed artists and distinguished ensembles, the festival offers audiences a unique opportunity to experience world-class music while fostering artistic development and community engagement. The festival opens on July 10, at the histori

By Liam Stidham I grew up listening to rock thanks to my dad. He set a wide influence on me as a kid and I'm thankful for that. But my mom has made sure that I also got a good dose of classical music. She enrolled me into piano and violin lessons when I was really young and she has always dragged me to see classical music concerts, plays and ballet recitals. When we heard that San Miguel finally had an orchestra, she dragged me to that too, and I really enjoyed it! In fact,

By Jonathan Lockwood I've interviewed a lot of mezcal folks for these articles by now: producers, bar owners, bartenders, restaurateurs. But I'm not sure I've ever sat across from anyone as thoroughly credentialed in anything as Alex Galina, 43, founder of the Cultural Institute of Agave & Wine, or ICAVI. You’ve certainly walked by it at Recreo 10A, near the jardín. Alex didn't start out with an agave focus. He studied Marketing and Mass Communications, and his first real job

By Frank "Sugar" Hudson In July, San Miguel comes alive with a rhythmic charm where the biggest headliner is actually the weather. Days are beautifully warm, drawing everyone outdoors. Then, like clockwork in the afternoon or evening, dramatic summer showers sweep in to cool the air before vanishing just as quickly as they arrived. While July is technically the wettest month of the year—with about 22 days of rain totaling around four inches—the downpours are brief. They leave

By Natalie Taylor The first thing that comes across when you meet Bill Wilkinson is his enthusiasm for what he is doing—bringing education to children who may not have that opportunity. He has been doing this for more than twelve years, and there is little indication he will stop anytime soon. Bill is one of those seniors who, when they retire, get as busy as or busier than they were during their working careers. Bill was born in Oregon, moved to California, but for the past

By Walter Hodges The sun was just cracking open through the low clouds along the high-desert horizon line outside San Miguel when Sylvia Luna, an indigenous Otomí woman, gathered some small wild rosemary stems in her hands. She gently crushed them, held the soft “needles” close to her nose, and breathed deeply from a memory 1500 years in the making. She smiled. She remembers. Silvia traces her cultural heritage back to the beginning in Mexico. Centuries before the Aztec came

By Camie Fenton Welcome to the July 2026 edition of Atención News, your ultimate insider’s perspective on the stories, people, and events that shape our extraordinary community. As the dramatic summer showers arrive to cool our warm afternoons and transform the surrounding high-desert countryside into a lush, vibrant green, the town comes alive with an unmistakable rhythmic charm. We invite you to step away from the digital rush, slow down, and immerse yourself in the rich na

By Liam Stidham Every great musician usually started with an influence, like watching a music video on TV, or watching a live concert on YouTube. In my case, when I was 8, I was with my parents watching a video of my favorite drummer, Taylor Hawkins, and then out of the blue, I told my parents that I wanted to play the drums. They were surprised but supportive and the next summer I went to a place called BandAid School of Music, and the School of Rock, in the US. When I came

By Bob Graham Continuing on from my past articles featuring the look alike birds of San Miguel, I suggest now that we next turn to three mid sized, black birds we see in the waters locally. That being the case, lets start with Neotropic Cormorants ! The best way to see them is kayaking on the Presa Allende with the Amigos De La Presa, an Audubon de México program. For information on their paddle times and cost, check their web page. Neotropic Cormorants nest throughout

By Don Krim “I am supporting my housekeeper’s daughter, preparing to go to college. What does she need…?” “…My gardener’s son is in prepa [high school] and I wish to support him. What do I need to know?” I am asked questions like these all the time. In most of México outside of the larger urban centers, less privileged Mexicans’ transition through high school and to university can be daunting. Kids and their parent(s) may be eager for furthering education, but usually have li

By Frank "Sugar" Hudson It was Friday morning and the four old friends had settled into their usual rhythm. At their age, routines mattered. The same arguments about who was to drive, and the same hope that this week they would discover a hidden vineyard among the rolling hills outside of San Miguel. Fridays were meant to be peaceful. A small winery under the pepper trees with a light breeze blowing. A young lady pouring tastings of a new vintage while a sommelier explains t

By Aundria McMillan Humphrey When you speak with Carla Cadena, Project Manager for the Campo Economic Development Project of the Rotary Club of San Miguel de Allende–Midday, the conversation quickly moves beyond infrastructure. Yes, the project builds rainwater harvesting cisterns and dry composting toilets. Yes, it addresses water contamination and rural sanitation. But what Carla sees every day is something deeper: the transformation of families and communities from the ins

By Patricia Schneider For several years now, I have been organizing very particular journeys throughout México and France, conceived less as simple itineraries than as a way of truly entering a place, until one sometimes has the feeling of having always lived there. Understanding a culture is not only about visiting monuments or seeing what one is “supposed” to see, but about sensing the rhythms of a city, its silences, its contradictions, and its deeper sensibility. In certa

By Judith Jenya In a sunlit home tucked into the hills of San Miguel de Allende, photographer and author Leah Feldon and drummer Rick Shlosser have built a life stitched together by passion, persistence, and a lifelong pursuit of creative expression. Their studios live on different floors—hers a light-filled space of painterly photographs of landscapes, abstracts, and flowers; his alive with drums, recording equipment, and gold records. Together, they embody a creative partne

By Lisa Babincsak For years, growth here largely existed at the boutique level. Independent hotels. Independent developments. Smaller hospitality concepts. Residential expansion that, while noticeable, still felt relatively localized in scale. That is beginning to change. Today, some of the world’s most recognized luxury hospitality groups are entering — orpre paring to enter — the market. Rosewood has long maintained a presence in the region, while internationally recognized

By Carla Maria Pérez Soon the rain will return, bringing with it a particular kind of peace. After months of dust, heat, and bright skies, the air softens, the light dims, and the whole day seems to exhale. Even the familiar streets feel quieter, as though the city itself is remembering how to rest. That is one way the rainy season can teach us about vibrant living. It reminds us that wellness is not always found in doing more, moving faster, or filling every hour. Sometimes

By Meryl Truett At Estudio Mario Oliva, color becomes more than pigment. It becomes memory, atmosphere, language, and emotion. A Través del Círculo Cromático is an evolving series of exhibitions exploring the emotional and symbolic power of color through the work of contemporary artists whose practices move fluidly between abstraction, figuration, photography, and mixed media experimentation. Each exhibition inhabits a different point on the chromatic wheel—sometimes vibrant

By Doreen Cumberford What do you call yourself when you move to another country? Expat? Immigrant? Nomad? Global citizen? If you've spent any time in online forums for foreign residents, you'll know this question generates more heat than a June afternoon in the Jardín. People feel strongly. Labels matter, or do they? Here in San Miguel de Allende, the locals have already solved this problem for us. They call us extranjeros. Simple. Neutral. Done. Except it isn't simple at all