Local events play a vital role in strengthening communities, and Lucia Mercado ensures that Chico thrives with enough of them to keep fostering connections.
There’s a good chance you’ve attended an event Mercado has hosted or curated but have not realized it. Behind the scenes, she provides all the information and creative vision.
“I love community, and I love bringing people together,” Mercado said.
This week her plate is full planning the Downtown Clover Crawl, Lucky Life Vision Board Workshop, plus hosting Chico’s famous Ostara Starlight Lunar Market.
Mercado is a jack of all trades. She’s the events and promotions manager for the Downtown Chico Business Association and she’s also on the board of directors at the Chico Women’s Club.
“If I can find someone who doesn't have friends in Chico, who doesn't know Chico, who's new to Chico, and through my events, they can make friends, that is my life fulfilled,” Mercado said. “That is exactly what I want people to be able to find through these events.”
Born and raised in Riverside, Calif., she moved to Chico in 2017 to attend Chico State. Like many students, she planned to leave once she graduated but wound up staying.
“If I can find someone who doesn't have friends in Chico, who doesn't know Chico, who's new to Chico, and through my events, they can make friends, that is my life fulfilled.”Lucia Mercado
Her plans took a different route due to the COVID-19 pandemic. After graduating, she spent a year working in her field from home and found the routine mundane.
“It didn’t give me any creative expression,” Mercado said. “The day-to-day looked exactly the same.”
Her creative renaissance era gave birth during the pandemic.
“I started making jewelry. Like everyone else during COVID, I picked up some hobbies,” Mercado said. “So I started selling at Flume Street Fair and little pop-ups, and I got this idea to host a market.”
Divine Sundays
Divine Sundays, established in 2021, serves as a versatile community hub.
A collection of festivals often held on Sundays that foster connections between small business owners and customers and offer a platform for skill development, cultural expression and artistic exploration.
“I realized how important it is for people to find third spaces and to be able to come to a space where they know that they could be as weird as they want to be,” Mercado said.
Mercado's personal journey with religion was a significant motivating factor behind the event's inception. Having grown up Christian and later Catholic, she eventually distanced herself from organized faith.
However, she still yearned for the sense of community and belonging that she had experienced within a religious context. She sought to recreate a welcoming and inclusive environment where individuals could gather and support one another, fostering a sense of connection and shared experience.
“They can have no money whatsoever, It doesn't matter what background they come from, they can just come here and hold space,” she said.
Lunar Market
Mercado’s relationship with the popular market dates back to 2022 when she was passed the baton after the original host ventured into new territories.
“I feel like I am just like the vessel that carries on whatever this energy wants to transpire,” Mercado said.
The full moon witchy-esque-inspired market allows local artisan talent to showcase their art, clothing, jewelry and homemade crafts.
“I realized how important it is for people to find third spaces and to be able to come to a space where they know that they could be as weird as they want to be.”Lucia Mercado
Mercado recommends that anyone dipping their toes into becoming a vendor at a market start with the Lunar Market.
“I’ve noticed that now it's just morphed into the beginner market,” Mercado said. “If you're a beginner and you've never done a market before, Lunar Market is like the safe route. It's not that expensive and we try to keep costs very low.”
The next Lunar Market is this Saturday.
Supporting local businesses and providing opportunities for participation are things Mercado pushes through at all her events.
“I think I have the gift to create a space where people can feel at home," Mercado explained. "That's what pushes me, truly, is being able to create as many of those spaces as often as possible so that more people can feel connected to something.”
When Mercado first arrived in Chico, she saw the city's potential but felt excluded from the community outside of campus life.
As a result, she made it her mission to create events like the Day of the Dead celebration, which specifically aimed to recognize and celebrate the Hispanic community in Chico.
By doing so, she hoped to create a welcoming space for individuals from all walks of life and financial means to gather and connect.
“That begins to open those doors for people who do come from a different background, who do come from different financial means,” Mercado said, “to be able to come to an event and all hold space together and be able to connect with each other in that way.”
