The Parque Central is the social heart of Santa Cruz, a pleasant square shaded by mature trees where locals gather through the day and evening. It is modest by Costa Rican standards but animated — vendors sell fruit and food along the edges, and the benches fill up in the late afternoon as the heat eases. The church on the square and the surrounding commercial streets give a sense of what Guanacaste's main town looks like away from the beach developments.
The square hosts occasional folk performances, particularly around Guanacaste Day (July 25), when the province celebrates its 1824 annexation from Nicaragua with marimba music, traditional dance, and bullfighting. This is when Santa Cruz earns its billing as the "Folklore Capital of Costa Rica."