🍂Welcome to Fall, Santa Cruz!
The autumn equinox arrives Tuesday, Sept. 22, and Santa Cruz County is greeting the new season with big-name musicians, unusual discoveries and one completely overbooked Saturday. Let’s get your calendars ready!
🎸😂 Nationally touring queer comedian Kristin Key brings her guitar, quick wit and viral “Lesbian Army” to Santa Cruz Shakespeare’s Monday Night Revels this evening, Monday, Sept. 21. Expect a high-energy mix of music and jokes spanning queer culture, cats, crochet and Key’s own life. Showtime is 7pm at Audrey Stanley Grove; tickets are $40.
🎸 If you’re among the lucky ones seeing guitar legend Al Di Meola at Kuumbwa Jazz Tuesday, Sept. 22, enjoy the show – both the 7pm and 9pm sets are sold out. For another option Tues. evening, Santa Cruz Shakespeare steps away from the Bard for The SCS Cast Sings! A Night of Cabaret at 7pm. SCS composer and music director Luke Shepherd accompanies cast members as they perform some of their favorite songs at Audrey Stanley Grove, with fancy dress encouraged. Tickets are $28, and proceeds support the company’s educational programs.
🐀 Want to touch something really, really old – or find out whether UCSC actually owns a book bound in rat skin? UC Santa Cruz’s McHenry Library opens the doors to its Special Collections and Archives Wednesday, Sept. 23 from 1-3pm, with rare materials to explore and hands-on printing using a miniature press.
🎸 Then music fans can go back to Kuumbwa Jazz on Thursday, Sept. 24, when guitarist and composer Bill Frisell performs with Harmony Five, blending jazz, traditional Americana and chamber music with vocalist and violinist Petra Haden, cellist Hank Roberts, bassist Luke Bergman and drummer Tim Angulo. The 7pm show is sold out, but tickets remain for the 9pm show at $46.62 in advance or $52.50 at the door.
🚚 Give the kitchen the night off Friday, Sept. 25 when Food Truck Friday rolls into Skypark in Scotts Valley from 4:30-7:30pm. Italia Fire, Taquizas Gabriel and Kuki’s Bowl are among the food trucks joining the fun, along with face painting, acoustic rock and pop from Paperback Ryders and a beer-and-wine garden benefiting the Scotts Valley Educational Foundation (SVEF).
🤠 Another choice for Friday night: Multi-platinum country duo Thompson Square plays at Chaminade Resort & Spa’s courtyard. Best known for the No. 1 hit “Are You Gonna Kiss Me or Not,” the husband-and-wife duo has earned awards from both the Academy of Country Music and the Country Music Association. The concert runs from 7-10 pm; tickets are $89.73–$172.45, with food and drinks available for purchase.
Saturday, Sept. 26 is absolutely packed. Here are no fewer than seven ways to spend it:
🏖️ The two-day Capitola Beach Festival opens Saturday with a fun run, sand-sculpture contest, cornhole, children’s art, a scavenger hunt and music on the beach. Stick around after dark for the lighted nautical parade on Soquel Creek at 7pm, followed by a drone show. Most activities are free.
🍽️ A Taste of Soquel serves up samples from local restaurants, farms, wineries and breweries from noon-4pm at the Congregational Church of Soquel. Rivets & Rust, The Bourbon Brothers and B Movie Kings provide the soundtrack, with drumming and face painting in the KidZone. Adult wristbands are $30, youth ages 12–20 are $10 and children’s activities are free; proceeds benefit Second Harvest Food Bank.
💃 Fiesta en la Playa celebrates Latino culture at the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk with free music and dance. Mariachi Santa Cruz begins at 11am, followed by Ángeles Danzantes folklórico dancers starting at 1pm and Banda Maguey from 5–6:30pm. The celebration continues Sunday with Salsa by the Sea from 3-6:30pm.
🦆 Duck Island Festival fills San Lorenzo Park with music from Mitchum Yacoub & The Brass Empire, Sonny & His Rhinestone Sunsets, Trestles, Dan P. & The Bricks, Kaefan and DJ Jared from People’s Disco. Gates open at noon, music begins at 1pm and food trucks, vendors and a bar round out the festivities. Tickets are $20 in advance or $25 at the gate.
🍂 The Santa Cruz Mountains Harvest Festival takes over Junction Park in Boulder Creek from 12:30-6:30pm with live music, food, beer and wine, local artists and small-town traditions. The community fundraiser supports local nonprofits and organizations.
🤡 Freakfest 2026 gets wonderfully weird at Hwy 17 Studios with six local bands: Red 40, Gingsu, Guthook, Rosewood, Rio and the Soup and Empire Grade. A pre-show block party with food and vendors starts at 5pm, doors open at 6pm and the music begins at 6:15pm.
🎭 Experimental-music pioneer Laurie Anderson caps the day at the Rio Theatre with Republic of Love, a multimedia performance spanning music, storytelling, visual art and technology. Doors 7pm; Show 8pm; tickets are $68.25–$120.75.
🏊🚴🏃 If it feels like there have been a lot of triathletes in town lately, you’re not wrong. Just two weeks after IRONMAN 70.3, the 44th annual Santa Cruz Triathlon is at Main Beach and the Westside Sunday, Sept. 27 with Olympic- and sprint-distance races, relays, aquabike, aquathlon and open-water swimming. Racing begins at 8am. ⚠️ Heads Up: Road closures and traffic controls will affect portions of West Cliff Drive, Beach Street, Bay Street, Delaware Avenue, Natural Bridges Drive, Mission Street, Western Drive and Shaffer Road from 6:30am-1:30pm. Proceeds benefit local high school and college athletic programs.
👻On Sunday, if you prefer to steer clear of all the triathlon action on the Westside and get a jump on spooky season, head for the hills – literally – to Felton for “Within These Walls: Ghosts of the Past at Quail Hollow”. The tour runs from 1-3pm and explores more than 150 years of colorful ranch history, with tales stretching from Abraham Lincoln and the Watermelon King to Sun-Kissed Ranch and the founding of Sunset magazine. It’s free and open to ages 16 and up; space is limited and advance registration is recommended.
Ok, that settles the question of where to go and what to do. Now, let’s catch up on what’s making news around the county.
News Highlights:
Another Moss Landing Fire
Highway 1 to Close Overnight in Aptos
Highway 9 Delays Continue Across San Lorenzo Valley
El Niño Winter Could Bring Heavy Rain and Flooding
Man Arrested in ATM Skimming Case
Capitola Council Candidate Draws Scrutiny Over LGBTQ+ Comments
Santa Cruz Police Chief to Retire
Santa Cruz Takes Up Coastal Erosion and Sea-Level Rise
Community Push Builds to Reopen Cabrillo’s Original Theater
Plus…Santa Cruz Sumo, Cannabis for Sleep, Season Shift, Driving Hope, Heirloom Tortillas, Oracles Unleashed, World Wide Waves, The World’s Worst Guard Dog…and much more!
TOP STORIES
Monterey County officials said at noon Friday that the latest fire at the Vistra battery energy storage facility in Moss Landing was no longer an active threat to the surrounding community.
Highway 1 to Close Overnight in Aptos
Southbound Highway 1 will close at Mar Vista Drive from 10pm Monday, Sept. 21, until 5am Tuesday as crews continue work on the new pedestrian overcrossing.
Highway 9 Delays Continue Across San Lorenzo Valley
Drivers should expect daytime and overnight one-way traffic control at several Highway 9 locations Monday through Friday, including the bridge-replacement areas north of Boulder Creek and work near Graham Hill and Felton Empire roads.
El Niño Winter Could Bring Heavy Rain and Flooding
Meteorologists are predicting a wet El Niño winter this year, with above-normal ocean temperatures potentially bringing heavy rain and flooding.
Man Arrested in ATM Skimming Case
A 22-year-old man is facing fraud and identity theft charges in a skimming investigation that spans the state. Criminals place skimming devices on ATMs and other card readers to steal customers’ financial information.
Capitola Council Candidate Draws Scrutiny Over LGBTQ+ Comments
Capitola City Council candidate TJ Welch is facing questions about past statements alleging that children are vulnerable to indoctrination by pro-LGBTQ+ educators and governments.
Santa Cruz Police Chief to Retire
Santa Cruz Police Chief Bernie Escalante will retire Oct. 30 after 30 years with the department and nearly five years as chief.
Santa Cruz Takes Up Coastal Erosion and Sea-Level Rise
The Santa Cruz City Council will review plans Tuesday, Sept. 22, for protecting beaches, public infrastructure and coastal neighborhoods from erosion and rising seas.
Community Push Builds to Reopen Cabrillo’s Original Theater
A group of longtime Cabrillo artists and educators is exploring whether the college’s original 470-seat theater can be revived after sitting dark for 17 years.
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
Japan’s big sport plays Santa Cruz for the first time
In this week’s Altered States column, Richard Stockton asks whether cannabis is a miracle plant or sleep saboteur?
As the autumn equinox arrives Tuesday, Sept. 22, wellness writer Elizabeth Borelli explores how the seasonal shift can help us slow down and take stock of our own changing rhythms. She shares simple ways to welcome fall, from a quiet, phone-free walk to local celebrations filled with music, movement and community.
Local humanitarian known for his donation truck debuts autobiography.
Co-owner Maria Alvarez describes Taqueria Los Viejones as the realization of a longtime dream for her husband, co-owner and chef Fernando Morales.
This week, food writer Mark C. Anderson spotlights Rob Brezsny’s new book, Enlightenment for Rebels, and checks in on the newly opened CARNE butcher shop, restaurant and market. He also serves up avocado news, fall food events, plans for a massive offshore kelp farm and a cautionary finding about AI and the human brain.
A prize-winning surfboard patterned with a striking mosaic of thousands of discarded cigarette butts has ridden some of the world’s most beautiful waves.
Read your Free Will Astrology horoscope from Rob Brezsny here.
WAIT, WHAT?! 🐕🧸
When an intruder climbed through a second-story window of a San Diego home, Nash – a 90-pound golden retriever – responded with exactly what you’d expect from this breed. He repeatedly brought the criminal toys. The man helped himself to food and even took a nap before police arrested him in the backyard, where Nash greeted the officers with – you guessed it – another toy.