🤔 How Many Things Can You Do in One Week?
☀️ Hello, Santa Cruz!
😎 This week, Santa Cruz is showing off its wonderfully quirky side. From pick-your-own dahlia fields and dogs taking over a swimming pool to black-tie roller skating, basket weaving, stargazing beneath the redwoods and live music around every corner, there's no shortage of ways to get out and enjoy August. 🎉 Fair warning: Saturday is going to test your decision-making skills. Here's what caught my eye.
🌸 One of Santa Cruz County's prettiest seasonal traditions is back. Dynomite Farm is opening its flower fields for private, appointment-only U-Cut dahlia experiences Aug. 10–16, giving visitors the chance to stroll the blooms and create their own bouquet. Reservations are required. Open daily from 9am–5pm in Live Oak.
🎶 Tuesday offers two very different ways to enjoy music. Local favorites Santa Cruda bring their feel-good blend of Cali reggae, hip-hop, mashups and rock to the Santa Cruz Wharf's free Tuesday Night Live concert series on Aug. 11 (6-8pm). When the concert wraps up, the fun continues upstairs at Vino by the Sea.
🎤 If you'd like to go behind the music rather than just listen to it on Tuesday, Kuumbwa Jazz Center is hosting a free vocal master class with acclaimed vocalist and educator Gaw Vang Williams. Doors open at 6:30pm for the 7pm program, which explores how dynamics, tone and expression can transform a song into a powerful story.
🎸 It never ceases to amaze me how much great live music you can find in Santa Cruz. Just about every night of the week, there's a talented band playing somewhere in the county. This week is no exception. The Capitola Twilight Concert Series welcomes top 40s dance band The Peelers on Wednesday (6-8pm). Keep the dance party going with The Joint Chiefs at the Crow's Nest Beach BBQ (Thursday, 5:30-8pm) or hit up Bargetto Winery in Soquel (Thursday, 6-8pm) for The Redwood Groove Band. On Friday, 90s rock band Fire Peach plays the Midtown Fridays summer block party (5-9pm at 1111 Soquel Dr.). 🎬 There's also still time for one more movie under the stars. Seabright's free summer movie series concludes Thursday, Aug. 13 with Goat, beginning around 8pm after sunset on Murray Street near Seabright Avenue.
🌲 Atmosphere headlines Friday night's show at the Quarry Amphitheater at UCSC. The Minneapolis duo is known for raw, confessional lyrics and soulful production, earning one of hip-hop's most devoted followings over the past three decades. Music begins at 6:30pm beneath towering redwoods in one of Santa Cruz County's most unforgettable settings. There are concert venues...and then there's the Quarry.
🌠 If all the buzz about this week's Perseid meteor shower has you looking toward the night sky, Henry Cowell Redwoods State Park is hosting a guided Star Walk on Saturday (8:45–11pm). The free, one-mile walk leads to the Observation Deck for an evening of astronomy beneath some of Santa Cruz County's darkest skies. Before the stars come out, the park is also hosting a free hands-on workshop (10am–noon) introducing visitors to the traditional art of California coiled basket weaving.
🛼 Only in Santa Cruz does black tie come with roller skates. Back by popular demand, Black Tie Roller Ball returns to the Museum of Art & History on Saturday (7-11pm), transforming the Solari Gallery into a one-night-only roller rink with DJ Tsu Ali behind the turntables. For the 21-and-over crowd, it's a chance to dress to impress, bring your own skates and experience the kind of gloriously quirky idea only Santa Cruz could dream up.
🐕 Dogs get their day in the pool Saturday during Parks & Rex (11am-4pm) at Simpkins Family Swim Center in Live Oak. The annual event lets pups cool off during designated swim times while their humans enjoy food, craft beer, wine, music, games and ice cream. Dog swim sessions require advance registration.
🍷🍺🎨 One of Scotts Valley's biggest summer celebrations is this weekend. The Art, Wine & Beer Festival fills Skypark on Saturday (10am-6pm) and Sunday (10am-5pm). More than 100 artists, live music, food, local wineries and breweries are on tap, with the Cops 'N Rodders car show on Saturday and Dog Day festivities on Sunday. I'll be volunteering at the Santa Cruz SPCA booth all day on Sunday, so stop by, say hello and meet a few adorable adoptable pups.
🎤 Saturday night offers no shortage of live music. Grammy winner Ani DiFranco takes the stage at the Santa Cruz Civic Auditorium (8pm), Santa Cruz rock veterans SNAIL return to the Rio Theatre (8pm), and indie folk duo Penny & Sparrow play Felton Music Hall (Doors 7pm; Show: 8pm). You’ll be spoiled for choice.
🎢 Sunday is National Roller Coaster Day, and all eyes are on the Giant Dipper. The first 100 riders when the Boardwalk opens at 11am will receive a free souvenir cup – but even without the giveaway, there's something special about celebrating a 101-year-old wooden coaster that's still thrilling riders. Be sure to arrive early to snag your place in line!
And last but not least, be sure to check out the special pull-out Food & Drink section from Good Times.
Now, let's catch up on the news.
News Highlights:
30-Year Fugitive Arrested in Santa Cruz
Santa Cruz County Homelessness Rises 12%
License Plate Camera Fight Goes Countywide
Local Growers Hurt by Nationwide Lettuce Scare
Supervisors to Weigh Emergency Tax Measure
Who Got Out to Vote
Cesar Chavez Middle School Gets a New Name
New San Lorenzo Valley Water Tanks Near Completion
Plus…the Grateful Dead’s Legacy, Celebrating Oliver Tree’s Life, Where to Find Awesome Casa Birria, Authentic Tibetan Dumplings, Smoke or Vape?…and Much More!
TOP STORIES
30-Year Fugitive Arrested in Santa Cruz
A man wanted in Canada on child sexual assault charges for nearly three decades was arrested in Santa Cruz last week after authorities tracked him to the area.
Santa Cruz County Homelessness Rises 12%
The annual Point-in-Time (PIT) count conducted in January showed that 1,648 people were experiencing homelessness, a 12% increase from 2025.
License Plate Camera Fight Goes Countywide
After Santa Cruz canceled its contract with Flock Safety earlier this year, local activists are turning their attention to the automated license-plate readers still operating in Watsonville and Capitola. Watsonville currently has 37 readers, and privacy and immigrant-rights groups are holding a rally Sunday, Aug. 16 at noon at the County Government Center as part of a national week of action against the technology.
Local Growers Hurt by Nationwide Lettuce Scare
A nationwide food safety scare involving iceberg lettuce is taking a financial toll on Central Coast agriculture as consumers shy away from leafy greens. Some growers say they're leaving 30% to 40% of their lettuce unharvested, squeezing both farmers and farmworkers.
Supervisors to Weigh Emergency Tax Measure
Santa Cruz County Board of Supervisors recently met to consider declaring a state of fiscal distress and asking voters to approve a temporary half-cent sales tax measure that county officials say is needed to offset steep federal funding cuts and protect essential public services.
Young voters barely turned out for the June primary, while people over 55 made a heavy showing. The County’s data show that registered voters over the age of 55 had a turnout rate of about 67.83%, while those between the ages of 18-34 had a turnout rate of about 29.52%.
Cesar Chavez Middle School Gets a New Name
PVUSD trustees voted 4-1 to rename Watsonville’s Cesar Chavez Middle School to “Central Coast Middle School” following allegations of sexual assault involving Chavez that have prompted communities around the country to reconsider places bearing his name.
San Lorenzo Valley Water Storage Upgrade Nears Completion
Construction of the San Lorenzo Valley Water District‘s Highland Tank is nearly complete. Grant funding is being used to replace aging redwood tanks in the Boulder Creek, Ben Lomond, and Felton areas.
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
In this week’s cover story, writer DNA explores how three decades after Jerry Garcia’s death, the Grateful Dead’s legacy keeps expanding through musicians, scholars, archivists and generations of Deadheads – with Santa Cruz still caught in the center of its psychedelic orbit.
Thousands of fans and mourners joined Oliver Tree’s Celebration of Life at the UCSC Quarry Amphitheater. The three-hour event was bittersweet as Tree’s family and friends celebrated the life of the 32-year-old Santa Cruz artist and musician, who died June 14 in a helicopter accident in Brazil.
Good Times food writer Mark C. Anderson tells us that Grady’s Market has pretty much everything, including taqueria Casa Birria.
A thoroughly authentic Tibetan experience from the food to the ambiance and provenance, River Café was opened in 2019 by chef/owner Rabgee Kunchok.
In this week’s Altered States column, writer Richard Stockton examines the bewildering array of options cannabis consumers face. You can smoke it. Vaporize it. Eat it. Drink it. Dab it. Squeeze drops of tincture under your tongue. But which is best and why?
In this week’s wine column by Josie Cowden, she dives into the new luxury hotel La Bahia and explains how, from its opening last year, it has become a popular venue for locals, as well as visitors from all over.
WAIT, WHAT?! 🐶🏄🌊🐾🏆
Surf’s pup! Think The Endless Summer...with a lot more tail wagging. Hundreds of spectators lined Linda Mar Beach in Pacifica for the 10th annual World Dog Surfing Championships, where canine competitors of every shape and size paddled out to hang 20. Judges scored each pup on wave selection, ride length, confidence and style, with plenty of wipeouts (don't worry – they were all safe, if a bit soggy) reminding everyone that surfing – even on four legs – isn't always easy or graceful. Better yet, the event also raised money for animal charities and featured pet adoptions. Now it's only a matter of time before the Labradors graduate to Mavericks and the Great Danes start chasing swells at Nazaré.