Big Week: UCSC Strike, Catalyst Drama & a Fake Chonkers?! 😳🦭
Happy Monday Santa Cruz 👋✨☀️🌊
The Memorial Day holiday is almost here, and Santa Cruz is already starting to slide into full summertime mode – longer days, lighter evenings and a full slate of weird, wonderful, and only-in-Santa-Cruz things to do.🌴🎶
Speaking of summer kickoffs, music festival season is coming in hot.🔥 The Redwood Mountain Faire returns to Roaring Camp in Felton May 30 & 31, bringing two full days of live music, local food, craft vendors, and dancing under the redwoods.🌲🎶🍷 Expect multiple stages, local wine and beer, train rides, family activities, and one of the most distinctly Santa Cruz Mountains vibes of the entire year. Even better, it’s all for a good cause – the Faire is a benefit for local nonprofits, so your ticket supports community organizations across the county. If you’ve been meaning to grab tickets, consider this your reminder.⏰
👉Now let’s step into something mind-bending.🌀🔮 The Anatomy of Wonder: Photo Sculptures by Michael Garlington has taken over m.k. contemporary art in downtown Santa Cruz, and it’s immersive, a little strange, and completely transportive. Think towering, surreal “photo-sculptures”– part installation, part layered photography, part symbolism – all anchored by a massive, temple-like structure that feels straight out of a Burning Man dreamscape. This is trippy, maximalist surrealism – definitely not subtle coastal watercolors. Bonus: the gallery is also showing Rochambeau, a group exhibit featuring eight additional artists working across photography, ceramics, and kinetic sculpture. On view through May 31.✨
Giant surreal temples aren’t your thing? How about reading to a very good dog?🐶📚 Tales to Tails is back at the Capitola Branch Library Tuesday May 12 (4–5:30pm), pairing young readers with trained therapy dogs for a low-pressure, confidence-boosting reading session. It’s cute, it’s calm, and honestly, the dogs might be the best audience in town. Open to ages 6–17, with appointments required. I’m always so impressed with the number and diverse range of events at our local libraries.
⛵Seeing the Bay with a horizon full of sails on Weds. evenings has been a signature of Santa Cruz since I was a little kid growing up in the harbor. The Wednesday night sailboat races are officially part of the weekly rhythm again and it’s always an amazing sight. Grab a table at the Crow’s Nest and make an evening out of it.
Far West Fungi’s Myco-Mixer is happening Thursday May 14 (2–5pm) at their Laurel Street café.🍄 They offer complimentary bites, samples, happy hour deals, and a chance to taste your way through some seriously creative, mushroom-forward snacks (yes, tacos included🌮). You’ll leave thinking, “Wait, mushrooms can do that?” It’s a super fun way to spend a Thursday afternoon.
Farmers markets are going off again…from Aptos to Downtown Santa Cruz, plus Felton, Live Oak and Watsonville. 🍓🌼Fruits, flowers, vegetables, one-of-a-kind offerings and an array of interesting goodies – plus a wonderful community vibe that makes getting up and out a little early VERY satisfying.
Still looking for more? Quick reminder… The Good Times Best of Santa Cruz 2026🏆 issue is out now! Check it out.
Now over to the news… Have a good one and thanks for reading! 💛
News Highlights:
Santa Cruz Residents Make Bid to Buy Catalyst Building
The Boardwalk Announces Summer Entertainment Lineup
Cabrillo College Opens Wellness Center & Food Pantry
Santa Cruz County Unveils Budget
Silver Spur Will Move Into Vacant Jeffery’s Building
UCSC Workers Plan to Strike
Santa Cruz Elections Guide is Here
Watsonville High Hope Club Unveils Peace Pole
TOP STORIES
Santa Cruz Residents Make Bid to Buy Catalyst Building
Two Santa Cruz residents have launched an effort to purchase The Catalyst Nightclub building that is slated for redevelopment into 64 condominiums. More than 1,100 individuals have pledged to pitch in more than $540,000 to make the purchase, according to the website.
The Boardwalk Announces Summer Entertainment Lineup
The Santa Cruz Boardwalk is preparing for its summer season, including watch parties and celebrations for the 2026 World Cup. The boardwalk will hold a drone show above Main Beach on May 16 for a summer kick-off event at 9 p.m. Free movie showings will also be held every Friday from June 12 to August 7 with the exception of July 3.
Cabrillo College Opens Wellness Center & Food Pantry
Cabrillo College opened its new Watsonville Wellness Center and Food Pantry at the Watsonville campus on Union Street.
Santa Cruz County Unveils Budget
Santa Cruz County officials opened public hearings on a proposed $1.29 billion budget for the 2026-27 fiscal year, warning that federal funding cuts, rising labor costs and growing structural deficits are forcing difficult financial decisions in the years ahead.
Silver Spur Will Move Into Vacant Jeffery’s Building
After years of uncertainty tied to a proposed senior housing development, the longtime Silver Spur restaurant will relocate to the former Jeffery’s Restaurant site at Soquel Avenue and Capitola Road this fall.
More than 40,000 University of California workers, including about 530 at UC Santa Cruz, are preparing for an open-ended strike beginning Thursday, May 14, accusing the university of bad-faith bargaining. Campus officials warned students and staff to expect disruptions to dining, transportation and health services.
Santa Cruz Elections Guide Is Here
Ahead of the June 2 primary election, Santa Cruz Local has created a non-partisan guide to the five local races.
Watsonville High Hope Club Unveils Peace Pole
Students in Watsonville High School’s Hope Club unveiled a “Peace Pole” during a community-wide peace ceremony at the campus library.
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
On any given morning in Santa Cruz, you might walk into one of Carina Reid’s Toadal Fitness classes expecting a workout, and leave feeling like something much deeper just shifted. Wellness columnist, Elizabeth Borelli digs into it.
After 30 Years, Soquel High band director Jim Stewart takes his final bow.
In this week’s column, wine writer Josie Cowden shares delightful surprises from her recent visit to Solvang, which is modeled after a Danish village.
Food writer Mark C. Anderson tells us about four new spots, including authentic Puerto Rican food and $1.99 smashburgers.
In this week’s Foodie File, Andrew Steingrube tells us all about Avram Samuels, Director of Culinary Food and Beverage Operations at The View restaurant at Chaminade.
Writer Mat Weir features the band Dark Ride, who will play MOTHFEST Saturday, May 30, 8pm, A Tribute to Dan Lamothe with Rezurex, Bones Shredder & A Band Of Orcs at Moe’s Alley.
😳 Wait, What?! 🦭👀🏆🍿
In a follow up from last week’s story, the world’s favorite viral sea lion has apparently been replaced by (eek!) a body double, sometimes called “Chonkers Light” or “Chonk2.” Marine experts confirmed this week that the giant sea lion currently hogging attention at Pier 39 is NOT the OG Chonkers, but rather a “large California sea lion impostor.” Somewhere, the real Chonkers is probably floating offshore, enjoying the fact that his stand-in can now handle the paparazzi.