From Pizza Week to Rubber Ducks: Santa Cruz Delivers 🍕➡️🦆🌊
Happy Monday, Santa Cruz 👋✨🌊
It’s shaping up to be a pretty eclectic week around Santa Cruz – from comedy nights to doom metal, coastal cleanups, pizza everywhere, redwood walks… and a few thousand rubber ducks along the way.
Ease into the week tonight (April 20) with Comedy Night at Abbott Square Market (7-9pm) – a weekly stand-up show with a rotating lineup of Bay Area comics. But if you’re looking for something a little louder tonight, Pentagram hits The Catalyst (8pm) – one of the pioneers of doom metal and part of the genre’s “big four” – a solid pick if you’re into the heavier side of things.
And if you want to keep the laughs going, the Blue Lagoonies celebrate 20 years on Tuesday night (April 21, 7:45pm, Blue Lagoon). It’s the longest-running free weekly comedy show in California – maybe even the West Coast – and they’re marking the milestone with an anniversary show.
If your plans mostly revolve around what to eat next, Pizza Week is back (April 22-May 3), with local spots rolling out special, limited-time pies – a good excuse to try something or somewhere new. And the Santa Cruz Vegan Chef Challenge (April 1-30) turns the entire county into a kind of plant-based tasting tour, with restaurants debuting brand new vegan dishes just for the occasion. Yes, this can easily turn into a personal food crawl if you play it right.
This Weds., April 22, is Earth Day. Here are just a few of the ways you can get involved:
Join a coastal cleanup with Save Our Shores (Sat, April 25, 9am-11am, Cowell & Main Beach).
Head into the redwoods for a Tree ID Tour at Henry Cowell Redwoods State Park (Sat, April 25, 3pm). It’s a one-mile walk where they’ll be chatting about a handful of trees and giving you the tools to identify species on your future hikes. They promote it like this: “how in-tree-guing,” “beleaf it or not,” and a “good time is guaran-treed.” Anything that punny deserves your attention!
If you’ve never made it out to the Seymour Marine Discovery Center at UCSC’s Coastal Science Campus on the Westside, Earth Week is a great time to check it out – think tide pools, touch tanks, and ocean views.
On the arts front, there’s a strong mix this week. Vincent: A One-Man Play opens Friday (4/24, 7pm) at the Veterans Memorial Building. A Santa Cruz Shakespeare (SCS) production, the play was written by Leonard Nimoy and stars SCS Artistic Director Charles Pasternak. The one-person show brings Vincent van Gogh’s story to life through letters with his brother, paired with projections of his artwork. It’s a more intimate, up-close setting than SCS’s summer shows, and a different way to experience their work.
The Santa Cruz Baroque Festival wraps up its 2026 season at Calvary Episcopal Church (Sat, April 25, 7:30pm) with an all-Bach solo violin program performed by Nancy Zhou. And on Sunday, an immersive piano and visual performance takes over Samper Recital Hall (Sun, April 26, 2pm), bringing Fanny Mendelssohn Hensel’s recently rediscovered solo piano cycle Das Jahr (“The Year”) to life. Local pianist Brianna Conrey teams up with visual artist Olivia Ting for an audiovisual performance that pulls you into Hensel’s 19th-century dreamworld – a more experimental, quietly transportive kind of show.
On Saturday (4/25), the Omega Nu Ducky Derby takes over Harvey West Friendship Gardens (10:30am-3pm). Hundreds, potentially thousands, of rubber ducks are released into the water and “race” to the finish, all as part of a longtime local fundraiser. It’s a little chaotic, very family-friendly, and even with a bunch of rubber ducks, people still take the competition pretty seriously.
The UCSC Alumni Reunion Weekend (April 24-26) brings a little extra buzz to campus and beyond. The university is welcoming back alumni from its earliest years – classes from 1965 through the 50th reunion class of 1976 – for a weekend of reconnecting, reminiscing, and walking those redwood-lined paths again.
That’s a look at the week ahead – now on to the news. Thanks for reading!
News Highlights
Power Outage Impacts 18k+ and Shuts Down Boardwalk Rides
New Housing Plans Emerge as Others Are Tied Up
Granite Rock Polluted Pajaro River, Lawsuit Alleges
District 4 County Supervisor Candidates Square Off
Fruition Brewing Wins Top Honors
Save the Bay Event Targets Trump Plan for Offshore Oil Drilling
First Organic Artichokes Growing in Watsonville
Watsonville, Capitola Urged to End Use of Flock Surveillance Cameras
Plus…Rippling Through Santa Cruz, a Path to Peace, Happy Spring Foods and a Close Encounter Between Wind Surfer and a Whale…Plus Much More!
TOP STORIES
Power Outage Impacts 18k+ and Shuts Down Boardwalk Rides
A widespread power outage impacted service to about 18,500 customers across Santa Cruz County on Friday, forcing the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk to shut down rides mid-day and evacuate guests safely. The interruption happened on the same day the wharf was hosting its soft reopening after a two-year closure for reconstruction.
New Housing Plans Emerge as Others Are Tied Up
New housing plans are moving ahead across Santa Cruz, including two 60-unit buildings proposed for Mission Street and a seven-story affordable project near the Palomar Inn, both now entering the public review phase. At the same time, other developments – totaling more than 200 units – remain tied up in court, underscoring the push-and-pull shaping how (and how fast) new housing actually gets built here.
Granite Rock Polluted Pajaro River, Lawsuit Alleges
Two environmental groups filed a federal lawsuit accusing Granite Rock Company of violating the Clean Water Act for more than 1,000 days at its A.R. Wilson Quarry in Aromas.
District 4 County Supervisor Candidates Square Off
The three candidates vying to be the next District 4 County Supervisor met at a public forum last week, each ready to discuss where they want to lead Watsonville and the Pajaro Valley. Felipe Hernandez is the current supervisor for District 4. He is challenged by Elias Gonzales, associate director of movement building at the non-profit Youth Collective, and Tony Nuñez, the marketing and communications manager for the non-profit Community Bridges and former managing editor at The Pajaronian. Nuñez also serves as board chair of the Pajaro Valley Health Care District, which oversees Watsonville Community Hospital.
Fruition Brewing Wins Top Honors
Fruition Brewing and Kitchen in Watsonville has been named Small Brewery of the Year at the 2026 Best of Craft Beer Awards, a national competition that drew nearly 1,400 entries from breweries around the world.
Save the Bay Event Targets Trump Plan for Offshore Oil Drilling
The Trump administration’s efforts to expand offshore drilling and seabed mining along the California coast are drawing concern from environmental groups, who warn of increased risk to marine ecosystems. The issue will be the focus of a Save the Bay town hall and concert on April 26 (3:30pm-9pm) at the Santa Cruz Veterans Memorial Building, bringing together local officials and activists.
First Organic Artichokes Growing in Watsonville
Anyone rolling along Riverside Drive into Watsonville from Highway 1 lately must have noticed the new, healthy welcome mat – 20 acres of organic artichokes popping their thistle heads up at the Sadie Ranch. The organic crop is a first for the Pajaro Valley. The crop, known as globe artichokes, is the work of the crew at Lakeside Organic Gardens who have been harvesting the prickly vegetables that are being distributed around the nation.
Watsonville, Capitola Urged to End Use of Flock Surveillance Cameras
Anti-surveillance advocates are pushing Watsonville and Capitola to drop license plate reader contracts with Flock Safety, following Santa Cruz’s recent removal of the cameras – but progress has been slow.
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
Good Times writer Christina Waters takes a deep dive into the whirlwind of performance, music, artwork, installations, dance, photography, workshops, painting, and theatricals called the Ripple Effect Santa Cruz Arts Festival.
The path to peace in the Middle East is being deepened by two courageous peace activists: Palestinian Aziz Abu Sarah and Maoz Inon from Israel. The two will present their new book – The Future is Peace – at Temple Beth El in Aptos on Monday, April 20, 7pm.
A growing body of research in nutritional psychiatry suggests that what we eat can influence how we feel, shaping mood, stress levels, and even symptoms of depression. Good Times Wellness Columnist and author Elizabeth Borelli tells us one of the eating patterns most consistently linked to emotional well-being looks remarkably familiar to anyone strolling through a Santa Cruz farmers market in spring: the Mediterranean diet.
Food Writer Mark C. Anderson reminds us that a staycation in Monterey has all sorts of elements that make a visit memorable, some less secret than others, but they all emphasize the unreal setting and offer satisfying surprises.
Co-owners of Scotts Valley locals’ favorite Thai Heart, Richie Yimsamrarn and Sarah Kitphongsri express deep appreciation and gratitude for the community’s support during adversity. Yimsamrarn has been dealing with a brain tumor, but “luckily not cancer,” he says. “I am deeply thankful and touched by all the community support, both emotionally and financially.”
The Fine Print Nobody Reads…and Why You Should
How the online entertainment industry buries important information in the “fine print” of terms and conditions. And why, even if it seems boring, you should read it anyway.
😳 Wait, What?! 👉 🏄♂️🐋🌊A windsurfer in the San Francisco Bay went flying mid-ride after running straight into a gray whale that surfaced right in front of him. Both the rider and the whale were fine. The video clip says the rest.