Santa Cruz, Abuzz with Culture 🎨✨🕺🎭🎶
This is so classic for Santa Cruz. From a bookshop to an art festival to dancing in the streets, and from a mosh pit to Emmylou Harris…or even landing a new job – this week, we’ve got a little bit of everything. Take your pick!
This evening, Monday, April 13 (7-8pm), Bookshop Santa Cruz hosts author and Santa Cruz native, Reilly Meehan who comes home to celebrate the release of his debut cookbook “A Little Bit Extra: 100 Recipes That Serve Up Something Special.”📚🍴 Chef Meehan has built a huge following on social media by offering a behind-the-scenes look at his work as a private chef. In his new book, he offers tips, tricks and techniques for helping those of us without a private chef prepare meals that taste like we do! (I, for one, need this very badly….😉)
But what seems to be generating the most buzz around town this week is the Ripple Effect Santa Cruz Arts Festival,🎨✨ running April 16-26. Timed with California’s Arts, Culture & Creativity Month, this new festival highlights Santa Cruz as a cultural destination and, according to the promoters, features “powerful performances, art, poetry, fashion, music, and cultural celebrations throughout the County.” The festival will also be the cover story in Good Times this week, so you can read more about it on Weds. when our new issue drops.
At roughly the same time (April 16-24), Santa Cruz Dance Week 💃🕺 gets going in downtown Santa Cruz. Hosted by Motion Pacific, expect a vibrant, week-long community celebration of movement, featuring free public performances, low-cost open classes, special events and plenty of reasons to stop and watch for a minute…or longer.
Music-wise, this week, you’ve got a very choose-your-own-adventure situation shaping up. On the one side, you’ve got something loud, local and very Santa Cruz, with the hometown hardcore band Drain & Friends 🎸🤘 at the Quarry Amphitheater on Saturday, April 18, along with No Pressure, Haywire and Secret World. Fresh off a successful, chaotic, high-energy Coachella set that basically turned into one giant mosh-fueled party, they’re coming home with some serious momentum. Their show here is already sold out, but you never know…sometimes you get lucky and tickets pop up. Or, you could just go to the complete opposite end of the spectrum and opt to see Emmylou Harris at the Santa Cruz Civic Auditorium that same night (Sat., April 18) 🎶. This is why we love it here, right?…two very different ways to experience great music on a Saturday night!
On Sunday, April 19 (10am-5pm), check out the Santa Cruz Maker’s Market, 🛍️ a monthly street fair held on the 1100 block of Pacific Ave. (between Cathcart and Lincoln Streets) in downtown Santa Cruz. Featuring 40+ local artisans, it takes place on the third Sunday of each month and showcases handmade goods, including jewelry, art, and food.
And if you’re more about work than play right now, Cabrillo College is celebrating Career Month throughout April, with free workshops and classes to help you prep for jobs and internships, plus they’re hosting a job fair on campus (Upper Quad), Thurs., April 16 at 10:30am with local employers hiring.
That’s a look at what’s happening this week. Now let’s get into the news. Thanks for reading!
News Highlights
Santa Cruz Wharf Set to Fully Reopen
Watsonville, Santa Cruz Block Sexual Predator Placement
Santa Cruz Man Dies from Wounds in March Attack
Housing Matters Ends Some Services Due to Financial Strain
Santa Cruz County Seeks Civil Grand Jury Volunteers
New Parking Lot Opens Along North Coast
Grey Bears Plans Major Warehouse Expansion
Plus…Joe Sib, the Sin Sisters at 15, nervous system resets, garden-to-glass magic at Kendall-Jackson, and ramen life at Oreno…plus much more!
TOP STORIES
Santa Cruz Wharf Set to Fully Reopen
Crews are putting the finishing touches on the $1.3 million Santa Cruz wharf repair project ahead of an April 29 ribbon-cutting ceremony. In December 2024, a bomb cyclone created massive ocean waves that struck the south end of the wharf causing a 150-foot section to collapse into the ocean. The city of Santa Cruz decided to focus on reinforcing the existing pier before deciding on whether or not to rebuild the section that collapsed.
Watsonville, Santa Cruz Block Sexual Predator Placement
Proposals to place convicted rapist Michael Cheek in hotels in Watsonville and Santa Cruz were withdrawn Friday following strong opposition from community members and public officials.
Santa Cruz Man Dies from Wounds in March Attack
Justin Moore, 42, of Santa Cruz, who suffered a stab wound during an attack at the downtown Santa Cruz Clock Tower in March, has died. The suspect, Robert David Worel, 32, has been charged with murder and one count of attempted murder.
Housing Matters Ends Some Services Due to Financial Strain
Housing Matters, a nonprofit in Santa Cruz, has closed its drop-in homeless services, including mail service, bathroom, and shower access, due to financial strain and a shift in focus toward permanent housing initiatives.
Santa Cruz County Seeks Civil Grand Jury Volunteers
Santa Cruz County residents are being encouraged to apply for the next Civil Grand Jury, a volunteer watchdog panel that investigates local government operations and issues public reports aimed at improving transparency and accountability.
New Parking Lot Opens Along North Coast
The Santa Cruz County Regional Transportation Commission (RTC) announced the opening of a new paved parking lot along Highway 1 by Panther Beach near Davenport. It’s intended to expand public access to the North Coast Rail Trail project, which will eventually create a 7.5-mile multi-use path between Wilder Ranch and Davenport.
Grey Bears Plans Major Warehouse Expansion
Grey Bears plans to move into a renovated warehouse next door to its current location by 2028. The $9.6 million project, already more than 80% funded through local donations, aims to expand its commercial kitchen, market and dining services at a time of rising demand and shrinking food assistance resources. Second Harvest Food Bank also has plans to move. It has purchased property next to its current Watsonville-area facility. Officials say this will allow the organization to expand operations and better respond to rising demand for food assistance.
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
Skater, punk musician, comedian and now international storyteller Joe Sib is featured in the Good Times cover story by writer DNA.
The Sin Sisters celebrate their 15th anniversary, making them the longest-running burlesque and drag troupe in Santa Cruz.
In this week’s Wellness Column, author and Good Times writer Elizabeth Borelli explores Santa Cruz’s new wave of nervous system healing.
Kendall-Jackson Vineyard Has a Magical Garden
Josie Cowden tells us that a visit to Kendall-Jackson Wine Estate & Gardens is magical. Their four categories of gardens, including specialty produce, herb gardens, pollinator garden, and sensory garden, are all gorgeous. “And a wine tasting after a garden stroll is a perfect ending,” she says.
Andrew Steingrube, in this week’s Foodie File, talks to Suzie Kim, who, in addition to being a server at Oreno Ramen in Scotts Valley, is also pursuing a career as a tattoo artist. She says her Korean heritage gave her a passion for Asian food and she felt like Oreno would be a good fit while she leveled up her ink game.
😳 Wait, What?! ⚰️♻️🪦💀
Remember that old dad joke: Why do cemeteries have fences? Because people are dying to get in! (ugh, I know..) But apparently there really could be too many people trying to get in. Turns out, many cemeteries are running out of space, with some looking at vertical mausoleums or even repurposing closed schools. Meanwhile, Brooklyn's historic Green-Wood Cemetery plans to be the first on the East Coast to offer "natural organic reduction" or human composting. The (ahem), “nutrient rich material” (yes, it’s exactly what you think it is), could be used for the cemetery's greenery, while saving space and meeting growing demand for “more environmentally sound and affordable means” of memorializing loved ones. Efficient, eco-friendly, and…ok, I’m sorry…I honestly don’t even know how to get out of this one at this point…. (Story Credit: The Hustle)