Humpback whales, one of the region’s most theatrical summer visitors.
Traffic crawling along Ocean Street, tourists clogging up your favorite restaurants, screams emanating from kids enjoying a cheap thrill on the Giant Dipper Roller Coaster—it must be summer in Santa Cruz. Actually, not until tomorrow: The 2022 summer solstice officially takes place at 2:13 a.m. on June 21.
Along with all of the inconveniences of tourist season come many pleasures: Santa Cruz Shakespeare productions, the Cabrillo Festival of Music, the Watsonville Strawberry Festival and many more. All of these happenings are covered well by our media allies. For instance, Johanna Miller writes about longtime costume designer B. Modern and her work with Santa Cruz Shakespeare for Good Times and Michele Murphy chronicles the history of the Redwood Mountains Fine Arts & Crafts Faire and Music Festival for the San Lorenzo Valley Post.
But Santa Cruz County offers more than culture to delight and entertain. There’s also the natural world surrounding our cities. To get the lowdown on the summer spectacles endemic to our beaches, mountains and parklands, writer Kimberly Hickok reached out to the Santa Cruz Museum of Natural History, one of the oldest museums in the state of California. Its roots go back to 1905 and a collection of seashells, minerals, fossils, and other artifacts assembled by naturalist Laura Hecox. Located above Seabright Beach, the museum showcases the region’s diverse plant, animal, and human communities—and it’s marking the season with its Summer Kick-off Festival. On June 25 from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., visitors can get in free to the museum and also enjoy outdoor festivities, including live music, food trucks, nature crafts, and science activities.
More than 6,000 PG&E customers in the city of Santa Cruz experienced a power outage on June 17. PG&E crews attributed the incident to a metallic balloon tangled in power equipment.
(06/16/2022) → Read the full Santa Cruz County Sentinel report
On June 17, the Santa Cruz County Elections Department announced that more than 12,000 additional votes had been counted, bringing the total to 61,428 or 36.6%. With that, the electorate dodged the historic low of 34.8%, set in 2014.
(06/16/2022) → Read the full Santa Cruz County Sentinel report
At the first meeting of the Santa Cruz County Regional Transportation Commission board after the definitive “no” vote on Measure D, the question remained: Where do we go from here?
(06/15/2022) → Read the full Lookout Local report
Esabella Bonner, the 27-year-old who founded Black Surf Santa Cruz, tells Lookout Santa Cruz that although she grew up in Santa Cruz, she didn't consider entering the ocean until two years ago.
(06/15/2022) → Read the full Lookout Local report
Raymond Evans hosted the first Santa Cruz Juneteenth events 30 years ago. Since then, it has grown from a single event at London Nelson Community Center to this year’s two-day celebrations, planned by a committee of about 10 members.
(06/15/2022) → Read the full Lookout Local report
County Clerk Tricia Webber has confirmed that 4,912 of the signatures gathered by Our Downtown, Our Future are valid. Now, critics of Santa Cruz’s downtown library project can place their concerns before voters.
(06/14/2022) → Read the full Lookout Local report
As Congress weighs red flag laws in response to anger over mass shootings, a new study from UC Davis shows that California’s six-year-old law disarmed 58 people who were threatening a gun massacre.
(06/13/2022) → Read the full Santa Cruz County Sentinel report
