It's time to get those crayons sharpened, paints mixed and markers at the ready for our Summer 2026 Pokémon Art Contest for kids 5-12! To join in, create a picture of your favorite Pokémon having a fun moment or striking a cool, dynamic pose. Submissions should be on 8.5 x 11 paper. You can use any medium you like, such as paint, marker, crayon, pencil, etc. No digital art. There will be prizes awarded to two age groups, 5-7 and 8-12. Entries accepted June 1st-July 31st. Winners will be announced on August 6th. BONUS: All participants will receive a free Pokémon:Chaos Rising 11x17 mini-poster (while supplies last) when you hand in your art.
From the waves to the redwoods, it's all happening here.
Live music, festivals, art walks, surf contests, trail days and everything in between.
In-person only, on purpose. Everything here is something you can actually show up to. No screens, no streams.
★ Featured this season
★ Featured Event
Phamily Time!
Phamily Time, presented by Phreeborn is back with a summer edition you won’t want to miss. There will be something for everyone, so bring the whole phamily! Get tickets for the whole day celebration here: TICKETS
★ Featured
Free Beach BBQ Parties and Concerts
Every Thursday throughout the summer, enjoy a family-friendly party on the beach at no charge! There will be local bands and DJs performing on the outdoor stage, providing music for dancing and socializing. There will be BBQ food and drinks for purchase all in a beachside setting providing stunning views of the ocean and Walton Lighthouse. Parking is limited in the area, so consider enjoying a free water taxi ride from other parking areas! 2026 Lineup: May 21, 2026: Sambada May 28, 2026: Space Heater June 4, 2026: James Durbin & The Lost Boys June 11, 2026: Ancestree June 18, 2026: Jive Machine June 25, 2026: Cake by the Ocean July 2, 2026: Ripatti Rose Band July 9, 2026: Extra Large July 16, 2026: Fishhook July 23, 2026: Harry & The Hitmen July 30, 2026: Matt Masih & The Messengers August 6, 2026: The Houserockers August 13, 2026: The Joint Chiefs August 20, 2026: La Familia August 27, 2026: Alex Lucero Band September 3, 2026: Sambada
Chamber Choir Now Auditioning
Beati Quorum, a new and growing Ensemble, is seeking new local members. Beati Quorum is a small, hybrid professional / volunteer ensemble based in Santa Cruz. We focus on a cappella singing, Renaissance through contemporary works, and collaborations with artists from our local network to international groups. Visit www.beatiquorum.org to set up an audition today.
★ Featured
WRECKAGE: A Musical Tragicomedy
The Tony Award-Winning San Francisco Mime Troupe Opens their 67th Season with: WRECKAGE: A Musical Tragicomedy July 3 – Sept. 7, 2026
Coming up
Cascada de Flores
Get ready to dance, sing, and play with Cascada de Flores! Original stories told in Spanish & English, using song, musical instruments, dance, theater, and traditional Mexican & Latin American cultures. Families are invited to sing, dance, and play with beautiful traditional songs and dances. ¡Prepárate para bailar, cantar y jugar con Cascada de Flores! Relatos originales contados en inglés y español, utilizando canción, instrumentos musicales, danza, teatro y culturas tradicionales mexicanas y latinoamericanas. Se invita a las familias a cantar, bailar y jugar con hermosas canciones y bailes tradicionales. https://santacruzpl.libnet.info/event/16233495
☀️ Happening today
Thursday, July 3078 events on today. No plans required, just go.
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Showing 30 of 2597 upcoming events
Spring Exhibitions at the Institute of the Arts and Sciences
Visit the IAS, UCSC’s premier art galleries, for our spring exhibitions. On view April 10–August 16, 2026 are three diverse and interdisciplinary shows: Libia Posada: Everything is Going Right , the first US solo exhibition by the Colombia-based artist and medical doctor; Gina Athena Ulysse: A Redwoods Rasanblaj , a site-specific and immersive exploration of the Haitian kreyol conception of rasanblaj; and Ronaldo V. Wilson: There Are No Words, But Melodies , a mixed-media exhibition emerging at the intersections of Black poetics, performance, and visual art. The IAS Galleries are open Wednesday-Sunday, 12 pm – 5 pm. Admission is free to the public. Libia Posada: Everything is Going Right Libia Posada’s first solo exhibition in the United States features installations, sculptures, and drawings meticulously constructed from surgical instruments, gauze bandages, crutches, used books, and domestic picture frames. The new and existing works in the exhibition powerfully stitch together the personal, social, and political disorders and afflictions that currently trouble the world, from the wars that resonate across the globe to the violences of aging in US prisons. Gina Athena Ulysse: A Redwoods Rasanblaj: Origins & Disentanglements The internationally-lauded work of humanities professor Gina Athena Ulysse is on view as a premier Faculty Spotlight Exhibition. The site-specific installation, produced in community from things collected, found, purchased and donated, centers on the Haitian concept of rasanblaj, a form of assembly and collage that transcends the formal use of materials to draw together people, spirits, and ideas. Ronaldo V. Wilson: There Are No Words, But Melodies Collage is both a material practice and a structural interrogation in the Faculty Spotlight Exhibition artworks by literature professor Ronaldo V. Wilson. In video, painting, and installation, layers and folds conceal and reveal, delving into the experience, both bodily and emotive, of living in time
Thursday, July 30 2026 11:00am - 12:00pm Songs and Stories
Join us Wednesday, May 21st from 12:00 PM- 1:00 PM at California Coffee for an informative and uplifting workshop you won't want tfor suo miss! Our featured guest speaker, Manas S. Kshirsagar, AD, MS a NAMA Board Certified Ayurvedic Doctor with years of experience in holistic wellness and healing, will be presenting "Tools for Stress and Anxiety". With today's fast-paced world and the stress levels many of us are unduring, this workshop will offer valuable insight, practical tools and wellness strategies to help bring more balance, peace and calm into our daily lives. Lunch Special Available: Half Sandwich + Chips just $9.99 California Coffee, 9105 Soquel Dr., Aptos, CA 95003 cacoffeeaptos.com Thank you from myself Sylvia Reyes, and my amazing team for supporting our small business and community events!
Rules Are Not Neutral: Play As Sense-Making, Acts Of Resistance, And Imagining Otherwise
This exhibition brings together a range of analog games – including board, card, role-playing, and other participatory works – that engage social and political realities in different ways. The works span widely circulated commercial games to independently produced projects, one-of-a-kind artworks by artists, faculty, alumni, and students, and materials drawn from UC Santa Cruz Special Collections and Archives. In part, the exhibition challenges the persistent assumption that games and play are detached from social and political life. On the contrary, game designers and artists across diverse perspectives and positions have long used play to engage questions of social systems, lived experience, and how power operates. This exhibition does not attempt to represent that full spectrum. Instead, it brings together a particular set of works that foreground how games can make systems visible, intervene in them, and imagine alternatives. All games embody values, whether intentional or not. – Mary Flanagan , game designer and scholar Across all of these works, games are not only forms of entertainment, though they may be that as well. They are encountered in multiple ways: as objects, as systems, as artworks, and as experiences that unfold unpredictably through interaction. In each case, rules and constraints shape what participants can do. In these different forms, the works stage systems – such as housing and land ownership, capitalism, race and identity, civil rights and protest, fascism, and colonialism – in ways that are simplified and easy to see, opening space to recognize similar structures beyond the game. In this sense, the works suggest that rules are not neutral – they organize experience, distribute power, and produce meaning. Games are the art of agency. – C. Thi Nguyen , philosopher The exhibition is intentionally dense. This abundance reflects the breadth of ways games operate across contexts, from activism and education to art and everyday life. While it cel
Step into the MAH's Archives Reading Room during our weekly Open Archives hours. Meet the archivist, see a unique item from the collection on display, and discover where Santa Cruz history is preserved. Please note: Open Archives is an informal drop-in experience, not a time for in-depth research appointments. If you'd like to schedule research time, please contact us in advance by email or phone. We usually pop open the archives every week-though every now and then we take a break. For more information, email [email protected]
July is Parks and Recreation Month | Free Swim Thursdays
Free swim Thursdays in July at the Watsonville High School Pool in celebration of Parks and Recreation Month. A cool way to enjoy summer.
Get ready to dance, sing, and play with Cascada de Flores! Original stories told in Spanish & English, using song, musical instruments, dance, theater, and traditional Mexican & Latin American cultures. Families are invited to sing, dance, and play with beautiful traditional songs and dances. ¡Prepárate para bailar, cantar y jugar con Cascada de Flores! Relatos originales contados en inglés y español, utilizando canción, instrumentos musicales, danza, teatro y culturas tradicionales mexicanas y latinoamericanas. Se invita a las familias a cantar, bailar y jugar con hermosas canciones y bailes tradicionales. https://santacruzpl.libnet.info/event/16233495
Thursday, July 30 2026 1:00pm - 3:00pm Creativity time for teens and tweens at the library!
Far West Fungi’s Santa Cruz Store & Café is launching Myco-Mixers – Enjoy an afternoon of food, fun, and fungi! Each Myco-Mixer will feature complimentary bites, product samples, and happy hour discounts on café favorites. Guests can meet the Far West Fungi team, learn about unique mushroom products, and discover new flavors to take home. Head Far West in Santa Cruz each week to taste house-made tacos, explore featured products, and find your new favorite mushroom treats. Whether you’re a foodie, mushroom enthusiast, or just looking for a fun Thursday outing, Myco-Mixers are the perfect way to experience local one-of-a-kind flavors!
Thursday, July 30 2026 1:30pm - 2:15pm Get ready to dance, sing, and play with Cascada de Flores! ¡Prepárate para bailar, cantar y jugar con Cascada de Flores!
Thursday, July 30 2026 2:00pm - 4:00pm Play Mahjong with fellow enthusiasts! Beginners welcome with weekly Hong Kong Style lessons. Other styles offered too. Tiles provided or bring your own.
Thursday, July 30 2026 3:00pm - 5:00pm R.E.A.D. is one-on-one reading comprehension instruction for grades 1-12. By appointment only. Please, no drop-ins! To make an appointment, call 831-427-7713
Thursday, July 30 2026 3:00pm - 5:00pm Make and explore STEAM possibilities at Felton Branch Library! Age 6+
Thursday, July 30 2026 3:00pm - 5:00pm Learn how to craft, build, and survive in the world of Minecraft.edu.
R.E.A.D.: Reach Every Amazing Detail @ Downtown
Thursday, July 30 2026 3:00pm - 5:00pm R.E.A.D. is one-on-one reading comprehension instruction for grades 1-12. By appointment only. Please, no drop-ins! To make an appointment, call 831-427-7713
Thursday, July 30 2026 3:00pm - 5:00pm R.E.A.D. is one-on-one reading comprehension instruction for grades 1-12. By appointment only. Please, no drop-ins! To make an appointment, call 831-427-7713.
Join us for Yappy Hours in the Kincentricity Garden every last Thursday of the month! Meet the pups that are up for adoption (paperwork to fill out onsite), sip on a few "Barktinis", and enjoy furry-friend festivities like the option for dogs to make their very own paw paintings!
Thursday, July 30 2026 3:00pm - 5:00pm R.E.A.D. is one-on-one reading comprehension instruction for grades 1-12. By appointment only. Please, no drop-ins! To make an appointment, call 831-427-7713
Thursday, July 30 2026 3:00pm - 5:00pm Bring your decks and get ready to play
Event date: July 30, 2026 Event Time: 04:30 PM - 06:30 PM Location: 275 Main Street, Suite #100 Watsonville, CA 95076
Tech Café: iPad Stop Motion Movies
Learn to create stop-motion movies using iPads at Watsonville Main Library. Part of a weekly Tech Cafe series.
Are you interested in learning about technology? Visit us during our weekly Tech Café program where you have the opportunity to get basic tech-related questions answered and test a new piece of technology. This program will take place on Thursdays from 4:30-6:30pm at the Main Library (unless otherwise indicated). The technology we demo will change each month; here is a list of what technology will be featured: - January (program starts on the 15th): Doodle Pens - February: Makey Makeys (circuit boards) - March: 3D Printer - April: Spheros (programmable robots) - May: Cricut - June: Glowforge - laser cutter (This program will take place at the Freedom Branch) - July: iPad Stop Motion movies - August: Spheros (programmable robots) - September: 3D Printer - October: Doodle Pens - November: Cricut - December: Makey Makeys (circuit boards) Audience: All Ages ¿Le interesa aprender sobre tecnología? Visítanos durante nuestro programa semanal Tech Café, donde tendrás la oportunidad de obtener respuestas a preguntas básicas relacionadas con la tecnología y probar una nueva tecnología. Este programa se llevará a cabo los jueves de 4:30 a 6:30pm en la Biblioteca Principal (a menos que se indique otro horario o lugar). La tecnología que mostraremos cambiará cada mes; las tecnologías que se presentarán: - enero (el programa comienza el día 15): Doodle Pens - febrero: Makey Makeys (placas de circuitos) - marzo: Impresora 3D - abril: Spheros (robots programables) - mayo: Cricut - junio: Glowforge - cortadora láser (este programa se llevará a cabo en la sucursal Freedom) - julio: iPad Stop Motion (películas) - agosto: Spheros (robots programables) - septiembre: Impresora 3D - octubre: Doodle Pens - noviembre: Cricut - diciembre: Makey Makeys (placas de circuitos) Audiencia: Para todas las edades
¡Prepárate para bailar, cantar y jugar con Cascada de Flores! Relatos originales contados en inglés y español, utilizando canción, instrumentos musicales, danza, teatro y culturas tradicionales mexicanas y latinoamericanas. Se invita a las familias a cantar, bailar y jugar con hermosas canciones y bailes tradicionales. Get ready to dance, sing, and play with Cascada de Flores! Original stories told in Spanish & English, using song, musical instruments, dance, theater, and traditional Mexican & Latin American cultures. Families are invited to sing, dance, and play with beautiful traditional songs and dances. https://santacruzpl.libnet.info/event/16225700 https://santacruzpl.libnet.info/event/16233495
¡Prepárate para bailar, cantar y jugar con Cascada de Flores! Relatos originales contados en inglés y español, utilizando canción, instrumentos musicales, danza, teatro y culturas tradicionales mexicanas y latinoamericanas. Se invita a las familias a cantar, bailar y jugar con hermosas canciones y bailes tradicionales. Get ready to dance, sing, and play with Cascada de Flores! Original stories told in Spanish & English, using song, musical instruments, dance, theater, and traditional Mexican & Latin American cultures. Families are invited to sing, dance, and play with beautiful traditional songs and dances. https://santacruzpl.libnet.info/event/16225700 https://santacruzpl.libnet.info/event/16233495
Business After Hours: K&D Landscaping - 40th Anniversary Event!
Join the Santa Cruz Area Chamber for Business After Hours on July 30 from 5:00–7:00 PM at K&D Landscaping in Watsonville. Network with fellow business professionals, enjoy a relaxed evening of conversation, and experience a unique behind-the-scenes look at a local business. The evening will also include a special 40th Anniversary Ribbon Cutting celebrating K&D Landscape’s milestone year. Help us commemorate this exciting achievement while building connections with the Chamber’s vibrant business community. We look forward to celebrating with you!
A weekly Congo dance class in Santa Cruz. Participants learn traditional African dance movements in a group setting at The 418 Project.
Persephone Restaurant Thursday Night Pasta Special
Every Thursday along with our regular menu we offer a prix fixe pasta dinner! Enjoy three courses starting with a fresh farmers market mixed green salad, your choice of Pappardelle Bolognese, Truffled Tortiglioni or our seasonal risotto. Finish with a scoop of our housemade chocolate gelato or seasonal sorbet. Three courses for $40!
Go explore the harbor shops, restaurants and experiences with very little car traffic! Passengers may be picked up and dropped off at the following locations: X1 Gate (northeast harbor) AA Dock (southwest harbor) Launch Ramp (southeast harbor) Please visit the Port District’s website to view the map for all water taxi pick-up and drop-off locations in the harbor. Visitor parking is available for water taxi passengers in the north harbor near X Dock.
K & D Landscaping 40th Year Anniversary Ribbon Cutting
A ribbon-cutting ceremony celebrating the 40th anniversary of a landscaping business. Open to the community.
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