Enjoy games with prizes all along downtown Boulder Creek! There will be a kid zone, photo booth, vendors and more!

Seaweed Summer highlights the beauty, ecology, and hidden life of seaweeds found along the Santa Cruz shoreline. Enjoy food, drinks, hands-on activities, and opportunities to learn from naturalists about the important role seaweed plays in marine ecosystems, from habitat building to climate resilience. Explore interactive tables, creative art-making, and community organizations sharing ocean-inspired work. As always, the First Friday of…

Join the Land Trust of Santa Cruz County for a special bird- themed First Friday celebrating the incredible birds that call Santa Cruz County home. Meet local bird experts, connect with fellow nature enthusiasts, and discover how protecting open spaces helps birds thrive. Throughout the evening, expect: 🦅 Live raptors 📚 A local author 📷 A Wildlife photographer 🪶 An…

You will be going out to the Santa Cruz Wharf to collect the plankton and take data on the physical conditions. You will then go to a lab at the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary Center to look closely at your subjects (plankton) under the microscopes. These are the microscopic organisms that produce half the oxygen you breathe (phytoplankton) and…

Bring your friends, family and neighbors and come out to enjoy good old-fashioned activities such as spinning wool, cheese making, wooden cow milking and ice cream making! You can even drive a tractor and go on a hayride.  Local Santa Cruz County 4-H clubs will be hosting their Annual Spring Fair.  This action-packed day is admission free, and donations are…

Hear the future of new music in this free chamber concert of original works programmed, produced, performed and presented by our adventurous 16–24-year-old Youth Ensemble. FREE!

Have you never done line dancing before? Never fear! Wendy will lead you through a variety of line dances. Go enjoy lively dancing and a fun time. All ages and experience levels are welcome. Beer, wine, sodas and snacks will be available for purchase.

The Santa Cruz Antique Faire is on the 2nd Sunday of every month from 9am-5pm, weather permitting. Vendors offer an eclectic blend of antiques and unique items, vintage clothing, collectibles and more! Visit the Antique Faire on Lincoln Street between Pacific and Cedar.

The Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music season concludes with a luminous program looking toward collective possibility, resilience, and belonging. Ascending Creatures (West Coast premiere) by Festival newcomer, Eunike Tanzil, draws inspiration from the coordinated flight of birds, exploring the interplay between individuality and unity through motion and sound. Through interlocking musical lines and evolving textures, Tanzil emphasizes the power of…

Hosted Mic'd Board Games 5 - 8 Trivia 8 - 10 The Game Night Collective is a Santa Cruz-based board game community that creates welcoming, hosted tabletop events where people can discover new games, meet new friends, and enjoy structured game nights without needing prior experience. Unlike a typical board game meetup where players are expected to know games or…

Come to Peoples Coffee, the official Santa Cruz location for the Southmost events for the Golden Gate Gamemakers! Come join us as a branch under GGG known as Game Designers of Santa Cruz! It's a relaxed chance to try new board games and card games, get feedback on your own prototypes if you are a game designer, and get advice…

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…

We are coming together as a community to steward Tyrrell Park through the City’s Adopt-A-Park program. At the Santa Cruz Museum of Natural History, you gain new wisdom about local ecology, native plants, and sustainable gardening while connecting with nature outdoors. It’s time to get your hands dirty! Join us and volunteer in the Museum’s Garden Learning Center and Pilkington…

InterAct Open Mic at Satori Arts. FREE community poetry jam featuring Kate O'NeillAre you ready to get your poetry on? Join us on August 18, 2026 at Satori Arts for InterAct, a FREE open mic night, from 7-9 pm, featuring poet Kate O'Neill.Kate O’Neill has been working for social change since Earth Day 1970. She holds degrees in Education (Ed.D.…

Bookshop Santa Cruz welcomes Steve Hawk, the longest serving editor of Surfer (1991-1998), who will share his thrilling new novel Nearshore, a mix of literary suspense and coastal noir which follows an unlikely trio on the California coast who investigate a nuclear terrorist act. Hawk will be in conversation with Charles Duhigg at this event.

The Boulder Creek Volunteer Fire Department holds its annual Summer BBQ Dinner & Dance on Saturday, August 22. Firefighters serve a tri-tip and chicken dinner in the apparatus bay, and three live bands (Kentucky Mule, Barnstormers, Bootleg Country Band) play out back with dancing until 11 p.m. There's a bounce house and face painting for kids. Tickets are $30 for…

InterAct Open Mic at Satori Arts. FREE community poetry jam featuring David Allen Sullivan and Ignatius Valentine AloysiusAre you ready to get your poetry on? Join us on Sept. 1, 2026 at Satori Arts for InterAct, a FREE open mic night, from 7-9 pm, featuring David Allen Sullivan and Ignatius Valentine Aloysius as they read from their latest book, Everything…

Bookshop Santa Cruz welcomes Paula Arai (Bringing Zen Home) for a reading and signing of her new book Of Mud and Lotuses: Dreaming the Lives of Buddhist Women—a unique blend of personal reflection, creative histories, and interview-based nonfiction that vividly imagines the lives of Buddhist women over 2,500 years. Of Mud and Lotuses illuminates the hardships, resilience, and creative ways…

The Ocean Film Festival World Tour, now in its 13th year, is set to make a splash in 2026, returning with a powerful and visually stunning line-up of films that celebrate the ocean from every angle — above the surface, beneath the waves, and deep into the stories that connect us all to the sea. This year’s tour promises an…

InterAct Open Mic at Satori Arts. FREE community poetry jam featuring Gregory M. Speed Sr.Are you ready to get your poetry on? Join us on September 15, 2026 at Satori Arts for InterAct, a FREE open mic night, from 7-9 pm, featuring poet Gregory M. Speed Sr.Gregory M. Speed Sr.  was born and raised in North Carolina. A poet and…

Oktoberfest Santa Cruz is the longest running independent-neighborhood Oktoberfest event in Santa Cruz County. We will be celebrating of 27th Anniversary! Our event is a celebration of German-Bavarian culture. Messiah Lutheran Church on Santa Cruz's west side has been hosting the event since it's inception. We are a family friendly event with lots of children's and family friendly activities. Come…

InterAct Open Mic at Satori Arts. FREE community poetry jam featuring readings from Winter In America (Still AnthologyAre you ready to get your poetry on? Join us on October 6, 2026 at Satori Arts for InterAct, a FREE open mic night, from 7-9 pm, featuring Roxi Power, co-editor of the anthology Winter in America (Still:.A reading hosted by co-editor Roxi…

InterAct Open Mic at Satori Arts. FREE community poetry jam and Anthology Launch Reading– How to Get Home in the DarkAre you ready to get your poetry on? Join us on October 20, 2026 at Satori Arts for InterAct, a FREE open mic night, from 7-9 pm, featuring the anthology launch reading of How to Get Home in the Dark:…

InterAct Open Mic at Satori Arts. FREE community poetry jam featuring editor and contributor readings from Magpie On the Gallows anthology.Are you ready to get your poetry on? Join us on Nov 3, 2026 at Satori Arts for InterAct, a FREE open mic night, from 7-9 pm, featuring readings from editor and contributors of Magpie On the Gallows anthology.Magpie on…

InterAct Open Mic at Satori Arts. FREE community poetry jam featuring Lisa Allen OrtizAre you ready to get your poetry on? Join us on November 17, 2026 at Satori Arts for InterAct, a FREE open mic night, from 7-9 pm, featuring poet Lisa Allen Ortiz.Lisa Allen Ortiz is the author of two poetry collections: Stem winner of the 2021 Idaho…

InterAct Open Mic at Satori Arts. FREE community poetry jam featuring Veronica KornbergAre you ready to get your poetry on? Join us on Dec. 15, 2026 at Satori Arts for InterAct, a FREE open mic night, from 7-9 pm, featuring poet Veronica Kornberg.A Bay Area poet, Veronica Kornberg splits her time between Portola Valley and Pescadero. She is the recipient…