Arts & Culture

The Circus has come to town, this time at Ramsay Park on Main Street in Watsonville.  Circus Royal Spectacular—out of Las Vegas—rolled into town Tuesday, and crews quickly began driving giant tent stakes into the softball diamond  to set up their mammoth bigtop tent. Circus spokesperson...

Business at California Pajarosa Floral, one of Watsonville’s last remaining large flower growers, has altered drastically since the outbreak of Covid-19 last year. Already dealing with an evolving industry before the pandemic due to growth in offshore production, things came to a sudden halt at...

CENTRAL COAST—The California cut flower industry has changed drastically in the last 30 years. Once controlling more than half of cut flower sales in the U.S., it has gradually been overtaken by competition from overseas growers. The Pajaro Valley, once a mecca of rose growing,...

WATSONVILLE—For years the Santa Cruz County Farm Bureau (SCCFB) and the Agri-Culture organization have hosted the National Agriculture Day Spring Luncheon. However, due to the current COVID- 19 pandemic, the March 18 event was postponed, and its future remains uncertain. Despite this, the two groups...

CENTRAL COAST—Pandemic-related losses to California farms, ranches and agricultural businesses will range between $5.9 billion and $8.6 billion this year, according to an economic study released June 23. The analysis says the state’s $50 billion agricultural sector has already suffered $2 billion in losses so...

On the second day of an overnight journey to Petaluma at the top of the north San Francisco Bay Area, the Best Western Motel helped start our day with a waffle breakfast, good coffee and OJ.  Wandering through the older part of downtown Petaluma the...

  In 1983, a group of local farmers looking for ways to manage the Pajaro Valley’s groundwater basin formed the Pajaro Valley Water Management Agency (PVWMA). A year later, the agency was officially recognized by the state legislature, who tasked them to stop groundwater overdraft...

Winds were so strong Saturday night that meteorologists issued a tornado warning on the  Central Coast including for Elkhorn and Prunedale, as well as areas around Aptos and Watsonville. Just after 8pm, some residents reported seeing a “funnel cloud” touch down on the 700 block...

WATSONVILLE—Heavy-duty earth-moving equipment rumbled into gear at the Santa Cruz County Fairgrounds over the past week, reshaping a chunk of land at the Agricultural History Project to make way for the expansion of the Living History Farm. Situated near the entrance of the fairgrounds, the...

SANTA CRUZ COUNTY—The 2020 Crop Report for the County of Santa Cruz has been released, detailing the region’s agricultural commodities during one of the most challenging years on record. The Crop Report is presented each year by Agricultural Commissioner Juan Hidalgo through the Department of...