Arts & Culture

"Try This" is a weekly column that celebrates local businesses — especially eateries, watering holes, coffee shops and the like. • Tony Nuñez FOOD: Mi Mexico Restaurante: Huarache  I’m a sucker for old-fashioned diners. I love the laid back feel, the large, any-time-of-the-day menus and the friendly and...

For performer Joe Ferrara, being a member of the Santa Cruz Follies is like being part of a large, extended family.

Have a recent photo you’d like to share? Send it to us for consideration by emailing it to [email protected] or mailing it to 21 Brennan St., Suite 14, Watsonville, CA 95076. Please include a brief description of the photo as well as the name...

WATSONVILLE—The Watsonville Nature Center will soon be getting a new neighbor, in the form of a 14-foot tall white egret. “Great White Egret” was designed and created by artist John Cerney of Salinas, who is known for constructing giant mural cutouts and placing them along...

APTOS—Local artist and Pajaro Valley Arts exhibit coordinator Hedwig Heerschop recently raised $1,000 during the Open Studios Art Tour for children in Ukraine. Heerschop, a fine art photographer and printmaker, raffled off one of her photograph etchings, depicting a blue and yellow sunflower. She sold...

WATSONVILLE—A dragon is coming to life in Watsonville.  Thanks to the efforts of Watsonville artist Kathleen Crocetti and a team of historians, designers, a benefactor and others, a 22-foot mosaic-covered water dragon is in the works and will soon rest atop a non-traditional Chinese style...

WATSONVILLE—For the past year, a group of five local artists has held a series of virtual pop-up art sessions, where participants learned about the artists’ process and were given guidance on how to create their own work. Now, Pajaro Valley Arts (PVA) is displaying the...

SANTA CRUZ COUNTY—El Sistema Santa Cruz/Pajaro Valley has been awarded $50,000 by the Lewis Prize for Music, which will help further the nonprofit’s work in bringing music education to local students. El Sistema was named one of 10 finalists for the Lewis Prize for Music’s...

WATSONVILLE—Every year, Pajaro Valley Arts (PVA) hosts an annual exhibit inspired by Día de los Muertos (Day of the Dead in English), a traditional holiday in Mexico commemorating family and community members who have died. But this year, after almost two years of the Covid-19...

The world of lowriders—fixed up, cherried-out, shiny, classic, early day cars and trucks—will hit center stage Sunday in Watsonville with the opening reception of the latest art exhibit, “More Than Cars: Celebrating Lowrider Culture,”  at the Pajaro Valley Arts – Porter Building. The show is...