Wetlands Watch holding Native Plant Sale
WATSONVILLE — The Watsonville Wetlands Watch will host its fifth annual Native Plant Sale on Saturday at the Fitz Wetlands Educational Resource Center building at the top of Pajaro Valley High School campus, 500 Harkins Slough Road in Watsonville. The plant sale will run from 8:30 a.m. to 1 p.m.
The community is invited to attend this event where they can buy native plants from a selection of more than 60 different species, learn about their benefits, and talk with staff and volunteer experts about how to grow, care for and design a drought tolerant landscape.
According to Watsonville Wetlands Watch, planting native plant can help birds, bees and butterflies thrive right in your own backyard. Native plants are also drought tolerant, needing little to no summer irrigation.
There will also be a wide selection of native plants that are edible, medicinal, rare and unique.
Alongside the Native Plant Sale, guests will be able to venture inside the Patrick Fitz Wetlands Education Resource Center where volunteer docents will be present to talk about the role of freshwater wetlands and the surrounding habitats of the Pajaro Valley and allow guests to interact with live snakes, turtles and newts.
There will also be a display of native plants foraged from the Watsonville wetlands.
For younger visitors, Pajaro Valley High School students participating in the Wetland Stewards mentorship program will be on hand with educational games.
All proceeds from the native plant sale will directly support the education and restoration programs of the Watsonville Wetlands Watch, which reach more than 2,500 students each year with hands-on outdoor learning, restore habitat across over 1,000 acres of wetlands, uplands and trails in Watsonville, provide free lectures, tours, and community planting events each year, and preserve wetlands and natural places for wildlife and people.
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Fashion Cares event benefits local nonprofit
WATSONVILLE — Queen’s Shoes & More, 734 East Lake Ave., Suite 10 in Watsonville, will hold its seventh annual Fashion Cares Event on Saturday from 6-9 p.m.
This year, the event will benefit Angel Warriors for Kids. Ten percent of proceeds will be donated to the organization that provides services and financial assistance to children and their families who are battling cancer or other life-threatening conditions.
A fashion show will include fashions from the SINDY and Mommy&Me Collections. Cafe Ella will be selling food and coffee, and will donate a percentage of their sales to Angel Warriors for Kids.
Dance performances will be by Pacific Arts Complex. Five dollars of every Fashion Cares T-shirt sold during the month of October will be donated to the Carrie’s Dream Scholarship.
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Soroptimists seek applicants for awards program
WATSONVILLE — Soroptimist International of Watsonville is seeking qualified candidates to apply for the 2017 “Live Your Dream: Education & Training Awards for Women” program.
This program provides cash grants to women who are working to better their lives through additional schooling and skills training.
The club’s first-place award recipient will receive $3,000, the second-place recipient will receive $2,500 and third place will receive $2,000.
To be eligible, a woman must be enrolled in an undergraduate degree program or vocational skills/training program, be the primary financial support of her family, and have financial need.
The deadline to apply is Nov. 15. Applications, reference forms, and additional information are available by emailing [email protected] or by calling Fiaau Ohmann at 206-9401.
Winners will be announced in early February and will be honored at the club’s annual awards dinner in March.
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Nursery hosts fundraiser for SPIN
WATSONVILLE — Alladin Nursery, 2905 Freedom Blvd. in Watsonville, will host a fundraiser for Special Parents Information Network (SPIN) on Oct. 21 from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.
The event will feature live music, free food and drinks.
Ten percent of the proceeds from flower and plant sales will go to SPIN.
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Shakespeare Club begins fall lectures Oct. 7
APTOS — Four noted speakers will talk about Shakespeare’s “Henry VI, Part 2” as the Saturday Shakespeare Club begins its five-part series in Christ Lutheran Church, 10707 Soquel Drive in Aptos beginning at 10 a.m. on Saturday.
Shakespearean scholar Peter Saccio, author of “Shakespeare’s English Kings,” will be featured first, in a CD lecture about combat in “The Battles of Henry VI,” plus give an overview of all three parts of “Henry VI.”
Local costume designer D. Modern, who has worked with Santa Cruz Shakespeare and Jewel Theatre, among other theaters, will be speaker for the Oct. 14 meeting. She will talk about costumes in Shakespeare, with a focus on the Henry history plays.
Michael Warren, renowned authority on Shakespeare and dramaturg for many Santa Cruz Shakespeare productions, will be speaker on Oct. 21. And on Oct. 28, Buck Sharp, emeritus professor of history at UCSC, will describe life during Henry VI’s reign and examine the differences between Shakespeare’s recounting and what actually happened.
Each session begins at 10 a.m. and lasts about an hour, including a brief discussion by club members and visitors. During the second hour, selected club members read aloud the portion of the play that was that day’s focus.
The Nov. 4 session will be a potluck luncheon and feature a film version of the play. “Henry VI, Part 2” is among the first plays by Shakespeare to have been published and is part of a trilogy that follows the setbacks in France that caused the loss of lands won there by King Henry V. Internal intrigues between competing families struggling for power over the new young king leads to the War of the Roses between the Yorks and Lancasters, the first battle of which concludes Part 2.
All sessions are open to the public and free, although a voluntary $2 donation is suggested to help pay for renting the facility. For information, call 462-5767 or email [email protected].
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Groundwater agency to discuss sustainability plan
SANTA CRUZ — The Santa Cruz Mid-County Groundwater Agency is kicking off its Groundwater Sustainability Plan planning effort.
The agency will present four public workshops to orient the Groundwater Sustainability Plan Advisory Committee to groundwater planning and management under the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act.
The first workshop, titled “Groundwater 101 and SGMA – A Primer for the Community,” will be held Thursday from 5-7 p.m. at Simpkins Family Swim Center Meeting Room, 979 17th Ave. in Santa Cruz.
The Mid-County Groundwater Agency was formed in 2016 in response to California’s Sustainable Groundwater Management Act of 2014, which requires groundwater basins be sustainably managed by 2040. The Mid-County Groundwater Agency is responsible for managing the Santa Cruz Mid-County Basin, which is in critical overdraft.
Public participation is welcome. Attendees are asked to RSVP to Darcy Pruitt at [email protected].
For information on the Mid-County Groundwater Agency, visit www.midcountygroundwater.org.
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‘Friday Night Recess’ set for Oct. 6
SANTA CRUZ — The Santa Cruz County Department of Parks, Open Space and Cultural Services is encouraging adults and children of all ages to come play in the street on Friday for “Friday Night Recess.”
To be held on Cooper Street from 5-9 p.m. in conjunction with “First Friday” at the Museum of Art & History, this free event will include LED and glow elements and a playground featuring dodgeball, giant volleyball, badminton, cornhole, large foam building blocks, and activity tables. A DJ will spin tunes, and the Santa Cruz Derby Girls will play a match.
Cooper Street will be closed for the duration of this event. Partners include County Parks, the MAH, the Santa Cruz Children’s Museum of Discovery and Santa Cruz City Parks.
For information, visit County Parks’ Facebook page at www.facebook.com/SCParksDept.
