A COLORFUL YEAR Donna Giubbini, Fine Arts and Poetry Department Head and Chair at the
Santa Cruz County Fairgrounds and Eric
Mikkelsen team up to hang artwork on Aug. 29
in the Fine Arts Building at the fairgrounds in
preparation for the Santa Cruz County Fair.
We wanted to end the old year and ring in the new one with a collection of photos from notable events from 2024.
And what a year it was! Just a few months after local officials celebrated the reopening of the Capitola Wharf after months of repair work, heavy surf cleaved off 150 from the Santa Cruz Wharf. Ironically, debris from the latest disaster floated south, where it re-damaged Capitola’s wharf.
This section also highlights notable people and events that shape our community.
From our family to yours, We hope 2025 is a good year for you.
ALL PHOTOS BY TARMO HANNULA
WRAP-UP Santa Cruz County Supervisor Felipe Hernandez is part of a large crowd that showed up Oct. 26 to celebrate the completion of the massive Watsonville Brillante mosaic mural project on the parking structure onvRodriguez and West Beach streets. The project took five years in 10 six-month phases.
FOR A CAUSE Runners from various first responder agencies join others in the 8th annual Never Forget Memorial Relay April 30 in Aptos Village Park.CLEAN UP Watsonville City and Santa Cruz County officials team up to clean up a homeless encampment on Airport Boulevard across from the Safeway Store on Aug. 1. LEADERS Shaz Roth (right), CEO of the Pajaro Valley Chamber of Commerce and Agriculture informs Sally Christine Rodgers Aug. 16 that she has been named the Woman of the Year.HEALTHY PICK Dick Peixoto, owner of Lakeside Organic Gardens, is shown at his head quarters on Oct. 31 on Sakata Lane. LEVEE WORK Santa Cruz County Supervisor Zach Friend (right) talks about the Pajaro River Flood Risk Management Project Oct. 2 along the Corralitos Creek. Also pictured are Senator John Laird, left, Assembly Speaker Robert Rivas and Congresswoman Zoe Lofgren. DRIVEN Uriel Escobar Carreño, 8, takes the wheel of a 1928 fire truck Aug. 7 in downtown Watsonville during the annual National Night Out. OPEN AT LAST Officials from Santa Cruz and Monterey counties join Pajaro Middle School eighth graders Kaleah Alanis (center, left) and Sara Sosa on Aug. 14 as they officially cut the ribbon to reopen their school after major flooding shut the campus down in early 2023.ACTIVISM Watsonville Mayor Vanessa Quiroz-Carter speaks of the hazards of pesticide use at area farms around area schools and elsewhere May 23 in back of MacQuiddy Elementary School.POT BUST Omar Cortez Ramirez of Watsonville is taken into custody June 26 in Watsonville following an alleged burglary at a marijuana dispensary. CEREMONY Monica Martinez, CEO of Encompass Community Services, heads up a groundbreaking ceremony June 21 for the new Encompass Community Services’ Sà Se Puede Behavioral Health Center on Miles Lane in Watsonville.FOREVER CLOSED The popular and long-standing bar, The Villager in Watsonville, closed in March.REMEMBERING Willie Yahiro and Maria Orozco—who now serves as Watsonville Mayor—at a Pajaro Valley Unified School Board meeting. Yahiro died on March 4.125 YEARS The musical group, Saxophonia, delivers their mix of tunes Aug. 29 as part of the celebration of 125th anniversary of the Watsonville Woman’s Club.The organization was founded in 1899, first holding meetings at area homes, then in school gymnasiums. Their longstanding and current home at 12 Brennan St. was built in 1917.OVERTURNED A big rig carrying 40,000 pounds of printer paper toppled into a ravine on Highway 152 (Hecker Pass) May 9. The California Highway Patrol said the male driver, who suffered only minor injuries, was traveling from LA to Watsonville for the PTS, Inc. company when he lost control while navigating a tight curve on southbound Hwy 152 and rolled off the pavement. The rod was closed for 12 hours.TROUBLED FODDER Workers attempt to remove damaged sections of a pedestrian bridge that spans Soquel Drive at the Cabrillo College Aptos campus Monday afternoon after a trailer hauling an excavator plowed into the bridge on Jan. 11.NOW OPEN Capitola Mayor Kristen Brown welcomes a huge crowd to the ribbon-cutting reopening of the newly rebuilt Capitola Wharf on Sept. 25.EARTH BOUND Driscoll’s workers Raquel Verida (from left) Human Resources, Cristina Barragan, Accounting, Crystal Ortiz and Annette Falcon of Transaction Services don their fancy hats May 19 at the annual Down to Earth Luncheon at Driscoll’s Rancho Corralitos. PARK UPGRADE Children play on the large slide at Ramsay Park Friday where a major renovation and upgrade project for the popular park kicked off May 24.BIRD CALL A rare black-headed gull dropped by Rio Del Mar State Beach Jan. 4 that has birders’ attention.WETLANDS STEWARDS Saira Ramos (foreground, left) of Watsonville Wetlands Watch, helps public volunteers with a widespread planting project Feb. 9 as part of World Wetlands Day at Struve Slough. Watsonville Wetlands Watch co-hosted the event that drew more than 250 people.
