Local News

GILROY—This year’s Gilroy Garlic Festival has been canceled, festival organizers announced late Friday afternoon. The announcement came as governmental jurisdictions, businesses, educators and residents throughout California are severely restricting their activities in response to the coronavirus pandemic. In a brief email, organizers said the 40-year-old festival...

Dr. Leonor Xóchitl Pérez was 12 years old when she first played mariachi. It was 1973, and her school in Southern California had just created the first school-based mariachi program in the state’s history.  The music stuck with Perez. When she was 18, she was accepted...

More than half of pregnant women in Monterey County are exposed to pesticides believed to be harmful to their fetuses, and a quarter of the pesticide used in California is applied in Monterey County. Those statistics are part of a study released Sept. 30 by...

Santa Cruz County has opened two emergency cold shelter sites in Santa Cruz and Watsonville. Unhoused residents needing a warm place to stay for the night are welcome to stop by. The shelters are located at the Watsonville Veterans Memorial Building, 215 E. Beach St.,...

The Big Lots retail store in Freedom Centre is now history in Watsonville.  The chain business, with hundreds of locations sprinkled across the U.S.,  announced late last year that it was closing all of its stores, which are commonly situated in popular shopping centers. However,...

The Watsonville Woman’s Club began its year of monthly meetings Sept. 6 at its long-standing Brennan Street building that opened in 1917.

SANTA CRUZ COUNTY—Thanks to $10 million in federal and state grants, Santa Cruz County has launched a new Housing for Health office, County Administrative Officer Carlos Palacios announced at a press conference Nov. 19. Robert Ratner, who brings in 14 years of experience from Alameda...

The Monterey Bay Cactus and  Succulent Society will hold its annual Spring Show and Sale April 12-14 in Watsonville. Attendees can learn from seasoned plant experts and view hundreds of cacti and succulents, as well as pottery and supplies at the three-day event. Also on board...

WATSONVILLE—Following the tremendous success of the first-ever Holiday Lights Drive-thru at the Santa Cruz County Fairgrounds during Christmas, the 2021 Drive-Thru Crab Feed proved to be another booming hit Saturday. Fairgrounds Foundation spokesman Ron Haedicke said they sold out all 472 meals in the inaugural...

More than 55,000 people attended the Santa Cruz County Fair this year, an 11% jump from last year. The number includes paid attendance from the public as well as the fair’s long list of volunteers, said fair spokesman Ron Haedicke. “There were no major incidents and...