Thousands attend Strawberry Festival
A collection of images from the Watsonville Strawberry Festival from Aug. 2-4.
Three ways to help friends in crisis
Memo from Pastor Rene
A friend who is a local marriage and family therapist told me recently she’s booked solid with Zoom counseling sessions every day. “People are feeling so much anxiety now,” she said, “more than I’ve ever seen in my practice.” Stress from...
Mutual respect
I wish to share the merit of writing this work equally with all beings,
So that we may all awaken aspiration for Bodhi and together attain birth in the Land of Peace and Bliss.
The above English translation was written by a Chinese Buddhist monk by...
Bringing their education home
After 18 months of work by 200 students, Pajaro Valley Unified School District unveiled a small house that will soon be home to someone who needs it.
At just 20 by 8 feet, the tinyhome is ready for occupation, and comes equipped with living quarters...
Only in Watsonville
The Japanese love cherry blossoms both for their beauty and as harbingers of spring, but also because their short life reminds us of the transience of life.
Sweet but sad.
In the 1920s the Pajaro Valley Japanese community donated and planted hundreds of cherry blossom trees...
Letters to the Editor, Aug. 12
No trust in the Health Trust
The Community Health Trust of the Pajaro Valley was created more than 20 years ago from the proceeds of the sale of the Watsonville Community Hospital to a private corporation. I was a founding member of the Board of...
Concerned residents say ‘no’ to pesticide sprays
On Aug. 24, four of five Santa Cruz County Supervisors, except Greg Caput, from Pajaro Valley’s District 4, rejected the County Civil Grand Jury’s recommendation that they support an online pilot program to provide the public with advance notice of hazardous pesticides being applied...
Sandy Lydon: How Cabrillo College was named and helped unify the county
In August 2020 a group of faculty, students and community members approached the Cabrillo Board of Trustees and stated that the college’s namesake, the 16th-century navigator and explorer, Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo, was no longer appropriate to be on the college. He represented, they said,...
Watsonville High graduate makes national FFA competition
WATSONVILLE—Juan Herrera has been keeping busy since he graduated from Watsonville High School (WHS) in 2021.
After landing a job with K&D Landscaping while still in school, Herrera rose up through the ranks, starting in the maintenance crew and finally working on larger residential and...
Driscoll’s to build first commercial vertical strawberry farm
One year after announcing a new research and development partnership to grow strawberries indoors, Watsonville-based Driscoll’s and Plenty Unlimited Inc. are building a new indoor vertical strawberry farm.
Together, the companies aim to accelerate the growth of Driscoll’s top crop by using Plenty’s growing platform.
According...
Community comes together to repaint Black Lives Matter mural
More than 40 volunteers spent hours Saturday refreshing the massive Black Lives Matter street mural that is sprawled along Center Street in front of...