The City of Watsonville on Thursday cancelled several local gatherings because of growing concerns about the spread of the coronavirus. Those cancellations included its Friday farmers market and its annual Earth Day event, scheduled this year for April 26.
Watsonville City Manager Matt Huffaker said the City also cancelled its community Census activities and shut down the Gene Hoularis and Waldo Rodriguez Youth Center, the Watsonville Police Activities League, the Environmental Science Workshop, the Nature Center and the Senior Center.
All of those closures will run until at least April 3.
“The City will also strongly advise our community organizations to also adhere to State and County guidance to close or cancel activities during this closure period,” Huffaker said.
The City the following day also closed all nonessential services until March 20.
Here is a running list of other local cancellations and postponements:
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BUSINESSES
Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk
The county staple will temporarily close from March 13-27, it announced through Facebook Thursday night. The Boardwalk Bowl and Cocoanut Grove will also close.
Monterey Bay Aquarium
The aquarium announced Thursday it would be closed until at least March 27.
Digital NEST
On Friday the nonprofit announced it had cancelled all of its in-person classes at its Watsonville and Salinas locations until March 20. It is moving some workshops and training online.
Youth N.O.W.
The nonprofit will be closed March 16-20.
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PARKS
County Parks
County spokesman Jason Hoppin said Friday all programs, events and activities in county facilities and any scheduled rentals would be cancelled from March 16-30.
However, Simpkins Family Swim Center will remain open, as will all parks and open spaces, including bathrooms and playgrounds. There will be increased cleaning at all county facilities, Hoppin said.
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EVENTS
Watsonville Film Festival
The eighth annual Watsonville Film Festival, set for March 12-15 at the Watsonville Woman’s Club, was cancelled on Wednesday.
Event organizers said they would like to hold the event at a later date.
National Agricultural Day Spring Luncheon
The Santa Cruz County Farm Bureau’s annual luncheon has been rescheduled to May 27 at 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. at Heritage Hall at the Santa Cruz County Fairgrounds.
Tickets are still on sale at Eventbrite.
2020 NEXTies
The event put on by Event Santa Cruz at Paradox Hotel has been moved to June 19.
Tickets bought for the March 20 event will be honored at the rescheduled date.
San Juan Bautista Art & Craft Festival
The annual street fair was cancelled Thursday afternoon.
It’s High Time for Tea & Fashion
The spring fashion show from the Aptos Chamber of Commerce was postponed Thursday to a further date.
It was scheduled for Sunday at the Seascape Beach Resort.
Food from the Heart
The Meals on Wheels luncheon set for April 3 was postponed Thursday.
Anyone that has already purchased tickets to the Food from the Heart event, can elect to keep their reservation or receive a refund by co************@cb******.org.
PVUSD Recruitment Fair 2020
The district’s event set for Saturday was postponed.
WCSA Spring Auction
The benefit for Watsonville Charter School of the Arts held at the Watsonville Portuguese Hall has been postponed.
Market Street Senior Center
The Santa Cruz center announced Friday it will postpone its April 5 performance of “Young at Heart” and cancel its April 12 pancake breakfast and May 3 spring tea event.
Big Sur International Marathon
The 35th annual run was postponed Friday morning.
Organizers said registered runners will be given the chance to run their race on the rescheduled date or choose from other options, the details of which are in process.
Watsonville Community Mural Paint Day
The event from Monterey Bay Murals set for March 23 has been canceled.
Cesar E. Chavez Community Awards
The 18th annual event celebrating community members who work with or positively impact young people has been postponed to a later date.
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MEETINGS
Watsonville City Council
The Council’s March 24 meeting has been cancelled.
The City will attempt to meet in April.
Downtown Specific Plan
The second meeting for the Downtown Specific Plan’s advisory committee has been cancelled. The meeting was set for March 26.
Watsonville Rotary
Watsonville Rotary’s weekly Wednesday meetings were cancelled for the remainder of March.
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SCHOOLS
PVUSD & Santa Cruz County Office of Education
The Pajaro Valley Unified School District in a March 14 emergency meeting decided to close until at least March 27 just days after the Santa Cruz County Office of Education announced it cancelled classes countywide from March 16-20.
Monte Vista Christian
They’ll begin remote learning for all students and hope to resume school activities on April 14 shortly after the Easter Break.
Mt. Madonna School
The private school is closed to visitors and has moved to remote learning from March 16 through April 5.
St. Francis High School
St. Francis is transitioning to “distance learning” starting Wednesday.
Cabrillo College
The community college on Friday said it will ask its Board of Trustees to declare a public health emergency at the school.
All classes will be moved to online instruction Monday until at least March 30.
On Wednesday it began encouraging instructors to transition from in-person classes to online instruction.
UCSC
UC Santa Cruz has suspended nearly all of its in-person classes, and moved them online.
The school on Friday said that move will extend until the end of the spring quarter, which ends in mid-June.
The campus, however, will remain open.
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SPORTS
Public High Schools
The SCCOE’s announcement on Thursday also included the cancellation of athletics. All schools in its jusridiction will be off at least through March 20.
The Pacific Coast Athletic League, which oversees a majority of the local schools, on Friday indefinitely suspended league contests for all spring sports.
Monte Vista Christian
MVC announced Thursday it will suspend all athletic practices and events starting Monday.
Cabrillo College
The California Community College Athletic Association announced Thursday night it postponed practices outside of regularly scheduled classes, and competition for all spring sports, as well as any and all nontraditional sports seasons, indefinitely.
G League Basketball
The Santa Cruz Warriors and the NBA G League announced that they will suspend their season indefinitely.
Ocean Speedway
The Ocean Speedway announced on its Facebook page that it cancelled opening night, which was set for March 13, and is awaiting further instruction from the county.
PVLL
Pajaro Valley Little League suspended all activity until April 6, President Rick Stubblefield said March 12 night.
Watsonville American Little League also suspended all activity until April 6, following the lead of Little League International.
Watsonville YMCA
The local organization has cancelled its activities through the weekend.
For information call 728-9622.
Editor’s note: Send event cancellations or postponements to tn****@pa********.com.
