News

County Fair seeks theme The Santa Cruz County Fair announced the return of the annual fair theme contest. The fair invites the community to submit theme ideas that would reflect the spirit of the County Fair in a few words. The theme should reflect the spirit...

WATSONVILLE—Around 240 people attended an art reception and walk Sunday in downtown Watsonville to view the works of San Francisco artist Juan R. Fuentes.  The tour stemmed off a reception at PV Arts in the Porter Building, where the current exhibit features more than 50...

Guests line up for the annual Crab Feed dinner at the Santa Cruz County Fairgrounds. After operating as a drive-thru due to the pandemic, Saturday marked the first in-person sit-down dinner, combined with a silent and live auction, in two years. Auctioneer and former...

WATSONVILLE—Santa Cruz County officials late Wednesday warned residents to be prepared for a high possibility of flooding, as the Watsonville Police Department issued evacuation warnings for the neighborhoods west of Corralitos Creek, the same areas that flooded during the series of storms that hit...

Mireya Gomez-Contreras (upper left, speaking), deputy director of the Arts Council Santa Cruz County, welcomes guests and dignitaries to a meet and greet mixer March 2 put on by the Pajaro Valley Chamber of Commerce and Agriculture at the Watsonville Center for the Arts....

SANTA CRUZ COUNTY—A rainstorm predicted to begin Thursday morning is expected to douse the Central Coast, raising new concerns for flooding in parts of Santa Cruz County. The storm is expected to last through Friday afternoon, bringing an estimated 2 to 3 inches in the...

CAPITOLA—Two people were arrested Monday night on 41st Avenue on suspicion of running a rampant theft ring. Ashley Keehn, spokeswoman for the Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s Office, said deputies spotted a vehicle at CVS on 41st Avenue that was suspected to be involved in an...

WATSONVILLE—Watsonville Police seized 16 firearms from 12 different cases in February. “The list of guns seized by Watsonville Police officers keeps growing,” said Michelle Pulido, spokeswoman for WPD. “Most of these guns were used to commit some sort of crime in Watsonville and were in...

CENTRAL COAST—Forty percent of Santa Cruz County has now been deemed drought-free due to the rains that have drenched the Central Coast since the year began. Meanwhile, 17% of California is now out of drought conditions following a federal drought monitoring program’s report Thursday. The U.S....

WATSONVILLE—The art of Juan R. Fuentes, a Watsonville High graduate, is the feature of the latest Pajaro Valley Arts exhibit, “Resilience: Works of Strength and Dignity 2023.” The body of over 50 works in woodcut, linocut, linocut/screenprint and screenprint—plus more than two dozen posters—spans Fuentes’...