Community

Valley Churches United kicks off 2024 Bucks For Hunger drive Valley Churches United is kicking off its 34th annual spring Bucks For Hunger fundraising drive with a mailing that community residents have recently received. Its year-round food pantry is looking forward to the community support that...

Twice each year, in spring and fall, residents of Boulder Creek head downtown to participate in the Town Sweep. Weeds are pulled, sidewalks are swept and the stretch of Highway 9 that turns into Central Avenue is perfectly polished by the end of the...

Santa Cruz Public Libraries and the Santa Cruz County Poet Laureate (SCCPL), in partnership with Urban Word, are celebrating the inaugural cohort of five finalists for Santa Cruz County Youth Poet Laureate (2024-25). This free celebration will take place at the Kuumbwa Jazz Center, 320-2...

When Ben Lomond-bred Erica Costella noticed the marijuana shopkeepers vacating their space next to Henry’s Automotive and Masood’s Liquor & Deli recently, she sprang into action. “They just closed down and got their stuff out one day,” she said. “I saw they were moving all...

As Deborah Parcel flipped through scrapbooks of Press Banner clippings—from before the Valley Press and Scotts Valley Banner joined forces—she beamed with joy. And that gratitude emanated from her cheery face as she took to the microphone March 21 to thank that evening crowd for...

Local students from Tara Redwood School playing in the Santa Cruz Mountains last spring found a strange object that they suspected was a bone from a large animal. This bone was brought to the Santa Cruz Museum of Natural History, where its Paleontology Collections Adviser...

The Brookdale Bluegrass and American Roots Festival held its 24th incarnation at the Brookdale Lodge over the weekend and was blessed with lovely weather—a stark contrast with the no-power edition of 2023. Doreen Heath, a woman walking around with fiddle in hand, said she’d made...

SLVHS Interact Club hosts first Community Egg Hunt San Lorenzo Valley High School’s Interact Club will be hosting their first Community Egg Hunt on Saturday, March 30, at San Lorenzo Valley Elementary’s Field of Dreams (7155 Highway 9 in Felton) from 9am-12pm. The free event is...

An unveiling was held last week at the completion of Willowbrook County Park in Aptos for Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s Sgt. Damon Gutzwiller, who was gunned down in June 2020 while on duty. “Our sincerest heartfelt thank you to all who contributed to the dedication...

One day, during journalism school up in Canada, I headed down from my dorm to catch a glimpse of rising star Orlando Bloom on his way into a premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival. I encountered a gruff tabloid photographer with a mustache...