Tuesday, August 18, 2026
Treasure Cove
Santa Cruz County · August 18, 2026
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Our kids are into week two of school and the lunch packing has gotten a little easier. Watsonville started last week, Cabrillo clocks in Monday the 24th, and UCSC still has a month.
Our kids are loving Treasure Cove, the new playground at Jade Street Park in Capitola. It's finally open, and they've been having a blast running around all the new structures. The city doesn't cut the ribbon until next Tuesday at noon, but word has clearly gotten around. It was built as an inclusive playground too, so it's perfect for all ages and abilities.
Now let's get into it.
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CONDITIONS · TUESDAY, AUGUST 18
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Sunny and 76 today with the northwest wind building into the afternoon, then the gray comes back tonight. It burns off again tomorrow. Water is 62, felt warm to me this morning!
The morning window is gone and the reefs are filling. Pleasure Point and 26th Ave are the only two worth the trip, both fair at 2 to 3 plus.
High tide is 5.0 ft at 3:14 PM.
The last posted trip, Wednesday the 12th, had four orcas (the CA216Bs) in the morning and a blue whale on the 10 AM boat, plus a dozen humpbacks still feeding that afternoon. The sightings log has the daily photos.
Dry-farmed Early Girls are the reason to drive south this weekend.
Live Earth Farm in Watsonville has the tomato rows open Saturdays and Sundays at $3 a pound ($2.50 if you walk out with 20 or more), plus strawberries and cherry tomatoes at the same price. Apples wait until the 30th, then run $2 a pound. Stand hours 10 to 3, 1275 Green Valley Rd. Leave the dog at home.
Crystal Bay Farm is still the midweek strawberry move, Wednesdays and Sundays 12 to 5, $8 a pound plus $2 a head to get in. And Dynomite Farm in Live Oak is still cut-your-own flowers by appointment. Markus is also showing blooms at the mall this weekend, in the calendar below.
We post between Tuesdays now. Extra events, conditions, and whatever we spot around the county. Come say hi.
The La Placa family came down the mountain
The La Placas came from Palermo in 2015 and turned the old Ben Lomond Bakery into their own two years later. Ben Lomond served its last day on August 1, and they have reopened in Scotts Valley as La Placa Italian Cuisine, 219 Mount Hermon Road in the old Casa Nostra space. It is a full restaurant now and not just a bakery. Pastries from 7 AM, dinner to 9:30. Their goodbye to Ben Lomond thanked people for "every coffee shared, every loaf of bread, every pizza." Menu here.
Cabrillo's Watsonville Center just jumped 71 percent
Enrollment went from 1,667 students in fall 2022 to 2,856 last fall, and the pass rate climbed from 70 to 84 percent. Dean Eduardo Cervantes credits dual enrollment with the high schools, plus classes built for students who actually live in the Pajaro Valley. It got so crowded the college took back a building it had been renting out. The center is at 318 Union Street, and Cabrillo's main campus starts Monday.
The city is counting every public tree again
Council signed a $150,000 lidar contract with Davey Tree so the urban-forest map matches what is actually standing. TreeKeeper currently lists 21,403 public trees. The 2030 plan wants 3,000 more, with the new ones going into low-income and front-line neighborhoods first. City arborist Leslie Keedy says crews already plant about 300 a year.
View Mo's Map to see what's happening near you, plus the markets and the weekend's sales.
Garage sales get refreshed every Friday. Know of one? Submit it here.
★ = family-friendly
TUESDAY, AUGUST 18
Much Ado About Nothing, Santa Cruz Shakespeare · 7 PM · Audrey Stanley Grove, 501 Upper Park Rd, DeLaveaga
Wine-club add-on tonight if you want a pour at 5:30 before Beatrice and Benedick start arguing. Layers. The grove drops fast after sundown.
WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 19
★ Capitola Twilight Concerts: The Digbeats · 6 PM · Esplanade Park, Capitola Village · Free
Oldies on the bandstand. Low chairs, picnic supper, no pets or booze in the park.
Steve Hawk at Bookshop Santa Cruz · 7 PM · 1520 Pacific Ave, Downtown · Free
The former Surfer editor reads from Nearshore, his first novel, in conversation with Charles Duhigg. Coastal noir, not a forecast.
Wednesday-night sailboat races · 6:30 to 8 PM · Santa Cruz Yacht Harbor · Free to watch
Best watched from the Crow's Nest deck.
THURSDAY, AUGUST 20
★ Crow's Nest Beach BBQ with La Familia · 5:30 PM · Harbor Beach, 2222 East Cliff Dr · Free
Two more Thursdays after this one, and the free harbor water taxi runs 5 to 9.
Bargetto Winery: Music in the Courtyard · 6 PM · 3535 N Main St, Soquel · Free
Creekside courtyard at the county's oldest continuously operating winery. Act unpublished this week, so go for the patio.
FRIDAY, AUGUST 21
★ Midtown Fridays Block Party · 5 PM · 1111 Soquel Ave, midtown · Free
Food trucks and a band on the lot.
★ Roaring Camp Sequoia Lights · 8:30 PM · 5400 Graham Hill Rd, Felton · $16 to $27
A 0.8-mile night loop through the redwoods, past 26 lanterns hung fifty feet up.
No Country For Mothers at the Rio · 7 PM · 1205 Soquel Ave · Free
A reader sent this one. Documentary screening, name on the door list if you RSVP. No physical ticket.
Willie Watson and Erin Rae at Felton Music Hall · 8 PM, doors 7 · 6275 Hwy 9, Felton · 21 and over, standing room
Old Crow Medicine Show alum on the valley stage. Have a listen ↗
SATURDAY, AUGUST 22
★ Monterey Bay Dahlia Society Annual Show · 11 AM to 7 PM · Capitola Mall, 1855 41st Ave · Free
Markus from Dynomite Farm is one of the growers showing.
★ Swift Street Flea · 10 AM to 4 PM · 345 Swift St, Westside · Free
Our Weekend Pick. Full plan below.
★ Much Ado About Nothing, all-ages matinee · 2 PM · Audrey Stanley Grove, DeLaveaga
Same play as Tuesday, better light.
★ Star Walk at Henry Cowell · 8 PM · Henry Cowell Campground, 2591 Graham Hill Rd, Felton · Free, $10 to park
Ranger-led hike up to the observation deck and back, a mile round trip, and you have to RSVP. Meet at the campfire center inside the campground, not the main park lot. There is another one the following Saturday if this one fills.
SUNDAY, AUGUST 23
★ Monterey Bay Dahlia Society Annual Show, day two · 11 AM to 4 PM · Capitola Mall, 1855 41st Ave · Free
Shorter day than Saturday.
★ Sandman Triathlon at Seacliff · 8 AM first wave · Seacliff State Beach, Aptos · Watching is free, $10 to park
Oldest tri in the county, first run in 1985. Swim around the cement ship, 13 miles of Aptos hills, then a 4-mile beach run to New Brighton and back. Registration is still open at $191.80 and the price goes up Saturday night. The sand is the spectator seat.
Nicholson Vineyards Summer Series · 1 PM · 2800 Pleasant Valley Rd, Aptos · $25 to $50
Afternoon flights and a set from Zach Bailey in the Aptos hills.
Macbeth, all-ages matinee · 2 PM · Audrey Stanley Grove, DeLaveaga
The other half of the grove this week.
MONDAY, AUGUST 24
Board Game Night at The Cruz Room · 5 to 10 PM · 1520 Mission St, Westside · Free
The Game Night Collective runs it every Monday with a 30-plus game library and someone to teach you the rules.
LOOKING AHEAD
Worth booking now.
★ Jade Street Park Reimagined opening · Tuesday, August 25, Noon · Community Center Patio, 4400 Jade St, Capitola · Free
The city makes it official for the Treasure Cove playground and the renovated community center.
Built to Spill at the Rio · Wednesday, August 26, 8 PM (doors 7) · 1205 Soquel Ave · $40
Doug Martsch, PLAYDEAD opening, all ages. Have a listen ↗
Club Aligne Club Day · Saturday, August 29, 11 AM to 4 PM · Brommer Street County Park, Live Oak · from $55, code TIDEXCLUB takes 15% off
Pilates at 11, pickleball noon to 4, recovery stations and local vendors in between. They cut the code for Low Tide readers.
Teen Kitchen Project · 2890 Soquel Ave, Santa Cruz
Grocery Outlet shoppers on Morrissey put $15,413 in the jar last month, and all of it buys ingredients for Teen Kitchen Project. Angela Farley founded the place and still runs it. Teenagers cook real food in a real kitchen, and the meals go to people too sick to cook for themselves, which is about three months of free grocery deliveries from that one drive. Farley says the ceiling right now is kitchen hours, not demand, which is why they are converting a building in Soquel into a headquarters that finally puts the kitchen and the teen training under one roof. Still under construction, and 88 percent funded, so the campaign page is the place if you want to put money toward the rest. They also train adult volunteers and teenagers to cook. And if you know someone who is too sick to cook right now, that is exactly who the meals are for.
Swift Street Flea · Saturday, August 22, 10 AM to 4 PM · 345 Swift St, Westside · Free
Berdels runs this in their Westside lot every few weeks, and it is the good version of a flea market. Local makers and vintage sellers instead of a lot full of folding tables, a DJ or a live set going, tarot in the corner, and some months a poet with a typewriter who will write you something on the spot. Foolhardy pours the coffee.
Free to walk in and done by 4. Humble Sea is up the same street at 820 if you want to stretch it into an afternoon. The next one is in September.
The markets and standing plans that run every week.
Tuesday: Felton Farmers Market · 1:30 to 5:30 PM · 120 Russell Ave, Felton
Wednesday: Downtown Santa Cruz Farmers Market · 12:30 to 5 PM · Cedar and Church, Downtown
Thursday: Boulder Creek Farmers Market · 1:30 to 6:30 PM · Junction Park, Boulder Creek
Friday: Watsonville Farmers Market · 2 to 9 PM · Peck and Union, Downtown Watsonville
Saturday: Westside Farmers Market · 9 AM to 1 PM · Mission St Ext and Western Dr
Saturday: Aptos Farmers Market · 8 AM to Noon · Cabrillo College, 6500 Soquel Dr
Saturday: Scotts Valley Farmers Market · 8 AM to Noon · Graham Plaza, 219 Mount Hermon Rd
Sunday: Live Oak Farmers Market · 9 AM to 1 PM · 15th and East Cliff Dr
Sunday: Humble Sea Brewing · 11 AM to 9 PM · 820 Swift St, Westside · Free entry
Fog beer and fish and chips in the beer garden. Dog and kid friendly, Saturdays too.
Any day: the library Puzzle Exchange · Most county branches · Free
Take a jigsaw off the display, finish it at your pace, then swap the box at the desk. No library card. Kelly, who helps with it, says every branch but Downtown and Live Oak has it.
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See you next Tuesday. 🌊
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