WAITING TO OPEN
Santa Cruz County entertainment venues look forward to a world post pandemic
A year after Santa Cruz County residents first were ordered to shelter-in-place in response to the coronavirus pandemic, the word “virtual” comes attached to nearly every event.
When it comes to the community’s large-scale entertainment options locally, however, some limited relief is on the horizon as early as April 1. By next month, several long-standing public entertainment access restrictions will loosen, with attendance capacity determined by each county’s state-determined Blueprint for a Safer Economy “tier.” In tourism-dependent Santa Cruz County, the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk will be among amusement park venues green-lit under re- cently revamped state guidance to open at 15% capacity to in-state customers, for as long as it remains under the region’s current “red” or “substantial” Tier 2 health ranking.
“We’re really excited that the state has authorized amusement parks in California to open,” Boardwalk spokesman Kris Reyes said. “What we’re working on right now is a plan to reopen our rides and attractions
and we hope to have a date announced soon of when we will be able to do that.”
Following state protocols, the Boardwalk has been allowed
to offer Santa Cruz County residents access to its rides just once since March 2020, during a single weekend in November. The park, as with many businesses, has
found alternative ways to keep the community entertained. In addition to Boardwalk outdoor games, beach access, concession and retail options, the park in September also launched an ongoing well-attended Saturday night series of parking lot drive-in movies — which has offseason potential to continue in a post-COVID world, Reyes said.
“The most important thing that’s returning this year to the Boardwalk is the Giant Dipper and our rides are going to be running again. That’s the thing our guests are most excited about — they miss riding the rides, they miss sharing those experiences with their family,” Reyes said. “As far as all the other things that people love, like concerts and bands on the beach, we’re taking a very cautious and wait-and-see approach to those at this time, trying to figure out what we can comply with the state guidelines and still ensure a really fun, really safe experience for everyone that visits.”
Cancellations come early
Santa Cruz Recreation Superintendent Rachel Kaufman said the city, too, has sought ways to embrace the change by finding alternative ways of delivering familiar events. Public health guidelines have allowed many of the city’s outdoor markets and food events to continued during much of the pandemic, she said. Many event organizers, however, still are holding off on deciding whether or not to seek a permit from the city, though there is some hope for modified small-scale or hybrid-virtual running and swimming-based competitions and the Santa Cruz Juneteenth celebration, said city Parks and Recreation office supervisor Tremain Hedden-Jones.
“For me, I felt like 2020 was a sunsetting of events and 2021 is more of a sunrise in events and activity,” Hedden-Jones said. “We’re getting more inquiry, we’re getting more interest, the restrictions are starting to be lifted. I think there’s definitely more than just a glimmer of hope with the COVID vaccines.”
Other familiar Santa Cruz institutions, however,
remain on pause heading into 2021 — including the city’s recent confirmation that the annual Woodies on the Wharf and the Japanese Cultural Fair summer events will be canceled for the second year in a row. The city’s aim, officials said, is to prioritize the public’s safety and well-being. In mid-April, the city will mail out its Summer Activity Guide with the latest recreation opportunities, and scale up capacity as needed, Kaufman said.
“You can probably imagine, there is so much prep time that goes into planning for these events and promoters and organizers, as well as us in recreation, we have to make these calls sometimes earlier than we would like, even though we hope the guidance clears up and becomes less restrictive,” Kaufman said. “But it’s just all of the planning components that you have to put in place months
and months in advance that makes it necessary to make these calls early-on.”
‘Plan now’
Elsewhere, Kuumbwa Jazz was forced to cancel or postpone its concerts and other events, but has turned to a steady stream of live-broadcast concerts and music lessons. Visit Santa Cruz County, whose mission is to promote the county to those outside the area, for the first became involved during the height of the pandemic in a campaign to urge travelers to follow safety protocols and advisories and stay close to home, said Communications Director/Film Commissioner Christina Glynn. Visit Santa Cruz County has a new travel campaign targeting a market within regional driving distance “cooked and ready to go,” once the time is right and is urging a “plan now and travel later” approach, she said.
“A lot of people are in wait-and-see mode right now,” Glynn said.
The past year has been an “ebb and flow” for all, Glynn said, with modified operations and seesawing between openings and closings especially impacting businesses and the tourism industry.
“Visit Santa Cruz County maintains a robust online calendar of events,” Glynn said. “We’ve been busy adding events as they become available, and we are very excited to learn that the Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music will be taking place this summer as well as Santa Cruz Shakespeare. We continue to populate our website with events as they become available and are announced.”
For organizations such as the Downtown Association of Santa Cruz, which promotes downtown businesses, scaled-back events are nearly impossible, said
Executive Director Jorian Wilkins.
“The events we do really are giant, communitywide events and it’s using the city as a place to bring tons of people together. We would love to get back into that mode, but we’re not really trying to do that until we’re at herd immunity and everyone’s vaccinated,” Wilkins said. “It’s like, Halloween, everyone’s giving out candy to everyone in town. The Holiday Parade is literally 200 different community organizations, lining up to walk down the street together. A typical wine walk involves all kinds of different merchants downtown, or a beer walk — which, bars have been closed. It hasn’t been possible, all the things we would normally do.”
Moving forward
Looking toward opportunity for limited live performances, Santa Cruz
Shakespeare Artistic Director Mike Ryan released a recorded message on the organization’s website late last month that organizers were “working toward a small, safe, outdoor and live repertoire season.” Ryan estimated that seating at the company’s Delaveaga Park grove per-show seating would need to be reduced from about 425 to 175 spaces. As it stands, Santa Cruz Shakespeare is looking at putting on two “very small cast” plays, running from late July through the month of August. A paid online recording option for unvaccinated patrons also is planned, he said. Ryan warned that if organizers determine “at any point that the COVID situation for July and August will not be significantly better than it is currently, we will pivot to an entirely virtual season” out of an abundance of caution.
“As far as our recreation events, we are trying to pivot when we can to offer creative alternatives that fall within the state and county guidance,” said Kaufman. “Some events, we’ve been able to do that.”
The Boardwalk’s 40th Annual Clam Chowder Cook-Off, planned in conjunction with the City of Santa Cruz, remained popular in February, even as it transformed into a preticketed to-go curbside pickup event. The annual Halloween Festival typically held at the Louden Nelson Community Center was converted into a new and likely continuing community Halloween horrors film contest, Kaufman said.
After a year of quarantine, some Santa Cruz County seniors say they are ready to see the sun again. ‘Quarantining was not a fun thing,” said Bernie Jestrabek-Hart of Scotts Valley. Read this story in Monday’s Sentinel and online at santacruzsentinel. com.