One thing about our community I treasure: people here want to put us on the national cultural map and week after week our cover stories feature really special talents getting worldwide recognition.
So, we have to celebrate the ambitious creators of a new festival called The Ripple Effect Santa Cruz Arts Festival, or as writer Christina Waters suggests, let’s just call it Ripple Effect.
It’s an exciting project, which for 10 days will offer art, music, dance, poetry, stage shows, the works. And, as I find myself repeating week after week, we have more culture than cities 10 times our size or bigger, which is one of the top reasons we choose to live here. Right? It’s not all redwood and surfing, although that would be enough.
But CULTURE, all caps, is COOL and makes us smarter every day. Christina’s story describes its birth from two visionaries and the people who have joined in to spawn something with huge potential that should draw people from all over the region and the world.
We’ve seen it before. Look at South by Southwest in Austin and the people it’s brought in; consider Burning Man, which started as a small event on a San Francisco beach and is now a huge, huge yearly desert community. And our own Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music, which attracts followers from all over the world.
They show just how much potential the arts have and how much our communities appreciate splendid innovation. This is your chance to stake out your claim to be part of the first year and to watch the ripples spread outward as it grows. Congratulations and thanks to the minds throwing the stone in the not-so-still water.
Yeah, we think of April 20 as a fun day celebrating weed, which there is some of that to do. It’s the last day of the parody show ‘Reefer Madness” at the Santa Cruz Vets Hall, and the last day is supposed to be a special show stopper.
BUT, there’s a very serious event that day too, which we cover in the news section. The authors of a book about peace, one Palestinian and one Israeli, are giving a talk that should be of interest to everyone. Its location has been moved twice, settling now at Temple Beth-El synagogue in Aptos. It’s sponsored by Bookshop Santa Cruz and should be as interesting as it is important.
We’ve got other fun stuff, some of it online at goodtimes.sc, such as a concert by Emmylou Harris. That’s big. A show by Throwing Muses and a bunch more in our calendar.
Thanks for reading and don’t forget to have fun!
Brad Kava | Editor
PHOTO CONTEST
TREASURE Rainbow ends at the Boardwalk April 12. Photograph by Joseph Gleo
GOOD IDEA
With festival season kicking off, fans are turning to last-minute resale tickets — but that’s exactly where scammers thrive.
A recent LegalShield study found that over a third of consumers have been scammed with 68% reporting they purchased a ticket the seller never actually had.Attorney Ben Farrow shares key warnings:
● Beware of last minute events that pressure fans into acting fast without thinking critically.
● AI and photo manipulation tools are now being used to duplicate QR codes, allowing a single ticket to be sold to hundreds of buyers.
● Deals that feel rushed or are unusually cheap are red flags, designed to push buyers to purchase before verifying legitimacy
● Always verify the seller and the ticket before completing a purchase.
GOOD WORK
The Santa Cruz County Celebration of Youth Poetry will celebrate teen poets with a variety of programs, including the launch of the Youth Poetry Anthology, Seeds of Tomorrow. There will be poetry films made by students at the Diamond Technology Institute of Watsonville from poems in the Anthology; and poetry readings.
The event will include an announcement of Santa Cruz County’s 2026-27 Youth Poet Laureate, who will serve a one-year term. The YPL will receive a $500 cash prize, and each finalist will receive $100 for poetry and community engagement.
It’s on Thursday, April 16 at 7pm, at Kuumbwa Jazz Center, as part of this year’s Ripple Festival. Finalists are: Bella Dowd, Delta High; Ash Raznick, Cypress High; Felice Rickwald, Branciforte Middle; Ror Spaugh, Aptos High; and Vicky Tinnell, Santa Cruz High.
QUOTE OF THE WEEK
“The story of the future is peace and we manifest it within the book.”
—Maoz Inon, from Israel, who speaks here Monday (see article inside, ‘Path to Peace.’)
CORRECTION
The TRE link in last week’s Wellness column was incorrect. The website is TREcalifornia.com
