We’re kicking off this season with our Top 5 Good News Nuggets, including a brand-new local event: the Santa Cruz Mile. This new event, happening Sunday, March 15, is the first of its kind in Santa Cruz County, featuring a 1-mile race route that goes from the Santa Cruz Wharf, up Pacific Avenue and through the heart of Downtown Santa Cruz. The Santa Cruz Mile is geared toward a wide range of participants, from walkers to elite runners. This is a road race for everyone! We’re lucky to sit down with organizers Rich Larson and Tim Schenone to get all the details on the Santa Cruz Mile. 

Register for the Santa Cruz Mile: https://raceroster.com/events/2026/112869/the-santa-cruz-mile

Learn more about the race and how to volunteer: https://www.santacruzmile.com/

Richard Larson and Tim Schenone are the organizers of the Santa Cruz Mile.  Richard is the former Race Director of the Santa Cruz Triathlon. Tim is the owner of Santa Cruz Running Company.

On this episode Good News Santa Cruz, we explore our Top 5 Holiday Traditions in Santa Cruz! Give it a listen to learn about Santa Cruz Shakespeare’s holiday show, the Felton Holiday Market, a special holiday light show in Watsonville and ways to give back. 

• Find out more about Santa Cruz Shakespeare’s production of A Christmas Carol: santacruzshakespeare.org
• Felton Holiday Market, December 14 from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Felton Covered Bridge Park
• Sparky’s Holiday Lights: sparksholidaylights.com
• Learn more about the Volunteer Center: https://scvolunteercenter.org/
• Check out Friends of Santa Cruz State Parks ParkStore: https://thatsmypark.org/shop/

In this episode, we talk with Katy Peterson, of the Santa Cruz Mountains Trail Stewardship, to share with us their role in how visitors can access and enjoy this backyard treasure. Plan your visit today! 

Check out the Midtown Summer Block Party Schedule.

Learn more about Legends Live & Local with Jane Wiedlin from the Go Go's on July 17. 

About Matthew Swinnerton and Event Santa Cruz

Matthew Swinnerton started Event Santa Cruz in 2013 as a monthly lightning-talk event series featuring local entrepreneurs and community leaders. Shop owners and chefs, mentors and musicians, athletes, artists, and everyone in between shared the ideas that inspire them, the rocky but rewarding road of entrepreneurship, and that special something that keeps them going.

Event Santa Cruz grew swiftly beyond the bounds of your typical event-hosting company and now serves as a multimedia outpost for all things local. In 2015, Event Santa Cruz adopted The NEXTies awards from Santa Cruz NEXT, bringing a whole new community and a big new energy to Event Santa Cruz. They developed new themed events—like the beloved Big Summer Block Party—and digital marketing avenues to promote Santa Cruz businesses.

Through social media, email engagement, collaborative partnerships, video interviews, radio—and, yes, live events!—Event Santa Cruz keeps turning up the volume on how to celebrate Santa Cruz innovation and entrepreneurship.

The thing about parenting is that it just doesn’t come with an instruction manual. Many of us, kinda, well, wing it. But it doesn’t have to be that way.  

If you could use a confidence boost and some tips to put in your parenting toolkit, this episode just may be your ticket to parenting self-care.

In this episode, we sit down with First 5 Santa Cruz County executive director David Brody, and Program Manager Yesenia Gomez Carrillo, about our local Triple P Positive Parenting Program.

Learn more about Triple P: https://www.first5scc.org/triple-p-parenting

About Friends of Santa Cruz State Parks

Established in 1976, Friends of Santa Cruz State Parks (Friends) is a vital partner with California State Parks, creatively working to ensure our cherished local parks and beaches are thriving and available to all. Friends’ innovative and collaborative community partnership provides support and investment for education, equity and inclusion, conservation, facilities improvements, historic preservation and cultural events. Friends currently operates a robust online ParkStore offering nature- and history-themed merchandise for sale to benefit local parks and beaches. Friends also operates ParkStores at Natural Bridges, New Brighton, Santa Cruz Mission, Seacliff and Wilder Ranch. Learn more at www.ThatsMyPark.org or via Facebook, Instagram, X and YouTube.

About Charles Pasternak

Charles Pasternak is Santa Cruz Shakespeare’s Artistic Director.  His tenure as Artistic Director began in 2023, before which he served as Artistic Director of The Porters of Hellsgate Theatre Co in Los Angeles for over fifteen years. He has had a wide-ranging career as an actor and director at theatres across this country including American Players Theatre, Alabama Shakespeare Festival, Indiana Repertory Theatre, Clarence Brown Theatre, The Denver Center, The Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey, The Shakespeare Center of Los Angeles, three seasons with The Shakespeare Festival of St. Louis and four with Shakespeare Santa Cruz.