Event highlights for the week of December 6, 2017.
Green Fix
Jingle Shells
Swap out your bells for shells this holiday season—it’s the Santa Cruz way. The Seymour Marine Discovery Center’s Jingle Shells Arts and Crafts Festival will feature plenty of beautiful shell and beach crafts to adorn any mantel, plus there’s free gift wrapping. If you aren’t in the market for gifts, the Seymour Center also offers discounted admission all day and there will be live music and hot cider.
INFO: Sunday, Dec 10. Noon-5:30 p.m. Seymour Marine Discovery Center, 100 McAllister Way, Santa Cruz. 459-3800. seymourcenter.ucsc.edu. $6 adults, $4 children and seniors, Children 2 and under free.
Art Seen
Spoken/Unspoken
This audio exhibition features the stories from hospice patients in end-of-life care. Hospice Santa Cruz County and the Museum of Art and History collected interviews from patients nearing life’s end and produced this intimate and moving audio installation to both explore what matters most to these individuals and also invite others to consider what matters in their own lives.
INFO: Show opened Friday, Dec. 1 and runs through Sunday, March 25. Santa Cruz Museum of Art and History, 705 Front St., Santa Cruz. santacruzmah.org. $10 general admission, free on First Fridays. Photo by Joop Rubens.
Saturday 12/9
Festivos on the Rancho
Welcome Larkin Valley’s new state historic park with tours and hot, handmade tortillas during its first holiday open house. Originally built in 1849, the Castro Adobe State Historic Park is the first historic park in South County and one of the best examples of a traditional rancho hacienda in the Bay Area. While you’re there, check out the newly restored kitchen and iconic garden. Parking is very limited so carpooling is encouraged.
INFO: 11 a.m.-3 p.m. Castro Adobe State Historic Park, 184 Old Adobe Road, Watsonville.
Friday 12/8-Sunday 12/17
‘Scrooge: The Haunting of Ebenezer’
There are many renditions of Charles Dickens’s A Christmas Carol, but chances are you haven’t seen this one. This week Jeff Garrett will take it upon himself to play every character in the story—all 24 of them. He hopes to convey transformation and transcendence through the story, and get back to the roots of what the Dickens story originally was: a ghost story with a holiday touch.
INFO: Shows at 2 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. Colligan Theater. 1010 River St., Santa Cruz. jeweltheatre.net. $35 preview, $40 general admission. Photo by Peter Ruocco.
Sunday 12/10
Jan Brett’s ‘The Mermaid’
What would make Goldilocks and the Three Bears even better? Magical sea creatures, of course. The Mermaid is a fantastical under-the-sea rendition of the classic fairytale—think octopi instead of bears. In celebration of her new children’s book, Jan Brett will return to Santa Cruz for a book signing and special talk about her story. She also has a mermaid tour bus, which will be parked outside of the venue for photo opportunities.
INFO: 5 p.m. Santa Cruz Museum of Art and History. 705 Front St, Santa Cruz. bookshopsantacruz.com. Free.
