The upcoming Strawberry Festival isn’t the only thing zinging in Watsonville
Some berry fun facts for your consideration. Strawberries aren’t technically berries—they’re what’s called an aggregate fruit.
Strawberries are the only fruit with seeds on the outside. Each strawberry has about 200.
Strawberries are the largest and most valuable crop in the Pajaro Valley.
Then there’s perhaps the funnest strawberry fact of the summer: The Watsonville Strawberry Festival takes over the heart of the Dubville’s downtown Aug. 2-4.
That means strawberry tacos and strawberry tamales, strawberry pizza and strawberry paletas, strawberry shortcake and strawberry churros, plus strawberry twinkies, strawberry waffles and strawberry smoothies.
Oh, and live music, dance performances, carnival rides, fun runs and zero admission.
The weekend originally came about in 1994 to help fund recovery from the Loma Prieta earthquake. The event continues to provide a swath of nonprofit organizations like Friends of Watsonville Parks and Community Services and the Rotary Club of Freedom the opportunity to raise funds for—and public awareness of—their work.
So the Romans were onto something when they assigned medicinal powers to the singular strawberry.
WHILE WE’RE HERE
By working with the city and the Chamber of Commerce, Watsonville Public House (625 Main St.) helped create a local beer and cider showcase in the Strawberry Festival’s adult beverage area. The Public House, Santa Cruz Cider, Fruition Brewing and Buena Vista will all pour, helping raise money for the nonprofit CoC.
WPH will also be featured at “Beer with Friends” this Friday, July 26, at Lupulo (233 Cathcart St., Santa Cruz), when WPH pointman Robby Olsen will be there talking beer, and Lupolo will have three of Public House beers on tap.
Meanwhile, back in Watsonville, Olsen et al. are building out their events calendar with bands, karaoke, salsa dancing (with a live band) and line dancing nights. watsonville.pub
PROOF POSITIVE
Venus Spirits could rest on its laurels, including Best of Class, Double Gold and Best Other Agave Spirits at the Sunset International Spirits Competition for its El Ladrón Yolo. Instead it keeps swirling a brisk calendar. This week presents a biggie, as Venus Spirits Cocktails & Kitchen Westside (400 High Road, Santa Cruz) celebrates 10 years of craft distilling with five hours of block party programming noon-5pm on July 27: A special anniversary menu lines up smash burgers, lobster rolls, and oysters; the Frans Lanting Studio and Gallery hosts a mid-summer open house with celebrated nature photographer Lanting and his partner Chris Eckstrom; two stages present live music from Rodeo Gulch and DJ sets by Techno Tony, with further music curated by Redwood Records; Independent, Mob Grip, Bronson and Slime Balls present a five-obstacle skate contest with free entry and cash prizes; a Vendor Village brims with unique local finds; and Group Open Air Training leads a free cycling class. Bonus note: Venus Beachside (131 Esplanade) is now open additional hours—5-9pm Monday-Tuesday—in Aptos. venusspirits.com
TURBO TASTES
Farmers market coffee roaster Hidden Fortress has opened a new outpost in Santa Cruz, inside Cruzio coworking space (877 Cedar St.), hiddenfortresscoffee.com…Now until Aug. 8, the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk does special summer promotions on the daily: Mondays and Tuesdays mean free live music; Wednesdays and Thursdays welcome in magicians and acrobats; Fridays roll out free movies on the beach; and Saturdays and Sundays drop a DJ dance party, beachboardwalk.com…Unfun fact: Bottled water is the best selling beverage on Earth, which is wack…Ground us, please, legendary oceanographer/anti-plastic pollution advocate Sylvia Earle: “It is the worst of times, but it is the best of times, because we still have a chance.”
