|
Hi Friends,
|
|
|
|
Sausagefest!
Sunday, September 28, 2014
From 1pm to 4pm
Gates open at 12:30pm
 Join us for a beer drinkin’, sausage eatin’, toe-tappin’ good time at the 8th annual Sausagefest presented by Santa Cruz Mountain Brewing.
This will be the second year that Santa Cruz Mountain Brewing has selected Friends of Santa Cruz State Parks as the beneficiaries of this event!
Santa Cruz Mountain Brewing was able to secure POLKACIDE, the world famous polka band from San Francisco. With polkas about wiener dogs, beer and sausages, POLKACIDE brings your sausage celebrating to a whole new level.
This hybrid, homegrown Oktoberfest will showcase hand-linked sausages from El Salchichero, Freedom Meats, and Corralitos. Homemade mustards, relishes, pickles and sauerkrauts will elevate your sausage appreciation to new levels.
Nothing compliments a good sausage like handcrafted organic microbrews. The innovative brewers at Santa Cruz Mountain Brewing have really outdone themselves with seasonal organic ales for SAUSAGEFEST. Local breweries and vendors will also be joining the festivities!
Tickets are available online for sale here. Purchasing tickets online is required, but please purchase early as this event is expected to sell out. Valet bike parking provided by Another Bike Shop. Bring your kids, dogs, chairs, and blankets!
Mission Summer Series Thanks!
 Thank you to everyone who came out and enjoyed our Summer Series @ The Mission!
We hope you had the opportunity to join us and experience the fun, flair and flavor of the Santa Cruz Mission State Historic Park.
From fine art and folk tunes, to dinosaurs and surfers, the Mission was bustling this season,  and we have you to thank!
Thanks to all the amazing musicians, artists, volunteers, and guests who made the 2014 Summer Series one to remember.
Click images for larger version.
We hope to see you next year at Summer Series 2015!
Mole & Mariachi Festival Excitement is Building!
September 20th, 11am-5pm
Santa Cruz Mission Adobe Historic State Park
 Head up to the Santa Cruz Mission State Historic Park on Saturday, September 20th and celebrate the Second Annual Mole & Mariachi Festival!
We’re putting the finishing touches on our biggest event of the year which will include Food, drinks, crafts, dancing, raffles, mariachis, and, of course, mole!!
Nine competitors will prepare mole, a traditional Mexican sauce, sometimes made using chocolate, for festival-goers to sample. Mole tasting kits will be available for $10.
Competitors will include:
• El Jardin, a Santa Cruz restaurant and the 2013 People’s Choice winner with “Jorge’s Traditional Mole.”
• El Chipotle, a taqueria in Soquel that makes a rojo Oaxaqueño mole.
• Lidia’s Taqueria, a Watsonville eatery making a traditional Oaxacan dark mole with nopales (cactus paddles).
• El Chino, a Santa Cruz restaurant that will prepare a mole with poblano chilis.
• The Kitchen at Discretion Brewing. (The Soquel brewery also will be serving craft beer.)
• My Mom’s Mole, a 25-ingredient Guanajuato-style sauce that is spicy, not sweet, prepared by chef Cesario Ruiz.
• Vivas, an organic fresh Mexican restaurant in Santa Cruz.
• Maya Mexican Restaurant, a Scotts Valley eatery that will enter an original Michoacán mole.
• Plaza Lane Optometry, a newcomer to the event, will prepare a staff member’s personal recipe featuring chocolate, peanuts and pumpkin seeds.
 Festival attendees and a panel of local celebrity judges will rate the mole and awards will be bestowed on the best sauces in two categories: Peoples’ Choice and Judges’ Choice.
Food, beer and wine also will be available at the Mole & Mariachi Festival. Garcia’s Fish Tacos, Mission Hill Ice Creamery and El Jardin will have food booths. Churros, mole truffles made by Chocolate restaurant, and Sazon Mexicano’s sopes (fried masa topped with vegetables and meat) are other treats that will be available for purchase at the Mole & Mariachi Festival.
Click image for a larger version.
A free trolley from downtown Santa Cruz will be offered, as well as a bike valet service.
Check out an awesome festival write-up at the San Francisco Chronicle!
For more information, or if you would like to volunteer to help at this event, please contact our event coordinator Elizabeth at Elizabeth@thatsmypark.org.
Flutter Over to Welcome Back Monarchs Day
Natural Bridges State Beach
Sunday, October 12
11:00am to 4:00pm
Come help us welcome one of the most beautiful and extraordinary natural events in Santa Cruz: the return of legions of migrating monarch butterflies to the eucalyptus groves.
Each year, colonies of monarch butterflies migrate from Mexico to Canada, following warmer climes throughout the year. During the fall and winter months, Natural Bridges is a stopping point in which thousands of monarch butterflies congregate, feed and breed amongst the tall eucalyptus trees and milkweed plants prevalent in the area.
Welcome Back Monarchs Day is a celebration of all things monarch, including arts & crafts, active games for kids, music by the 5M’s (the Mostly Mediocre Musical Monarch Mariposas), hand-cranked ‘monarch’ ice cream (pumpkin), information and action booths as well as more about monarch butterflies and how-to’s for a butterfly garden. The serene monarch grove will be open for viewing the butterflies in all their glory…truly a sight to behold!
Natural Bridges State Park is located at 2531 West Cliff Drive, Santa Cruz, CA 95060. This event is appropriate for all ages. Day-use parking fee is $10 and goes to support the park. Dogs are allowed on the main paved festival road, but not in the butterfly grove.
More information is available at (831) 423-4609.
Celebrate History, Tradition and Culture at Ohlone Day
Ohlone Day at Henry Cowell Redwoods State Park
Saturday, September 13 from 10 am to 4 pm
Image from www.MountainParks.org
Celebrate the Ohlone People of the past with those of the present at Ohlone Day at Henry Cowell Redwoods State Park. You will see traditional dancers and Ohlone demonstrators will share traditional basketry, songs, stories, tools, musical instruments, language and history. During this family-friendly event, visitors can throw an atlatl, play Ohlone games and find out how rocks cook meals and bay trees cure headaches as Ohlone people share traditional basketry, songs and musical instruments, stories, dances, tools, language, and history.
For thousands of years, the native tribes we now collectively call the Ohlone thrived in this abundant region. They had plentiful sources of food and enjoyed a life rich in culture. Descendants of the Ohlone people present this event each year so that visitors make connections to Ohlone culture in a meaningful way.
The event takes place in the group picnic area, one of the largest riparian forests along the San Lorenzo River. The park is also known for its old-growth redwood forest along a .8 mile trail. 
All activities are free and sponsored by the Mountain Parks Foundation. day-use parking fee is $10 and goes to support the park. The main entrance to Henry Cowell Redwoods State Park is located off of Highway 9 in Felton at 101 Big Trees Park Road.
More information can be found at www.mountainparks.org or by calling (831) 335-7077 or (831) 335-3174.
|
|
|
