SANTA CRUZ — Community members of all ages gathered at Tyrrell Park outside of the Santa Cruz Museum of Natural History on a sunny Saturday afternoon for the Summer Fun Festival.
“We’ve already had more attendance this year than we did last year,” said Santa Cruz Museum of Natural History Public Programs Manager Ross Johnston. “It’s amazing to get the community together and all of these different but like-minded nonprofit organizations that want to engage multigenerational audiences. It’s amazing to see how adult-facing organizations are engaging the youth.”
The family-friendly event featured numerous local nonprofits such as the Coastal Watershed Council and the Watsonville Wetlands Watch and featured a range of educational activities for kids.
Outside the museum, there was food from Areperia 831 and El Buen Food Truck, live nature-themed music from Moshe Vilozny, and live animal presentations from the Wildlife Education and Rehabilitation Center and Full Circle Falconry. The festival was sponsored by Linda Bailey Real Estate, Dell Williams Fine Jewelry and the Seabright Neighbors.
“Community partnerships are what it’s all about,” said Santa Cruz Museum of Natural History Executive Director Felicia Van Stolk. “The museum really acts as a hub for connecting scientists, educators and artists, all in the name of appreciating nature. We love this event because it’s super family focused, free, fun and for the community.”
Natural Bridges Interpretive Ranger Martha Nitzberg had marine life and owl-related educational activities for kids and adults and was promoting the upcoming Welcome Back Monarchs Day Festival, which takes place from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Oct 13.
“This will be the 44th year,” said Nitzberg. “We have a skit of the butterflies saving the day, and a parade and we have arts and crafts and music and food and games, and towards the end of the day we have a big, free cake, celebrating the butterflies. It’s a super fun community event and we even do hand-cranked ice cream. We call it butterfly ice cream but it’s actually pumpkin.”
Director and senior scientist at Sea Otter Savvy Gena Bentall was educating kids and adults that it is best to keep their distance from sea otters, about 60 to 100 feet away, despite the potential attention a close-up shot of one of the furry creatures may bring.
“We target urban areas where sea otters and humans overlap and we also conduct research,” said Bentall. “We use what we learned in our research to help educate people about being responsible and being good stewards of sea otters and other wildlife. Our job is about getting people to change their behavior and that’s really hard.”
Bilingual Education Specialist with Watsonville Wetlands Watch Jose Alanis brought Rusty the Pacific gopher snake to the Summer Fun Fest so kids and grown-ups could handle the relaxed, nearly 14-year-old reptile, which is native to Santa Cruz County.
“We take him to different elementary, middle and high schools around Santa Cruz County to get people to be less scared of snakes,” said Alanis. “He’s a local species so if you go on trails and hikes around the area, it’s likely that you will see one of these Pacific gopher snakes.”
The fest featured two live animal presentations from Wildlife Education and Rehabilitation Center and Kenny Elvin of Full Circle Falconry in San Jose who brought a Harris’s hawk to show off at the event.
“Falconry is about hunting with a bird of prey but my main gig is abatement work — chasing birds off with birds,” said Elvin. “I’ve been at Moss Landing Power Plant for about 16 years. When the gulls come into nest, we scare them off because they get really aggressive and poop on people and the cars and all over the equipment.”
The Summer Fun Fest is an event that is appreciated by the Seabright neighbors, of which many were in attendance such as Ben Richardson who was at the event with his daughter Nico, who was enjoying some strawberry-flavored mushroom ice cream.
“We’ve come to this for the last couple of years and it’s a nice summer event,” said Seabright resident Ben Richardson. “The weather is beautiful, the kids love it and it seems like every year, there’s more and more kids activities. That’s the reason we come out. My daughter found three of her friends almost immediately.”
