Morning Lookout: Hitting the Corralitos Wine Trail, youth soccer upheaval & Weekender

Quick Take:

The California Roots Music & Arts Festival — known universally as Cali Roots — is the celebrated four-day music festival...

Morning Lookout is presented by Affordable Housing Month

What’s doing, Santa Cruz County? It is Friday, May 26, and another cloudy, drizzly morning awaits before maaaybe some sunny peeks. Will we get blue skies this Memorial Day weekend? ¯_(ツ)_/¯

The Friday of a long weekend is surely deserving of a toast, and Laura Sutherland is here with a guide to the family wineries of the Corralitos Wine Trail. Read on for her informative roadmap, just the latest addition to our library of Lookout Guides, covering food and entertainment, neighborhoods, parenting and more.

From pitchside, Max Chun reports on upheaval at Santa Cruz City Youth Soccer Club, where the firing of a longtime coach has left a championship team in limbo ahead of a major regional tournament.

The Friday headlines also include Weekender, Wallace Baine’s recommendation-filled stroll through the county’s arts and culture scene, and Student Lookout — strap in and let’s hit it.

South County sips: A guide to the Corralitos Wine Trail

Lester Estate Wines - The Corralitos Wine Trail

No need to trek all the way to those packed valleys up north when the Corralitos Wine Trail will lead you to world-class wine right here in Santa Cruz County. Laura Sutherland saddles up to give you the roadmap to Alfaro Family Vineyards, El Vaquero Winery, Nicholson Vineyards, Lester Estate Wines, Storrs Winery and Windy Oaks Estate. Check it out here.

➤ ELSEWHERE: In vino veritas: A guide to Westside Santa Cruz’s walkable wine scene

Santa Cruz introduces new Santa Cruzer shuttle service for easy access to beach and wharf events PC roadblock

‘They’re impacting the future of these kids’: Firing of longtime youth soccer coach leaves season in jeopardy

Members of the SCCYSC Sharks 07 team, holding signs in support of their coach, German Plaza, prior to meeting with the board.

The Santa Cruz City Youth Soccer Club Sharks 07 team’s season is now shrouded in uncertainty. It’s been a tumultuous few weeks since the firing of its longtime coach, German Plaza. Though the club’s board of directors has announced an interim coach, many of the players have maintained that they do not want to attend the June regional tournament in Idaho without Plaza, leaving the remainder of the season in flux. Max Chun details the situation.

You’re all cued up and ready to power through Friday and into the long weekend — but save some bandwidth for Wallace Baine’s latest local news quiz, coming shortly. You won’t miss it if you’re following Lookout on social media — on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram — and we make keeping up with Santa Cruz County news and views easy with all our other newsletters and breaking news alerts, which you can sign up for here. That includes our specially curated Sunday Reads, which you definitely don’t want to miss this weekend.

Our content isn’t possible without community support, so if you’re not already, please consider becoming a Lookout member.

Have a good Friday, and please take a moment this Memorial Day weekend to honor those who’ve made the ultimate sacrifice for our country. I’ll see you Tuesday.

Will McCahill
Lookout Santa Cruz