Extra Tasty Tour kicks off five flavor-themed summer events with dessert festival

Over the past four years, the two-person event company Collective Santa Cruz has become known for diverse, maximalist community events with bold themes, ranging from Festival of Champions – a riff on the Summer Olympics complete with a 3-mile fun run – to a ravey, haunted, glow stick-infused Halloween rager at Moe’s Alley. This summer, organizers Jalen Horne and Kendall Denike are launching a monthly series of five events focused on another unorthodox concept – the five basic tastes: sweet, bitter, sour, umami and salty. 

The Extra Tasty Tour kicks off Saturday, May 24, with the return of Collective’s dessert festival, Sweet Home Santa Cruz. This is the third year for this event, and its success inspired the other four themes, which are new this year. Sweet Home Santa Cruz has been held annually at Humble Sea Brewing Co. on Santa Cruz’s Westside since 2023, and it’s by far Collective’s most successful festival, Horne and Denike said. Tickets to the first Sweet Home Santa Cruz sold out, and the team expanded it to two days in 2024. This year, they decided to create an entire event series around it. 

Later this summer, as yet-unnamed savory events will pepper the north end of the county. A “bitter” street fair will be held in downtown Santa Cruz on June 28. On July 26, Venus Spirits on Santa Cruz’s Westside will host a “sour” event. On Aug. 28, an “umami” event will be held in Felton, and the series finishes back where it started, with a “salty” festival at Humble Sea on Sept. 27. All of the events are free to enter.

Each one will feature local food and drink vendors, artists, live performances and other attractions. There will be 20 Santa Cruz County-based sweet and savory food booths at Sweet Home Santa Cruz, plus a pie-eating contest hosted by Aptos restaurant Venus Pie Trap and social media influencer Daniel West (known as Double Meat Please), music by Offshore Sounds, a kid zone with a bounce house – to work off that sugar rush, ostensibly – and a saloon with mocktails made by pop-up bar Classy Trash. 

The choice of theme goes beyond a love of food, said Denike. It was equally spurred by his and Horne’s knack and passion for design and creative “out of the box” thinking when it comes to their events: “Our themes are what differentiate us. They allow the community to follow along and immerse themselves in this really fun and cohesive story from the moment we make the announcement, and then at the event itself.”

So how will Denike and Horne bring these familiar yet somewhat ephemeral concepts to life? It’s been an interesting artistic challenge, said Denike, who is a professional graphic designer by day. Obviously, through food, but also through the design of the merchandise, branding through social media and types of non-food vendors that are included. “The terms sweet, bitter, sour, those describe flavors, but they also have personality,” said Denike. “Someone can be bitter, and there’s types of music that can be more sweet. What colors should I use? What style of artwork captures this flavor best?”

It’s a staggering undertaking, but exactly how they’ll bring it all together is something Denike and Horne are keeping close to their chests, for now. Wowing Collective Santa Cruz’s audience with a big reveal on social media has become their trademark, and is one of the best parts of their creative process, they said. This month, the full list of vendors and activities for Sweet Home Santa Cruz was released on Instagram on May 13, just under two weeks before the event. 

Some details have simmered up. The “sour” festival will incorporate citrus elements, pickled veggies and fermented foods like sourdough. The “umami” event is held in the Santa Cruz Mountains, home to many varieties of wild mushrooms. Coffee, chocolate and hop-heavy craft beer will be featured at the “bitter” festival. 

In past years, some Collective events have been ticketed, but this year all of them will be free to enter in order to encourage attendance. Entertainment and music are included, but guests will pay for food, drinks and any other products. To help support the events financially, Collective Santa Cruz leaned into local sponsorships and raised more than $5,000 through a Kickstarter campaign. Those funds helped cover permitting costs, paying for artwork, insurance and other planning needs. (Disclosure: Lookout Santa Cruz is a media sponsor for the Extra Tasty Tour.) 

“There are hundreds of different businesses, vendors and humans that we’ve connected with, and have a dozen collaborations with different companies,” said Horne. “These events are bigger than any events we’ve ever had. It’s a challenge, but it’s going to be fun.”

Horne and Denike are both Santa Cruz natives, and said their primary motivation is to create fun, memorable celebrations in their hometown. 

“We create these highly intentional experiences for people to enjoy,” said Horne. “Everything is selected for a reason, and we just want people to have fun.”

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