Quick Take
The 100th birthday of the grand old Giant Dipper at the Beach Boardwalk and a record-breaking season of theater at Santa Cruz Shakespeare are among the things to look forward to in the summer of 2024.
The very existence of the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk underscores a fundamental truth about Santa Cruz, apparent even to the tourist stumbling into town for the first time: This place is a summer place.
And, in the middle of February, summer can often seem like a distant star indeed.
As we all dodge puddles and duck atmospheric rivers, it might seem improbable that those long, glorious days of summer in Santa Cruz are coming round again. Maybe it will serve as a much-needed pick-me-up to look forward to what’s in store for 2024 in the realm of entertainment and the performing arts locally.
The Boardwalk, in fact, is a good place to start. Six years ago, the Boardwalk removed its iconic Ferris wheel, which had been part of the Boardwalk experience for 60 years. The good news is that sometime this summer the Ferris wheel will be back.
“That ride is being manufactured right now in Wichita, Kansas,” said the Boardwalk’s Kris Reyes, “and it will be shipped to the Boardwalk soon. We don’t have an exact date on when that ride will be open, but it will be this summer.”
But when it comes to rides at the Boardwalk, the new 68-foot Ferris wheel won’t even be the star attraction this summer. That will be the Boardwalk’s signature feature, the Giant Dipper. This year, in fact, marks the 100th birthday of the grand old roller coaster and, in the eyes of many, symbol of Santa Cruz.
The Giant Dipper first opened on May 17, 1924 (in case you’re wondering, Calvin Coolidge was president, the NFL champs were the Canton Bulldogs, and average monthly rent was about $15). Since that time, the Dipper has provided thrills for an estimated 68 million riders. To mark the centennial in 2024, the Boardwalk will throw a big birthday party on Saturday, May 18, which will include a fireworks display on the beach. After that big weekend, the Boardwalk will hold “Dipper Days” on Wednesdays throughout the summer when rides on the Giant Dipper will be $1. Also, in June, the Boardwalk will host the annual “Coaster Con” festival, and then, on Aug. 16, it’s National Roller Coaster Day. On top of the celebrations, the Boardwalk is sponsoring a fan art contest, inviting the public to produce art focused on the Giant Dipper. And that’s probably not all.
“We’re still working out the details on other fun activities for year,” said Reyes.
Locals might take the Giant Dipper for granted, but it is one of the oldest wood-framed roller coasters in the U.S. (and the oldest on the Pacific Coast), and in an ever-changing world, it’s been remarkably consistent. “If you rode the Giant Dipper on Day 1 of its first year, and then you rode it on its 100th year,” said Reyes, “it’s essentially the same ride.”
The Boardwalk will also present its weekly summer movie series and its live music series again this summer, though the details have not been released on those regular events. But Reyes said the movies and music shows will be much as they were last summer.
In non-Boardwalk related activities, Santa Cruz Shakespeare is preparing for a landmark year in its history, with a record five productions planned for 2024, including the three rotating plays in rep during the summer, another production at the Audrey Stanley Grove at DeLaveaga Park in September, and a holiday show at the end of the year at the Santa Cruz Veterans Memorial Building downtown.
The season marks the first under the sole leadership of artistic director Charles Pasternak — Pasternak shared the job last summer with outgoing AD Mike Ryan. Pasternak’s vision is ambitious and yet in keeping with SCS tradition. The summer season will feature new productions of Shakespeare’s “As You Like It” and “Hamlet,” plus Oscar Wilde’s immortal “The Importance of Being Ernest.” Once the summer schedule is out of the way, the company will turn its attention to a fall production of the Tennessee Williams classic “The Glass Menagerie.” Then, after Thanksgiving comes “A Christmas Carol,” based on the story by Charles Dickens.
Ryan, who has been the face of SCS since its reemergence from the defunct Shakespeare Santa Cruz a decade ago, might no longer be the company’s leader, but he is still a big presence on the scene as an actor. He will play the antagonist Claudius alongside Pasternak’s Hamlet in “Hamlet,” as well as Ebenezer Scrooge in “A Christmas Carol.”
“I have no ego about this,” said Pasternak about having his predecessor around in his first season as artistic director. “Mike’s a generous guy. When we first talked, he was like, ‘Hey, if you want me to disappear for a few years, I’d be happy to do it, if you want to just settle in yourself.’ And I said, ‘No, I appreciate that. But I want you here, and our audience wants you here.’”
Tickets for Santa Cruz Shakespeare will go on sale in the spring.
The fall and holiday productions at Santa Cruz Shakespeare will be filling a void in local theater. Last year, Santa Cruz’s Jewel Theatre announced that it would be closing permanently after its 2023-24 season. Jewel’s closing is obviously bad news for local theater buffs, but the company is going out big, sure to dominate the month of May with its final production, a restaging of its big 2017 hit “Always … Patsy Cline.”
Cabrillo Stage, from its home base at the Crocker Theater at Cabrillo College, is also planning to swing for the fences this summer with a new production of Lin-Manuel Miranda’s Tony Award-winning musical “In the Heights.” That show will open July 11.
Santa Cruz Pride is getting a jump on Pride month with its “Queerlantis” drag show at the Cocoanut Grove ballroom on June 1, followed by the Pride parade and festival downtown June 2.
It sure is comforting to know that empires might rise and fall, but the annual Woodies on the Wharf event will always go on. This year’s big Woodies on the Wharf car show drops on June 22 — that’s the first Saturday of the summer — at the Santa Cruz Wharf, featuring a dazzling collection of the coolest surf wagons you’ll ever see.
Up in San Lorenzo Valley, the annual Redwood Mountain Faire is scheduled to return the weekend of June 1-2 at Roaring Camp. The musical lineup for the festival is yet to be announced. Also at Roaring Camp later in the summer is the Santa Cruz Mountain Sol Festival, on Aug. 24-25. Some of the first big names to be booked at the festival include Michael Franti & Spearhead, the California Honey Drops, and the legendary Tower of Power.
The beloved Wharf To Wharf race will be held again this summer, on July 28. And the annual Juneteenth celebration at London Nelson Center is planned for June 15.
On the festival front, the Capitola Art & Wine Festival is set for Sept. 14 and 15. And save the date for the Scotts Valley Art, Wine & Beer Festival, at Skypark in Scotts Valley on Aug. 17 and 18.
The Santa Cruz Symphony’s summer pops benefit concert features the music of the amazing John Williams at the Santa Cruz Civic on June 8.
Down Highway 1 a bit will be, as always, the most astonishing car show on the West Coast, the Concours d’Elegance at Pebble Beach, this year coming on Aug. 18, and the world-famous Monterey Jazz Festival, penciled in for Sept. 27-29 at the Monterey County Fairgrounds.
Along with all the already mentioned scheduled events will come a cascade of events yet to be announced at the always-busy venues around Santa Cruz County, such as the Kuumbwa Jazz Center, Moe’s Alley, The Catalyst, Felton Music Hall, the Rio Theatre, Bookshop Santa Cruz and others. Lookout allows you to keep on top of Santa Cruz County’s performance scene with our Down the Line calendar of curated events, refreshing weekly.
So yes, there are still several more weeks of winter in front of us. But the busy season is coming which will include not only events and performances, but all the other wonders that Santa Cruz County has to offer — hiking, biking, beaching and restaurant-ing. Now there’s a reason to get up in the morning, even if it’s still cold and rainy.
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