Aptos Community News

Sharing and caring about what happens in Aptos

You are here: Home / Archives for Seb Frey

Seb Frey

Jewish Cultural Festival on Sunday, June 22

by

Temple Beth El is holding its second annual Jewish Cultural Festival on Sunday, June 22 from 11 AM util 6 PM. There will be a lot of yummy traditional Jewish food for sale, including matzah ball soup shots, falafel, hummus, and other baked goods.

Admission is free, and music will be provided by Ron Kaplan’s Jazz Trio, the Kuumbwa Club Combo, and Jeff Brody’s Klezmer Gypsy All Stars. In addition, there’ll be a sing along celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Fiddler on the Roof. There’ll be a children’s area with supervised fun in the playground, an all-day Playdough table, and crafts.

In addition, 20+ local and bay area artists will be selling their original work at booths set up for that purpose.

See also: Santa Cruz Sentinel article

Jewish Cultural Festival
Jewish Cultural Festival

Aptos 4th of July Parade

by

Aptos 4th of July Parade
Aptos 4th of July Parade

The annual Aptos 4th of July parade – also known as the World’s Shortest Parade – is held every 4th of July in Aptos. It starts at the intersection of State Park Drive and ends up at Aptos Village Park, near Aptos Village. The parade is sponsored by the Aptos Chamber of Commerce, and kicks off with a pancake breakfast at 7:00 AM. The parade begins at around 10 AM, and winds its way down Soquel Drive to the park. After the parade, enjoy the “Party in the Park” with lots of food and fun for the family. The Capitola-Aptos Rotary Club hosts beer sales for those looking for a frothy holiday tipple.

[show_posts_by_tag tags=”4th-of-july-parade”]

Check out the Aptos 4th of July Parade YouTube Playlist

Beach and Creek Cleanups: June 14, July 5

by

Two community clean ups have been planned, one for Aptos Creek and one for Hidden Beach. The Aptos Creek Cleanup is set for Saturday, June 14 and another set for Saturday, July 5th at Hidden Beach. Both cleanups are being done in conjunction with Save Our Shores.

The Aptos Creek Cleanup on June 14th will be meeting at Aptos Village Park at 9 AM. Be sure to wear long pants and closed-toe shoes. There’s a write-up on this site about a previous Aptos Creek cleanup to get an idea of what the experience is like.

The Hidden Beach cleanup is being organized by the Rio Del Mar Improvement Association. The group will be meeting at Hidden Beach Park at 8 AM before heading down to the beach. This is a particularly important time to clean up the beach as the July 4th festivities usually leave the beach looking quite a bit worse for the wear.

See also:

Aptos Creek Cleanup
Aptos Creek Cleanup

Aptos History Museum Fundraiser, August 8 2014

by

The Aptos History Museum is putting on its annual fundraiser this August 8th at the Seascape Sports Club. The theme this year is “Hula For History” and is being held in conjunction with the Comerica Bank Challenger tennis tournament quarter finals.

Tickets are $30 in advance, or $40 at the door – and either price represents an amazing value, as it includes food from a number of local restaurants, fine wine and beer, and live Hawaiian music and entertainment. Not only that, a ticket to the fundraiser also gets you in to watch the tennis tournament with world-ranked players.

There’s also a silent auction and a craft fair with local vendors. Guests are encouraged to wear Hawaiian clothing or tennis garb – but what’s more important is that they just show up to support the Aptos History Museum! This is the museum’s major fundraiser of the year and it’s a great way to support it, see some world class tennis, and enjoy a smorgasbord of food, wine, beer, and Hawaiian culture.

Call 831-688-1467 for more info or to buy tickets. Or do you want FREE tickets? Then enter our contest to win a free pair of tickets!

Hula for History 2014
Hula for History 2014

Memorial Day at Seacliff Beach

by

Aptos has a reputation for being a foggy place. Blame it on the Monterey Bay, which has the second deepest ocean canyon in the world, with lots of super cold water that generates when it’s hot inland. I personally think it’s somewhat blown out of proportion – yes, we have a lot of foggy mornings, and the fog can roll back in around 3 or 4 o’clock if you’re right down there by the beach. But it’s not usually foggy all day, and of course, the further from the beach you go, the less fog you’ll find.

And then there are days like Memorial Day 2014, when there’s not a wisp of fog to be seen, even at 9:00 AM, when my wife and I took a walk down Seacliff Beach. I’ve been trying to get in my 10,000 steps a day – it’s all the rage these days – and it seemed like the perfect morning for a walk along the sand. We started out at the parking lot at Rio del Mar beach – which was already full – and ended down at the Seacliff Memorial Wall, an Aptos Gem.

It was a gorgeous, sun-drenched day. The picnic tables which line the beach were already full, and the BBQ grills were already going. The RV campground was full, too, and lots of folks were sitting out in front of their RVs, chatting with one another and watching the sunbeams play on the waves. The lifeguard tower on the pier declared the climate that day as being “sunny/nice” with air temperature between 60 and 75 degrees. The pier was loaded with fisherman, dozens of them angling to catch something, but probably not caring too much if they ended up empty-handed. The SS Palo Alto was loaded with seagulls and other birds, who have painted the deck white with their guano.

It seemed like everyone and everything was out at Seacliff Beach for Memorial Day. We’re so lucky that all of this is just a five minute drive from our doorstep. I love Aptos!

Sunday at the Blues Festival

by

It’s Memorial Day Weekend in Aptos, which for the last twenty plus years has meant it’s also the weekend of the Santa Cruz Blues Festival, held down at Aptos Village Park. I haven’t been to the blues festival in years – the last time I went was to see the great Ray Charles play what turned out to be one of his last concerts.

Aptos Village Park is an awesome venue for a intimate outdoor concert experience such as the Blues Festival. For a number of years, they also held the KPIG Fat Fry there, too, although it’s been many years since the last one.

The Blues Festival spans two days – on Saturday, Gregg Allman headlined, and I heard from one of the ticket vendors that it was a great show. We went on Sunday, when Chris Isaak headlined. The crowd was a little thin – didn’t look anywhere close to sold out to me, although there were thousands of people there. I guess last year (2013) was kind of a disaster, oversold and with ham-fisted security people, so maybe that had something to do with the light attendance.

I went this year because Jackie Greene was playing, and I’m something of fan. I first saw him play 7 years ago when he joined Phil Lesh and Friends at the ripe of age 26. I was pretty impressed when I saw him jam with Phil and Friends – there’s no question, he plays a mean guitar, harmonica, and keyboard. I haven’t seen him play since then, but I’ve bought a number of his albums and caught him on YouTube here and there.

I went to the blues festival this year with my wife Rocio, our children Aiden (5) and Evan (2), and also my wife’s cousin Andrea who has been staying with us as she studies at Cabrillo College. Andrea had never been to anything like the Blues Festival, although Rocio did go with me to the Phil and Friends show back in ’07.

We all had a really good time – Rocio and Andrea particularly enjoyed Vintage Trouble. They were a lot of fun, a very tight blues band with great energy. Chris Isaak took the stage around 5 o’clock or so, and he was a lot of fun too – but we probably only made it half way through his set. We wanted to avoid the mad dash for the bus which would take us back to our car we’d parked at Cabrillo College. It worked out beautifully, actually – the bus was right there waiting for us when we walked up the hill out of the park.

It was good, too, to see some of my friends from the Capitola Aptos Rotary Club down there selling beer. We ended up buying our fair share from them, although the proceeds went to the festival itself. They just collected tips which went into their general fund. I bet they got to see the music for free though. 🙂

Aptos Little League Season Ends

by

Yesterday was the final game of the Aptos Little League. My son Aiden played with the Yankees – it’s only a farm league, so games are (usually) just 3 innings and nobody actually keeps score. I’ll come right out and say it – I know like next-to-nothing about baseball, never having myself been on a team growing up and only watching it on TV sporadically, mostly when the As or Giants are in the World Series.

Even so, I ended up being an assistant coach on the team, thanks to my friend Manny, the head coach, and our friend Uriah, another assistant coach. Manny does know all about baseball, having played it for years growing up. I didn’t end up teaching the kids much about baseball, I don’t think – and when I did, I just repeated whatever it was that Manny told them. But I did spend a lot of time (trying to) keep them in order (“no kissing, no kissing!”) when they were on the bench in their batting lineup, and trying to keep them focused on the ball when they were in the outfield.

Regardless of how much I or anyone is into baseball, being on the team is a pretty great experience. Take my son Aiden, for example – because I haven’t really spent much time throwing baseballs to him to hit or catch, and because he is one of the younger kids on the team, he was kind of toward the back of the pack when it came to hitting, catching, throwing, and running. And he was kind of bummed out about it. But I did practice with him (some) in our back yard, and coach Manny did work with him to help him learn these skills better. And he stuck with it. And he got better. And it was awesome to see.

All the kids got better throughout the season. It was just an amazing experience, watching them all grow and – and for the most part, have fun doing it.

Nisene Marks Marathon 2014

by

The Nisene Marks Marathon is scheduled for Saturday, June 7th 2014. The Nisene Marks Marathon first got started in 1999, and has gone on almost every year since then. It’s actually three races in one – a half marathon, a full marathon, and a 5K race. The full marathon starts at 8:00 AM, the half marathon kicks off at 8:30 AM, and the 5K starts at 9:00 AM.

The race is hosted by the Santa Cruz Host Lions Club and the Santa Cruz Track Club.

See also:

Nisene Marks Marathon
Nisene Marks Marathon

Drink Beer & Support Aptos History on May 26th

by

Come support the Aptos History Museum and catch a buzz at the same time! Local micro-brewer Discretion Brewing is donating a portion of their proceeds from sales on Monday, May 26th 2014 to support the Aptos History Museum. Discretion Brewing Company is located at 2703 41st Avenue in Soquel, across the street from Home Depot & Best Buy.

Support the Aptos History Museum
Support the Aptos History Museum – proceeds from sales @ Discretion Brewery on Monday, May 26 2014 go to support the Aptos History Museum

Saturday Morning

by

I make no bones about it: I’m a morning person. All my life, so far as I can remember, I’m up once I see the light, and it’s almost impossible for me to get back to sleep. As I get older, I seem to need less sleep than before, and I get up earlier and earlier.

This morning, my son Evan also was up pretty early, and rather than have him fuss and make noise and possibly wake up the whole house (none of whom share my penchant for early mornings), I put Evan in the baby backpack and hit the streets. I needed to visit the Wells Fargo down at State Park and Soquel to make some deposits and get some cash for the World’s Biggest Garage Sale today, and it seemed like the perfect opportunity to do that and get some exercise and fresh air while I was at it.

After we hit the bank, I noticed that the Pacific Coffee Roasting company was open, so Evan and I cruised over for a non-fat latte for me and an Odwalla blueberry smoothie-thing for him. Evan started missing his mommy around this time, so he got back in the backpack and we headed back home down Soquel Drive.

I love the mornings for how cool and quiet they are. It’s nice to walk down Soquel Drive without the roar of the passing traffic. There were a few people out this morning, going for walks like Evan and I, and it was lovely to say hi, hello, good morning, share a smile, and hear Evan say “hi” too in his little baby voice.

Almost back home, we came across a fireman raising the flags at the Aptos Fire Station. It was pretty cool to watch him tend to one of his daily duties in the calm and still of the morning. Don’t know why, it just was.