* PUBLISHER/EDITOR’S NOTE: Weekend Santa Cruz will be on hiatus for the foreseeable future. It will not be updated for some time to come. Thank you to each of the site’s supporters.

Memorial Day marks the start of the summer season. The weather warms, the beach beckons and soon, the town empties of students and fills with tourists attracted by the area’s natural beauty and quirky charms. There are an infinite number of ways to celebrate the summer in Santa Cruz, from picnics by the lighthouse to riding the Beach Boardwalk roller coaster. As this is a finite space, we’ve pared the list to six….

PHOTO: Joshua Lau and Crystina Robinette are featured dancers in “Swing!” opening June 25 at Cabrillo Stage. Photo by Jana Marcus.

Gina Marie Hayes was five years old when she first saw Camelot. It was the first stage musical the native Santa Cruzian, now the founder and producing artistic director of Red Egg Theater, ever saw.

The show, with its magic and mystery, was a turning point in her life. “From then on, it was complete and utter dedication to theater.”

Now Hayes is putting her own spin on the knights of the Round Table with (puppet)Camelot, December 23 through 27 at Actors’ Theatre. A preview of the family-friendly Red Egg Theater production will be held 7: 30 p.m. December 15 at Capitola Book Cafe….

Organic. That’s how Ann Cavanaugh, director for arts education and culture at the Corralitos Cultural Center, describes the way the Corralitos Artists Collective came into being. Artists who met during the Cultural Center’s first spaghetti dinner and art show in August clicked and decided to meet again and the Collective was born.

“There are a lot of artists in Corralitos,” Cavanaugh said of the small town located between Aptos and Watsonville, “a whole lot of people in these trees. You’d never know.”

At least 30 of those artists will be gathering November 14 and 15 for the Collective’s first-ever Harvest Festival, to be held at the Cultural Center….

Creepier than a banana slug. Crawlier than spiders dropping from the ceiling. It’s Halloween Week in Santa Cruz. There is plenty to do in this Hitchcockian town, home to the inspiration for the Bates Motel. You can enter The Twilight Zone, masquerade in a mini-aquarium or even watch big-screen zombies at midnight. Ghosts and ghoulies can get their groove on all around Santa Cruz County during this week.

Whether you’re searching for family-friendly tricks or adult-friendly treats, Weekend Santa Cruz has the information you crave…

If nothing else, the 21st annual Pacific Rim Film Festival is eclectic. Where else can you see a sci-fi film about water rights in Mexico on the same day as a documentary about Patsy Takemoto Mink, the first woman of color to serve in the United States Congress.

The seven day festival, which runs October 16 through 21 at three Santa Cruz County locations, offers 16 free flicks, many with after-film discussions by the filmmakers….

It took 13 years and two bond measures to get it done. When the $80 million Visual and Performing Arts Complex at Cabrillo College holds its grand opening this weekend, the college and the community will begin to reap the rewards….

For three weekends in October, artists in Santa Cruz County fling open their doors and welcome strangers into their most private spaces — their studios. Green signs dot the roadsides, proclaiming “artist” with a number and type of art.

The signs correspond with information available in the $20 artist guide and calendar offered by the Cultural Council of Santa Cruz County, which has run the Open Studios Art Tour for the past 24 years….

It’s pig racing, fried food tasting and blue-ribbon placing. It’s Ferris wheel riding, demonstration guiding and entertainment providing. The Santa Cruz County Fair runs Tuesday, September 14, through Sunday, September 20, at the fairgrounds in Watsonville, showcasing everything from the Blue Oyster Cult to prized sheep. The self-supporting event — no taxes are used to pay for the Fair — brings the best in agriculture, domestic arts and crafts together with carnival fun, musical acts and more….

Long ago, in what is now known as the Monterey and San Francisco Bay Areas, the Ohlone lived on the land. For thousands of years, the “people of the West” — 40 to 50 distinct groups of Native Americans — foraged, hunted, roamed and traded up and down the coast. Then came the Spanish and the Missions and the rest, as they say, is history.

Henry Cowell Redwoods State Park makes its annual trip to the past 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday (September 19) during Ohlone Day….

Greek food, Greek music, Greek dancing, Greek arts and crafts. All that’s missing from the 29th annual Greek Festival, held September 11-13 at Prophet Elias Greek Orthodox Church, is Greek film. A quick trip to the video store for one of these four Grecian goodies will start a Mediterranean staycation right….