Quick Take
Santa Cruz County will do its part in nationwide “No Kings” protests with rallies in Santa Cruz and Watsonville. Meanwhile, the long-planned Juneteenth celebration will go on in downtown Santa Cruz.
June 14, 2025, might be seen one day as a turning point in American history, for positive or negative reasons, depending on where you stand politically. But we know this: Santa Cruz County won’t be sitting this one out.
On the same day that the Trump administration will hold a military parade in Washington, D.C., Santa Cruz County is one of hundreds of locales across the country that is participating in “No Kings Day” protest rallies, organized by the national activist organization 50501.
In Santa Cruz and Watsonville, the local rallies are being put together by the local chapters of a partner organization in the nationwide event, Indivisible.
If the hours and the duration of the rally in Santa Cruz seems a bit unusual — the rally is planned for just 90 minutes, beginning at 10 a.m. — well, there’s a reason for that. It represents a show of respect for another event taking place in downtown Santa Cruz that very day: the big Juneteenth festival at Laurel Park adjacent to the London Nelson Community Center. Watsonville is planning its own “No Kings” rally to begin at noon at the Watsonville Plaza.
Now in its 34th year, Juneteenth has been an annual Santa Cruz celebration decades before it was declared a federal holiday. It marks the date when enslaved African Americans in Texas were first informed of the Emancipation Proclamation and the end of slavery following the Civil War. It is often called America’s “Second Independence Day.”
“We’re going to make sure that [the No Kings rally] ends early,” said Indivisible Santa Cruz’s Amanda Harris Altice, one of the lead organizers of the event. “Then, we’ll encourage people to attend Juneteenth because it’s such a wonderful event. And it’s really needed now more than ever.”
The 10 a.m. political rally is set to begin at the Duck Pond Stage at San Lorenzo Park. From there, a sidewalk parade will begin to go down Dakota Street to Ocean Street, then up to the Santa Cruz County courthouse near Water Street. Santa Cruz’s version of the “No Kings” rally is to be themed on immigration, with speakers including Max Olkowski-Laetz, the president of the local chapter of the Services Employees International Union (SEIU). David Huerta, the president of SEIU California, was arrested last week in Los Angeles after protesting an immigration raid and charged with conspiracy to impede a federal officer.
Also speaking at the rally will be Paz Padilla and Kate Hinnenkamp, both of Community Action Board of Santa Cruz County. Altice of Indivisible Santa Cruz will also speak to the crowd. Altice said that, as of Tuesday, the rally had about 800 people registered to attend, and that she expects about three times that many to show up, approaching the number of people who attended the “Hands Off” rally April 5.
While “No Kings” rallies in other communities will still be going strong, the Santa Cruz rally will disperse at 11:30 a.m. in deference to Juneteenth. The Santa Cruz celebration of the holiday — one of the longest-standing events of its kind in California — picked the date for the 2025 event last summer, long before Donald Trump was elected president, much less before the Washington military parade was announced.
One of the event’s organizers, Ana Elizabeth, said that there was no thought of rescheduling or changing the celebration at all once the Trump event was announced: “We were focused on the Black community in Santa Cruz. Juneteenth uplifts and brings about joy for us and we’re not thinking about what’s happening in Washington, D.C.”
Of Indivisible Santa Cruz’s decision to schedule its rally around Juneteenth, Elizabeth said, “They made that decision on their own, and we’re really appreciative that they had the foresight and the consciousness to make sure their event ended before ours started. We’re very grateful for that allyship.”
Juneteenth will, in fact, include a parade of its own, a New Orleans-style line parade, which, instead of signs and chanting, will include drummers and brass musicians. The parade will begin at the Black Lives Matter mural painted on Center Street and continue down Pacific Avenue, leading eventually to Laurel Park and a Dia de Los Muertos-style ancestors altar created for the moment. Leading the parade will be this year’s grand marshal, the longtime theater director at UC Santa Cruz, Don Williams.
“We wanted to pick someone in our community that we could highlight and elevate,” said Elizabeth, “and make sure that they’re appreciated for all they’ve brought to the community.”
The Juneteenth celebration will also include live music from a number of acts, including longtime Santa Cruzans Samba Ngo and Mandjou Koné. The free event starts at noon and ends at 5 p.m.
In Watsonville, Indivisible South County is planning its rally at the Watsonville Plaza. Unlike its Santa Cruz counterpart, the South County rally will not feature a parade, though it will have a roster of speakers as well as a folklorico dance troupe performing. Organizers are encouraging potential attendees to make signs, and are in fact hosting a sign-making party on Thursday from 4 to 6 p.m. at Watsonville Public House, 625 Main St. Materials will be supplied.
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