Wallace Baine, Baine Street: Filling the void left by First Night


First Night Santa Cruz is kaput. But that doesn't mean New Year's Eve on Pacific Avenue is going to look like a Tuesday night in February.

Say hello to "Last Night Santa Cruz."

There is at least one small part of First Night that will live on, despite the fact that the First Night event itself has abandoned Santa Cruz. That's the famous First Night processional, which took place shortly after sunset.

This year, a group of local artists are going to revive the processional, re-christened the "Last Night" parade not the only event using the "Last Night" moniker; see below for details. And they're doing things in a very different way.

Unlike First Night, which tightly controlled who could participate in the processional, Last Night will take all comers. All you have to do is show up.

"First Night was a franchised organization imported from Boston," said gadfly artist RICO THUNDER, one of the Last Night processional participants. "And, as a result, politics, for instance, was discouraged. We feel that politics, and not just progressive politics, is part of the discourse of this community."

Thunder is calling the event a "DIY parade," meaning "do it yourself." He even wants to make clear that he or anyone else is not assuming any kind of "organizer" role. Whoever shows up at dusk on Pacific Avenue can join in with a parade that will feature many of the elements that locals will remember from the First Night Processional without the tightly controlled visual themes.

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"It's simply a lot of people getting together to celebrate," said LAURIE STEIN, another eager participant, "just like people used to do back in the 1970s, throwing a block party, before everything got all expensive and complicated."

The parade will end with the "Opera Lady," the singer who belted out Wagnerian arias at end of First Night parades. Also participating will be stilt-walkers, village drumming circles, the theatrical activist group Art & Revolution, and the newly formed Santa Cruz Trash Orchestra, who Thunder calls a "recycled percussion band."

Those interested in participating in the Last Night parade are invited to come to an "unorganizing meeting" at 6 p.m. Saturday at 742 N. Branciforte Ave., Santa Cruz aka the Big Yellow House.

Both Laurie Stein and Rico Thunder are veterans of Burning Man and hope to bring that famous event's gift-economy ethic to the processional. Stein has even contacted the Black Rock City Rangers, Burning Man's volunteer security force, to show up to serve as security for the event.

"It's a do-it-yourself parade," said Thunder, who said he would welcome the city's support, but won't go through the permit process to get that support. "We're hoping that lots of folks show up, and we do something positive and fabulous."

The other 'Last Night'

Not to be confused with the processional through downtown will be another "Last Night" event, this one a benefit for the venerable old Louden Nelson Center. Board members of the Kids On Broadway theater troupe are putting on the benefit to help the center refurbish and repair the community center on the corner of Center and Laurel streets in Santa Cruz.

The event will feature performances designed for family audiences, including selections from several KOB productions and the party band EXTRA LARGE, all in an effort to replace what was lost when First Night folded up its circus tent.

The event begins on Dec. 31 at 4 p.m. at Louden Nelson. The dance party gets started at 8 p.m. and a candlelight procession — again, keep your parades straight — takes place at 10 p.m. in the park adjacent to the center.

Tickets are $10 for adults; $5 for children. We'll have more on this event as we get closer.