Benefit Concert Supporting Capitol Hurricane Recovery

This weekend, Capitola is hosting a benefit concert to raise money to rebuild the coastal city of Santa Cruz County, which was hit by millions of dollars in last month’s storms.

The “Beyond the Flood” benefit concert is scheduled for Saturday from noon to 6:00 pm on the bandstand in Esplanade Park, where thousands of people are expected to attend. The event is free and will include live music and a beer trailer donated by Sierra Nevada Brewing Co.

All proceeds from the beer and T-shirts sold at the event will go to the Santa Cruz County Community Foundation (CFSCC), a non-profit organization helping coordinate recovery from the wet and windy weather. The city said the CFSCC awarded $510,000 in disaster relief grants last week.

The damage at the Capitol was so extensive that it necessitated a visit from President Joe Biden, who arrived in the city on January 19 as part of his tour of parts of Santa Cruz County hardest hit by winter storms.

City officials say they recently submitted a $2.625 million damage estimate from the storm to the Federal Emergency Management Agency, and a coordination meeting with FEMA is scheduled for Wednesday.

Capitol Police Chief Andrew Dalli, who presented the city council with a proposal for a benefit concert last Thursday, said the idea came about after cleaning up the beach after the storm.

“There has been a lot of talk about what we can do next,” Dalli told the council. “It was really obvious that a lot of people in the community really wanted to step up and help with this.”

According to Dalli, the concert will be modeled after the “Twilight” series of concerts that take place at the same venue on Wednesday nights during the summer months.

Jive Machine, Alex Lucero Band and Joint Chiefs with Tony Lindsey are the bands that will perform during the concert. People are encouraged to find an alternative to driving a car to get to the event venue, which will have bike parking available.

Another beach clean-up is planned after the concert at 9 am on Sunday, according to the city authorities.