By Michael Gaither

It started as a simple, monthly speaker series at the Nickelodeon Theatre to showcase local entrepreneurs and community leaders. That evolved into giving time to anyone who had a story to tell including chefs, athletes, musicians and artists.

Twelve years later, Event Santa Cruz has become an organization that showcases pretty much everything of note happening around town.

I recently spoke with Matthew Swinnerton, founder of Event Santa Cruz. He fondly recalled that the early speaker events always quickly sold out of their 200-seat capacity. “I realized, ‘I need to move out of here,’ and that while the theater was a cool space, I wanted to serve drinks, beer and food and create different experiences,” he said.

“I was always trying to find the newest exciting thing that people are going to. The speaker series always went great, but what other industries in town could I help?” Event Santa Cruz tried out a food truck event with other popup food vendors. Swinnerton learned that, “If I have a speaker series, I can have six or seven speakers. But I can make more of an impact if I have 20 other vendors at a block party. The businesses are actually selling what they make. So instead of people just telling their story, they’re just doing what they do.”

Music quickly became a big piece of these events, particularly with Event Santa Cruz’s weekly Midtown Fridays music series, which kicks off its fifth season this coming May. “One thing I always focused on was music, even with the speaker series,” Swinnerton said. “Musicians are the ultimate entrepreneur. They make the product, they sell the product and they promote the product.”

He continued, “And the energy of 1,000 people at a block party, with families, food and a band playing, there’s such a good feeling around it. I’m serving two different things: The community is coming out and having a great time, and the businesses are getting exposure and being successful.”

Swinnerton and his team also work with many local sponsors and partners to make this all happen. Loren Morse, a local Realtor and one of the sponsoring partners of Event Santa Cruz, noted, “I often remind myself how lucky we are to live in Santa Cruz because we have people like Matthew and his team who go out of their way to throw events full of culture and music, where we get to live in the present and get back to the basic joys of living.”

Even now in the middle of winter, Event Santa Cruz is already out presenting music. All this month, they’re working with the Santa Cruz Wharf to present their Wharf Wednesday concert series. Swinnerton says, “As soon as the wharf broke, we realized they needed some kind of support, particularly since the nine days the wharf was closed was during their peak selling time of the season. It affected 20 businesses and 400 employees.”

The shows run from 6 to 8:30 p.m. each Wednesday this month. Swinnerton adds that, “All of the businesses are pulling together, offering specials, drawings for gift cards and parking is free for the first two hours.”

Besides this current concert series, Swinnerton and Event Santa Cruz are planning out the rest of the year, which includes booking the spring Midtown Friday parties and maintaining a goal of posting a new video to their YouTube channel every single day. In addition, Swinnerton and his team are taking over the booking responsibilities for the annual West End Celebration, which takes place late this summer down the coast in Sand City.

“My plan was to take it easy this year,” Swinnerton laughed and added, “But so far, it’s not working.”

You can learn more about Event Santa Cruz and the Wharf Wednesday lineup at eventsantacruz.com.

Michael Gaither is a performing songwriter, DJ at KPIG radio and in a previous life was also a writer for The Santa Cruz Sentinel.