Fourth Annual Do-It-Yourself New Year’s Takes the Streets

Santa Cruz, CA, December 15th, 2008: In what is rapidly becoming a homespun Santa Cruz New Year’s tradition, the Last Night DIY Parade and Street Party will take over the streets on New Year’s for the forth straight year. This year the do-it-yourself, grassroots celebration returns with hopes for a parade, street party, entertainment, and performers to take over downtown for a whole evening of DIY adventure and entertainment.

In your near future: a New Year’s eve crammed with jugglers, clowns, samba drums, pirates, bikes, and marching bands. The usual city- and corporate-sponsored New Year’s eve event? Hardly. This is Last Night Santa Cruz, a people’s parade and street party. It is a do-it-yourself celebration that goes beyond the now-defunct First Night event.

Three years ago, the Last Night DIY celebration erupted into the national headlines when it was discovered that Santa Cruz Police had illegally spied on community meetings for months and gathering information about activist groups and other unrelated activities.

This year, the celebration returns with an unabashedly defiant point-of-view. A manifesto published on the Last Night DIY website states, "Last Night is a completely organic event, organized and put on at a grassroots-level. No city-sponsorship. No corporate donors.”

The Last Night website (lastnightdiy.org) states, "“We are not asking for permits and permission, nor are there any limits on participation. Our entire community is invited to participate and celebrate together.”

This year on New Year's Eve, the celebration will meet at 5pm near the Saturn Cafe parking lot on Pacific Ave and Spruce Street.