SANTA CRUZ >> Standing in the shadow of the Town Clock, waving and hoisting handmade signs to the sounds of honks, three generations of a Santa Cruz family spent their Labor Day together downtown.

Baby Penelope, 7 weeks old and blissfully smiling toward passing cars on Water Street, sported a “Vote for Bernie Sanders” bodysuit and rested in mother Isabella Kressman’s arms. Grandmother Kathy Kressman stood nearby, amidst a crowd of about 75 to 100 people preparing to march single-file up and down sidewalks the length of Pacific Avenue.

Nearby, a young man wearing large, dark-frame glasses adjusted his white wig and settled into a suit coat in 90 degree temperatures, while tambourines accompanied bike horns and chants. Organizers handed out the lyrics to “Bernie for Prez,” a song written by Live Oak school board member Phyllis Greenleaf, Brian Heath, Chuck Schuller, Emelyn Buskirk and Bertha Taube, and set to the tune of “Mr. Sandman.”

Monday’s Santa Cruz 4 Bernie Labor Day Rally & March was one of numerous recent local grassroots-organized gatherings supporting the U.S. senator from Vermont who is making a bid for the Democratic presidential nomination. Host Bonnie Brunet said hosting a Labor Day march in support of her preferred presidential candidate was a bit of a unique concept.

“I think that Bernie is labor-oriented, to say the least. One of the things he feels strongly about is minimum wage, that it should be $15,” said Brunet. “I don’t know that Santa Cruz is indicative of the rest of the country, but Santa Cruz is ‘feeling the Bern.’ ”

Brunet said she is focused mainly on helping to gain Sanders greater recognition from voters of all ages.

Cabrillo student Samantha Stone said she was curious to see what the age demographics would be like at the Labor Day parade, her first Sanders event, and found it be made up mostly of those ages 30 and older.

“I’m hoping to plan one with some friends later this year, some time before primaries. We’re going to register through the Bernie Sanders website, call it “Bernie Man,” maybe have some tables to make sure everybody’s registered to vote … maybe burn the ‘corporate man’ at the end of the day,” Stone said. “I would just like to see more young people involved. There’s a lot of power in young people in Santa Cruz.”

Stone said she has been impressed by Sander’s values and the causes he has been supporting for decades.

“I like what he has to say about education and moving towards making education more accessible to everybody. I loved what he said about raising the minimum wage, because nobody who works over 40 hours a week should live in poverty,” Stone said, displaying her poster with the same words.

Chuck Schuller, of Soquel, said he was familiar with Sanders as being “ahead of the pack,” prior to his presidential run.

“He’s a man of integrity and great compassion,” Schuller said. “He’s both a leader and a listener, the way I see it.”