Thursday, June 23, 2016
Head up to Tempe this weekend to watch the Miss Gay Arizona America 2016 pageant.
Tucson's very own Tempest DuJour, Miss Gay Tucson America 2016, will be competing for the crown on Sunday, June 26 against nine other contestants—including Miss Gay Tucson America 2016 runner-up, Demi LaRaye.
Contestants will be partake in five categories: male interview, solo talent, evening gown, on-stage interview and talent—the highest point category in the pageant.
Located at the Tempe Center for the Arts Theater (700 W. Rio Salado Parkway) the pageant will honor Miss Gay Arizona America 2015, Nevaeh McKenzie and Asia O'Hara, Miss Gay America 2016.
Diva, Miss Gay Arizona America 2012 will be hosting alongside Mya McKenzie, Miss Gay Arizona America 2007.
Miss Gay Arizona America is Arizona's longest running and most prestigious female impersonation pageant. For more information or to buy tickets visit the Miss Gay Arizona America website.
Tags: pageant , miss gay arizona , Tempest DuJour , female impersonation , crown
Monday, June 20, 2016
I recently wrote about a Menlo Park Neighborhood Association meeting I attended a couple of weeks ago, where Menlo residents and Rio Nuevo Board representatives discussed mining equipment manufacturer Caterpillar's regional headquarter's upcoming move to West Side Tucson.
Much of the city is celebrating the fact that Caterpillar chose the Old Pueblo over others like Phoenix and Denver to bring what could mean $600 million in economic impact and 600 well-paying jobs—many of which will already be taken by existing Caterpillar employees, who will begin relocating to Tucson this summer.
My focus of the article revolved around a handful of residents who are concerned about what this will mean to the historic Menlo Park: everything from hikes in property tax and rent costs that will push old-time residents out to environmental and gentrification concerns. (Is this part of the trend to kill as much of Tucson's Native American and Mexican American cultural heritage as possible?)
Abby Okrent with the Jewish Voice for Peace-Tucson pointed out another huge issue of much global scale regarding Caterpillar and whether or not a city like Tucson should be rejoicing over their move here: there is a global campaign against Caterpillar for "its complicity in the Israeli occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip."
Tags: caterpillar , menlo park neighborhood association , west bank , gaza srip , israel , palestine , jewish voice for peace tucson , tucson
Looking out on the Tucson streets, it may feel a bit like the city has become a dead zone. While pedestrians have taken shelter from the heat inside, now is actually a very interesting time in the region agriculturally, as some of the most unique native plants are now ready to harvest. Pre-monsoon harvests include the bahidaj (or saguaro fruit) that is pivotal in the Tohono O’odham new year season and can be harvested and made into syrup, candy or a wine-like fermented ceremonial drink. Unless you have a saguaro in your yard, though, you’ll want to be sure you’re allowed to harvest the fruit, as many saguaros, including those in the eponymous national park, are protected.
That doesn’t mean you’ll be out of the desert harvest all together, though. Just look around at all of the mesquite pods ready for the picking. If you missed last week’s Desert Harvesters guided tours of foragable pods and beans growing on trees around town, you can still learn plenty at the 14th annual Mesquite Milling and Wild Foods and Drink Fiesta. There, the local nonprofit will be set up at Mercado San Agustin (100 S. Ave. del Convento) during the Santa Cruz River Farmers Market. From 4 until 7 p.m. on Thursday, June 23, on-site mesquite pod milling will transform all of your plucked pods into sweet, nutty flour for $3 per gallon of whole pods milled with a $10 minimum.
This special event, which goes to benefit Desert Harvesters in their mission to promote native foods and water security in the region, will also feature mesquite pod tasting, aflatoxin testing (to ensure the flour you’ve milled is safe), craft beer made with wild ingredients from Iron Johns and mesquite and chiltepin flavored cold brew from Exo Roast Co. A variety of other native and wild foods products will be for sale, such as date vinegar, cholla buds, desert lavender tea, carob powder and chiltepines. The Pima County Public Library’s seed library will be there to offer up instruction on hands-on bean tree propagation with a giveaway of food-producing native trees, as well.
More information on harvesting and milling mesquite, as well as this event, can be found on the Desert Harvesters website.
Tags: desert harvesters , mesquite , pod , milling , mercado san agustin , farmers market , wild food , harvesting , native
Thursday, June 2, 2016
Kids: One minute you're walking out of the mall with a stack of new pants and the next day there's an extra inch of ankle peaking out below the hem of their jeans.
Combat retail pricing and your growing collection of barely worn children's clothes at the Kids Clothing Swap this Sunday from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at Fluxx Studio & Gallery (690 E. 19th Street, Suite 130).
Like a typical clothing swap, folks will bring kids clothes, shoes, and costumes they no longer wear (or for some of us, have never even worn!) and go home with new-to-them items.
UNLIKE most swaps, all genders are welcome and there will be a DIVERSE selection of sizes for infants through tweens.
Kiddos will be kept entertained with face-painting, a play area, and a fun mini-fashion show while you shop the swap and pick out some killer new outfits for them.
We know shopping is exhausting, so there will be plenty of healthy, tasty, kid-friendly refreshments (and adult-friendly beverages!) to keep you going!
Admission is $10 with clothes to swap, $20 without—though the event description notes no one will be turned away due to a lack of funds. Proceeds benefit the Body Revolution.
Have some clothes you'd like to donate in advance? Reach out to the organizers on Facebook.
Tags: clothing swap , feminist groups , body revolution , kids clothing , summer in tucson , tucson non profit , Image
Friday, May 27, 2016
What started as a group of students going on a bike ride for their friend’s birthday has blossomed into the Tucson community event known as Tuesday Night Bike Rides.
The current leader of the ride, Collin Forbes started attending in November 2007.
“I read about it in the paper after they’d gotten into some trouble with the cops,“ Forbes said.
Interested by the publicity the ride received, Forbes decided to attend the following Tuesday, and has been going ever since. After several people were ticketed for running red lights, and disobeying other traffic laws one night in 2010, Forbes and a group of friends decided to take on a leadership role.
They began planning and guiding the rides, eventually adding themes to every ride. For a while there was a rotation of ride leaders between Forbes and three or four other people. As time passed Forbes’ group of leaders fizzled out. Now he leads, plans, and guides the rides all by himself.
Forbes has a lot of fun making themes for the rides.
“I like to keep the theme secret, most people don’t know the theme of the ride until they're on it. We’ve done rides where it’s entirely right hand turns, as well as rides that were entirely left hand turns. This week’s ride was spirals, if you noticed we looped around a lot,” Forbes said.
Rides average between nine and a half to 12 miles. On rare occasion there is a 17 mile ride to a place called Sun Circle. Forbes like to call that ride “Stonehenge.”
Tuesday Night Bike Riders meet each week in front of Old Main under the flag pole at the UA at 8:30 p.m.
Thursday, May 26, 2016
School is out, temperatures are rising and (finally!) public pools around Tucson are opening. Breakers Water Park is among those summer institutions preparing to open their doors this weekend.
Want to go? We're giving away tickets! Tell us how many you want (don't be greedy! Maximum 8.), give us your name and phone number and wait by the phone.
Planning to spend the entire summer in the wave pool? The park offers season passes.
Season Pass ($39.99)
Unlimited admission to the waterpark all summer
Early entrance: get into the park at 9:30 a.m., half an hour before the park opens to the public
VIP Wednesdays: perks change weekly
If you buy two or more Season Passes for the family, you get a complimentary Great American Savings coupon book
Gold Pass ($49.99)
All the benefits of the regular Season Pass, plus:
Four additional "bring a friend free" days
A Breakers collector cup with 99 cent refills
Two $10 cabana rental discounts
Two free inner tube rentals
Tags: breakers water park , summer in tucson , wave pool , water slides , free stuff , win tickets , Image , Video
Monday, May 23, 2016
Meals are served in school site cafeterias or in designated eating areas for the non-school sites.
The Summer Food Service Program for Children is a federally funded program operated by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, with locations across the nation.
Participating in the program are Amphitheater, Sunnyside, Flowing Wells, Marana and Tucson Unified school districts.
Monday, May 16, 2016
“The [troop] selected our neighborhood because of the number of kids that live so close to an elementary school,” said Henry Johnson, the vice president of the Miracle Manor Neighborhood Association. This helps us promote reading between family members and their children and it serves “to help increase literacy among the community.”
Nine members of Girl Scout Troop 108 conducted a book drive, collecting books from friends and classmates.
“We wanted to promote reading as well as a feeling of community,” said Ryan G, age 10, one of the nine girl scouts from the troop. “We like to read and we wanted to make books available to people.”
Using money raised from cookie sales, the troop bought supplies, including an old cabinet from the Habitat for Humanity store and customizing it with a roof, using tarpaper and shingles. “I like being a Girl Scout because we get to do a lot of things together,” said Abigail, age 10, one of the nine Girl Scouts who built the mobile library and goes to St. Elizabeth Ann Seton School north of Tucson.
“It’s really fun when you get to do stuff with your friends.”The library will remain at Jacinto Park where community members can come and get a book to read as the summer months begin.
Monday, May 9, 2016
By now it’s clear that food isn’t just about restaurants and dining out, but has grown to be a movement that focuses ever more on local farms and farmers and the traditions of food in any given region. After all, Tucson wouldn’t have won its illustrious UNESCO City of Gastronomy designation without the region’s rich agricultural history paired with modern strides to not only revive it, but make it accessible and inclusive to those in the community.
One of the organizations at the forefront of that very effort in town is the Friends of Tucson’s Birthplace and their heritage crop efforts at the Mission Garden. That’s why local food fanatics should head to the garden on Saturday, May 14 for the 2016 Dia de San Ysidro festival.
The event, which aims to celebrate traditional farming in Tucson by highlighting Old World and indigenous food traditions, will include a procession from Tucson Origins Heritage Park to the garden, performances from Mariachi Milagro and the Desert Indian Dancers from San Xavier, a Native American Four Directions Blessing, a presentation on water saints and acequias by M. Brescia (PhD) and a Pozole de Trigo tasting. Attendees can also take part in a community wheat harvest where you can thresh and winnow alongside members of Presidio San Agustin.
The celebration has roots in Arizona history, and the organization shows it off with an 120-year-old excerpt from the Arizona Weekly Citizen from May 19, 1894:
“All honor was shown today to San Ysidro Labrador…San Ysidro is the rural saint, the patron of the fields and crops. The image was carried today about the fields below town, with a gay procession following…At every house refreshments are on hand, and are served. A feature is usually an olla of teswin, a light wine made of corn. No other intoxicants are permitted…The first of the crop of each field was promised to the patron saint. The Chinese gardeners have come to have due regard for this annual festival, and were among the heavy contributors, some of them giving money.”
The cultural festival begins at 9 a.m. and is open to the public. While the event is free, a $5 donation is requested per person. For more information, visit the Friends of Tucson's Birthplace website.
Tags: mission garden , friends of tucson's birthplace , gardening , farming , agriculture , harvest , fetival , events , san ysidro , cultural , pozole de trigo
Saturday, May 7, 2016
Jarrad Barnes, 24, has been identified as the driver of vehicle that crossed the median and hit Ann Day's car. At 8 p.m. the day of the accident, Barnes was released from the hospital and booked into the Pima County Jail for one count of manslaughter and driving under the influence. The investigation is ongoing.
Original Story:
Ann Day, former Pima County District 1 Supervisor, was driving her Toyota Prius eastbound on Ina Road when a driver of another car traveling westbound crossed lanes, struck the median and hit her car head on. A truck driving behind Day was unable to stop in time and struck the rear of her car.
Northwest Fire District paramedics transported Day to Banner-UMC Trauma Center where she was pronounced dead.
The driver of the other car and the driver of the truck were both transported to Banner-UMC Trauma Center in serious condition with non-life threatening injuries.
Ina Road at Firenze Drive will remain closed for a few hours while Pima County Sheriff’s Department traffic detectives investigate. It is unclear if there will be any charges filed against the drivers.
Day represented District 1 for three terms, from 2000 to 2012. She also served in the Arizona Senate for 10 years.
