Aloha! A Ho’omana Hula Show Luau is coming up on Sunday, September 6 at 5 p.m. at the Inn Suites Hotel Copper room, 475 N. Granada Ave, Tucson. Luau tickets are only $20 for adults, $10 (for kids 10 and under).

luau poster

This luau is being put on by Leiola Galla (a kumu/instructor originally from Oahu) and her Leiola Hula Halau, with a pre-luau workshop on September 4-6 on hula and Tahitian dancing, featuring guest artists Tarita and Gerard Tehotu. Leiola has studied under hula masters Bella Richards, George Na`ope (founder of The Merrie Monarch Festival “hula olympics”), John Pi`ilani Watkins, Edna Aguil, Edith Kanakaole, Johnny Lum Ho, and Leilani Sharpe Mendes.

I hear that the luau food is being catered by Leiola’s husband Dino who has helped out cooking at my favorite Hawaiian restaurant, Lani’s Luau at 2532 S. Harrison Road out east. I blogged about Hawaii Island-born Leilani Dowling and her ono (delicious) food back in June.

For luau tickets call 520-777-5134 or write to leiolahulahalau@gmail.com.

On August 29, from 2 to 6 p.m. be at Centennial Hall at the U of A campus for a National Parks Expo for families. It’s free and open to all, with free parking since it’s on a Saturday.

It’s part of the 50th Anniversary celebration for Arizona Public Media (KUAT Channel 6) and will feature a preview screening of the PBS/Ken Burns film “The National Parks: America’s Best Idea” at 4 p.m. This production was filmed “over the course of more than six years at some of nature’s most spectacular locales… from Acadia to Yosemite, Yellowstone to the Grand Canyon, the Everglades of Florida to the Gates of the Arctic in Alaska.” Other hosts include Morris K. Udall Foundation, Friends of Saguaro National Park, and the Western National Parks Association.

List of family events: live animals, critter crime scene, adobe brick building, gourd painting, tortoise tracking, petroglyph making, passport to the parks, twig carving, weaving—fun activities for kids of all ages.

There will also be a panel discussion at 5 p.m. with former Secretary of the Interior Stewart Udall, his nephew US Senator Mark Udall from Colorado, Congressman Raul Grijalva of Arizona (representing District 7 here in Tucson) and reps. from the NPS.

Contact person is Maureen Oltrogge, phone 928-638-7779, or online at www.azpublicmedia.org.

National Park sites from around the state will be represented at
interactive booths, including

Visitors at Grand Canyon National Park in 1995.

Canyon de Chelly National Monument,

Casa Grande Ruins National Monument,

Chiricahua National Monument,

Coronado National Memorial,

Fort Bowie National Historic Site,

Glen Canyon National Recreation Area,

Grand Canyon National Park,

Hubbell Trading Post National Historic Site,

Petrified Forest National Park,

Pipe Spring National Monument,

Saguaro National Park,

Tonto National Monument,

and Tumacacori National Historical Park.

Living in a Western state (Arizona) with several National parks and monuments,
we should be proud to participate in such a community event with the Udall
family and Arizona Illustrated.

What’s there to do under the hot Tucson Sun? Tucson is a large Southwest desert city with lots to do, being as it lies in Pima County, Arizona with now a population of over 1 million residents.

Here’s a partial list of publications some of which have print editions and/or online event calendars for community happenings. Locate the website online and click on “calendar” or “events”.

Arizona Daily Star, www.azstarnet.com

Tucson Weekly, www.tucsonweekly.com

Arizona Daily Wildcat, www.wildcat.arizona.edu

www.uanews.org (University of Arizona)

Explorer News, www.explorernews.com

Green Valley News & Sun, www.gvnews.com

Inside Tucson Business, www.azbiz.com

Tucson Lifestyle, www.tucsonlifestyle.com

Tucson Green Times, www.tucsongreentimes.com (UpDATE Nov. 2010, now The New Southwest, www.TheNewSouthwest.com)

Desert Leaf, www.desertleaf.com

www.dotucson.com

www.tucsonstyle.com

Downtown Tucsonan, www.downtowntucson.com

Zocalo, www.zocalotucson.com

Bear Essential News (for Kids), www.bearessentialnews.com

Tucson Peace Calendar, www.peacecalendar.org

Never Too Late, www.pcoa.org (Pima Council on Aging)

Vermilion Flycatcher (Tucson Audubon Society), www.tucsonaudubon.org

www.wingspan.org (Wingspan-LGBT)

There’s lots to do here in the Old Pueblo and surrounding Pima County areas –you only have to look in some of these community resources to find an activity! Please share your other event/calendar listings in the comments below.