Interested in solar art alignments? Here’s your chance to discover Discovery Dates which occur 12 times a year.

Engraved into the sidewalk on the north side of the new Gutierrez Street over the Santa Cruz wash, at Cushing Street is the Discovery Date of April 10:

Tucson owes many of its mariachi roots to Father Arsenio Carrillo and Father Charles Rourke and their group “Los Changuitos Feos”. April 10th, 1983 was the date of Tucson’s First Mariachi Conference, an idea first conceived by Randy Carrillo, nephew of Father Carrillo, and member of “Mariachi Cobre.” (Discovery Date and Time: April 10, 9:30 a.m.)

Freelance photographer Charity Bidegain recently took photos on April 10, 2013 at 9:30 a.m. when the sun shone through the overhead canopy onto these words, causing a solar alignment. See photos below, with more on a Facebook page. She has posted previous Discovery Date photos on the Luis G. Gutierrez Bridge facebook page, which she created.

mariachi canopy above Gutierrez bridge

I wrote about a previous solar alignment event on March 15,2013 regarding Father Eusebio Francisco Kino (click here). My previous article also lists the rest of this calendar year’s Discovery Dates. My first experience with these solar alignments was on the February 19 Discovery Date of the first airplane flight over Tucson.

Upcoming: solar alignment on May 25 (Mars Phoenix Lander), but be there before 10:30 a.m. or you might miss it.

And don’t miss 31st annual International Mariachi Conference at AVA Amphitheater at Casino del Sol Resort on April 25-27.

Wonderful multi-cultural, religious, birthday celebration at St. Augustine’s Cathedral downtown (192 S. Stone) last night, despite some monsoon rains. Photos courtesy of Tucson’s Birthday photographer Jon Scanlon.

Halau Hula O Ualani, The Maguire Academy of Irish Dance, Ballet Folklorico Tapatio, Los Changuitos Feos performed. And St. Augustine birthday cakes were enjoyed by all at the end of the fiesta.

St. Augustine cathedral & fiesta banner

people enjoying the fiesta

hula dancer performing on stage from Halau Hula O Ualani

more hula dancers performing

Maguire Irish dancers performing

lovely dancer from Maguire Academy of Irish Dance

Ballet Folklorico Tapatio performers

Ballet Folklorico Tapatio on the new beautiful flower stage

Bishop Gerald Kicanas at the Mass inside the Cathedral

St. Augustine's statue

Los Changuitos Feos leading the procession after Mass

Los Changuitos Feos in the Cathedral

Happy Birthday St. Augustine cake

Feliz Cumpleanos San Agustin cake

More photos online at Tucson’s Birthday website, www.tucsonsbirthday.org.

I like multi-cultural shows having grown up in multi-cultural Hawaii. Here’s your chance to enjoy one tonight Aug 28, (from Tucson’s Birthday website):

La Fiesta de San Agustin
Time: 4pm – 9:30pm
Admission: Free To The Public
Location: St. Augustine Cathedral – Placita
Address: 192 S. Stone (downtown, south of Broadway)
Phone: 623-6351 (work)
Contact Name: John @ 404-9974 and Leilana @ 294-9812
Email: johnj4698@gmail.com

“Arts and crafts, food booths, native American dancers, Las Donas de Los Descendientes– Diverse cultural entertainment, including the Menehune Hawaiian Dancers (Halau Hula O Ualani), the Maguire Academy of Irish Dance, Los Chanquitos Feos, and Ballet Folklorico Tapatio.

As is tradition, the fiesta will also have a mass at 5:30 p.m. with Bishop Gerald Kicanas and a procession with a statue of St. Augustine. The bishop and representatives of a variety of cultures will walk to the music played by Los Changuitos Feos.

The procession will go around the block and end in the placita adjacent to the cathedral, where the bishop and a Yaqui medicine man will give a blessing before the rest of the party goes underway.”

Where else can you a hula show, mariachi performers, Mexican folklorico dancers, Irish dancers and a Yaqui medicine man all at the same event? Enjoy Tucson’s diverse cultures and celebrate Tucson’s 235th Birthday.

St. Augustine cathedral

UPDATE: Photos by Jon Scanlon of this fiesta, click here.