Reid Park DeMeester Outdoor Performance Area
(Country Club Road, N. of 22nd Street, Tucson)
FREE to attend!

YOU’RE INVITED to participate in Tucson Arts Brigade’s 4th Annual Water Festival, integrating art, science and culture to raise awareness, promote stewardship, and foster creative expression about our water future. This year, The Water Festival is partnering with the Earth Day Festival at Reid Park!

THE WATER FESTIVAL is the ONLY large-scale community event in Pima County that showcases creativity and water solutions together and is a prime opportunity to engage the public through diverse activities for learning, networking, and family fun!

• Exhibitor Fair
• Performances
• Art Show
• Music
• Speakers
• Workshops
• Kids Activities
• 3-Mile Walk for Water (8am-9am)
• Cultural / Spiritual Connections
• Design for Water Solutions Contest
• “The Vibe” LIVE Art Happenings
• Fun Surprises & Special Guests!

I’ve been to this cool, refreshing festival in the past and even got to see Mermaid Odette in her portable pool. 4th Annual Water festival sponsored by Tucson Arts Brigade. More info at: http://www.waterfestivaltucson.org/ or call 520-623-2119, info@waterfestivaltucson.org. This festival integrates water, art, science, and culture to raise awareness about water use and resources.

More info on 19th Annual Earth Day at www.tucsonearthday.org, 520-206-8814,
info@tucsonearthday.org.

Join the Parade
All species great and small-insects, plants and animals-the Earth needs them all! Dress-up and participate in the “All Species Procession” as part of the Earth Day Parade! Make a banner and tell us how your species is so important to Planet Earth. Are you helping clean the air (trees and plants)? Are you an endangered or threatened species? The ice may be melting your home (global warming) or maybe there hasn’t been rain in a while so you are affected by drought or the threat of fire… let us know what we should do to help all species have a place on earth! Parade begins at 10:00 and winners are announced at 11:30.

Solar Competition
Model Solar Electric Cars and Houses, designed and constructed by middle school students, are real world engineering projects. The kits contain solar cells, motors, batteries, lights and other optional parts. The design and the construction is “left to the ingenuity of the student”! Competition begins at 10:45. Awards at 1:00!
For a kit order form and information on how to enter email Stacey at solar@swetucson.org

Alternate Fuel Vehicle Show
Check out vehicles that run on alternate fuels such as biodiesel, compressed natural gas, electric, ethanol, propane and waste vegetable oil. Ask the experts how you can start using an alternate fuel in your vehicle to keep the air clean for all.

Bike to the Zoo
Animals love the earth and need clean air too! So, ride your bike to the Reid Park Zoo and get FREE admission by showing your safety helmet. Before or after visiting the zoo, ride over to the Earth Day Festival for more fun!

Celebrate Mother Earth, and water– her most precious resource.

31st Annual Tucson Peace Fair & Music Festival!!

Saturday, February 23, 2013

10:00am – 5:00pm

Reid Park Bandshell – Country Club & 22nd St.

Arizona’s largest gathering of peace, social justice and environmental groups.

Live Music for the Whole Family! Children’s Activities! Food! Awesome Raffle!

Free to Attend!

Presented by the Tucson Peace Center

To Participate… Peace and Justice organizations looking to participate in the Peace Fair please email mdecamp@q.com with Peace Fair in the subject line, or call 520-234-7592.

You can also purchase raffle tickets, 3 For $20 to support the Tucson Peace Center, and the raffle drawing will be held at the Peace fair.

Since we are still fighting a war in Afghanistan, this is a timely event promoting peace. I hear that The Raging Grannies will be singing their usual (and unusual) peace songs, and there will be music by Earth Spirit, Juan De Bisbee, Baba Marimba, The Caballeros, and other local talents.

This year the March is moved to the UA campus and will begin at the MLK Student Center at 1322 E. 1st St. (2nd Street and Mountain) and march to Old Main (east side). Then there will be a celebration from 10 to 3:30 p.m. at the UA Mall.

For more information contact Donna Liggins at 520-237-7806, Dierdra Jones at 520-370-6528, or Clarence Boykins at Clarence540@aol.com.

And please join in this march & celebration to remember a great civil rights leader.

ENVISION TUCSON SUSTAINABLE FESTIVAL
A Community Event for a Bright Future

By Clinton MacKillop

Envision Tucson Sustainable announces the 2nd annual Envision
Tucson Sustainable festival. The festival will take place at Reid Park on
Sunday, October 21st, 2012, from 9am ­ 5pm. All ages are welcome.

Festival planners invite individuals and families to participate in a day of
fun while exploring Tucson’s sustainable culture. The festival will promote
the people, organizations, and companies in Tucson who provide services,
education, and resources to help us achieve a sustainable future for our
community.

The main focus of the festival this year is sustainable, secure food and
agriculture for Tucson and Southern Arizona. This event will kick off a week
of events in Tucson celebrating Food Day, a nationwide event promoting
healthy, affordable, and sustainable food. Food vendors will feature locally
sourced, organic refreshments. This year the Festival will also include a
special feature: a Non-GMO Food Zone. In addition, in keeping with the
theme, the festival will include practical information on aquaponics, an
innovative, energy- and water-saving system of food production that fully
integrates raising fish and growing vegetables, herbs, or other plants.

Throughout the festival, exhibits, demonstrations, and speakers will address
many facets of a sustainable life, from energy and green business to health,
from organic gardening to the homes we live in. The festival will be solar
powered, as it was last year, and will include extensive opportunities to
learn about solar power for home or business.

A large family activity area will feature Rexie, the T-Rex Museum’s
sustainability spokes-kid. Children will be able to hunt for and keep
fossils from hundreds of millions of years ago.

The Festival is free and open to the public.

More info: http://tucsonsustainable.org/ or their Facebook page:www.facebook.com/EnvisionTucsonSustainable

Contact: Samuel Breidenbach
Phone: (520) 289-4149
Email: samsarx@mindspring.com

I attended this festival last year and got lots of information about organic food, solar options, water resources. We all need to think about what sustainability means to us in this Southwest Desert, with our limited water and rainfall.

So I started pondering about what I liked about central/midtown Tucson, where we have lived (two apartments, one home) for over 25 years. So here’s my informal list of 10 things I like about Midtown. Click on the blue hyperlinks if you are new to Tucson and need more information.

1. Himmel Park (south of Speedway, between Tucson Blvd. & Treat Avenue), has tennis courts recently resurfaced, an open air pool now open again for the summer, lots of grass, playing fields, an outdoor grass amphitheater for plays/concerts. A Shakespeare in the park performance of “The Taming of the Shrew” is performing there opening tonight, for three weekends at 7 p.m. $5 suggested donation, to benefit El Rio Theatre Project.

2. Himmel Park Branch Library, oldest branch library of Pima County (built in 1961), children’s storytime, teen activities, Senior Games (including mahjong), films & lectures, lots more, even books to borrow.

3. Reid Park at NE corner of E. 22nd St. and N. Country Club, much larger park with an outdoor performance center & stage, ramadas, playground equipment & stone turtles for children, a rose garden, dog run, a duck pond & gurgling streams, artistic sculptures, etc.

4. The Reid Park Zoo for the children and out of town guests: elephants, tigers, bears, (oh my!), even unusual anteaters and a capybara.

5. The Loft Theater, 3233 E. Speedway, independent and creative movie showings, plus a promised expansion and often freebies during special events

6. Casa Video, 2905 E. Speedway, terrific collection of recent and old DVDs and videos, plus free popcorn whenever you drop in (open daily 10 a.m. to 1 a.m.)

7. Yoshimatsu/Sushimatsu at 2660 N. Campbell – authentic Japanese food in two unique restaurants, plus a very cute gift shop of Japanese items, toys

8. Bookman’s on Grant (SE corner of Campbell): a used book store and much more – gift items, art paraphernalia, current magazines, musical instruments, electronic stuff, even jewelry. And a new Bookman’s is coming to E. Speedway near Camino Miramonte.

9. The University of AZ, between Speedway & E. 6th Street, between Euclid Ave. and Campbell, not only an undergraduate & graduate university, but a resource for the community with art displays, outdoor sculptures, lectures, musical & dance performances, festivals & workshops, intellectual stimulation for all ages. Starting tomorrow an 8-day Chinese Culture Festival, event schedule at www.confucius.arizona.edu.

10. Bicycle path on E. 3rd St. runs from Wilmot Road westward through midtown past lovely, small Miramonte Neighborhood Park (NW corner of Richey Blvd.), one block south of Himmel Park aforementioned (Treat Ave. and Tucson Blvd.), right through the University of Az (on University Blvd.) through to 4th Avenue and Stone Avenue, with several bicyle-friendly “hawk” crossings to help bicyclists cross the major intersections. For more info on bicycling and bike maps in Tucson, go to Tucson Pima County Bicycle Advisory Committee website (click here).

These are the 10 things that make my life more enjoyable and fun in midtown Tucson. What are yours?

From Earth Day Festival website (click here).

The Tucson Earth Day Festival promotes Southern Arizona’s unique
environment and features activities, displays, music, dance and food.

It is great fun for children of all ages!

The 18th Annual Tucson Earth Day Festival is scheduled for Saturday April 21, 2012 at Reid Park. The Festival begins at 9:00 a.m. and ends at 2:00! The event features environmentally themed exhibits, music, performances, and food vendors. Admission is free, and all exhibits include hands-on environmental activities for young and old alike.

Join the Parade
All species great and small-insects, plants and animals-the Earth needs them all! Dress-up and participate in the “All Species Procession” as part of the Earth Day Parade! Make a banner and tell us how your species is so important to Planet Earth. Are you helping clean the air (trees and plants)? Are you endangered or threatened species? The ice may be melting your home (global warming) or maybe there hasn’t been rain in a while so you are affected by drought or the threat of fire… let us know what we should do to help all species have a place on earth! Parade begins at 10:00 and winners are announced at 11:30.

Solar Competition
Model Solar Electric Cars and Houses, designed and constructed by middle school students, are real world engineering projects. The kits contain solar cells, motors, batteries, lights and other optional parts. The design and the construction is “left to the ingenuity of the student”! Competition begins at 10:45. Awards at 1:00!
For a kit order form and information on how to enter email Stacey at solar@swetucson.org

Alternate Fuel Vehicle Show
Check out vehicles that run on alternate fuels such as biodiesel, compressed natural gas, electric, ethanol, propane and waste vegetable oil. Ask the experts how you can start using an alternate fuel in your vehicle to keep the air clean for all.

Bike to the Zoo
Animals love the earth and need clean air too! So, ride your bike to the Reid Park Zoo and get FREE admission by showing your safety helmet. Before or after visiting the zoo, ride over to the Earth Day Festival for more fun!

For more information on the Tucson Earth Day Festival please call 520 206-8814 or email e Tucson Earth Day Festival promotes Southern Arizona’s unique environment and features activities, displays, music, dance and food.

It is great fun for children of all ages!

The 18th Annual Tucson Earth Day Festival is scheduled for Saturday April 21, 2012 at Reid Park. The Festival begins at 9:00 a.m. and ends at 2:00. The event features environmentally themed exhibits, music, performances, and food vendors. Admission is free, and all exhibits include hands-on environmental activities for young and old alike.

Join the Parade
All species great and small-insects, plants and animals-the Earth needs them all! Dress-up and participate in the “All Species Procession” as part of the Earth Day Parade! Make a banner and tell us how your species is so important to Planet Earth. Are you helping clean the air (trees and plants)? Are you endangered or threatened species? The ice may be melting your home (global warming) or maybe there hasn’t been rain in a while so you are affected by drought or the threat of fire… let us know what we should do to help all species have a place on earth! Parade begins at 10:00 and winners are announced at 11:30.

Solar Competition
Model Solar Electric Cars and Houses, designed and constructed by middle school students, are real world engineering projects. The kits contain solar cells, motors, batteries, lights and other optional parts. The design and the construction is “left to the ingenuity of the student”! Competition begins at 10:45. Awards at 1:00!
For a kit order form and information on how to enter email Stacey at solar@swetucson.org

Alternate Fuel Vehicle Show
Check out vehicles that run on alternate fuels such as biodiesel, compressed natural gas, electric, ethanol, propane and waste vegetable oil. Ask the experts how you can start using an alternate fuel in your vehicle to keep the air clean for all.

Bike to the Zoo
Animals love the earth and need clean air too! So, ride your bike to the Reid Park Zoo and get FREE admission by showing your safety helmet. Before or after visiting the zoo, ride over to the Earth Day Festival for more fun!

For more information on the Tucson Earth Day Festival please call 520 206-8814 or email tucsonearthday@yahoo.com.

I’ve been to this festival in the past, and it’s very beneficial for families (especially children) to learn about our fragile ecosystems and to appreciate our Mother Earth.

And on Apil 22 (the actual Earth Day) please watch this 30 minute PBS-HD documentary “Seeking Water from the Sun” at 6 p.m. on KUAT Channel 6. Click here for youtube preview.

Seeking Water From the Sun is a production of Arizona Public Media, produced by Dustinn Craig and Tom Kleespie in association with the UA Renewable Energy Network, UA College of Engineering, and Bureau of Reclamation, and input and cooperation from various Navajo Nation Chapters, community members, and agencies such as the Division of Water Resources, the Navajo Division of Natural Resources, and Navajo Nation Environmental Protection Agency. This documentary is narrated by Norman Patrick Brown with musical score by Mary Redhouse.

Celebrate our Earth. Reduce Recycle Reuse.!

The Urban Assault Ride™ is the biggest Bicycle Obstacle Event series in the nation! Here’s how it works: You and your teammate will set out on a city-wide quest for ‘checkpoints’ on your favorite two-wheeled steeds. At each checkpoint, you’ll drop your bikes and complete a funky/adventurous obstacle course, then remount your bikes and hit the streets for more.

The goal is to complete all the checkpoints in the shortest amount of time. You choose your own route and checkpoint order. This means that the most clever are often the victors. Of course, it may also help if you can pull a mean big-wheel powerslide and fly across an inflatable slip-n-slide.

After your pedal-powered adventure, your team will cross the finish line and enter a massive celebration of New Belgium Brewing Co’s whimsical ways, bikes, and big wheels. The after party is just as much fun as the ride itself, thanks to the craziest raffle prize contest you’ll ever experience.

Pick a partner and we’ll see you there!!

Tucson AZ – February 26th, 2012 Benefitting: SDMB: “Sonoran Desert Mountain Bicyclists”

Kicking off the season in the Old Pueblo once again.

Price: Only $30 -60/person! (Sign up early for the best prices) You’ll get a 100% cotton t-shirt, a couple of free beers at the after party, some great swag from our sponsors, and entered into some contests to win even more great prizes!

Online Registration closes Friday, February 24th, at 4pm.

Packet Pick Up: (Saturday 2/25 11am-2pm) (LAST CHANCE TO SIGN UP!!!)
Location: Skybar 536 N. 4th Ave, Tucson

VIP Package: $10/person
Includes:

100% Cotton Urban Assault Ride T-Shirt
Custom Urban Assault Ride waterbottle
Surly Junk Strap
Super Quick Check-In on SUNDAY morning (you DO NOT need to come to packet pickup on Saturday with the VIP Package)

Start/Finish: Sunday 2/26 9am Reid Park, Tucson AZ

After Party Food and Drink: A special thanks to some great local food and drink vendors joining is for the Urban Assault Ride after party. Bring some cash and your appetite:

Mr K’s BBQ
Renee’s Organic Oven
Peddler on the Path Coffee
Isabella’s Ice Cream

Off-Limit Streets: These streets can be crossed but not ridden. Bike lanes on these streets ARE permitted.

210/Aviation Parkway (you CAN ride the bike path, but stay off the highway)
5th/6th St from Wilmot to Davis
Santa Cruz and Rillito River Bike Paths*

*Due to the high speed and high volume of the Urban Assault Ride, please avoid using these bike paths so as to not disrupt normal Sunday morning traffic.

Obstacle Checkpoints: (checkpoints can be reached in any order)

Sunflower Market (4625 E. Speedway Bl)
Tahoe Park (2000 E. Edison St.)
Himmel Park (1000 N. Tucson Blvd., SOUTHWEST CORNER)
Tucson Children’s Museum (200 South 6th Avenue)
Ordinary Bike Shop (311 E. 7th St.)

Mystery Checkpoints: There will be 2 ‘mystery checkpoints’ which all teams will have to locate – in addition to the obstacle checkpoints above. The 1st clue will be available the Thursday before the race. The 2nd mystery checkpoint clue will be revealed when you reach the 1st mystery checkpoint.

Bonus Quiz: Take the OPTIONAL bonus quiz before the UAR to gain valuable time. The best scores on the quiz start the UAR 1st.

You have from Wednesday until Friday at 4pm to complete your team’s quiz.

Online registration ends today at 4 p.m. — don’t delay! http://www.urbanassaultride.com/tucson

I happened upon this “assault” of urban Tucson last Spring, 2010 at Tahoe Park and wrote up a quick blog, followed by exciting & funny photos later (links below):

http://tucsoncitizen.com/community/2011/03/20/urban-assault-ride-in-tucson-today/

http://tucsoncitizen.com/community/2011/03/27/urban-assault-ride-photos/

Good luck everyone who participates — hope you all have a lot of fun as you exercise your way throughout those urban bicycle pathways/routes.

Here’s 3 more fun things to do, learn about, experience — all part of Tucson’s Birthday celebration in August, from www.tucsonsbirthday.org.

–Tucson’s Birthday Prayer Walk

Aug 27, 2011

Time: 7:00 am to 9:00 am
Contact Name: Linda Leatherman
Email: Linda.Leatherman@pima.gov
Location: Reid Park
Address: Off Randolph Way between Country Club Rd and Alvernon Way north of 22nd St. 85719

Tucson’s Birthday Prayer Walk has been moved from “A” Mountain to Reid Park. It will begin at Ramada 31 (adjacent to the baseball stadium). Vision for the Prayer Walk is: to unite people of different faiths to pray for their community and to thank God for His blessings in Tucson; to encourage the community of faith to pray for those who are oppressed, mired in crime and addiction, struggling with poverty of resources and of spirit; to strengthen the community of faith in its mission to help those in need.

–Discover The Horse That Discovered America

Aug 27, 2011

Time: 9:00 am – 4:00 pm
Admission: $5.00
Contact Name: Maureen Kirk-Detberner
Email: mkrik@fastwinn.com
Location: Amerind Museum
Address: 2100 North Amerind Road Dragoon, AZ 85609
Phone: 520-586-3666

The Amerind will host a Spanish Barb Horse Association event. Join us in a celebration, and meet the horse that Governor Jan Brewer declared as Arizona’s State Heritage Horse. The event will include presentations on the Colonial Spanish horse as well as demonstrations. Apache historian, Dale Curtis Miles, will discuss the role the Barb had in Native American cultures. A book signing by Silke Schneider, the author of Arizona’s Spanish Barb, a presentation by a representative from the Father Kino Society, and a slide show of the horses and their history, along with activities for children are on the schedule as well. A Native American food vendor will be on site, and local artisans have been invited to show and sell their work.

–Describe Your Own Tucson Memories Writing Workshop

Aug 27, 2011

Time: 2:00 P.M. – 4:00 P.M.
Admission: Free
Contact Name: Suzanne Parker
Email: suzanne.parker@pima.gov
Location: Himmel Park Library
Address: 1035 North Treat Avenue Tucson, Arizona 85716
Phone: 520-594-5305, Ext. 3

Join writer Molly McKasson as she shows you how to creatively record your very own Tucson memories! (Blogger note: Molly is the former 2 term City Councilmember from Ward 6).

What an eclectic group of activities on one day, but they show what makes Tucson (and America) great — freedom of religion, appreciation of our Native American cultures, preservation of cherished memories. Enjoy the day, as we wind down Tucson’s Birthday month of August.

For previous blog about Tucson Birthday events on August 20, click here (photos). And for more events on August 27 as well as the remainder of the month of August, go to the website www.tucsonsbirthday.org.

Martin Luther King, Jr. from wikipedia

January 15 was slain civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday. This year the MLK holiday is celebrated on January 17, but I think this year our minds are mostly remembering the recent mass murders here in Tucson exactly a week ago on January 8, 2011 of six innocent persons, along with the shooting of Congresswoman Gabrielle “Gabby” Giffords of CD 8 and 12 other civilian bystanders.

King preached non-violence and marched for civil rights and peace. Yet he was struck down at age 39 by an assassin’s rifle bullet in Memphis, Tennessee.

Our nation was shocked even more when two months later former New York U.S. Senator Robert F. Kennedy was also assassinated by a man with a hand gun, while Kennedy was campaigning for U.S. President. He was 42 years old.

I would like to think that King’s message of non-violence and peace resonated with generations of people after these two horrible assassinations, both in 1968. I had hoped that his death had not been in vain. Now I’m not so sure based on the recent mass attack by an 22 year old armed man in Tucson of an innocent crowd of constituents waiting to talk to their U.S. Congresswoman. 6 brave Americans gave up their lives that Saturday morning.

As U.S. President Barack Obama said at the memorial service at the University of Arizona’s McKale Center on January 12, 2011:

They were fulfilling a central tenet of the democracy envisioned by our founders – representatives of the people answering to their constituents, so as to carry their concerns to our nation’s capital. Gabby called it “Congress on Your Corner” – just an updated version of government of and by and for the people.

Such senseless tragedies, for people just “practicing democracy.”

Let us continue to work towards mutual cooperation, tolerance, acceptance, and civil discourse. On Friday local politicians in Tucson pledged at a press conference to “commit to promote a civil discussion of the issues we face.” Let’s hope they fulfill their pledge.

Please join in the MLK March starting at the U of A Mall (8:30 a.m.) and Festival Celebration at Reid Park (10:30 a.m.) on Monday January 17. Let us together pray, march, and celebrate in Dr. King’s name for all that he stood for.

Violence has no place in our society.

1/17/11 Update: speaking today at the MLK opening ceremony at U of A mall:
Clarence Boykins (organizer of this event for 26 years from Tucson-Southern AZ Black Chamber of Commerce), Congressman Raul Grijalva (CD 7), Mayor Bob Walkup, Pima County Supervisor Richard Elias, former City Councilman Chuck Ford, Councilman Richard Fimbres, Eva Dong Carrillo from Sunnyside School Board. Also attending: City Councilman Paul Cunningham and City Manager Mike Letcher, and thousands of Tucsonans.

Tucson Earth Day Festival logo

Time: 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m., with 10:00 a.m. Earth Day Parade
Place: Reid Park, DeMeester Outdoor Performance Center, east side of Country Club, north of 22nd St.

Information below from their press release: “Exhibits related to the environment will include “hands-on” activities for children and provide information on environmental products, water conservation/water quality, household hazardous waste, wildlife, nature preserves and much more!

At 10:00 a.m. the unique and colorful parade will include participants dressed up as plants, animals, and insects, and environmentally themed floats. Batucaxe, high energy drum and dance group will lead the All Species Procession as part of the Earth Day Parade!

After the parade, watch as local middle school students test their design and construction skills in a model solar electric race car competition. Then change gears from model cars to full-size vehicles at the Alternate Fuel Vehicle Show. Check out vehicles that run on alternate fuels such as biodiesel, compressed natural gas, electric, ethanol, propane and even waste vegetable oil. Ask the experts how you can start using an alternate fuel in your vehicle to keep the air clean for all species.

Animals love the earth and deserve a place on earth too! So, ride your bike to the Earth Day Festival and for those riding their bikes (with a helmet) get free admission to the Reid Park Zoo by showing your bike safety helmet.”

For more information about becoming an exhibitor, parade participant or volunteer for the 16th Annual Tucson Earth Day Festival please visit www.tucsonearthday.org, call (520) 206-8814 or email tucsonearthday@yahoo.com

Every day should be Earth Day (April 22), but come celebrate early on April 17 at Reid Park.