See Also:
Plein Air 'Paint Out' Events 
Ranger Cam 2009
Aldo Leopold Centennial Events
Experience unique adventures at Arizona State Parks! Click on a month above or read our complete listing below to learn about upcoming events and activities. To learn more about a park, including downloading park maps and getting step by step driving directions, follow the link to the park's web pages. Note that the “
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Calendar Symbol Key
= Brown Bag Lunch Lecture
= Plein Air "Paint Out"
= Evening Slide Presentation
Power from the Past Association will display antique tractors and engines at Kartchner Caverns State Park on July 3 – 6, 2009. There will be running engines powering machinery, a static display of tractors, and ice cream made with an old engine and a five-gallon tub. The ice cream will be available to the public for a donation to benefit Power from the Past.
Power from the Past, an antique engine and tractor association, exists to preserve and maintain early examples of machinery, their related components and tools which were designed as labor-saving devices for agricultural, commercial, and domestic service. It serves as a source of information for the benefit of the members and the general public. Power from the Past collects, restores, exhibits, and conducts research on early day engines, tractors, and equipment. Learn more at their website, Arizona's Power From the Past Association
9:30 am. Ayer Lake and Queen Creek are great places to see and photograph beautiful dragonfly species such as Blue-eyed Darner and Flame Skimmer — learn to identify these colorful insects on a two-hour guided walk.
Please join us for the evening fireworks festival with a view and the rubber duck race. Please carpool as parking is limited. (928) 337-4441.
7 pm at the Visitor Center, please arrive 30 minutes early. An unforgettable experience, the hike includes a naturalist-led interpretive presentation along the park’s beautiful trails. Enjoy the sunset and moonrise from an overlook and return by the light of the moon. The hike lasts 2 to 2 ½ hours, has an elevation climb of 200-250 feet and covers approximately 2 miles. No late arrivals are allowed to join once the hike has commenced. Wear appropriate hiking shoes (no sandals) and bring water, a flashlight and insect spray. Reservations are required, please call (928) 282-6907.
Evening Slide Presentation Series. 7 pm. Presented by Sean Evans, Librarian, Special Collections and Archives, NAU Cline Library. Two Guns is one of the older sites on Route 66 in northern Arizona, designed specifically to make money from Route 66 traffic. A small host of characters became part of the legends, including, Harry "Indian" Miller, and "Rimmy Jim" Giddings among them. The best source for what happened at Two Guns is the Thomas Repp book Route 66 Empires of Amusement. Sean will show Fronske Studio aerial images to demonstrate the evolution of Two Guns, along with more recent images from recent exploratory hikes. Reservations are recommended due to limited availability. Call (928) 779-4395.
8:30 am. Desert Spiny Lizards can grow big as bratwursts — and they're among a half-dozen lizard species, which are commonly seen and easy to photograph around the trails and gardens here at the Arboretum. Bring your binoculars for the best close-up looks at lizards, and join this guided walking tour to learn more.
2 pm in the theater. Brenda Robinson will present. Peru is a paradox of 21st century technology and prehistoric grandeur. Even as the Inca citadel of Machu Picchu is imagined as a site of the majestic past, the urban capital, Lima, is described as “the capital of South America” present. Here world treasures abound: some of the highest mountains, deepest canyons, and the highest lake. It is one of the cradles of civilization in the ancient world. Peru is also a racial melting pot, with a mixture of indigenous people, mestizos, as well as African, Chinese and Japanese migrants who contribute to the culture. Take a journey to Peru’s past, as well as its present, with July’s First Sunday Program. Reservations are recommended, as seating is limited. Please call (928) 282-6907.
7 to 11 am. Painters and photographers know the 320-acres of gardens and more than two miles of walking paths offer a rich environment to explore their art. This series of art classes inspires and channels your creativity. "Cindy's Second Sundays," will be mixed media workshops where all artist mediums are encouraged, and novice artists are welcome alongside intermediates who want an inexpensive opportunity to work with a pro. The early morning hours and plein air setting will provide an atmosphere for 10 students to focus on elements and principles of creating great art. Cindy suggests bringing your camera along to capture the composition for later reference.
Enrollment is $27.50 for each session ($20 for Boyce Thompson Arboretum members). For an additional $5 registration supply fee instructor will have appropriate supplies for a novice! Space in each workshop is limited to ten participants. Next Classes are August 8 and September 13. Call (520) 689-2723 to enroll.
Brown Bag Lunch Lecture. 12:15 pm. Presented by Ruth Mortenson. Come learn about how the fire towers came into existence and the lookout’s role in guarding our forests against the threat of wildfires. Hear the stories of the many different people who have spent their time looking over the forest from their isolated posts. Location: Front veranda of the historic 1904 Riordan Mansion.
8:30 am. Learn about botany, history and scripture on a slow-paced and relaxing walk down smooth and flat trails that are wheelchair-accessible. Arboretum volunteer David Oberpriller guides this tour on the third Saturday of each month.
8 am – Noon. Plein Air “paint outs” are an open invitation to all artists, amateur and professional, to paint the treasures of Arizona State Parks. These live outdoor painting competitions take place in 4 hour blocks. After the painting period, the artists gather to judge their peers' completed work.
Artists are welcome to bring their easels, brushes, drop cloth, canvas and capture scenes around the park. The park entrance fee is waived for participating artists. Learn more and see photos on the Plein Air Home Page.
8:30 am is the summer tour time. "What's an Arboretum?" Terry Mikel is our special guest as tour guide for a Sunday walk where visitors learn the answer to that often-posed question during a relaxed and leisurely-guided tour through the forested areas of the Arboretum. Join us for a chance to learn about the towering sycamore and cottonwood trees, native hackberry, mesquite and many more.
8:30 am. Our geology tour teaches about some of the rocks and volcanic formations seen along the main trail — and will span almost two billion years of geologic history in just over one educational hour! Join us to learn about Pinal schist, the volcanic origins of Picket Post Mountain and the Apache Leap tuff with tour guide Ben Henderson — a professional geologist from Miami, AZ, and an Arizona State Parks volunteer. Come learn about the rocks that make this region one of the world's richest in copper and how an active geologic past shaped the landscape we see today.
9:30 am. Learn to identify common species of butterflies — and about the colorful insects' life cycles — on a two-hour walk through the Demonstration and Hummingbird-Butterfly Gardens. Check out this Recent Butterfly List. Arizona State Parks volunteers lead these walks and also participate with the ongoing monarch butterfly migration research project.
8:30 am. ** Please note that this tour explores our Curandero Trail, which has moderately steep sections and is not accessible by wheelchair.
9:30 am. Ayer Lake and Queen Creek are great places to see and photograph beautiful dragonfly species such as Blue-eyed Darner and Flame Skimmer — learn to identify these colorful insects on a two-hour guided walk.
Suvoyuki DaysAll day. "Suvoyuki" translated in the Hopi language means to accomplish work through at "joint effort." Suvoyuki Days start with an open house day at Homolovi Ruins State Park that celebrates the partners who have helped to protect and save Homolovi area archaeological and cultural sites from destruction.
The event features corn roasting, a morning run, archaeological information, Hopi dances, and artist demonstrations. More details to be posted. Volunteers are needed for this event.
Donald E. Weaver, Jr. will present. The Sedona and Verde Valley area contains one of the largest and most complex concentrations of prehistoric and early historic period rock art in the United States. Spanning more than 6,000 years, the rock art was produced by a number of distinctive Native American cultural groups. In order to gain a reasonable understanding of the origins and meanings of the various rock art traditions, it is imperative to connect the identified rock art traditions to the appropriate cultural tradition. This presentation outlines the presenter’s latest attempt to do just that. The talk will be illustrated with numerous color slides of the rock art under consideration. Reservations are recommended, as seating is limited. Please call (928) 282-6907.
9:30 am. Learn to identify common species of butterflies — and about the colorful insects' life cycles — on a two-hour walk through the Demonstration and Hummingbird-Butterfly Gardens. Check out this Recent Butterfly List. Arizona State Parks volunteers lead these walks and also participate with the ongoing monarch butterfly migration research project.
7 pm at the Visitor Center, please arrive 30 minutes early. An unforgettable experience, the hike includes a naturalist-led interpretive presentation along the park’s beautiful trails. Enjoy the sunset and moonrise from an overlook and return by the light of the moon. The hike lasts 2 to 2 ½ hours, has an elevation climb of 200-250 feet and covers approximately 2 miles. No late arrivals are allowed to join once the hike has commenced. Wear appropriate hiking shoes (no sandals) and bring water, a flashlight and insect spray. Reservations are required, please call (928) 282-6907.
8 am – Noon. Plein Air “paint outs” are an open invitation to all artists, amateur and professional, to paint the treasures of Arizona State Parks. These live outdoor painting competitions take place in 4 hour blocks. After the painting period, the artists gather to judge their peers' completed work.
Artists are welcome to bring their easels, brushes, drop cloth, canvas and capture scenes around the park. The park entrance fee is waived for participating artists. Learn more and see photos on the Plein Air Home Page.
8:30 am. Desert Spiny Lizards can grow big as bratwursts — and they're among a half-dozen lizard species, which are commonly seen and easy to photograph around the trails and gardens here at the Arboretum. Bring your binoculars for the best close-up looks at lizards, and join this guided walking tour to learn more.
7 to 11 am. Painters and photographers know the 320-acres of gardens and more than two miles of walking paths offer a rich environment to explore their art. This series of art classes inspires and channels your creativity. "Cindy's Second Sundays," will be mixed media workshops where all artist mediums are encouraged, and novice artists are welcome alongside intermediates who want an inexpensive opportunity to work with a pro. The early morning hours and plein air setting will provide an atmosphere for 10 students to focus on elements and principles of creating great art. Cindy suggests bringing your camera along to capture the composition for later reference.
Enrollment is $27.50 for each session ($20 for Boyce Thompson Arboretum members). For an additional $5 registration supply fee instructor will have appropriate supplies for a novice! Space in each workshop is limited to ten participants. Next Class is September 13. Call (520) 689-2723 to enroll.
Brown Bag Lunch Lecture. 12:15 pm. Presented by Tom Martin. This presentation includes background information of the origins of the GEM, Grand Canyons first decked drift boat, also called a dory. This boat incorporated self bailing through the use of scuppers, had side boxes in the boatman's footwell, and never before seen on any Grand Canyon watercraft, a 15 inch rocker. Yes, you will learn what the boat term "rocker" means. The GEM, built in 1953 in Muncie Indiana by Stephen Moulton Babcock Fulmer, is now in the fleet of Grand Canyon Historic Boats. Please join Tom Martin for a presentation of 45 minutes of original footage from 16mm film of river running in Grand Canyon in 1955, 56, 57, 58, and 1959. The original footage includes images of rafting past Boulder Narrows at 122,000 cubic feet per second in 1957, burning driftwood, the Phantom Ranch swimming pool in 1957, hiking out at Lava Falls and pushing empty boats into the river in 1958, slow motion images of flipping a fiberglass boat in 24.5 Mile "Georgie" Rapid in 1959, patching fiberglass boats, and the sinking of the Plez Talmadge "PT" Reilly boats at Pipe Creek in 1959. Location: Front veranda of the historic 1904 Riordan Mansion.
Tom Martin has been hiking in Grand Canyon since 1967. Tom serves as Co-Director for River Runners for Wilderness and works as a physical therapist at the Grand Canyon Clinic at the South Rim (Please stop in and say hello). Tom has written a National Outdoor Book Award winning river guide for river runners in Grand Canyon, Guide to the Colorado river in Grand Canyon.
August 15 - Lyman Lake State Park9 am – Noon. Kim Stone will be portraying Aldo Leopold at this event.* Join us for an intro to Dutch oven cooking with a Dutch oven cookoff with local judges. Plus, boat tours of the Ultimate Petroglyph site and kids activities. Learn more about the Aldo Leopold Centennial Celebration and Events.
8:30 am. Learn about botany, history and scripture on a slow-paced and relaxing walk down smooth and flat trails that are wheelchair-accessible. Arboretum volunteer David Oberpriller guides this tour on the third Saturday of each month.
10:30 am. Have you ever sipped a prickly pear cactus fruit margarita or nibbled candy made from cactus fruit? If so, you know that nothing compares to the subtle flavor and outrageous magenta color of juice from fruits of the prickly pear cactus that can be harvested throughout Arizona. This informal hour-long class at Boyce Thompson Arboretum is offered toward the end of summer when prickly pear fruits ripen. Come learn how to harvest opuntia cactus fruits and extract the juice without turning your hands into a “porcupine” of painful glochids and cactus spines. Apache Junction author Jean Groen (“Foods of the Superstitions”) is the harvest season guest for each of these three class dates. There's no fee or pre-registration; this class is included with daily admission of $7.50 for adults, $3 for ages 5-12. (520) 689-2723
The Arizona Rough Riders: Living History Presentation10 am - 4 pm. The Arizona Rough Riders is a commemorative group that brings the Spanish/American War era (1898) to life for audiences. Dressed in authentic period clothing of the famous Rough Riders, and their ladies, and carrying 100 year old weapons for the public's examination, the Arizona Rough Riders describe the era, the war, the effects, and the social mores of turn of the century America. The troop depicted actually came from Prescott 100 years ago. Flagstaff men also went to the war in the famous "cowboy cavalry". The Rough Riders are the most famous 'all volunteer unit' in the history of the US Military.
8:30 am. Our geology tour teaches about some of the rocks and volcanic formations seen along the main trail — and will span almost two billion years of geologic history in just over one educational hour! Join us to learn about Pinal schist, the volcanic origins of Picket Post Mountain and the Apache Leap tuff with tour guide Ben Henderson — a professional geologist from Miami, AZ, and an Arizona State Parks volunteer. Come learn about the rocks that make this region one of the world's richest in copper and how an active geologic past shaped the landscape we see today.
8:30 am. ** Please note that this tour explores our Curandero Trail, which has moderately steep sections and is not accessible by wheelchair.
Evening Slide Presentation Series. 7 pm. Presented by Paul Hirt and Yolanda Youngs, Arizona State University. Over the years, Grand Canyon was publicized to tourists and the general public through popular images: from penny postcards to magazines like Arizona Highways to motion pictures. These visual depictions of America’s grandest spectacle affected the placement of visitor facilities, the development of park policies and the evolving cultural meaning of the Grand Canyon itself as seen through the eyes of tourists. Join Arizona State University Professor of History Paul Hirt and Arizona State University Geographical Sciences Ph.D. candidate Yolanda Youngs as they explore how visual images of the canyon helped make it a monumental national playground and iconic American landscape. Reservations are recommended due to limited availability. Call (928) 779-4395.
10:30 am. Have you ever sipped a prickly pear cactus fruit margarita or nibbled candy made from cactus fruit? If so, you know that nothing compares to the subtle flavor and outrageous magenta color of juice from fruits of the prickly pear cactus that can be harvested throughout Arizona. This informal hour-long class at Boyce Thompson Arboretum is offered toward the end of summer when prickly pear fruits ripen. Come learn how to harvest opuntia cactus fruits and extract the juice without turning your hands into a “porcupine” of painful glochids and cactus spines. Apache Junction author Jean Groen (“Foods of the Superstitions”) is the harvest season guest for each of these three class dates. There's no fee or pre-registration; this class is included with daily admission of $7.50 for adults, $3 for ages 5-12. (520) 689-2723
9:30 am. Ayer Lake and Queen Creek are great places to see and photograph beautiful dragonfly species such as Blue-eyed Darner and Flame Skimmer — learn to identify these colorful insects on a two-hour guided walk.
8:30 am. Desert Spiny Lizards can grow big as bratwursts — and they're among a half-dozen lizard species, which are commonly seen and easy to photograph around the trails and gardens here at the Arboretum. Bring your binoculars for the best close-up looks at lizards, and join this guided walking tour to learn more.
10:30 am. Have you ever sipped a prickly pear cactus fruit margarita or nibbled candy made from cactus fruit? If so, you know that nothing compares to the subtle flavor and outrageous magenta color of juice from fruits of the prickly pear cactus that can be harvested throughout Arizona. This informal hour-long class at Boyce Thompson Arboretum is offered toward the end of summer when prickly pear fruits ripen. Come learn how to harvest opuntia cactus fruits and extract the juice without turning your hands into a “porcupine” of painful glochids and cactus spines. Apache Junction author Jean Groen (“Foods of the Superstitions”) is the harvest season guest for each of these three class dates. There's no fee or pre-registration; this class is included with daily admission of $7.50 for adults, $3 for ages 5-12. (520) 689-2723
Brown Bag Lunch Lecture. 12:15 pm. Presented by Nora Graf, Assistant Park Manager, Jerome State Park. Today newspapers are struggling to survive. It wasn’t always this way. Newspapers used to be a vital element in even small communities. Jerome had several newspapers in its history, all reporting on the day-to-day events of the town and it’s citizens. Newspapers reported the mundane, the unusual, the police reports and legal notices just like today. They could also influence public opinion for both good and ill. This program will show you a bit of Jerome’ history through newspaper, good and bad, mundane and not. Many of the articles could easily run in a paper today. So pick up the morning paper and journey to Jerome, Arizona’s past. Location: Front veranda of the historic 1904 Riordan Mansion.
7 to 11 am. Painters and photographers know the 320-acres of gardens and more than two miles of walking paths offer a rich environment to explore their art. This series of art classes inspires and channels your creativity. "Cindy's Second Sundays," will be mixed media workshops where all artist mediums are encouraged, and novice artists are welcome alongside intermediates who want an inexpensive opportunity to work with a pro. The early morning hours and plein air setting will provide an atmosphere for 10 students to focus on elements and principles of creating great art. Cindy suggests bringing your camera along to capture the composition for later reference.
Enrollment is $27.50 for each session ($20 for Boyce Thompson Arboretum members). For an additional $5 registration supply fee instructor will have appropriate supplies for a novice! Space in each workshop is limited to ten participants. Call (520) 689-2723 to enroll.
8 am – Noon. Plein Air “paint outs” are an open invitation to all artists, amateur and professional, to paint the treasures of Arizona State Parks. These live outdoor painting competitions take place in 4 hour blocks. After the painting period, the artists gather to judge their peers' completed work.
Artists are welcome to bring their easels, brushes, drop cloth, canvas and capture scenes around the park. The park entrance fee is waived for participating artists. Learn more and see photos on the Plein Air Home Page.
Slide Rock Apple Festival: “What’s Old is New Again”9 am – 4 pm. A celebration of Oak Creek’s agricultural and farming history, the Slide Rock Apple Fest is a two-day event with live music, activities for children and adults, food, arts & crafts, natural exhibitions, educational booths, homesteading demonstrations and lectures about sustainability. The Apple Festival activities will include apple-sorting demonstrations, cornhole and a beer garden, hay maze, face painting, children’s arts & crafts, apple-themed activities, history walks, live demonstrations, apple recipe contests and music including performances by Red Rock Country Band and Porchlights. Fees and Tickets: Vendor Booths $50 (limited space available call 928-282-1418); Entrance Fee – free with pass (available at select locations) or $8 per car load. Volunteers are needed for this event.
September 20 - Red Rock State Park2 pm. Kim Stone will be portraying Aldo Leopold at this event, as the speaker in their First Sunday Speaker series.* Reservations are required. Call (928) 282-6907.
Learn more about the Aldo Leopold Centennial Celebration and Events.
Evening Slide Presentation Series. 7 pm. Presented by Jerry Snow, Museum of Northern Arizona. Observations made at the Wukoki site at Wupatki National Monument since 1995 have suggested to our presenter that it may have been built to mark significant positions of the sun and moon in the 12th century A.D. The story of making these observations will be told and illustrated as part of ours Flagstaff Festival of Science and the International Year of Astronomy. Reservations are recommended due to limited availability. Call (928) 779-4395.
Evening Slide Presentation Series. 7 pm. Presented by Kevin Schindler, Lowell Observatory. In 1894 Percival Lowell, a wealthy Boston patrician, hired astronomer Andrew Douglass to travel to Arizona Territory in search of an appropriate location for a new astronomical observatory. Douglass was wined and dined in numerous town and cities such as Tombstone, Tempe and Prescott. It was Flagstaff, however, that proved to be the best location to establish the new observatory. This program will discuss the fascinating details of the 1894 Douglass Expedition, followed by a look at why Flagstaff was chosen as site for Lowell Observatory, and why this act had such dramatic influence over the development of Arizona and the people who came here. Reservations are recommended due to limited availability. Call (928) 779-4395. Flagstaff Festival of Science Event.
8 am – Noon. Plein Air “paint outs” are an open invitation to all artists, amateur and professional, to paint the treasures of Arizona State Parks. These live outdoor painting competitions take place in 4 hour blocks. After the painting period, the artists gather to judge their peers' completed work. Artists are welcome to bring their easels, brushes, drop cloth, canvas and capture scenes around the park. The park entrance fee is waived for participating artists. Learn more and see photos on the Plein Air Home Page.
Evening Slide Presentation Series. 7 pm. Presented by Amy Horn, Cultural Resources Program Manager, Grand Canyon NP. Today’s visitors to the North Rim don’t often consider that the area’s history includes thousands of cattle grazing on summer pasture. But before tourists discovered the magnificent views from Grand Canyon’s North Rim, cowboys found the Kaibab Plateau’s lush pastures. Over the past decade, Grand Canyon National Park archaeologists have discovered numerous archaeological sites from the ranching history of the North Rim.
Amy Horn, a Grand Canyon National Park Archaeologist, shares the archaeological record of ranching on the North Rim, which substantiates, enhances, and occasionally contradicts, but always brings to life, the written record of ranching on the North Rim. Reservations are recommended due to limited availability. Call (928) 779-4395. Flagstaff Festival of Science Event.
October 3 - Oracle State Park11 am – 3 pm. Oracle Wild Food Fest will focus on mesquite beans, grinding with a hammermill, and kids activities like CSI-Critter Scene Investigation and corn-grinding. Kim Stone will be portraying Aldo Leopold at this event.* Author David Brown will be on hand for a book signing. Arizona Game & Fish will have an archery class, available for ages 8+. Learn more about the Aldo Leopold Centennial Celebration and Events.
Evening Slide Presentation Series. 7 pm. Presented by Richard Quartaroli, Librarian, Special Collections and Archives, NAU. On the 140th anniversary of John Wesley Powell’s 1869 pioneering river trip down the Green and Colorado Rivers, researchers are still discovering new information about the Major and his life. Powell has most often been described as: a soldier, who lost his right arm in the Civil War battle at Shiloh; explorer and adventurer, for his 1869 and 1871-72 river trips through terra incognita of the American southwest; and scientist, for his work in geology and anthropology. But he was also: a consummate government bureaucrat, wheeling and dealing in Washington D.C. as the 2nd director of the U.S. Geological Survey and the 1st director of the Bureau of Ethnology; and a visionary for his recognition of the west as the “Arid Lands.”
Join Northern Arizona University Special Collections Librarian Richard Quartaroli for updates into the wild and mild worlds of John Wesley Powell. Reservations are recommended due to limited availability. Call (928) 779-4395. Flagstaff Festival of Science Event.
Brown Bag Lunch Lecture. 12:15 pm. Presented by Nora Graf, Assistant Park Manager, Jerome State Park. Prospectors first came to Arizona looking for gold, but it turned out that Arizona’s wealth was built on copper. Arizona became one of the largest copper producers in the world. There were other mines that were quite productive though including a few gold mines along with uranium, asbestos, vanadinite and wulfenite mines. Haven’t heard of many of those? It’s probably because aren’t as large as the copper mines or hold the allure of gold, but they are part of Arizona’s mineral wealth. While these minerals contributed to the states economic health in their day, Arizona is also home to many beautiful and rare mineral specimens that are in prized collections around the world. This program will talk and show some of Arizona’s great mines and the specimens that came from them. It will also cover some of the lesser known and smaller sites where unique mineral treasures were found. Location: Front veranda of the historic 1904 Riordan Mansion.
Evening Slide Presentation Series. 7 pm. Presented by Alan Petersen, Coconino Community College & MNA. Reservations are recommended due to limited availability. Call (928) 779-4395. November 11. Flagstaff Festival of Science Event.
Brown Bag Lunch Lecture. 12:15 pm. Presented by Kathy Farretta, Asst. Park Manager, Riordan Mansion State Historic Park. In celebration of Samuel Clemens’ birthday, we will explore the forces which caused him to make the trip to the newly established Territory of Nevada with his brother Orion, in 1861. From printer’s apprentice to steamboat pilot; prospector to newspaper correspondent, follow Sam Clemens’ journey to the American West. Location: Front veranda of the historic 1904 Riordan Mansion.
Evening Slide Presentation Series. 7 pm. Presented by Wendell Duffield, USGS & NAU. Volcanoes are notorious for building dams across rivers that get in their way. Northern Arizona has been a hotbed of this kind of no-bid construction. Eruptions in the Toroweap area created about a dozen dams in the Grand Canyon during the past 700,000 years. The most recent attempt for yet another was only 1,000 years ago, but the volcano ran out of lava before the project could be carried out. The Little Colorado River has seen at least four lava dams created during the past two million years. The youngest of these is at Grand Falls and is only 20,000 years old. From a geological perspective, future eruptions are likely to occur in northern Arizona. It's interesting and a bit frightening to contemplate the consequences should such eruption create a new lava dam. Reservations are recommended due to limited availability. Call (928) 779-4395.
November 28 - Sonoita Creek State Natural Area9 am – 3 pm. Kim Stone will be portraying Aldo Leopold at this event.* Join us for a unique canoe/kayak trip on Patagonia Lake. Or reigster for an overnight backpack trip into the natural area with park staff the day & night before (a max limit). There will also be kids activities, a guided horse back ride with readings from Leopold (max limit), nature walks with readings from Leopold, plus, author David Brown will be on hand for a book signing. Call the park to reserve your spot for the backpack trip, canoe outing or the guided horse back ride. Please register in advance for the nature walks.(520) 287-2791. Learn more about the Aldo Leopold Centennial Celebration and Events.
8 am – Noon. Plein Air “paint outs” are an open invitation to all artists, amateur and professional, to paint the treasures of Arizona State Parks. These live outdoor painting competitions take place in 4 hour blocks. After the painting period, the artists gather to judge their peers' completed work.
Artists are welcome to bring their easels, brushes, drop cloth, canvas and capture scenes around the park. The park entrance fee is waived for participating artists. Learn more and see photos on the Plein Air Home Page.
Brown Bag Lunch Lecture. 12:15 pm. Presented by Erik Larson, Volunteer & Music Historian, Riordan Mansion State Park. Christmas has always been an anticipated time of year, and the music that accompanies it is a key factor to its magic. Music filled the two residences of the Riordan families year around and was given particular emphasis during the month of December. Sheet music abounds in the house giving clear evidence of its importance in their daily lives and holiday traditions. Most Americans share this love of seasonal music - is there any better example than Bing Crosby’s 1942 recording of “White Christmas”, which over the years has sold more than thirty million copies?
You will have a rare opportunity to hear some of the best musicians and vocalists of the 1930s, 1940s and 1950s perform the songs that have become standards during the holidays. Whether or not the names of Jo Stafford, Johnny Mathis, Ted Weems, Harry James, Kay Kyser, Guy Lombardo or Spike Jones, to name just a few, mean anything in your musical memories, this program is sure to put you in a holiday mood.
Erik Larson, music historian and decade-long volunteer docent at the Riordan Mansion, will bring his extensive knowledge and vintage recordings to life on this one December afternoon. Join your friends and enjoy a sampling of Christmases past.
9 – 11 am. The community is invited to attend our annual Christmas Party which will be held in the Visitor Center. From 9– 11 am Santa will be on hand to give out candy and Mrs. Claus will read Christmas stories to the children. In addition, there will be crafts for the children to make and take home, as well as Christmas music and general good cheer. To help fend off the cold, hot cider and cake will be served.
Learn more on the Plein Air Home Page. Arizona State Parks and and Arizona Plein Air Painters sponsor live outdoor painting competitions. After the painting period, the artists gather to judge their peers completed work. Artists are welcome to bring their easels, brushes drop cloth canvas and capture scenes around the park. This is a series of “paint outs” planned throughout the year at Arizona State Parks. 2009 Event Dates & Parks.
Note* = Portrayal of Aldo Leopold at these events is subject to change.
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