by Heidi Dahms Foster, Communications Coordinator, Town of Prescott Valley
Prescott Valley is nearly halfway through its year-long 40th anniversary celebration, and there’s much more excitement to come!
In May, Prescott Valley Days featured a ruby anniversary celebration with a Wizard of Oz-themed parade, a Fiesta del Pueblo with Hispanic entertainment and food, a fire show, and a Ranch to Table dinner highlighting locally grown ingredients. The Town float earned first place in the civic category and a special Chairman’s Trophy, presented by the Early Bird Lions Club.
Other anniversary events included Arbor Day in April, with a tree planting honoring longtime community member and former Mayor Carm Staker, and an appearance by the Central Arizona Honor Guard and Pipes & Drums. This was followed by a wildly successful kickoff to Summer Movies Under the Stars with a drive-in event showing the Wizard of Oz in the Event Center parking lot.
June’s annual Woofstock pet adoption event on the Civic Center grounds, sponsored by Prescott Dog Magazine was in the works as of this printing.
Prescott Valley Public Library’s first-ever Comic Con event, Fandomania, held in July, was expected to draw more than 1,000 people to the library, Civic Center and adjacent Northern Arizona University satellite campus. This exciting program for all ages combined comics, movies, books and gaming with local businesses, authors and artists to provide a day of exciting and unique workshops and activities.
In August, the month of incorporation, a spectacular celebration is on tap at the Prescott Valley Civic Center. (If you lived in the 70s, you might recognize some elements of these two days of fun!) Events will include Saturday stage entertainment by local children’s groups, bands and other live music, mariachi and ballet folklorico performances, a large car show, bouncy houses, a Hollywood Squares TV-style show sponsored by the PV Chamber of Commerce (the “squares” will be populated by some local “characters”) and an Antique Road Show-style event, sponsored by the PV Historical Society.
The Sunday, Aug. 26, lineup will include a sponsored Cowboy Church service at the Theater on the Green, officiated by Pastor Ed Anthony, a local noted cowboy pastor. Bring a chair or blanket and settle on the lawn to enjoy toe-tapping country gospel music and an uplifting nondenominational message. Don’t miss this Sunday morning community event starting at 11.
If you’re still in love, you might want to participate in the Wedding Vow Renewal ceremony right after the Cowboy Church. This event will be officiated by Prescott Valley’s own Magistrate Judge Keith Carson. If you are in love and can’t wait to tie the knot, you can even get married during this ceremony! Just contact the Yavapai County Clerk of Superior Court, obtain a license, bring your beau and show up!
Join us at 1 p.m. on the lawn at Theater on the Green for an hour of rousing local gospel music from a variety of local groups, including country, bluegrass and Southern gospel, among others.
Each of the weekend’s two days of fun will include plenty of food, with some gustatory delights supplied by area ethnic cooks.
In September, plan to attend Patriot Week events to honor those lost on 9/11 and the 19 Granite Mountain Hotshot firefighters lost on June 30, 2013. Three thousand American flags and 19 Hotshot memorial flags will fly on the grounds of the Prescott Valley Civic Center. A 9/11 memorial ceremony and two free patriotic concerts are planned.
Finally, Gold Fever Days at historical Fain Park in October will feature tours of the park’s mining display and vintage cavalry town site, nearby Indian ruins, live entertainment and gold panning.
Prescott Valley’s Community Access Channel 56 is filming short historical vignettes of longtime residents sharing their memories of the community’s early years for use on social media. You can view these videos on the Town of Prescott Valley’s Facebook page.
Watch the Facebook page, the website at pvaz.net and Twitter @prescottvly for updates and times of events, or call Prescott Valley Parks & Recreation at (928) 759-3090 for more information. For information on Fandomania, call Shelbie Marks at (928) 759-3038.
