The Phoenix Story

An Arizona PHOENIX Scrapbook CITY IN THE SUN

PHOENIX A Calendar in the Sun

APRIL 4-5-6-7 Phoenix

6-7 Phoenix

8-12 Wickenburg

12-14 Phoenix

21 Grand Canyon

27-28 Wickenburg

Phoenix

MAY

1-5 Nogales

1-4 Wickenburg

5 Parker

31 Phoenix

JUNE

JULY

1-4 Flagstaff

4-6 Prescott

24 Mesa

AUGUST

3 Prescott

SEPTEMBER

2 Phoenix

15-16 Phoenix

Buckeye

OCTOBER

Phoenix

19 Phoenix

Phoenix

NOVEMBER

2-11 Phoenix

Phoenix

1957

Phoenix Fine Arts Association First Annual

Art Festival.

Second Annual Parade of Homes, 12th

Avenue and Northern, sponsored by Phoenix

Association of Home Builders.

Dons Club overnight trip to Grand Canyon, via Oak Creek Canyon, Flagstaff, Navajo-land and return via Black Canyon.

Annual Ride of the Desert Caballeros. Business Executives and Ranchers from many

states foregather to ride horseback over desert-

and mountain trails, "roughing it" in

style and comfort. Wickenburg closes up

shop to give them a big send-off.

Arizona Horse Lovers Club presents their annual Spring Horse Show.

23rd Annual Easter Sunrise Service at the

Grand Canyon. Special excursion trips from

Phoenix.

Sunrise Service on Horseback.

Morning Sunrise Service.

Arizona State Archery Tournament at Papago Park.

Annual Cinco de Mayo celebrated by Las

Fiestas de Mayo presented by Ambos No-

Nogales. Well worth the trip to the Border Cities. Special bus excursions from Phoenix.

Las Damas Horseback Ride. The feminine verversion of the Desert Caballeros annual Ride.

Inboard Motor Boat Regatta, held each Spring on the Colorado River.

Spring Jamboree-Valley of the Sun Square Dance Festival in cooperation with city parks department.

SUMMER VACATIONS BEGIN Visit the All-Indian Pow Wow, well worth the trip.

Or visit the Annual Frontier Days in the Mile-Hi city. Oldest Rodeo in the U. S.afternoons and evenings.

Pioneer Day Celebration commemorating the settling of the Mormons in Arizona.

Visit the Smoki Ceremonials in Prescott.

Football Season starts.

Annual J. C. Kids Fishing Contest at the

Encanto Park Lagoon. Prizes for big and

little fish and big and little kids.

La Junta Patriotica Mexicana annual Mexican Independence Day Celebration.

Annual Hellzapoppin' celebration and whisker growing contest.

Annual World's Championship JUNIOR

Rodeo, sponsored by 20-30 Club. For children

7-15 yrs.

Horseless Carriage Trek from Phoenix to Kingman.

Annual Rose Show, at Valley Garden Center sponsored by Garden Clubs of Phoenix.

Arizona State Fair.

Annual Fall Jamboree of the Valley of the Sun Square Dance Association.

A Calendar in the Sun

DECEMBER Scottsdale Miracle of the Roses Fiesta. Fifth Annual celebration and re-enactment of the Miracle of the Virgin of Guadalupe.

Phoenix Annual J. C. Christmas tree and party for children. 1958 JANUARY Phoenix Annual Arizona National Livestock Show. Tenth Annual production of one of the top shows of the nation.

Phoenix Phoenix Open PGA Golf Tournament, sponsored by the Thunderbirds.

Tempe Valley of the Sun Square Dance Festival.

Wickenburg Annual J. C. Barbecue and Western Show. Wickenburg Gold Rush Days (last half of month).

FEBRUARY Scottsdale Parada del Sol. Rodeo and Festival, Scottsdale's Big Doings!

Phoenix Annual Western Stampede, presented by the Western Saddle Club.

Major League Baseball Teams, Spring Training and Exhibition Games. Chicago Cubs at Mesa, New York Giants at Phoenix, Baltimore Orioles at Scottsdale and Cleveland Indians at Tucson.

Annual Cactus Show at the Desert Botanical cai Garden. The world's largest botanical garden, devoted exclusively to desert plantings, it is a world-wide attraction to botanists. Sponsored by the Arizona Cactus and Native Flora Society.

Annual Open House at the Phoenix Indian School.

Annual Thunderbird Tennis Tournament.

MARCH Phoenix Annual Phoenix J. C. World Championship Rodeo. Opened by the longest all horse. power parade in the world, this annual four day event is preceded by a two week celebration of Dressing Western by almost the entire populace of Phoenix. Daily entertainment and several public dances are scheduled.Famous Don' Club Trek into the Superstition Mountains, in search for the Lost Dutchman's Gold Mine. Day long entertainment, long and short hikes, fabulous barbecue and general fun and games.

Women's P. G. A. golf tournament.

Wickenburg Regular weekly Sunday afternoon rodeos at the various Guest Ranches in the area.

MINERALOGICAL SOCIETIES IN ARIZONA TIME AND PLACE OF MEETINGS

Mineralogical Society of Arizona (The pioneer society: organized 1935) Meets: 1st and 3rd Friday each month, October through May in the Auditorium, Mineral Building, Fairgrounds, Phoenix, 8:00 P. M.

Maricopa Lapidary Society: Meets: 2nd Monday each month in the Auditorium, Mineral Building, Fairgrounds, Phoenix, at 8:00 Ρ. Μ.

Tucson Gem and Mineral Society: Meets: 1st and 3rd Monday each month, Room 111, BPA Building on University of Arizona Campus, Tucson, 7:30 Ρ. Μ.

Eastern Arizona Gem & Mineral Society: Meets: 2nd and 4th Wednesday, each month in Cave Building, Chase Creek, Clifton, Arizona.

Yavapai Gem & Mineral Society: Meets: 1st Tuesday each month, Public Service Auditorium, Prescott, 8:00 Ρ. Μ.

Phoenix-Convention City in the Sun

In case you haven't noticed the trend these past few years, here's a bit of information which may come as a surprise to you: Phoenix is now one of the nation's major convention cities. It hasn't always been thus, you know. In fact, it wasn't thus until rather recent times. Oh, yes, Phoenix had conventions. But they were mine-run affairs, involving, usually, organizations that were only statewide in scope. However enticing its climate, the town simply couldn't accommodate anything much bigger.

But it can now and does. For the Big Boom in Phoenix has brought also a big boom in conventions. There were 132 of them last year, 124 in 1955. And they've included some very impressive national conventions along with the regional and state get-togethers.

One of the most impressive was the recent round-up of the American National Cattlemen's Association 2,100 cow-waddies strong. Before that there was a Southwest Kiwanis convention, a national conclave of electrical distributors, an Air Force seminar and a gathering of Fuller Brush men from all over this region. In fact, the Fuller people like Phoenix so much that they've been meeting there for the past several years.

Meeting rooms? Yes, that, too. One of the big hotels recently built on a meeting room that seats 1,500 people as an auditorium, 1,000 as a dining room. Several of the resorts provide meeting space for up to 400 convention-goers. And there's the new Phoenix Coliseum, which, with extra seats, can handle 8,400 souls.

Last year conventions brought an estimated $2½ million into Phoenix. That's what is known in the trade as "found money," because it's money that wouldn't have come otherwise. The average convention-goer spends about $30 a day, and the average convention lasts three days. So each visiting fireman can be said to be a $90 bonanza to Phoenix.

The bonanza makes itself quickly evident, too. After the recent cattlemen's convention, a downtown merchant dealing in Western attire reported that his sales jumped 59 per cent ahead of the same week of the previous year. He couldn't explain it any other way than that the visiting cowboys were buying cowboy clothes.

But the merchants aren't getting all the gravy. It filters out and down through the community's economic avenues, making more jobs, paying more wages, buying more services and supplies.

This may explain, then, why Phoenix is going after conventions these days like a road-runner heading for the opposite side of U.S. 80. What the city especially wants and is getting is conventions that book in just before and just after the winter season, which is to say, September into December and April through June. (Prices are lower then, too.) The city would be happy to have summer conventions as well, of course. But convention-goers are perverse. They seem to prefer to swelter in Chicago's July humidity rather than be cool, comfortable and coatless in a Phoenix air-conditioned hotel.

How big can this convention boom get? The town's boosters are afraid to guess. All they know is that there are some 6,000 important national and regional conventions held in the U.S. every year. And the Arizona climate, plus the advantage of a growing, cosmopolitan city, is very liable to be a big item of "sell" to each one of them.

You never can tell those Democrats or Republicans may come pouring in here some day yet.