GREAT WEEKENDS

great weekends Chocolate, Art, Flowers and a Rodeo Make Scottsdale Delightful in February

At twilight, the setting sun streaks violet on the stuccoed and red tile-roofed shops along Fifth Avenue. A man and a woman walk out of an art gallery flushed and smiling. She's wearing a neatly tucked-in T-shirt that tells the world: Rich people get to go to Beverly Hills.

Famous people get to go to Malibu.

Lucky people get to go to Scottsdale.

Especially in February, this surely rings true.

After a bout with central Arizona's zinging summer and the mad flurry of the winter holidays, Scottsdale seems to use February as its month for coming out. The orange and lemon blossoms pop open and kiss the air with an unforgettable fragrance, and the weather takes a turn for the very best -75 degrees during the day, near 52 degrees at night, and soothing sunshine nine of every 10 days.

No matter your interests - from gourmandizing to artcollecting to boot-kicking rodeo-going - Scottsdale has your fancy covered in February. Here's a sampling.

The Scottsdale Art Walk, held each Thursday evening, from 7 P.M.to 9 P.M., in the famed Downtown Art District encourages “art browsing” in many of the town's 100-plus galleries. You'll see special demonstrations, entertainment and exhibits.

The Parada del Sol Rodeo is Western fun organized and sponsored by the Scottsdale Jaycees. A parade, billed as the world's longest horse-drawn event, precedes the rodeo on January 29. The rodeo, which gets under way February 3 at the Rawhide Rodeo Arena, joins Arizona's and the nation's best cowboys for competitive roping and riding. If you're a man thinking about a visit dur-ing Parada del Sol, quit shav-ing. A beard becomes a local essential during Parada del Sol.

A more glamorous event, the Scottsdale All-Arabian Horse Show, February 18 through 27, draws the rich and famous spec-tators from around the world to watch more than 2,000 Arabian, half-Arabian and other show-horses in competition. Held at Scottsdale's West World, parties many of them "in the barn" and live entertainment round out the show's fun.

The Scottsdale Fine Art and Chocolate Festival at the Pavil-ions opens to the public Feb-ruary 4 through 6. The to-do features more than 100 artists who fill the streets with their juried fine arts and crafts. And there's the chocolate and great live entertainment.

The free Borgata Farmer's Market, 1 P.M. to 6 P.M., each Friday in February, sells fresh fruit and vegetables, baked goods, homemade salsas, flowers and live entertainment.

Scottsdale, with a population of more than 200,000, was founded in 1888 by U.S. Army Chaplain Winfield Scott, and incorporated in 1951. Today, it spans 184 square miles of uniquely lush Sonoran Desert.

Touted as "The West's Most Western Town," Scottsdale greets more than 7 million tourists each year, and the town's ready for them. Nearly 60 resorts and hotels offer 11,000 rooms near more than 150 golf courses, 40 miles of paths for biking and hiking and dozens of tennis courts, many of them open to the public.

Chili, proclaimed the official Food of Scottsdale, joins all types of cuisine getting special attention here. There are more than 500 restaurants in Scottsdale, many of them award-winning and featuring nationally and internationally renowned chefs. Some of the local favorites are Cafe Terra Cotta (try the lobster raviolis with saffron pasta) and Roaring Fork (smoked salmon cheesecake with wild watercress). No trip to Scottsdale is complete without visiting the famous Pink Pony Fine Dining House and the Sugar Bowl Ice Cream Parlor Restaurant for dessert.

My husband, Buz, and I began our day in Scottsdale in the morning with the newspaper crossword puzzle over coffee and omelets at Fast Freddy's 24 Hour. Then we took a leisurely drive through the Downtown Art District, noting the street names-Stetson, Buckboard, Saddleback, Buena, Wells Fargo and Jackrabbit. Huge red clay pots outside of shops and galleries teemed with deep blue lobelia, magenta and orange bougainvillea, shell-pink jasmine and rainbow sprays of pansies.

If you visit Scottsdale in February, take money. Some of the world's best shopping is there from the unique shops in old downtown to the boutiques at the Borgata to the newly expanded Scottsdale Fashion Square, featuring Nordstrom and just about every great shop you've ever heard of.

After shopping, we turned our attention to art. Scottsdale's galleries cluster in four areas that make up the downtown art and shopping districts, and in the heart of this, you'll find Scottsdale Civic Center Mall, home to the Museum of Contemporary Art and the Scottsdale Center for the Arts, which features 25 major art exhibits and more than 1,000 cultural and art events each year.

Other key centers for art are outside the downtown area. These include the Fleischer Museum, featuring American Impressionism and a permanent collection of Russian and Soviet Impressionism; Taliesin West, an architectural study center founded by Frank Lloyd Wright in 1937; and the Heard Museum North in the Tohono Center at el Pedregal Marketplace, featuring Indian art. Buz and I, well beyond our night-clubbing days, didn't include this in our itinerary, yet Scottsdale is noted for its nightlife. If you've got the energy,

(CLOCKWISE FROM ABOVE) The All-Arabian Horse Show. COURTESY SCOTTSDALE CHAMBER OF COMMERCE Marshall Way's Cultural Exchange gallery. DAVID H. SMITH Scottsdale Center for the Arts. COURTESY SCOTTSDALE CHAMBER OF COMMERCE Main Street's Pierce Fine Art gallery.

(BELOW) Cafe Terra Cotta fare. BOTH BY DAVID H. SMITH you might find yourself rub-bing elbows with big names in sports and entertainment. Axis and Radius are among favorite clubs, and don't be surprised if you see the likes of Madonna, Stevie Nicks, Charles Barkley or Michael Jordan. Stars love Scottsdale because it offers so much in such a compact and well-planned city, and because of the civility of its citizenry - there's hardly any ga-ga-ingor imposing autograph-seeking. We ended our day of food, art and shopping by visiting one more gallery - The Cultural Exchange, a favorite of ours - on the lookout for new works by artist Doug West. Then, the day's finale - an early supper of peppery chicken gumbo from one of our favorite Cajun restaurants, Baby Kay's Cajun Kitchen on Shoeman Lane. Whether you're an out-oftowner Arizonan or an out-ofstate visitor, set aside at least a long weekend for your visit to Scottsdale, and make reservations. February lands in the heart of Scottsdale's tourist season, so you'll need to plan ahead. Also, you might want to arrange your time in activitybased segments - half a day for golf or tennis, and the same for shopping, art browsing, seeing the sights and desert countryside outside the city, plus a lot of eating in between. However you plan your trip, consider February a month made special by citrus blossoms, chocolate-tasting, Indian art displays, rodeogoing and twilight art walks.

WHEN YOU GO

Location: 10 miles east of downtown Phoenix.

Weather: Average temperatures in February, high, 75'; low, 52°.

Phone Numbers: All are in area code 480 unless noted; 800 numbers are toll-free.

Lodging: Scottsdale Princess, 585-4848; The Boulders Resort, Carefree, 488-9009; Hyatt Regency Scottsdale at Gainey Ranch, 991-3388.

Restaurants and Clubs: Baby Kay's Cajun Kitchen, 990-9080; Cafe Terra Cotta, 948-8100; Roaring Fork, 947-0795; Pink Pony Fine Dining House, 945-6697; Julio G's, 423-1600; P.F.

Chang's China Bistro, 949-2610; Sugar Bowl Ice Cream Parlor Restaurant, 946-0051; Fast Freddy's 24 Hour, 970-9507; Axis and Radius, 970-1112.

Attractions: Scottsdale Center for the Arts, 994-ARTS; Museum of Contemporary Art, 994-ARTS; Borgata Farmer's Market, 998-1822; Fleischer Museum, 585-3108; Taliesin West, 860-8810; Heard Museum North, 488-9817; The Cultural Exchange Gallery, 941-0900.

Events: Parada del Sol Parade & Trail's End Celebration, January 29; Scottsdale Art Walk, 7 P.M. to 9 P.M., each Thursday in February, 990-3939; Scottsdale Jaycees Parাদা del Sol Rodeo, February 3-6, 990-3179; Fine Art and Chocolate Festival at the Pavilions, February 4-6, 837-5637; Scottsdale All-Arabian Horse Show, February 18-27, 515-1500.

Additional Information: Scottsdale Chamber of Commerce, (800) 877-1117 or 945-8481, or online: www.scottsdalechamber.com or www.ci.scottsdale.az.us.

48 February 2000