Downtown Tucsonan - October 2008 - (Page 5)

by Lee Allen & Downtown Tucsonan Staff Low d ow n 4 t h a n n u a l G e t M o v i n g Tu c s o n 1 0 - m i l e r a c e a n d 5 K w a l k /r u n t h r o u g h h i s t o r i c d o w n t o w n , S a t u r d a y, O c t o b e r 1 8 . Brown sees current efforts as a “furtherance of plans and policies already adopted by the City Council.” Hopes are to pull together a lot of information in a short time, 6 months of so, on how to restore the buildings and how much that would cost. “These buildings are not getting better on their own and need attention soon.” “Under the caveat that all the pieces need to fall into the right place, there’s no reason it should take more than 12-18 months to complete the kind of renovation needed to move people in,” says Brown. “And over time, we’d like to see development of the surrounding neighborhood as mixed-use. Our goal is to set the table and be ready when market conditions are ripe so that when the time comes for shovels to hit the ground, we can move quickly.” LIVIN’ LA VIDA VERDE La Placita Village and the Tucson Convention Center turn green on Saturday, October 25, 10am-3pm, for Tucson’s 2nd annual Green Festival, sponsored in part by Downtown Tucson Partnership. The festival’s mission is to educate, engage, encourage and empower local citizens toward sustainable change. Look for storytellers and songsters, sample local organic food, and learn how to plant a simple garden and harvest rainwater. IN OCTOBER… This promises to be a busy month. Look for detailed details on the October 11th Club Crawl music festival and the October 23-26 Tucson Culinary Festival (with margarita making championships to be held at the Historic Train Depot Downtown). Also the non-profit Dinnerware Artspace organization likes to say it’s “out there doing your bidding in the creative community with sweat and pennies although dollars are appreciated.” Adds spokesman David Aguirre: “Dinnerware relies on elbow grease and fundraising activities to bring the arts back to Congress Street.” As such, Dinnerware will hold its annual Art Auction on October 16th, at 264 E. Congress St. Artists support the gig with donated artwork. Buyers support the organization with their purchases. Doors open at 6:30pm for a gala reception. The live auction starts at 7:30pm. At-the-door donation is $25. Also in October, on Saturday the 18th to be exact, listen for thousands of fleet feet racing by as part of the 4th annual Get Moving Tucson 10-mile race and 5K walk/run sponsored to Southern Arizona Roadrunners and Carondelet Health Network. “Walkers and runners of all ages and abilities will be celebrating health and wellness in a downtown venue,” says race director and Southern Arizona Roadrunners President Randy Accetta. “It’s a unique chance to run over the Rattlesnake and Basket bridges chasing a total prize purse of $3,000.” Race organizers expect up to 2,000 participants. Registration is available at www.azroadrunners.org or www.carondelet.org. AGAIN. WITH FEELING Tucson Meet Yourself, an annual gathering to celebrate Southern Arizona’s traditional ethnic and folk arts, food, music, and dance is about ready to reappear. Billed as 35 Years and Still Cookin!, “This year will be bigger and better than ever with over 100 ethnic performances on three stages, 30 ethnic food booths, and 40 master folk artists sharing traditional art forms,” according to Mia Hansen of the Cultural Exchange Council of Tucson. Festivities get underway daily at 11am on October 10-11-12 throughout El Presidio Park, the Pima County Courthouse and the Jacome Library Plaza downtown. “There will be new special ‘theme’ areas for interaction to allow Tucsonans to ‘meet themselves’ like never before,” Hansen says. From drum and dance workshops to martial arts demonstrations from low riders on display to an Iron Chef ethnic cooking contest there’s free fun for the whole family. Phone 792 4806 or log on to www.tucsonmeetyourself.org for further information. NEW LOUNGE Concurrent with the Meet Yourself event is the October 10th grand opening of Centro, Chile Verde Restaurant’s after-dark lounge and full-bar. “We’re a restaurant catering to the office lunch crowd, but on Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays, we’re branding a different concept, that of a restaurant-lounge (not a club),” says owner Hector Jimenez. “We’ll serve similar foods in the evenings, but in smaller ‘tapas’ style portions and we’ll be focusing on high-end quality service.” NOT TO BE The traditional Fall at the Village concerts in La Placita Village will not be held this year according to organizer Tony Frank. Citing family medical reasons for the cancellation, Frank, founder of Tucson Jazz Radio, says: “I shall return with plans after the New Year, like events in the spring Tucson Downtown Jazz Fest and Be-Bop Meets Broadway Returns.” info@creativetornado.com october.08. downtown tucsonan 5 http://www.creativetornado.com http://www.tucsonmeetyourself.org http://www.azroadrunners.org http://www.carondelet.org

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Downtown Tucsonan - October 2008 Contents Downtown Lowdown Vital Signs Downtown Live Arts Galleries Performing Arts Film Events Museums Historic Downtown Guest Editoral Billboard Classifieds

Downtown Tucsonan - October 2008

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