Chiricahua Peloncillo Heritage Days 2015

This years Chiricahua Peloncillo Heritage Days was co-sponsored by both the Wildlands Network and Friends of Cave Creek Canyon with additional support from Hidalgo county and private donations.  Starting off with Friday nights opening reception and talk on Trogon's, the 2015 Chiricahua Peloncillo Heritage Days was off to a good start.  Friday evening talk centered on these neotropical birds that bring many visitors to the sky islands of southeastern Arizona to add another species to their life lists.  Saturday morning arrived with the farmers market and craft fair followed shortly by a day of presentations about the area.  The talks ranged from caving and survey work in Chiricahua Crystal Cave to water resources.  Lunch was catered by the Rodeo Tavern and included two types of lasagna, vegetarian and meat, with garlic bread and salad.  The Gypsy Carpenters provided entertainment during the breaks and throughout lunch.  I presented the last talk of the day on landscape restoration and a PDF of the slides may be found here.  Finally, Sunday three different scheduled walks took place covering plant life, geology, and the history of Paradise.  This years Heritage Days saw a capacity crowd and Valley Telecom was present to video record a number of talks which will be rebroadcast on their cable channel.  Once aired, I hope to post some of the talks to the Friends of Cave Creek Canyon website and Facebook page so those who missed the event can see more details of what went on with an eye to attending the event next year.

Preparations

All about bats

Water, water, everywhere

Smokey the Bear

A mirrored view

The Gypsy Carpenters

Chiricahua Peloncillo Heritage Days 2015

The Upcoming 2015 Chiricahua Peloncillo Heritage Days is shaping up into another great event for the area.  The Painted Pony Resort will present a talk on landscape restoration on the estate.  It will cover techniques implemented on the estate to restore the grasslands and improve range conditions on the 750 acres of deeded land comprising the estate.  Covering water, soil, vegetation, and animals it will highlight techniques that may be implemented by any land owner to improve landscape conditions

Chiricahua Peloncillo Heritage Days 2015

Addendum:

There will be several walks on Sunday after Saturday's presentations for participants of Heritage Days.  If your interested in seeing and learning more about the area, please join one of the walks for a great learning experience.

Addendum:
The farmers market for this years Chiricahua Peloncillo heritage days is ready to go.

Goodies at the framers market

Oktoberfest 2014 in Portal Arizona

Time again for the annual event of Oktoberfest in Portal.  Held as a fund raising event for the Sew What Club in Portal, Oktoberfest is another chance for the community to gather, see old friends, exchange the latest gossip, and generally catch up on events in the valley and surrounding mountains.  All while enjoying a great lunch in the mountain air of Portal AZ and Cave Creek Canyon.

Oktoberfest getting started on a sunny Saturday morning.

Friends of Cave Creek Canyon at Oktoberfest

The German cafe with brats and sauerkraut.

Chiricahua Peloncillo Heritage Days 2014

Another great community event this weekend.  The Chiricahua Peloncillo Heritage Days are a yearly event sponsored by local interests to celebrate the natural and cultural heritage of the area.  Starting Friday evening with a reception and keynote address by a climate scientist from Tucson.  Saturday was filled with talks ranging from C.S. Fly to soil mapping in Arizona and New Mexico and a special kids area with activities was hosted by local educators.  Lunch was catered by the Rodeo Tavern with tasty southwestern style chicken fajitas and eggplant casserole.  The rain held off, though we were hoping, and Sundays scheduled walk at Faraway ranch and the wildflower walk up Cave Creek had nice cool temperatures.  This year marked support for the event by Hidalgo county lodgers tax, as well as other local businesses, which means the event is becoming self sustaining.  This bodes well for future Heritage days and I certainly look forward to the event every year.

The craft and farmers market.

Waiting for the talks to begin.

Friends of Cave Creek Canyon display board.

Speakers and presentations.

St. Patrick's Day in Portal, it's a Parade

Portal AZ's annual St. Patrick's Day parade took place today and the turnout included not only local residents from Portal, Rodeo, and around the San Simon Valley but campers from the campgrounds in Cave Creek Canyon also attended.  The Grand Marshal this year was Rick Beno from Arizona Sky Village and of course St. Patrick (who winters in Portal) was here.  And what would St. Patrick's Day be without some daytime astronomy.  A solar telescope was set up next to the Post Office to view the sun.

Parade dancing

The return parade lap

Solar astronomy at the parade