Native American Festival and Sabino Canyon Bluff Trail

Corona de Tucson

November 4, 2023

Family time is always fun time !  Last week-end Jamie, Andra and Ozzie spent the week-end with us.  We had plans to go to Tombstone on Saturday.  When we were walking towards Allen Street, we noticed the "Town too Tough to Die" has a new statue at City Park.  It is an 8-foot bronze statue of Tombstone founder Ed Schieffelin...an 1880s prospector.  Schieffelin is credited with locating a number of mines in the area, but the first major producing mine was Lucky Cuss.  The statue faces the Lucky Cuss claim where he gazes out over the hills of south Tombstone.    

Tim Trask is the artist.  Trask created an 8-foot clay statue of Sshieffelin in 2012 that was housed in his studio while he waited for a buyer.  After receiving a bequest from local Tombstone donors in 2021, he had the money needed to complete the project.  He created a mold of the statue which included 61 sections and took it to a foundry in Juarez, Mexico to be cast in bronze.  The more than 1,000-pound bronze statue was delivered to Tombstone in October 2022. 

Edward L. Schieffelin...prospector and miner whose discoveries of silver led to the founding of Tombstone
1847-1897
Artist Tim Trask

For the past several years, the Native American Festival has been held in downtown Tombstone.  A parade down Allen Street kicks off the annual event with performances and vendor/food trucks located in the old high school ball field afterwards. 

Hopi, Cheyenne, Apache, Pawnee, Sioux, and Yaqui tribes were represented...young and old...from as far away as Saskatchuen.  The parade was my favorite.  

We only saw the dance group perform as the day was warming up fast and there was no shade at the ball park.  The young girl pictured below was from Saskatchuen and quite a little talent.  Her grandfather is a Chicken Dancer.  The Chicken Dance is one of the oldest and most symbolic dances known to many Indigenous Nations and is still learned and performed today.  This dance celebrates the sacrifice of the Prairie Chicken by miming the male prairie chicken's mating rituals...fluffing feathers, shaking their tail feathers and their head, strutting, and puffing out their chest all the while throwing his top two head feathers down to the ground.  The head dress and round bustle worn for the dance are made of porcupine quills and the head dress always has two large feathers. 

   

Most Chicken Dancers are male, but this little granddaughter has been performing since she was big enough to walk.

A dad and his son performed a Grass Dance.  It was explained that the fringe represents grass. Grass was never cut but rather stomped on and laid down so that when a tribe moved on, the grass would stand tall again and continue to grow.

There was no recorded music. The two gentlemen in the background played the drums and sang for every performer.

If you ever feel the need to "Cowboy Up!",  Tombstone is a fun place to peruse. 

The shops are full of cowboy necessities.  Can you ever have too many cowboy hats ?  There are hats for every season...felt, wool, and straw, one for dress, one for work and one for play, a dark color and a light color or maybe a red one, curl brim or straight, gambler style and pinched front...it just goes on and on !

And you might have guessed it, we enjoyed lunch at Big Nose Kates.  

After spending three days (Mon., Tues., and Wed.) pretty much inside because of strong winds and polluted air, Joe and I decided Thursday morning that some fresh air and a desert hike would be really awesome.  Our choice was Sabino Canyon Recreation Area...it has been 6 months since we were last there.

We combined Bear Canyon, Sabino Lake, Bluff and Esperero Trails for a 3 mile loop.  There is always a view of the Catalina Mountains.  

Highlights of the morning included a new to us Crested "in the making" that Joe spotted...

sharing the trail...

looking up...

gigantic views...

and anticipation.

Back at the oasis, we checked a few things off the "to do" list the first of the week since we couldn't be outside.  Joe made a new valence/cornice board for the patio door, we removed screens and washed them, and I started on the windows and blinds...not a job I like.  I dusted and painted scuffed base moulding. The corners are the worst to get scuffed...and I know I should be more careful with the vacuum.     

The old valence that came with the shades...

 

and the new one he made and I painted. 

 

There wasn't much patio time this week, but I did capture a few bird photos.

a beautiful Red-tailed Hawk

late afternoon sun and a Gamble's Quail 

the stealthy Cooper's Hawk

and a noisy Curved-billed Thrasher

Sally enjoys the afternoon sunshine...

and we celebrated another birthday.  

That wraps up another week...and it's November already!

 Until next time...

HAPPY TRAILS!