There are several opportunities Friday through Sunday this weekend (and each of the remaining weekends in October) to enjoy the myth that downtown Flagstaff is filled with haunting characters. Take the Haunted Flagstaff Walking Tour from the Flagstaff Visitor’s Center, beginning at 5 p.m. and 7 p.m. each of the weekend days. Allow about 90 minutes and expect to walk about a mile in total (so, you’ll be stopping and listening a lot). Read more about this fun event at the Arizona Daily Sun website. See the schedule at the Flagstaff Visitor Center website.

Continuing with the Halloween theme, Flagstaff’s Theatrikos Theatre Company presents Little Shop of Horrors. There are performances Friday and Saturday at 8 p.m. and Sunday at 2 p.m. at the Doris Harper White Community Theatre in downtown Flagstaff.

Want to stay away from the scary stuff and enjoy Fall in the Flagstaff mountain country? Well, you can always take a quiet hike. Or, you could sign up for Autumn in the Aspens at the Flagstaff Nordic Center – north of town about 20 minutes by car. There will be hot food, beer, live music and several children activities.

Speaking of kids activities, on Saturday morning from 10:00 a.m. to noon, NAU art education seniors will teach art classes for children in kindergarten through sixth grade. There is a $25 fee to cover materials and supplies. Location: NAU School of Art (Building 37 on the Northern Arizona University campus). Call 928-523-2432 for information.

Calling all Legislative District 1 voters! These are people living in the rural areas surrounding Flagstaff, such as Kachina Village, Mountainaire, and the Northeast rural areas, including Doney Park. Here’s a chance to meet and question the candidates for the Arizona Senate seat for the next two years. The candidates are Steve Pierce - Republican and Pat Chancerelle – Democrat. The forum is sponsored by Sponsored by the League of Women Voters and American Association of University Women, Flagstaff Branch. Moderator: Marsha Yowell,  JD, of NAU. Location is the Flagstaff Elks Lodge, 2101 N. San Francisco. The forum begins at 10:00 a.m. Saturday.

Another great choice any day this weekend would be one of the performances of the continuing run of The Fantasticks at the Clifford White Theatre on the Northern Arizona University campus. Friday and Saturday night at 8 p.m. and Sunday at  2 p.m. Click here for details on the NAU production.

Also on the Northern Arizona University campus, this event on Sunday, you’ll find the Fall Festival of Choirs at Ardrey Auditorium.  Beginning at 3 p.m., enjoy an afternoon of outstanding choral music. Admission is $12 for adults, $10 for faculty/staff/seniors and free for students with an ID. 928-523-2642. 

You’ll find more music on Sunday at the Coconino Center for the Arts enjoy musicians from the Flagstaff Symphony Orchestra providing musical background for haunting tales performed by actors from Theatrikos Theatre Company. Stories and poems for this program include: The Tell-Tale Heart by Edgar Allen Poe; The Vampire; excerpt from The Legend of Sleepy Hollow; excerpts from Mary Shelley's Frankenstein; and more. This event is FREE and begins at 4 p.m.

Have a great weekend! If you’re interested in buying or selling Flagstaff real estate, contact Team Heitland at RE/MAX Peak Properties.

Since I began the Flagstaff Real Estate and Community News Blog over 14 months ago, I’ve posted a list of fun things to do for the coming weekend each Friday – except last Friday. I’m planning to take up that list again this week, but I wanted to explain where I was last week. It’s another great feature of living in Flagstaff.

I spent the better part of last week at the Flagstaff Medical Center’s Spine and Joint Surgery Center. We were there for a knee replacement and I was the “coach.” The foundation of the program is that the patient is not “sick” but is in for repair to restore an active and healthy lifestyle. Frankly, it’s great. (By the way, we also had a great surgeon – Amber Randall, M.D. has qualifications you’d only expect to find at one of the country’s great university hospitals.)

Joint-replacement patients at Flagstaff Medical Center stay in a dedicated unit within the hospital, where they are encouraged to participate in daily activities that are outlined in a daily newsletter. There is lots of hard work, with twice daily group physical therapy sessions and “hiking to the summit of Humphrey’s Peak.” Friends and family members are asked to serve as “coaches” and participate in the recovery process. I have a coach button. My partner earned hiking boots to represent ability to walk without supervision among the “mountain flowers.”

The flower you see pictured here represents the end 25 feet in one of the Bone and Joint Surgery Center’s hallways. There are flowers like this on the wall every 25 feet. We became intimately familiar with each one. Now, we’re home and well on the road to recovery. PT continues twice per day at home and twice per week under professional supervision. We’re looking forward to hiking the real beautiful trails around Flagstaff next spring.

Flagstaff is a wonderful place to live and one of those wonders is the orthopedic services available in our community.

P.S. If you go on this adventure, I strongly suggest attending the two-hour pre-surgery class several weeks in advance of your trip. It was very helpful.

Here's an opportunity for Flagstaff citizens to talk with the Mayor, Council Members, and City Staff. There will be displays and information. A job fair! Kids activity area! Heavy equipment will be on display. Voter Registration! Free food and drink.

Thursday, October 2

4 p.m. to 7 p.m.

Flagstaff City Hall

211 W. Aspen Avenue.

"The Peaks" by Joe Sumner

The annual Flagstaff Festival of Science kicks off ten days of events on Friday night at Northern Arizona University’s Ardrey Auditorium. A very special keynote speaker, Richard Preston, Ph.D, will lead the audience into the depths of biological science using his gift for story-telling to entertain. Preston is the author of the New York Times best-seller, The Hot Zone, about the outbreaks of disease caused by rare and lethal viruses. The event begins at 7 p.m.

Friday and Saturday night, you can enjoy an outdoor movie at Fort Tuthill. For selections and times, visit http://www.arizonaroadshow.com/.

Friday night, you’ll find a selection of Presidential Debate parties around Flagstaff.

The excitement of the Flagstaff Festival of Science continues with Science in the Park on Saturday, at Wheeler Park in downtown Flagstaff, in downtown Flagstaff, from 10:00 a.m. to 2 p.m. There are numerous events throughout the weekend. For a complete schedule of festival events, visit: Zoom into Science!

Meanwhile, down the street at Heritage Square on Saturday afternoon, you’ll find Ethnic Food, Song and Dance, an event to promote the ethnic diversity of the City of Flagstaff.

Experience a very special new exhibit at the Coconino Center for the Arts on Saturday night with the opening reception of Night Visions III, an exhibition celebrating the beauty and mythology of the night sky in honor of 50 years of night sky protection in Flagstaff.

Right in my backyard, on Sunday, experience hands-on archaeology at Elden Pueblo Public Day.  The public is invited to participate at the Elden Pueblo Ruins Site, where you can enjoy a site tour, actual excavations, artifact analysis, atlatl and rabbit stick throw. 10:00 a.m.-4:00 p.m., tours at 10 a.m., noon and 2:00 p.m. Free. For more information, call 928-527-3452

There is a lot more going on in Flagstaff this weekend, from music to sports. Check it out at the Arizona Daily Sun Community Calendar.

To buy or sell Flagstaff real estate, contact Team Heitland at RE/MAX Peak Properties!

Flagstaff's very active branch of the American Association of University Women (AAUW) will hold its first luncheon meeting of the Fall this Friday at the Sizzler at Fanning and Route 66, where members and guests will enjoy the main salad and taco bar while meeting in a private room adjacent to the main dining room. The speaker on Friday is Flagstaff Mayor Sara Presler, who was elected in April and took office in late June. Mayor Presler will kick-off this year’s monthly series of AAUW program lunches, which will focus on the theme “Opportunities in Flagstaff.” There will be a short membership meeting where plans for the year will be announced and where you can voice your ideas for the direction of our branch. The meeting begins at 11:30 a.m.

The American Association of University Women promotes equity for all women and girls, lifelong education, and positive societal change. Locally, the Flagstaff branch provides scholarships to certain women students who are attending Coconino Community College. The Flagstaff branch of AAUW meets each month during the school year for a Friday lunch (except in December, when we brunch on a Saturday). Many of the branch members also meet throughout the year for an informal monthly Breakfast at Brandy's. The luncheon meetings usually include a small amount of business and a formal speaker. AAUW has sponsored a number of public forums for issues affecting our community, including several candidate forums which are co-sponsored with the League of Women Voters.

Members of the AAUW Flagstaff Branch include attorneys, teachers, professors, researchers, photographers, social workers, office managers, nurses, librarians, business owners, Realtors^®, counselors, a minister, a veterinarian, and an investment representative. Men as well as women are welcome to join and one of our most active members is male. Our members have degrees in forestry, education, philosophy, wildlife ecology, Quaternary studies, law, international relations, psychology, and government. . . to name only a few of many diverse fields. Among our members, 29% have a doctorate and 35% have a master's degree as the highest degree earned.  Everyone else has a bachelor’s degree.  In all, nearly 60 different colleges and universities are represented among our Flagstaff branch members.

Attend a meeting to learn more about our activities and membership!

Take advantage of the beautiful Flagstaff weather and our beautiful views and drive around for the Open Studios art tour this weekend. You'll see local Flagstaff artists at work in their own studios in town and outside of town. Click here to download a full tour map.

If music is what you want, you can have it right downtown, outdoors, and benefit Northland Family Help Center at the same time. Bring your family, friends and neighbors to this free, day-long celebration on Saturday with live music, kid’s activities and much more! The concert is in the parking lot west of Flagstaff City Hall and begins at 11 a.m. and will end at 7 p.m. Michelle Shocked will take the stage at 4:30 p.m.

The Summit Fire Department (which covers the Northeast Rural areas of Flagstaff) took the Fort Valley Fire District under its experienced and competent wing over two years ago. Originally seen by some as a training experience for the Fort Valley Fire District Board, the current intergovernmental agreement has Summit providing all operational and administrative services to Fort Valley (with a full crew stationed on that side of the mountain). Fort Valley has been paying Summit under a cost-plus 4% contract.

The Summit and Fort Valley Fire District boards are now recommending that the two districts formally merge. For those of us living in the Northeast Rural area, this is important because if a fire starts near Fort Valley, the winds are likely to bring it quickly through Schultz Pass. The public will have the opportunity to ask questions of the Summit staff and administration at two different times and locations on Saturday:

            9:00 A.M.         Fort Valley Station #37 at 5500 N. Fort Valley Road

            Noon         Summit Station 32 at 8905 N. Koch Field Road

_________________________

The City of Flagstaff Diversity Awareness Commission will hold a public forum at Thomas Elementary School, beginning at 2 p.m.  The purpose of the hearing is to obtain public input on an Ordinance that would prohibit discrimination in the City of Flagstaff in employment, housing, public accommodations and education based on age, race, color, creed, religion, national origin, ancestry, disability, marital status, sex, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, or physical characteristic. This proposal would add gender identity or expression and sexual orientation as categories entitled to equal rights protection.

RE/MAX International Supports the Susan G. Komen Fund

Elayne comes to Flagstaff each year to enjoy our weather and visit her Flagstaff family, while trying to avoid hurricanes in Florida where she lives. Elayne is a big supporter of the Susan G. Komen cancer research fund, so I showed her my blog and the post about my walk in Las Vegas last March. So, Elayne wrote a poem about my Flagstaff real estate team:

Elizabeth Schulze - New FSO Artistic Director

The Flagstaff Symphony Orchestra opens its season Thursday night at 7:30 with the debut of Elizabeth Schulze as Artistic Director and conductor for the evening. Schultz won the season-long competition of conductors last year and her appointment was announced in April. Those who had the privilege of seeing her audition last fall have eagerly anticipated her return. Season ticket holders might miscue because the performance has been scheduled atypically for Thursday evening instead of Friday.

Guest performer of the evening will be Violinist Steven Moeckel, who is concert master of the Tucson Symphony Orchestra. Moeckel will perform Sibelius: Violin Concerto in D Minor, Op. 47.

Other items on the opening program are Hector Berlioz’s Roman Carnival Overture, Op. 9 and Tchaikovsky’s Symphony #4.

For tickets and venue information: Flagstaff Symphony Orchestra.

See you there! 

There is nothing like Fall in Flagstaff and this weekend will give us beautiful mountain weather. Bluegrass music fans will make the most of it with the Pickin’ in the Pines music festival at Pine Mountain Amphitheatre. Campers at Fort Tuthill and other visitors to Flagstaff, as well as local residents, will enjoy music workshops and performances by a host of Bluegrass and acoustic performers. For tickets, schedule of performances and all other information, visit: pickininthepines.org.

Another lively annual event will occur a few miles away in downtown Flagstaff and Wheeler Park. It’s the Toys for Tots bed race and family fun day. Events from 9 am to 4 pm of Saturday and 10 am to 3 pm on Sunday.

Just down the street in Flagstaff’s Thorpe Park, on both Saturday and Sunday, you’ll find the Northern Arizona Sustainable Living Fair. Live music, exhibits and workshop. The keynote speaker, on Sunday at 12:30 p.m. is Frances Moore Lape, author of Diet for a Small Planet. 

This is a beautiful time of year to just take a hike in Flagstaff or the surrounding mountains. To enjoy a guided nature hike, join other interested people at Hart Prairie on Sunday at 10:00 a.m. Call 928-774-8892 Ext. 5 for directions and information.

If you'd like to buy or sell Flagstaff real estate, give us a call: Team Heitland at RE/MAX Peak Properties.

The Stoneridge townhomes homeowners hold an annual meeting to elect the board of directors for the homeowners association which sets policy, determines the budget, and supervises the property manager for the townhome association. This year, the annual meeting will take place September 24 at 5:30 p.m. at Marc Caro Property Management, 323 S. River Run in Flagstaff.

All homeowners are invited to attend and voice their opinions about the management of the association as well as vote to elect directors. There are two open director positions. Any homeowner is eligible to become a member of the board.

It’s time again for First Friday Artwalk in Flagstaff. Downtown will be filled with strollers and art fans Friday night. The weekly outdoor movie at Heritage Square will be one of my Disney favorites Lady and the Tramp.

Route 66 Days celebrates “the Mother Road” with a fabulous car show and many other events on Saturday and Sunday in and around Wheeler Park in downtown Flagstaff.

If you are up for a drive out of town, cruise up to the South Rim of the Grand Canyon on Friday or Saturday night for the first concert of the 25th Season of the Grand Canyon Music Festival. The music begins at 7:30 p.m. 

Northern Arizona University football opens its season at the NAU Skydome with kickoff at 3:05 p.m. Flagstaff’s mayor will issue a proclamation suggesting that everyone wear NAU blue as they enjoy Flagstaff’s weekend.

The concert series Americana and The Great Beyond features Terri Hendrix at The Arboretum at Flagstaff Saturday night, with music beginning at 5:30 p.m. For cost and venue details, click here.

Have a great weekend in Flagstaff – our weather will be beautiful!

If you want to buy or sell Flagstaff real estate, give us a call: Team Heitland at RE/MAX Peak Properties.

The Ponderosa Trails Homeowners Association will hold its annual Neighborhood Barbeque & Movie in the Park on Sunday, September 14. This event was postponed from July because of our Flagstaff monsoon season. Save the date now!

An outdoor movie will conclude the evening – Aladdin. (Having recently spent time with my grandkids, I can personally recommend this one for all ages.) Bring a blanket and lawn chair to enjoy the movie.

The barbeque begins at 6 p.m. and the movie at 7 p.m. Barbecue beef and pork, soft drinks and the movie will be provided at no charge. Please bring a side dish and your own chairs.
 
Location is the neighborhood park: Ponderosa Trails Park

If you have any questions, please call Mike Hutchins at 928-773-0690.