Tempe Conventions & Visitors Bureau

We might not have water in our lake, but there’s no doubt the beer will be flowing this weekend! Imported beer, bratwursts, strudel, music, dancing and sunshine….sounds like there is no better way to start off the new month than at Tempe’s Oktoberfest.

Now in its 38^th year, this popular festival will feature imports of Regensburg which is one of the 10 Tempe Sister Cities. This non-profit organization provides student and educator exchange programs for residents of Tempe, Arizona. All proceeds from this event will help fund the program.

There will be a Polka dance floor, multiple entertainment stages, beer gardens, and carnival rides as well as a kinderfest kid zone area! This festival is great for everyone and all ages.

October 1st-3rd

FREE Admission

Tempe Beach Park, 80 w. Rio Salado Parkway.

(Located at Mill/3^rd Light rail stop)

tempeoktoberfest.com  

Also, check out the first annual Das Foot Race. Join in on a 5k run/walk at Tempe Town Lake Saturday morning October 2. Participants receive a free t-shirt, a beverage coupon, and a 22oz mug!

Fall has officially begun, which means the weekends will be full of fun events. If you’re visiting Tempe, one of the must see attractions is Desert Botanical Garden, located in Papago Park. This scenic destination is lovely anytime of the year, but upcoming Garden events like the Beer Garden, Music in the Garden series and the monarch butterfly exhibit, make it even better.

Tonight, Friday, September 24, is the debut of the new Beer Garden event. From 6-10 pm, beer and bratwurst loving patrons can enjoy 10 4 oz. beer samples, live entertainment and German food. A separate dinner ticket can be purchased, or you can enjoy tasty concessions along the cactus-lined trails. Guests can samples tasty ales from brew pubs like Tempe’s own Four Peaks Brewery, Mogollon Brewing Company and Blue Moon Brewing Company.

Tickets are $50 for Garden members or $55 for the general public. Dinner tickets are an additional $25.

For more information, please visit http://dbg.org/shop/events-exhibitions/beer-garden.

Next weekend kicks off the much-anticipated Music in the Garden fall concert series. Desert Botanical Garden provides a beautiful backdrop for Friday evening concerts from 7-9 pm. The first show on October 1 features Fuerza Caribe, a hot salsa band that is sure to get the crowd on their feet. The series runs through November 12. For more info, please visit http://dbg.org/events-exhibitions/music-in-the-garden.

And ongoing, don’t miss the Mariposa Monarca Monarch Butterfly Exhibit from September 25 through November 14. You can actually walk through the butterfly habitat and learn about their annual migration. http://dbg.org/events-exhibitions/mariposa-monarca-monarch-butterfly-exhibit

Break out your tutus! One of my favorite events will be at Tempe Beach Park this Friday at 7 p.m. — Ballet Arizona’s Ballet Under the Stars. For the 13th year, our fantastic local ballet company will bring its talented dancers to parks throughout metro Phoenix. The amphitheater near Tempe Center for the Arts in Tempe Beach Park will be home to a stage, lighting, ballerinas in costume and of course, beautiful Arizona weather on Friday night.

This is a perfect way to introduce children to ballet for the first time. The outdoor setting is less formal than a regular performance, but that’s part of the fun. The dancing is always superb and ranges from classical to contemporary pieces. Ballet Arizona presents this series free of charge.

Get there early to grab a good spot on the lawn. If you miss Friday’s performance in Tempe, there is another show at Steele Indian School Park in Phoenix on Saturday evening.

For more information, please visit http://www.balletaz.org/index.taf?mnid=community&smid=1124368127.

 I listen to NPR Morning Edition while I’m getting ready for work.  Recently, I was so transfixed by this beautiful essay titled The Civilizations Buried Beneath Us that I had to stop what I was doing and just listen. The essay, by Craig Childs, is a lovely description of the Hohokam civilization that was here a thousand years ago and how much of it remains, beneath and above the surface today.  

Mr. Childs is the author of the book Finders Keepers: A Tail of Archaeological Plunder and Obsession.  Phoenix is his hometown and it’s quite obvious that he has a deep reverence for what was here before and still remains of the Hohokam. He’s making a map of the expansive Hohokam city buried beneath Phoenix, matching it to grids of modern streets. To accomplish this daunting task, he rides his bicycle across Phoenix in search of subtle evidence of what remains of this sprawling, ancient society.

The essay was very short and I was sorry when it ended.  But, thanks to the internet and the NPR archives, I can hear and read it again whenever I like.  You can too by following this link: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=128778236.  You can also visit Pueblo Grande Museum to learn more about the Hohokam people.

I just read an article in the East Valley Tribune about something that I think is so totally Tempe. For one day only, on Friday, September 17, metered parking spaces along Mill Avenue will be repurposed by ASU landscape architecture students into miniature parks from 10 am to 5 pm.

 It’s actually part of an annual worldwide event cleverly called, “PARK(ing) Day,” in which citizens are invited to temporarily transform parking spaces into public parks, art galleries, demonstration gardens, free health clinics and just about anything that inspires them.

 You can read more about it in the article.  Once you’ve read the article, I think you’ll have to come see for yourself.  I’m totally intrigued and am looking forward to a stroll down Mill Avenue to see how the parking paradigm can be shifted by creative people who see something more than just asphalt white lines and those annoying  meters.

Stone Temple Pilots, Weezer, Sublime and Devo…no, these are not just the bands that I’d love to hear on my iPod. They’re all performing at this weekend’s Arizona Fall Frenzy at Tempe Beach Park! This is the second year for this incredible line up of live music. Tickets are available in advance or at the door.

Stone Temple Pilots, with Scott Weiland at the helm, will headline on Friday night, September 17. Shinedown, The Cult and Sevendust round out the bill. Gates open at 4 pm.

On Saturday the 18th, gates open at 11 am and the music starts about noon. Bands include Dirty Heads, Blue October, Devo (Whip it…whip it good!), Primus, Sublime with Rome Ramirez and the headliner: Weezer.

On Sunday, September 19, head bangers will be in full glory as the Arizona Fall Frenzy shifts to the Rockstar Energy Drink Uproar Festival. Disturbed, Avenged Sevenfold and others will rock the crowd.

For more information, visit www.arizonafallfrenzy.com.

With the weather cooling down, now’s the perfect time to start enjoying our Tempe, Arizona evenings, so why not try something fun and different?

Thursday Night Market offers the opportunity for locals to sell or purchase local produce. Local food growers and vendors set up shop every Thursday night starting on September 16^th from 5:00pm-8:00pm to sell their wares.  Produce isn’t where the fun ends… there are also local artists, live musicians and fun activities offered for the whole family!

What’s unique and different about this year’s season of Thursday Night Market is its new and exciting location. The Tempe Urban Garden, located on the SW corner of 5^th street & Forest, will host this weekly event. There are more than 20 varieties of plants, herbs, and produce growing in the garden. This garden gives Valley chefs and the community access to locally grown, organic produce and ingredients. This volunteer based project is thought of as bringing communities together to benefit from not only eating fresh but also enhancing a more environmentally conscious and sustainable movement.

There will be much to see this Thursday evening around Mill Avenue along with great opportunity to grab fresh ingredients for a perfect dinner that came right from Downtown Tempe’s backyard. This is also a great way to involve  your kids. Eat local, eat fresh, show your support and be involved in your community!

Tempe Urban Garden

You can feel the excitement in the air in Tempe, Arizona…it’s Sun Devil football season once again! There are two home games this month, Saturday the 11th vs. NAU and Saturday the 25th vs. Oregon. As I bought a brand new Sun Devil gold t-shirt today, I wondered what other pre-game traditions fans enjoy. For me, it’s about acquiring a few new ASU duds and reviewing the lyrics to the fight song that I can never seem to remember. What about you, Sun Devil fans? Is an ASU football game not complete without a trip to The Chuckbox? Or, maybe cocktails at Monti’s La Casa Vieja? Do you tailgate with your closest friends? Get a photo taken with Sparky? We’d love to hear from you!

Tempe is blessed with some amazing choices in theatre ranging from Tony Award-winning Broadway musicals at ASU Gammage to edgy alternative productions of Stray Cat Theatre to award-winning theatre for children presented by Childsplay, which opens this month at the Tempe Center for the Arts with A Year with Frog and Toad.

 A Year with Frog and Toad is the Tony Award-winning family musical about two pals who prove that, while seasons come and go, true friendship can weather all kinds of weather and snail mail.  It’s a feast for the eyes and ears with gorgeous costumes, sets and music.  And, like all Childsplay productions, it’s as much fun for adults as it is for kids.

Childsplay productions are always perfection. They are so professionally done, so beautifully rendered that anyone of any age will find them spellbinding and unforgettable. I took my picky teenage daughter to A Year with Frog and Toad when Childsplay presented it several years ago.  As you can imagine, she was not real enthusiastic about accompanying her mother, of all people, to a performance aimed at a young audience. Yes, I got the big eye-role and audible groans when I told her she was going with me because I wanted to see it and knew it would be lots of fun. Guess what.  She loved it.

 A Year with Frog and Toad will run September 18-October 16.  The remainder of the season will see the return of such favorites as: Junie B. in Jingle Bells, Batman Smells!, November 20-December 24; Go, Dog. Go!, January 29-March 6; The Imaginators, April 9 to 17; The Borrowers, April 30 to May 22.

If you haven’t treated yourself to a Childsplay production, it’s high time you did, with or without a little or big kid.  It’s pure pleasure for all ages.