Printable VersionPHOENIX — A yearlong run-up to the 100th anniversary of Arizona statehood comes to a head during the next few days at the Capitol and in events across the state.
Current Gov. Jan Brewer then headlines an official Happy Birthday ceremony. The U.S. Postal Service will issue its Arizona centennial stamp, and singer Wayne Newton — who lived in Phoenix as a teen — will perform at 2 p.m.
Over the weekend, the Arizona Centennial Commission’s largest event — called Arizona Best Fest — fills a 10-block area east of the Capitol grounds with a mix of old and new, from wineries and craft beer areas to a western town and American Indian village. Entertainment includes concerts topped by the Gin Blossoms on Saturday and George Benson on Sunday.
Admission is free, and organizers expect tens of thousands of people to attend each day.
The area along Washington Street east of the capitol has been redone using $7 million in federal highway improvement funds and a small city match, Arizona Centennial Commission executive director Karen Churchard said.
The improvements include expanded sidewalks, enhanced with pedestrian friendly lighting. Utilities have been moved underground, and highway signs blocking the view of the historic Capitol museum were removed.
Between 7th and 15th avenues along renamed Centennial Way, large Arizona-themed shade structures have been built and markets for the state’s counties and Indian tribes installed.
The commission envisioned three of the “Best Fest” events in the months before the centennial — one each for Prescott, Tucson and Phoenix. Prescott’s was held in September, and Tucson’s was planned for November and later moved to January.
But the event never came to pass. Instead, Tucson will celebrate the centennial starting Friday with events in downtown organized around its regular 2nd Saturdays Downtown event.
“It was a combination of not necessarily being on the same page with them, and our truth in that we were challenged with raising funds,” Churchard said of the Tucson cancellation. “So between the combination, we literally ran out of time to pull off an event down there.”
Centennial day festivities big and small also will be held in Prescott, Flagstaff and other towns and cities across the state. The events range from a centennial-themed weekend of concerts and other events in downtown Tucson to free admission to Grand Canyon and other national parks on Feb. 14 and a Statehood Day event in Prescott where former schoolchildren who placed items in a time capsule in 1962 reassemble to reveal the contents.
The events this year are less flashy than what planners envisioned just a few years ago. At that time, they expected to have about $35 million in public and private funds to spend on events.
Instead, they’ve largely turned to private donations amid a state budget crisis that stripped it of taxpayer money.
The commission was able to raise about $6 million in cash from private donors and corporate sponsors, plus about $4 million in donated services, Churchard said.
The commission wasn’t able to fund many events around the state, but worked with local, county, and tribal governments and private groups to sanction their events. Working on a model developed for Oklahoma’s 2007 centennial celebration, Churchard said local events were encouraged to tailor their themes to the centennial.
“We reached out to everybody and said look, this has got to be a grass roots effort, we encourage you to be officially sanctioned as an official centennial event or as an Arizona Historical Advisory Commission legacy project,” Churchard said. “Unfortunately we won’t be able to help fund it, but we really encourage you to do it.
“And I’m happy to tell you that we have over 400 legacy and official centennial events that either have happened or will happen in the coming year all across the state of Arizona.”
Hundreds of lectures, concerts, and yearly events across the state incorporated the centennial theme this year, helping spread the word to the state’s 6.4 million residents.
They’ll continue through the year, but those in the coming days are the pinnacle of the celebration.
Online:
Arizona Centennial Commission: http://www.az100years.org/
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