Flagstaff, AZ:
Riordan Mansion State Historic Park, 409 W Riordan Rd. 928-779-4395
These events are free and open to the public.

Please note that we are now on our Summer hours, open daily 8:30a.m. - 5:00p.m. with tours beginning at 9:00a.m. and continuing throughout the day at the top of the hour, the last tour of the day is always 4:00p.m.

Evening Slide Presentation Series, 7pm RSVP Free!
(Program is Free. Reservations are recommended due to limited availability.)
May 31 Everett Ruess
Steve Yoder, Executive Director, The Arboretum at Flagstaff One of the Colorado Plateau’s most intriguing personalities, Everett Ruess was an artist who wandered the canyons, deserts, and forests of the region in search of beauty and adventure. In 1934, at the age of 20, he vanished from a remote gulch near what is now Lake Powell. The events surrounding his departure remain a mystery. Join Steve Yoder on a photographic journey that follows Everett into to the heart of a land that has changed little since his disappearance.

Jun 7 Where a Soul May Speak Aloud: Sharlot Hall and the Arizona Strip
Rose Houk, Flagstaff Author
Sharlot Hall and hired guide Al Doyle departed in July of 1911 for a trip through the remote lands north of the Grand Canyon and forged westward to small Mormon towns in Utah and down through Nevada. Seventy-five days and a thousand miles later, their trip ended. Re-travel their route with Rose Houk as she relives the journey with the words from Sharlot Hall’s own diary, and photos by renowned photographer Michael Collier.

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On-Going Series of Brown Bag Lunch Lectures, 2nd Tuesday of Each Month 12:15pm, Free!
Jun 10 Flagstaff’s First Twenty Years: Building Community on the Railroad Line
Kathy Farretta, M.A., Riordan Mansion State Historic Park Many different people chose to move West, some sought opportunities to increase their financial stability, others left behind unpleasant circumstances and hoped to get a fresh start in a new place, and some just wanted adventure. However, just because people lived in remote areas, did not mean they were isolated from the rest of the country. In Flagstaff, located on the transcontinental rail line, they had trains, the telegraph, and even newspapers, which connected them to the news of the day. They brought their values and social structures with them and worked to recreate the society they had left behind in the East. With these ideas in mind, they worked together to create the community of Flagstaff.

Flagstaff, AZ: Coconino Center for the Arts, 2300 North Fort Valley Road
Saturday, June 7th at 8pm.

ArcheDream for HUMANKIND (ADHK) is a multi-disciplinary dance theatre that uses hand-painted masks & costumes to inspire and empower. Using dance, music, multimedia and visual arts, ADHK creates innovative performances and workshops that entertain and impact communities.

There are too many activities at the Center to list here, but be sure to click on this link and go to their website for more information.

Flagstaff, AZ: May 31 - June 1st
Presentation of wool spinning and machine and hand shearing of sheep, goats, alpacas. 10am to 4pm - FREE! Call 928-774-6272 for more information.

Flagstaff, AZ: May 23, 2008 - So, yesterday, the deer were in my yard, grazing (on my plants!) in the sunshine. And today, we’re waking up to snow! What’s going on? I thought we were experiencing global warming?

There is no better way to appreciate Flagstaff’s rich history and culture than to experience it firsthand. Beginning May 23, the CVB will offer Historic Walking Tours of downtown Flagstaff every Friday at 3:00 p.m. and Saturday and Sunday at 10:30 a.m. through August 31.

The tour is free and open to the public. They will begin at the Flagstaff Visitor Center in the historic train station located at One E. Route 66. Reservations recommended, call 928-774-9541.

It’s Spring, and the Arboretum at Flagstaff has a lot going on.
Join an entomologist from 9:30 a.m. to noon at the “Live Bug Zoo” in the classroom of Horticulture Center on Saturday, May 24 for an opportunity to get a close-up look at tarantulas, Madagascar hissing cockroaches, emperor scorpions, and many more creepy-crawlies. Robert Delph will remove a selection of arthropods from their cages to share with visitors while he explains their unique habits and roles in the environment.

Saturdays, 7:30 - 9:00 a.m. May - July & September.
Free of charge.

Members of the Audubon Society will once again lead Saturday morning birdwalks through the gardens of The Arboretum. The walks are free and meet at 7:30 a.m. every Saturday, May through July and in September as well, when a large variety of migrating birds pass through northern Arizona.

Come face to face with hawks, owls, falcons and other raptors at The Arboretum every day from April-October. Educational programs take place at 12:00 and 2:00 p.m. each day.

On each full moon, May through August, Arboretum staff and bat expert Brian Keeley will guide you and your family in an exploration of bats. We will gather at 6:30 p.m. for an introductory slide presentation before venturing out into the garden where we will observe resident bats at dusk. Learn about echolocation, feeding habits and roosting preferences. A live bat, if available, will be on hand for viewing up close. Children’s activities include bat-themed crafts and stories. Pack a brown bag dinner and enjoy a twilight picnic in the Garden.

For more events and goings on at the Arboretum, visit their website or call 928-774-1442.

A Protected Night Sky Over Flagstaff
Credit and Copyright: Dan & Cindy Duriscoe, FDSC, Lowell Obs., USNO

Flagstaff, AZ: The world’s first lighting ordinance was passed on April 15, 1958 by Flagstaff City Council. It banned advertising search lights that threatened to mar the night sky for professional astronomers. 2008 marks the 50th anniversary of that historic event and the beginning of the dark skies movement that is reducing unnecessary light pollution in many parts of the world.

On October 24th, 2001, the International Dark-Sky Association (IDA) designated the City of Flagstaff as the world’s first “International Dark-Sky City.”

The current dark skies over Flagstaff not only enable local astronomers to decode the universe but allow local sky enthusiasts to see and enjoy a tepestry contemplated previously by every human generation. This image, pointing just east of north, was taken a few weeks ago at 3am from Fort Valley, only 10K from central Flagstaff. Visible in the above spectacular panorama are the San Francisco Peaks caped by a lenticular cloud. Far in the distance, the plane of the Milky Way Galaxy arcs diagonally from the lower left to the upper right, highlighted by the constellations of Cassiopeia, Cepheus, and Cygnus.

For more information about our Dark Skies visit the website. Also, you can download this really cool picture for your screensaver here.

Flagstaff, AZ: Bike to Work Week is May 11th-May 16th, 2008!

FBO has sponsored Bike to Work Week in Flagstaff since 2002. We want to remind all you bike owners out there to dust off your ride, register your workplace and prepare to flood the streets, paths, and bike lanes, with fun loving cyclists. But don’t save your bike just for a week in May–Flagstaff’s fine climate allows biking much of the year!

Bike to work week demonstrates the tremendous potential Flagstaff’s population has to make a difference by commuting by bicycle. We can make that difference count more and more by bike commuting more often. Let’s keep the FUTS trails busy with cyclists and make every week Bike To Work Week.

Fun events all week long, so make sure you visit the website for what’s going on.

Sunday, May 11th, Flagstaff, AZ: 11:00 a.m., and 1:00 p.m.; Raptor program. Noon, and 2:00 p.m. ‘Mother Nature’ welcoming all mothers with a special gift. 9:00 a.m-1:00 p.m. 928-774-1442 . thearb.org

On-Going Series of Brown Bag Lunch Lectures, 2nd Tuesday of Each Month 12:15pm, Free!
Note: Our May Lecture is in Celebration of National Historic Preservation Month May 13, 2008 Cutting-edge Research: The Colton Research Center of MNA Donovan Wood and Morgan O’Connor, Northern Arizona University students The Museum of Northern Arizona stands as the high-profile monument to the efforts of Dr. and Mrs. Harold S. Colton but there is, quite literally, another side to the museum that few visitors ever see. In recognition of National Historic Preservation Month, we explore the history of the Colton Research Center from its earliest beginnings as a ranch and experimental farm to its transformation into a premier resource facility for research of the Colorado Plateau. Learn about the efforts now underway to preserve the historic architecture of the center towards practical use for a new generation of research and discovery.

Donovan Wood is majoring in History at Northern Arizona University. He has been a full-time resident of Flagstaff for four years and currently serves on the Board of Directors for Theatrikos Theatre Company.

Morgan O’Connor is a recent graduate of the Department of Geography, Planning and Recreation at Northern Arizona University. Having never seen an historic structure he could not appreciate or a survey form he could not conquer, Morgan continues his quest to make certain that every last living soul in earshot will know the treasure that “the coops” really are. *****************************************************************
Evening Slide Presentation Series, 7pm RSVP Free!
(Program is Free. Reservations are recommended due to limited availability.) May 31 Everett Ruess Steve Yoder, Executive Director, The Arboretum at Flagstaff One of the Colorado Plateau’s most intriguing personalities, Everett Ruess was an artist who wandered the canyons, deserts, and forests of the region in search of beauty and adventure. In 1934, at the age of 20, he vanished from a remote gulch near what is now Lake Powell. The events surrounding his departure remain a mystery. Join Steve Yoder on a photographic journey that follows Everett into to the heart of a land that has changed little since his disappearance.