On March 29 – 31, the 2012 Highland Jazz Festival takes place, right here in sunny Gilbert, Arizona.

What is the Highland Jazz Festival?

A three day event for regional high school Jazz bands. Over 1,800 students will have a chance to work with some of the top jazz clinicians in the country; learning and honing their craft.

Pubic concerts will be held on Friday and Saturday night that will include top high school students, the ASU Concert Jazz Band and two world class jazz musicians — John Fedchock and Joe Levano — will perform.

It is not often that one can hear Grammy Award nominated and winning jazz artists perform live right here in the Town of Gilbert. Tickets for either (or both) nights can be purchased here.

Corporate / Business sponsorships are also available here.

Where does the money go?

Ticket sales and sponsorships allow 1,800 high school jazz students representing over 45 jazz bands and combos from across the southwest to partake in a jazz clinic that is second to none. The festival is also one of the primary source of funds for the Highland High School band program.

Those are some pretty good causes…

Contest! Win Free Tickets or Sponsorship!

Thompson’s Realty has been a proud sponsor of both the previous Highland Jazz Festivals and will be sponsoring the 2012 event as well.

This year we are also going to hold a little contest where you, oh avid reader, can win concert tickets or a sponsorship (Louis Armstrong Level) — your choice.

Ooh, free stuff! How do I win you may be asking yourself.

It’s easy. There are four, count ‘em four ways you can enter the contest.

1) Tweet this Click that link (or the image below) and you will Tweet out this message:

2) Click the Facebook “Like” button at the top or bottom of this post.

3) “Like” the Highland Jazz Festival Facebook page.

[Update: Ack. I can only see who Liked this post or the Jazz Fest page if we are Facebook friends. So if you Like either, just say so in the comments. Honor system people, it's for the children...]

4) Leave a comment below. Any comment will do. Groveling and begging to be selected won’t matter, though it might prove entertaining.

Do any one of those things, and you’ll be entered in the random drawing. Do all four, and you’ll get four entries in the drawing. Do two, get two entries. Heck, you can even do three and get three entries… Feel free to Tweet, share, spread the word as often as you like, but you only get one entry per activity. (So, while you can in theory Tweet about the festival 10,000 times, you will not get 10,000 entries in the drawing. Capiche?)

Contest entries end Feb 1 at Midnight Mountain time.

What do you win?

Your choice. Either:

Two tickets to Friday or Saturday’s Guest Artist Concert (up to $40 value)

or

One Louis Armstrong Level event sponsorship. ($50 value)

Easy peasy! Do it. Enter the contest. It’s for a great cause. And thanks!

• Open Letter to the Gilbert School Board: On Music Education
• The Final Season
• 2nd Annual Highland Jazz Festival. Support music in Phoenix area schools!
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Originally posted on Phoenix Real Estate Guy. If you are reading this anywhere but inside your RSS feed reader, the site you are on is guilty of stealing content.

Up first is housing vacancy rates for the Phoenix metro area. Why vacancy rates? Well, this is a real estate blog after all, and vacancy rates (the number/percentage of homes that are unoccupied) are of interest to some. Likely of little interest to many but hey, you can’t please everyone…

Here is a table showing the percentage of vacant homes for various locations in the Phoenix Metro area:

What Does It Mean?

After the meteoric rise in the Phoenix real estate market circa 2005 – 2007, and the subsequent torpedoing from 2007 forward, it’s not surprising the percentage of vacant homes generally increased from 2000 to 2010. Only Apache Junction, El Mirage, and Surprise showed a decrease in vacancy rates from 2000 to 2010. Maricopa and Queen Creek took the biggest percentage increases in vacancies – again no surprise given those outlying areas have been hammered the hardest during the market downturn.

The year 2000 was by almost any definition a “normal real estate market”. It would be interesting to see vacancy rates during the peak of the frenzy, but the census is only conducted once every 10 years, and I don’t know where else to find this data. So we’re left to assume during that time vacancy rates were pretty low. I think that’s a safe assumption given how fast homes were flying off the market, along with the general lack of foreclosures and short sales in that time period.

But that’s past history and really neither here nor there. In the mean time, we can see that there is a pretty significant number of empty homes sitting around out there.

Here are the actual numbers from the 2010 census. In 2000 they used sampling rather than “100% data” so there’s no point in showing those numbers.

Yep, there are apparently almost a quarter of a million homes sitting around the Valley devoid of humans. Why then is it so difficult then to find a place to rent? Some of those vacancies, and I have no idea how many, are second/vacation homes. But that certainly doesn’t account for 16.2% of the homes out there. Some, like my neighbors house, are just sitting empty waiting to hit the foreclosure auction. Again, I have no idea how many fall into that category, though my neighbor mailed in his keys in April of 2010. Yes, it’s been sitting there on the lenders books for 15 months. But that’s another blog post.

Hard to believe that one out of five homes in the Phoenix area is vacant…

If you want to check out census data for your area, go here. We’ll share more in the somewhat near future.

Update 7/19/2011: When I first published this, I had typo’ed the number of vacant homes on Peoria, erroneously reporting there were 77,361 vacancies. That number is actually 7,361. This has been corrected in the table as well as the summary. Sorry for any confusion!

• Real Estate Charts of the Day: Phoenix Listing Inventory Dropping, Sales Rising
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Originally posted on Phoenix Real Estate Guy. If you are reading this anywhere but inside your RSS feed reader, the site you are on is guilty of stealing content.

I’ve attempted to collect information of Fourth of July fireworks shows in Phoenix and the surrounding area all into one place. I may have missed something (please let me know!), and it is important to double-check with the appropriate venue as to exact times, places and costs. Check the dates carefully! As with last year, due to the 4th of July being near a weekend, some municipalities and venues are having their fireworks shows on the 2nd or 3rd. It would kind of suck to show up on July fourth, only to find you missed the show by a day or two!

Enjoy the fireworks shows, drive safely, and be sure to hydrate — it’s going to be wicked hot…

Phoenix and Tempe Fireworks – The BIG Shows

Fabulous Phoenix Fourth 2011
Where: Steele Indian School Park – 300 E. Indian School Rd.
When: July 4, 2011 from 6pm – 10pm
Admission: Free
Freedom Wireless Fabulous Phoenix Fourth

Tempe Town Lake Festival
Where: Tempe Town Lake in downtown Tempe, Arizona
When: July 4, 2011. Gates open at 4:00pm
Admission: 12 and under are free. Military with ID are free. Advance tickets sold at Fry’s stores for $6. $8 at gate (two for $15) until sold out.
Tempe 4th of July Festival

Both of these events are very accessible via Light Rail and gather huge crowds. Trust me, rail it. Details on the fabulous RailLife Blog.

East Valley Fireworks

Ahwatukee – Red, White and Boom Community Fireworks Celebration 
Where: Ahwatukee Country Club, 12432 S. 48th Street
When: July 3, 2011. Gates open at 6:00pm.
Admission: Free

Apache Junction – 4th of July Hometown Fireworks Celebration
Where: Apache Junction HS Football Stadium, 2525 S. Ironwood Dr.
When: July 4, 2011. Opens at 6:00pm
Admission: Free

Chandler – Chandler’s 4th of July Fireworks Spectacular
Where: Tumbleweed Park, on the Southwest corner of Germann & McQueen roads
When: July 4, 2011.  4:00pm – 10:30pm.
Admission: Free. Parking $5

Chandler – A Star Spangled Shoot Out at Rawhide 
Where: Rawhide. 5700 W. Tham Yog North Loop Road 
When: July 4, 2011. 5:00pm – 11:00pm
Admission: $10. 5 and under free.

Gilbert – Gilbert’s Fire in the Sky
Where: Central Christian Church (with two alternate viewing locations, see website link above)
When: July 4, gates open at 6:00pm
Admission: Non-perishable food item donations.

Mesa – Arizona Celebration of Freedom
Where: Downtown Mesa
When: July 2, 2011. 6:00pm – 10:00pm (events are also the evening of July 1, but I don’t *think* there are fireworks that night)
Admission: Free

Scottsdale – W Scottsdale Celebrates
Where: 7277 East Camelback Road
When: July 4, 2011. 8:00pm – 2:00am
Admission: Unknown… tickets not on sale yet that I could find. Try calling the hotel at 480-970-2100

Scottsdale – Salt River Fields Independence Day Music Festival
Where: Salt River Fields at Talking Stick
When: July 3, 2011. Gates open at 5:00pm
Admission:  Tickets start at $18.50

Queen Creek – Queen Creek’s 4th of July Fireworks and Independence Day Celebration  
Where: Schnepf Farms, 22601 E. Cloud Rd
When: July 4, 2011. 5:00pm – 10:00pm.
Admission: $10 per carload

West Valley Fireworks

Avondale – no event scheduled.

Buckeye – Buckeye’s Old Fashioned Fourth of July
Where: Youngker High School, 3000 S. Apache Road
When: July 4, 2011. Gates open at 6pm.
Admission: Free

Glendale – no event scheduled.

Goodyear – Goodyear’s Star Spangled Fourth
Where: Goodyear Ballpark, 1933 S. Ballpark Way
When: July 4, 2011 Gates open at 6:00pm
Admission: Free

Peoria – Lake Pleasant Celebration & Fireworks
Where: Pleasant Harbor at Lake Pleasant. 8708 W. Harbor Blvd.
When: July 3, 2011 5:00pm – 10:00pm
Admission: Free. Parking $10.

Peoria – All American Festival  
Where: Peoria Sports Complex, Mariners Practice Field and Peoria Stadium
When: July 4, 2011. 5:00pm – 10:00pm
Admission: $5 for 13 and up. 12 and under free.

Surprise – Surprise’s Annual July 4th Celebration
Where: Surprise Recreation Campus at 15850 N. Bullard Avenue
When: July 4, 2011. 4:30pm – 8:30pm
Admission: Free with donation of canned food item. First 10,000 ticketed fans only.

Other Locations In and Near Phoenix

Anthem – Anthem Independence Day Celebration
Where: Anthem Community Park Ball Fields
When: July 2, 2011. 6:00pm – 10:00pm.
Admission: Free

Casa Grande – Casa Grande 4th of July Family Fun Day
Where: Paul Mason Sportsplex, 2525 N Rodeo Rd.
When: July 4, 2011. 7:30pm
Admission: Free

Cave Creek – Cave Creek’s Independence Day Fireworks Celebration  
Where: Harold’s Corral, 6895 East Cave Creek Road
When: July 3, 2011. 5:00pm – 11:30pm
Admission: Free. Reservations required.

Litchfield Park – Freedom Festival, Great American Picnic and Fireworks Spectacular  
Where: Wigwam Resort
When: July 3, 2011. 6:00pm – 10:00pm
Admission: $15 for adults. $7 ages 5 –12. Five and under free. Stay packages available.

Maricopa – Great American Barbecue  
Where: Pacana Park. On Porter Road, approximately ¼ mile south of Honeycutt Road
When: July 4, 2011. 6:00pm – 10:00pm
Admission: Free

Maryvale – Light Up the Sky in Maryvale
Where:  Maryvale Baseball park
When: July 1, 2011. 6:30pm – 9:30pm
Admission: Free
For more information call the City of Phoenix at 602 262-6575

Phoenix Zoo – 4th of Zoo-ly Celebration at the Phoenix Zoo
Where: The Phoenix Zoo
When: July 4, 2011. Starts at 7:00pm
Admission: $40 for 13 and up. $35 ages 3 – 12. Two and under free.

Wickenburg – Wickenburg Fireworks & Family Fun Celebration
Where: Sunset Park on West Wickenburg Way
When: July 3, 2011. 7:00pm – 9:00pm
Admission: Free
For more information call the Wickenburg Chamber of Commerce at 928-684-5479

Whew. Compiling this list is a pain in the ass. Hopefully you’ve found what you are looking for. I’m sure I missed some events. Again, please confirm details with the specific event. Three years ago some really pissed off lady called and said I’d wrecked her kids Fourth of July due to “bad information” on my site. I don’t throw the fireworks shows folks. Things change, typos are made, such is life. Confirm before you commit. Do it for the children.

Have fun, be safe, and HAPPY BIRTHDAY U.S of A!!

Photo Credit: Michael | Ruiz on Flickr. CC Licensed.

• Fall Has Arrived in Phoenix!
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Originally posted on Phoenix Real Estate Guy. If you are reading this anywhere but inside your RSS feed reader, the site you are on is guilty of stealing content.

If you aren’t familiar with Ignite, I’ll try to explain it. But it is one of those things that really needs to be experienced in order to fully grasp what it is all about. Ignite 10 was the first time I’ve presented, but I’ve attended all but two previous Ignites and volunteered at several. I’ve talked to a LOT of Ignite attendees and speakers and, without fail, everyone I’ve spoken with has thoroughly enjoyed the event. Trust me, once you go to Ignite, you are hooked. The organizers are superb and the crowd, eclectic as it is, is wonderful. Go, soak it up, enjoy, learn. Just do it.

Here’s the “elevator pitch” from the Ignite Phoenix About page:

Ignite Phoenix is an information exchange for fostering and inspiring Phoenix’s creative community. In one evening, you hear 18 passionate speakers from our creative, technical, and business communities talking about their current projects or favorite ideas for just five minutes. Presentations will educate and inspire you, and maybe make you laugh in the process.

Presentations are in a strict format. You have 20 slides, and 5 minutes. No more, no less. Slides are automatically set to advance every 15 seconds. The speaker has no “clicker” – you’re getting a new slide every 15 seconds whether you are ready for it or not.

On Submitting a Speaking Proposal

I had submitted presentation proposals two previous events, neither of which was chosen. Ignite Phoenix gets a boatload of submissions – 92 for Ignite 10 alone – and since there is only time for 18 presentations, the odds are your submittal won’t get picked.

Do not let that deter you, for I can now attest that presenting at Ignite is an amazing experience. If you submit and aren’t selected, submit again. And again. There is no “theme” to Ignite, the crew making selections is looking for diverse presentations, and things that are interesting. It’s all about your passions. The submittal process is simple, you go to the site and fill out a short form. Space is limited for both a bio and an overview of your presentation.

This is my submittal for Ignite 10:

You can read other submittals on-line to get a better feeling, and here is a great post by Evo Terra on making a good Ignite submission. Read that before you submit a proposal.

On Being Selected

A few weeks after submitting to Ignite 10, I got an email saying I was one of the 18 chosen to present. This was a moment of elation, rapidly followed by thinking, “Oh shit. What have I done?” I had a lot of ideas in my head about how I wanted to craft my presentation, but the reality of being selected smacked me upside the head. I was going to have to stand in front of 850 people and try not to make a complete fool of myself. I have some public speaking experience, but I’ve never presented in this format. Five minutes that I suspected would feel like an eternity with slides flying by every 15 seconds. I had three primary goals: 1) expressing my passion; 2) be entertaining; and 3) don’t be booed off the stage. Actually, Ignite crowds are incredibly supportive. They would never boo a presenter. But I didn’t want to walk off the stage and be thinking in my brain, “Oh dear God, that was horrific. I can’t ever go out in public again”.

On Slides and the Speech

I knew my slides would be almost exclusively pictures of fast food, so I thought building the slide deck would be simple. In fact, I just went to Flickr and searched for Creative Commons slides of fast food, and found there were thousands of possibilities. I spent a couple of hours culling through them selecting ones I felt would work. Ignite provides a template (it’s really just the footer with the logo and a place to credit photos) and I got 20 slides loaded in and was ready to go!

Or not.

I sat there watching my slides scroll by and realized I had no idea what I was going to say. So I made the command decision to write the speech (and really, it is a speech) and THEN put slides to it. Easy-peasy, right? Of course I had no idea how many words it would take to fill a five minute time slot. I read some random thing out loud and found that – for me – I needed about 800 – 850 words to fill five minutes. (Note: reading in your head doesn’t work. You probably read a lot faster than you speak.)

The speechwriting began. I’ve got almost 1,800 articles written on this blog you are reading, and who knows how many thousands of comments and other articles across the interwebs. I should be able to write 825 words in 10 minutes.

Yeah, not-so-much. (Incidentally, THIS is word number 837 in this article, just to give you an idea). I stared at a blank screen far longer than I normally do. I actually wound up doing an outline(?!?), careening me back into my high school days. Ultimately I decided I was over-thinking the whole process and was too focused on word count so I just wrote. Wound up with about a seven minute speech so I mercilessly hacked and edited it down to five minutes.

Or so I thought.

About this time, I attended a “speakers orientation session” held by the Ignite organizers. Very handy. There I was told to plan for audience reaction, as well as practice “recovery”. Having witnessed many Ignite presentations, I knew what that meant. Recovery is that deer-in-the-headlights look some presenters get in that moment when their entire speech has vaporized from their mind right smack in the middle of their presentation.

Audience reaction? I thought some of my speech was funny as hell. Of course, what is funny in my feeble mind could well be perceived as just plain stupid in someone else’s mind. I went back to the speech and noted where I thought there might be some reaction, and tweaked things around a little.

I tweaked that damn speech a hundred times.

The deadline to submit my slides was looming. Looming as in it is 8:00pm on a Sunday night and the slides are due at midnight. It was time to drive a stake in the ground and submit the slides. After all, I had almost two weeks to fine-tune the speech before the big night.

Slides were submitted at 11:53pm. A full seven minutes before the deadline. I’m sure Dannie was thrilled…

T-minus two days to event night

Slides, done.

Speech, done.

Practicing, ongoing. Sometimes I nail it. Other times I’m a deer, about to get mowed over by a semi.

Nerves, a plenty.

Event Day

At roughly 7:00am, I decide to make a major change to the speech. Yeah, 12 hours prior to the big event and I’m making wholesale changes. This was pretty stupid. But, I liked the revised speech a LOT better, which made me more comfortable with it. “What the hell,” I thought, “You only live once. It’s only five minutes. You can practice it ten times an hour.”

And I did, for 4 hours straight.

I felt confident. And oddly tranquil.

Backstage on event night

You don’t find out when you are presenting at Ignite until you arrive at the venue that evening. At first, I thought the organizers were just evil people and torturing us by withholding this crucial piece of info. On hindsight, it’s a stroke of genius. I happened to go on right after a very serious presentation. Had I known this in advance, I might have altered my presentation. I’m glad I didn’t.

I was however, thrilled that I was presenting in the first half. I have a friend that presented dead last at Ignite 8 and that seems like it would kind of suck. Better to get it over with early and commence to drinking at intermission.

Just before the theater doors open to the public, the speakers are whisked back stage for final preparations, we were released for a few minutes (just enough time to pound a cold one) but soon the first nine presenters had to be backstage.

The time was nigh.

I am a long time observer of the human species, and love seeing how people react in different situations. For me, watching my fellow presenters before they went on stage was fascinating. I paced like a mad man until I finally remembered I had my iPod with me and could relax listening to some tunes. One presenter buried her head in her hands for several minutes and then seemed perfectly normal. One rehearsed repeatedly with note cards. Another asked the organizers where the bucket was in case he needed to throw up. More than one asked where the alcohol was. Some were chatty, some were stone cold silent. There was a lot of pressure, walking onto a huge stage in front of 850 people is not an easy thing to do. The backstage support from the organizers was magnificent. They put the presenters at ease and executed flawlessly.

None-the-less, the pressure mounted.

I was the sixth to present, and to be honest, I remember very little of the presentations that were in front of me. When the fifth presenter was on stage, I had to get miked up, and before I knew it, an organizer was patting me on the shoulder and pointing to center stage.

It was show time!

I walked out, the crowd roared and the moment I spoke my first word, my first slide popped up.

There wasn’t enough time to be nervous. Fully expecting the five minutes to pass agonizingly slow, I was shocked at how fast it went. The crowd was awesome, responding when I thought they would, and in a few places that surprised me. I did have to drop a few lines here and there, but I think the speech flowed well. Honestly the whole thing was a blur and I’m not real sure what I put in and what I left out. I’m anxious to see it on video (which will be out at some point once it’s all processed).

I walked off the stage, high-fived presenter #7 on her way out and went backstage. It was over, and  I was amped up! Presenters get to go do a short video interview right after they come off stage. I have no idea what I said in that interview. Probably came across like someone who’d just done six lines of cocaine…

The Aftermath

Presenting at Ignite was quite the rush. The after-party was awesome as people came around to the presenters tables and chatted. Some enjoyed a Twinkie that I provided at my table. Two people told me they’d never had a Twinkie before. Never. Had. A. Twinkie. Seriously? One seemed to enjoy it, the other… wasn’t overly impressed.

Today, almost a week later, I’m pumping gas and the guy next to me says, “Hey, aren’t you the fast food guy from Ignite?”

And here I thought I was the real estate guy…

JUST FREAKING DO IT!

If you’ve ever even remotely considered presenting at Ignite, DO IT. Submit. If you don’t get selected, submit again. Submit over and over if you have to, but get your butt on that stage! Believe me, you won’t regret it. (Oh, you will question your sanity several times during the process, but sharing your passions with 850 wicked cool people is a blast).

It sounds scary, and it is at times. It is also a truly amazing experience, one that everyone should experience. What are you waiting for? Submissions for Ignite Phoenix #11 are open, just go here. It’s happening on October 28. Mark it on your calendar now. And pay attention to when tickets go on sale, it will sell out. Fast.

Not in Phoenix? No worries. Ignite is global.

Oh, and looking for an edgier version of Ignite? Try Ignite After Hours. It’s… edgy.

UPDATE May 30, 2011: Wheee, the video is out!

All of the first nine Ignite Phoenix 10 presentations videos are out now. The second half of the event will be released soon. Check them out here!

Photo Credits:

Top – Devon Christopher Adams (@nooccar). nooccar on Flickr. CC Licensed.

Bottom – Joe Abbruscato (@MrAnathema). MrAnathema on Flickr. CC Licensed.

Devon and Joe both have some seriously nice Ignite photo sets on Flickr (and their other work). Check ‘em out!

• Open Letter to the Gilbert School Board: On Music Education
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• What Clint Miller Taught Me About Life

Originally posted on Phoenix Real Estate Guy. If you are reading this anywhere but inside your RSS feed reader, the site you are on is guilty of stealing content.

This is cool stuff…

On March 31-April 2, 2011, Highland High School and Arizona State University will present its 2nd Annual Highland Jazz Festival. Multi Grammy Award winning saxophonist Jeff Coffin and his Mu’tet, and world renowned trumpet performer Bobby Shew will headline this weekend of jazz education. This jazz festival will span the entire southwest reaching over 1,800 students, music educators, and general public throughout Arizona, Southern California, Texas, Nevada and New Mexico.

We at Thompson’s Realty are proud to once again be a sponsor for the Highland Jazz Festival.

This is a wonderful program for Jazz musicians in high school, junior high and elementary schools all across Arizona and the southwest. World class clinicians will be available to help students in various levels of jazz programs, and the concerts will blow your mind.

Last year’s inaugural event was amazing, and the 2011 edition promises to be all that and more.

Sponsors are needed – either individuals or business/corporate.  Events like this are not cheap to host, and schools are facing budget cuts. Among the hardest hit in the budget wars are music programs. I could go on forever about the benefits of music programs in schools. My daughter participates in several band programs at Highland High School and the positive impact her participation has had is immeasurable.  She has met lifelong friends, learned what it takes to participate on a team – and in a community, and much much more. Music changes the way she thinks and approaches problems. It’s disgraceful that the benefits of school music programs often seem to be overlooked by our elected officials. Oh, don’t get me started. Suffice it to say that school music programs are in desperate need of our help, and supporting this festival is one way you can help. Sponsor, buy tickets, attend the wonderful concerts or just help promote awareness!

2011 Highland Jazz Festival
March 31 – April 2, 2011
Highland High School (map)
Tickets and sponsorships can be purchased online at: http://HighlandJazz.com

More info on sponsorship levels is here.

Update! Do you own or operate a business in Downtown Gilbert (The Heritage District)? If you do, I will purchase a Jazz Festival sponsorship for you. All you have to do is agree to put up the event poster in your shop or window. It’s small (12 x 18) and is like the image shown above except it says “Proud Sponsor” at the top. Your business will also be listed in the event program. All for free! First one ask for it gets it!! Just leave a comment below, email (info@thompsonsrealty.com) post on my Facebook page. Whatever!

• World Class Jazz. In Gilbert! And a Contest!
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• Phoenix New Year’s Eve Events. Ringing in 2011!

Originally posted on Phoenix Real Estate Guy. If you are reading this anywhere but inside your RSS feed reader, the site you are on is guilty of stealing content.

Here’s a cool and fun event happening in Gilbert on March 5th – the Mayor’s Cactus League Hot Dog Challenge.

What’s a Cactus League?

It’s the Major League Baseball Spring Training league. Fifteen MLB teams call the Phoenix area home for Spring Training – and games start February 25th!

What’s a Hot Dog?

Really? I’m going to assume everyone is familiar with the All-American food item. Good, and good for you!

What’s the Challenge?

It’s an all afternoon event, the only place on the planet where you can sample every hot dog served in the Cactus League and watch them battle it out for best dog in the league. There are many other events and activities planned as well. Admission is free, but the dogs aren’t. There are also some great raffle prizes and all proceeds from the event will benefit ex-Arizona Diamondbacks player Shea Hillenbrand’s Against All Odds Foundation that gives special needs children and youth groups the chance to interact with rescued animals in a farm/petting zoo environment, rescues animals, and much more. A very worthy cause.

Some of the events planned:

Pitching booths
Fire & Police vehicles
Petting zoo
Youth rock band
The hot dog challenge (Cactus League parks as well as local restaurants)
Cactus League history & memorabilia display
Raffles

And the big event that should appeal to the ladies and their seemingly universal… lust… for police and firemen – a softball game pitting the Gilbert Police & Fire Departments against Mesa PD & Fire. I don’t understand the female fascination with firemen, but you can’t deny it ladies – you think firemen are hot. Heck, my 17 year old daughter has already been assimilated into this madness…

So come on over to Big League Dreams in Gilbert and eat some hot dogs, enjoy the day, ogle the Firemen and support a great cause.

The Details

When: Saturday, March 5 from 3:00 – 7:30pm
Where: Big League Dreams in Gilbert. 4536 E. Elliot Road (map)
Cost: Admission is free. Food/drinks/raffle prizes have nominal charges.
More details, including schedule of events, raffle prizes and more at the Cactus League Hot Dog Challenge web site.

It’s the day before Francy’s Birthday. Maybe I’ll go and see if I can bring her home a fireman…

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Originally posted on Phoenix Real Estate Guy. If you are reading this anywhere but inside your RSS feed reader, the site you are on is guilty of stealing content.

PLEASE NOTE! If you are looking for Phoenix New Year’s Eve events for New Years 2011 / 2012, please click here!

Looking for something to do in Phoenix on New Year’s Eve? There’s no shortage of festivities…

Rather than spend hours compiling things that are happening in and around Phoenix on New Years, I’m going to cheat and provide you with links to various New Years Eve lists out there.

New Year’s Eve in Phoenix – 2010. About.com
This is a nice list of a wide variety of activities. Includes designations of “Best for Adults” and “Good for Kids”.

Phoenix New Years Eve Events. ClubZone
List of 129 places (mostly hotels, resorts and clubs) with links to purchase tickets online. Ranks events based on ticket sales.

Phoenix New Years Events. BeforeLastCall.com
List of venues in Phoenix and Scottsdale holding New Year’s Eve celebrations.

New Year’s Eve events. Phoenix New Times
Nice collection of 75 Phoenix area New Year’s eve events

Dining Out on New Year’s Eve in Phoenix and Scottsdale. About.com
Large list of restaurants having special dinners on New Year’s Eve. Some are crazy expensive, some reasonable.

New Year’s Eve 2011 Parties in Phoenix. Fabulous Arizona
Short but nice list of mostly resort hotels having special New Years events.

Biggest New Year’s Eve parties in the Phoenix Area. AZ Central
Only four events listed, but they are the Big Four block parties happening in Phoenix, Scottsdale, Tempe and Glendale

There you have it. If you can’t find something to do on New Year’s Eve in Phoenix, you’re not looking hard enough…

Please, BE SAFE. Don’t drink and drive. Here are some programs to help you get to and from your New Year’s Eve celebration

Discount Cab has a “Free Ride Back” program. Cab it home, and they will take you back to your car the next day for free.

AAA Arizona is offering a free towing service and ride home. “Tipsy Tow” provides a one-way ride home for the driver, one passenger AND YOUR CAR.

Don’t forget about the Light Rail… they run until 2:00am on New Year’s Eve and are adding more trains to support special events.

Photo Credit: stuartpilbrow on Flickr. CC Licensed.

• New Year’s Eve in Phoenix. Ringing in 2012!
• July 4th Fireworks in Phoenix. The 2011 Edition.
• 2nd Annual Highland Jazz Festival. Support music in Phoenix area schools!
• Cool Gilbert Event: The Mayor’s Cactus League Hot Dog Challenge! With Hot Firemen!
• Arizona Beer Week 2011!

Originally posted on Phoenix Real Estate Guy. If you are reading this anywhere but inside your RSS feed reader, the site you are on is guilty of stealing content.

Believe me when I tell you that this was not an easy task. A piece of rebar had to be pounded into the ground for every flag, flags attached to poles, and a name card for every person killed was then attached to each flag. Yellow ribbons were added to the flag of all the “first responders” killed that day.

As difficult as the physical work was, it paled in comparison to the emotional effort.

But I didn’t hear one single complaint from any volunteer. We had some fun, but there were far more moments of thought and reflection.

When you attach something like this to an American flag, it tends to really drive home the magnitude of loss on that tragic day:

The card reads:

In Memory Of Dana Falkenberg, Age 3.
Location: AA Flight 77
About Dana: Dana Falkenburg, 3, was traveling with her father Charles Falkenberg, mother Leslie Whittington, and her sister Zoe Falkenberg, 8.

If that doesn’t put a lump in your throat, a tear in your eye and royally piss you off, then you may want to have your heart checked out.

I was so proud to be a part of this group. There were Girl Scouts, young kids, members of the National Guard, fire and police officers, and folks from all walks of life. We shared a common goal – to honor every victim of the 9/11 attacks.

About four and a half hours later, the job was done.

Here’s a short video I shot in the middle of the process. Trying to capture the scope of the Healing Field in video, photos and words isn’t easy to do. In fact, it can’t be done. You need to experience it. If you live anywhere near Tempe, Arizona, you really need to go see this memorial.

And yes, that’s an airplane overhead at the end of the video. The Healing Field is under the flight path of Sky Harbor airport–planes flew over all morning, which was almost surreal.

I also posted a bunch of photos on Flickr.

Tempe September 11 Healing Field info

Dates/Times: Friday September 10 at 600am through Sunday September 12 at 7:00pm
On September 11 at 5:30am a service will be held (The early time is not a typo. The service is held during the actual AZ time the planes struck the World Trade Center)
Location: Tempe Beach Park (map)

• Remembering 9/11 in the Phoenix East Valley
• Remembering 9/11: Ten — and Twenty — Years Ago
• One Year Later… In Memory of Joe Ferrara
• Remembering Ryan Geiger: A message for young adults
• In Memory of My Friend, Joe Ferrara. Rest in Peace.

Originally posted on Phoenix Real Estate Guy. If you are reading this anywhere but inside your RSS feed reader, the site you are on is guilty of stealing content.

Looking for places to watch Fourth of July fireworks in Phoenix and the surrounding area? Here’s a list compiled from numerous sources.

Of note, please CHECK with the venue you are considering. I take no responsibility for errors, canceled shows, etc. Links to additional information are provided where possible. Even those events with free admission usually have concessions and activities that will cost money. Rules vary on what may (and may not) be brought into a venue. Also, pay attention the date! Many areas are having their fireworks displays on July 3rd…

Enjoy your July 4th Independence Day fireworks!

Ahwatukee Fireworks:
Red, White and Bloom
Ahwatukee Country Club, 12432 S. 48th Street, just north of Warner Road.
Saturday, July 3, 2010. Gates open at 6:00pm, fireworks around 9:00. Free admission.

Anthem Fireworks:
Anthem Independence Day Celebration
Held at the Anthem Community Park ball fields.
Saturday, July 3, 2010. Opens at 6:00pm, fireworks around 9:30. Free admission.

Apache Junction Fireworks:
4th of July Event
Apache Junction High School
Sunday, July 4th starting at 7:00 PM. Free admission.

Avondale Fireworks: No event scheduled in 2010.

Buckeye Fireworks:
Buckeye’s 4th of July Celebration
Youngker High School, 3000 S. Apache Road
Saturday, July 3rd, 2010. Gates open at 6:00pm. Free admission.

Casa Grande Fireworks:
Casa Grande 4th of July Family Fun Day
Island Family Aquatics Park and the Ed Hooper Rodeo Park/Paul Mason Sportsplex, 2525 N Rodeo Rd.
Sunday, July 4, 2010. Events begin at 10:00am. Fireworks around 9:00pm. Free admission.

Cave Creek Fireworks:
Cave Creek’s 4th of July Fireworks Celebration
Harold’s Corral, 6895 East Cave Creek Road, Cave Creek
Saturday, July 3, 2010. BBQ starts at 5:00pm. Fireworks at dusk. Free Admission.
For more information call the Carefree Cave Creek Chamber of Commerce at 480-488-3381

Also there is reportedly a second Cave Creek celebration on July 4: Cave Creek’s 4th of July Fireworks Celebration at Silver Spur Saloon (good luck navigating this incredibly annoying web site.)

Chandler Fireworks:
Chandler’s 4th of July 7-UP Fireworks Spectacular
Tumbleweed Park, on the Southwest corner of Germann & McQueen roads.
Sunday, July 4, 2010. Opens at 4:00pm, Fireworks at 9:00pm. Free admission, parking $5.

A Star Spangled Shoot Out at Rawhide
Rawhide – 5700 W. Tham Yog North Loop Road, Chandler AZ 85226.
Sunday, July 4, 2010. 5:30pm – 11:00pm. Admission $10/person. 5 and under free.

Gilbert Fireworks:
Gilbert’s Old-Fashioned 4th of July Fireworks at the Ballpark
Big League Dreams, 4536 East Elliot Road
Sunday, July 4, 2010. Doors open at 6:00pm. Fireworks after dark. Free admission, parking $5 – $10.

Glendale Fireworks:
Wet-n-Wild Independence Day Weekend Fireworks and BBQ
4243 W. Pinnacle Peak Road,  Glendale, Arizona 85310
July 3rd and 4th, 2010. Prices vary.

Goodyear Fireworks:
Goodyear’s Star Spangled Fourth
Goodyear Ballpark, 1933 S. Ballpark Way.
Sunday, July 4, 2010 Gates open at 6 pm. Free admission.

Litchfield Park Fireworks:
Independence Day “BBQ & Fantastic Fireworks Display”
Wigwam Golf Course Driving Range. 300 E Wigwam Blvd. Litchfield Park, AZ 85340
Saturday, July 3, 2010. 5:00pm – 10:00pm. Free admission. BBQ extra.

Maricopa Fireworks:
Great American Barbecue
Pacana Park located on Porter Road, approximately ¼ mile south of Honeycutt Road.
Sunday, July 4, 2010. 6:00pm – 9:00pm. Free admission.
(Note – the town of Maricopa is changing their website on July 1. The link above may, or may not work).

Maryvale Fireworks:
Light Up the Sky
Maryvale Baseball Park. 3600 N. 51st Ave
Friday, July 2, 2010. Free admission. Call 602-262-6275 for info.

Mesa Fireworks:
Arizona Celebration of Freedom
Downtown Mesa – The following streets will be closed for the event: Main Street, from Morris just west of Robson to Centennial just east of Center Street Center, Macdonald, and Robson 1st Street to 1st Avenue.
Saturday, July 3, 2010. 6:00pm – 10:00pm. Free admission.

Peoria Fireworks:
4th of July All American Festival
Peoria Sports Complex, Mariners Practice Field and peoria Stadium, 16101 N. 83rd Ave
Sunday, July 4, 2010 from 5pm to 10pm. Admission $5 for 13 and older. 12 and under free.

Phoenix Fireworks:
Freedom Wireless Fabulous Phoenix Fourth
Steele Indian School Park, 300 E. Indian School Rd. in Phoenix (3rd Street and Indian School Road).
Sunday, July 4th from 6 pm – 10pm. Free admission.

Fourth of Zoo-ly BBQ
Phoenix Zoo – 455 North Galvin Parkway. Phoenix, Arizona 85008
Sunday, July 4th from 6 pm – 10pm. Adults $40. Children (3-12) $35. Children under 2 are free.

Arizona Diamondbacks All-American Weekend.
Diamondbacks vs. Dogers. Friday July 2, 3, and 4. Prices and events vary.

Queen Creek:
Queen Creek’s 4th of July Fireworks and Independence Day Celebration
Schnepf Farms, 22601 E. Cloud Rd., Queen Creek.
Sunday July 4, 2010 from 5pm to 10pm. Admission $10/car load.

Scottsdale Fireworks:
Fort McDowell Casino Free Concert & Celebration
10424 N Fort McDowell Rd. Fort McDowell, AZ 85264
Saturday, July 3, 2010. Doors open at 4:00. Show starts at 7:00. Fireworks after show. Free admission.

Surprise Fireworks:
Surprise’s Annual July 4th Celebration
Surprise Recreation Campus located at 15850 N. Bullard Avenue
Sunday, July 4, 2010 from 4:30pm to about 8:30pm. Free admission with donation of canned food item.

Tempe Fireworks:
CBS 5 Tempe Town Lake Festival Produced by the Kiwanis Club of Tempe
Tempe Town Lake in downtown Tempe, Arizona
Sunday, July 4, 2010. Gates open at 4pm. Admission $5 with advance tickets, $8 at gate. Children under 12 are free. Those with with current military ID get in free. $1 off with donation of canned food item.

July 4th Celebration at Tempe Center for the Arts
Sunday, July 4, 2010. 6:00pm- 10:00pm. Admission $60/person, $100/couple. Must RSVP by June 29.

Wickenburg Fireworks:
Wickenburg Fireworks & Family Fun Celebration
Sunset Park on West Wickenburg Way.
Saturday, July 3rd, 7:00pm. Free admission.
Additional Information: Wickenburg Chamber of Commerce — 928-684-5479

Firework shows outside of the Phoenix metro area:
Prescott Fireworks: July 4, Mountain Valley Park.
Payson Fireworks: July 4.
Firecracker Express: Verde Canyon Railroad - Clarkdale, AZ.
Flagstaff Fireworks: Fireworks display canceled due to fire concerns. Still lots of other July 4th festivities being held.
Tucson Fireworks: Anyone have a good list they can share?

However your choose to celebrate it, please have a safe and fun Fourth of July weekend! REMEMBER – don’t drink and drive. If either the Tempe Town Lake Festival or the Phoenix Freedom Wireless Fabulous Phoenix Fourth events are in your plan, consider taking the Metro Light Rail. Details on riding the the light rail to these and other events is here.

If you know of a fireworks show that isn’t listed, please leave a comment and I’ll add it to the list!

• Fall Has Arrived in Phoenix!
• Phoenix New Year’s Eve Events. Ringing in 2011!

Originally posted on Phoenix Real Estate Guy. If you are reading this anywhere but inside your RSS feed reader, the site you are on is guilty of stealing content.

Check out everything the Lost Our Home Pet Foundation does… Financial aid, pet food bank, foster program, adoptions, rescue aid. I don’t know how many animals they saved or families they have helped. But they need our help to continue.

Their mission is simple:

Our mission is to be a source for real estate professionals and others when they encounter a pet in need.  To rescue, rehome, and advocate for pets that have been abandoned or left behind due to foreclosure or eviction.  To provide options for families to keep their pets if hard economic times are making it difficult to keep or care for their pet, and to promote spaying and neutering.

Simple, but this requires time, money, volunteers, coordination and lots of effort. And it requires lots of people that are willing and able to provide a foster home for animals.

One of our agents, Michele Guss, is a volunteer with “LOHPF”. She let me know that the foundation is in desperate need of fosters. At this point, the intake of the foundation is at a total stop until more fosters can be located.

Summer will soon be upon us. Can you imagine spending the 115 degree days out in the back yard, or wandering the streets in that kind of heat?

It’s very sad that so many animals get abandoned due to foreclosure. The critters are the forgotten victims of the housing mess.

If you’ve got the space and the means, please consider fostering an animal or two. It’ll do ya good. And Fido too.

If you can help, please contact the foundation, or complete this form.

Here’s a video that shows more about the Lost Our Home Pet Foundation…

• The Foreclosure Process in Arizona. With spiffy graphic!
• What is a Short Sale?

Originally posted on Phoenix Real Estate Guy. If you are reading this anywhere but inside your RSS feed reader, the site you are on is guilty of stealing content.