Friends of Oracle State Park

 

Friends of Oracle State Park, Inc.
P.O. Box 8405
Tucson, AZ 85738
(520) 818-7883 

 

10th annual Fiesta de las Calabazas

Saturday, October 3, 2009  [photos]

11:00 am to 3:00 pm

Oracle State Park in Oracle, AZ

History/Purpose

The Fiesta de las Calabazas was founded in 2000 as a pumpkin or harvest festival to celebrate the beginning of the fall season in southern Arizona. Now celebrating its 10th year, the Fiesta de las Calabazas continues to highlight the cultural and natural diversity of the Oracle area, as well as local talent.

Entry/Parking

Festival admittance is free with standard park entrance fee*. All event parking is on-site at Oracle State Park. Volunteers will direct you to the closest available parking space (there is no parking on Mt. Lemmon Road). In-park shuttles will run between the parking areas and the fiesta activities area. Handicapped parking will be available. For directions to the park, please click here.
* The Park entrance fee is $6 per carload of up to 4 people; additional people, walk-ins and bicycles are $2 per person.

Aldo Leopold & Wild Foods

All Arizona State Parks are celebrating the life and writings of Aldo Leopold, the Father of Wildlife Conservation. Mr Leopold (1887-1948) came to what was then the Arizona Territories a hundred years ago, in 1909, to work for the US Forest Service. He is the author of A Sand County Almanac, an important early work on conservation that was published in 1949 and is still studied today.
 

“Meet” Aldo Leopold!

Literary actor Kim Stone portrays the
“Father of Wildlife Conservation” Aldo Leopold (1887-1948)
and answers audience questions in character in a
chautauqua performance on the Main Stage at 12:00.

 

The 10th Annual Fiesta de las Calabazas will feature the wonders of the mesquite tree, with a sampling of recipes made from local wild foods. Other festival activities include kids' activities, archery, wildlife, live music, author tables, interactive booths and tours of the historic Kannally Ranch house.

Mesquite Pod Grinding

Got Pods?  Desert Harvesters of Tucson will set up their hammermill at the event, to grind your mesquite pods into mesquite flour for you to cook with at home. Mesquite pods are nutritious and the flour gives traditional baked goods a distinctive sweet flavor. Bring your buckets of clean mesquite pods to mill! (Five gallons of whole pods yields about one gallon of fine, edible flour and takes about five minutes to mill.) Only $3 to grind 3-5 lbs of pods and proceeds benefit the Friends of Oracle State Park. For more information about the hammermill, call (520)896-2425.

Music

Live music, including: InAscent (original tunes/vocals featuring guitar and harmonica) from 11am-Noon, and The Tortolita Gut Pluckers (roadhouse-style bluegrass featuring banjo, guitar, fiddle, tub bass, and more) from 1pm-3pm.

Crafting

The popular Kids Area will once again offer plenty of educational activities and hands-on nature art (pumpkins, gourds and more). Friends of Oracle State Park will host the Pumpkin Patch, with pumpkins and gourds for kids of all ages to decorate and take home.

Archery

Arizona Game and Fish will host an Aldo Leopold archery event at the corrals. Sign up for your FREE 30-minute group lesson! Lesson times are: 11:00 and 11:30 in the morning, then 12:30, 1:00, 1:30, 2:00 and 2:30 in the afternoon. Ages 8 to adult are welcome. Call (520) 896-2425 in advance to reserve your time or sign up at the festival.

Plants & Wildlife

Learn more about the plants and wildlife of the Oracle area. Don't miss the live reptiles presented by Ed Moll, from the Tucson Herpetological Society. Look for the FOSP Plant Sale, too. Joanne Roberts, Resource Ecologist for Arizona State Parks, will be available to talk about Natural Areas and Natural Resource Management Strategies.

Authors

Authors include: herbalist Charlie Kane, with a display of useful wild roots and second edition copies of his book Herbal Medicine of the American Southwest; Aldo Leopold scholar David E. Brown; and Evaline Auerbach providing books by Aldo Leopold.

Food

With the focus on wild foods, local vendors will be on hand selling products made from wild foods, including mesquite jelly and syrup, mesquite pancake mixes, jellies and syrups made from prickly pear fruit; also products made from bees; homegrown squash bread and more.
Lunch is available from 11am-3pm, featuring vendors “Not Jus Doggs” selling hotdogs, Italian sausage, chips, drinks & more. Or enjoy Mexican burritos, carne asada and other selections by Rita Pina.

Calabazas T-shirts

Look for the Fiesta de las Calabazas t-shirt for sale at the Arizona State Parks Giftshop booth and at the historic Kannally Ranch office. The front of the t-shirt features a Lee Kannally painting.

Additional Calabazas festival information

Volunteer to help out! – call Oracle State Park (520) 896-2425 or email Jennifer Rinio.

Sponsor, advertising information – email the Friends of Oracle State Park at FriendsOSP@aol.com

Complete event schedule – posted on the Fiesta de las Calabazas site.