photo credit: Dru Bloomfield – At Home in Scottsdale

An update from the City of Scottsdale:

Downtown Scottsdale not only has great galleries, restaurants, shopping and nightlife – it’s got a great lineup of free events.

Like:

• Free historic walking tours in Old Town take place at 10 a.m. Tuesdays in March in front of the Historical Society’s Little Red Schoolhouse. Alice Corpstein in period dress narrates this tour.
• The Arts District Art Walk from 7 to 9 p.m. every Thursday
• Free Museum of Contemporary Arts entry 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Thursdays
• Free stagecoach rides 1 to 4 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays at the Brown & Main intersection
• Old Town Farmers’ Market from 8:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. every Saturday at the Brown & First Avenue parking lot
• Free Carriage Museum entry Fridays 1 to 4 p.m., Saturdays 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. and Sundays 1 to 4 p.m. on northwest corner of Brown Avenue and Second Street (across from the Cavalliere Blacksmith shop and the Old Adobe Mission church).

For a complete listing of Downtown Scottsdale events, visit http://www.scottsdaleaz.gov/downtown.asp

Fiesta Bowl ArtWalk

The annual “Fiesta Bowl ArtWalk” will runs from noon to 4 p.m. in the Scottsdale Arts District. Enjoy a warm, sunny afternoon visiting gallery exhibitions and artist receptions. Live music and free samples for many local residents will be part of the day.

The Scottsdale Arts District is located along Main Street, Marshall Way, Stetson and Sixth Avenue, just west of Scottsdale Road, north and south of Indian School Road. Additional information is available at. www.scottsdalegalleries.com.

Battle of the Bands: Marching Band Style

In anticipation of the Fiesta Bowl, Downtown Scottsdale will host college football’s version of “battle of the bands,” The bands from the universities of Texas and Ohio State perform from 6 to 8:30 p.m. in a simulated stadium located just south of the Nordstrom Department Store.

The University of Texas’ ”Showband of the Southwest has a famously varied repertoire ranging from the traditional “Yellow Rose of Texas” to Led Zeppelin’s “Stairway to Heaven.”

The Ohio State University Marching Band is one of the few all-brass and percussion bands in the country and the largest in the world and will play favorites from “Buckeye Battle Cry” to “Hang on Sloopy.”

Tickets are $25 for VIP stadium seating, $15 general admission, $10 for students, and free for those six years and younger, and can be at the Fiesta Bowl office in Downtown Scottsdale, or at the gate Saturday night.

Free parking is available at the SouthBridge garages, Waterfront garages, Nordstrom garage and at Scottsdale Fashion Square, along with the Third Street garage.

Recently, AmericanStyle magazine announced, based on the results of their annual reader poll, that Scottsdale ranked second in the nation as an arts destination, in the mid-sized city category.  Complete results of the annual readers’ poll and profiles of the top three cities in each category are featured on www.AmericanStyle.com and in the June issue of AmericanStyle.

Several years ago, I read and completed a program on creativity in a book called “The Artist’s Way” by Leslie Cameron.  As part of the homework, I regularly visited the galleries in Old Town Scottsdale.  While the homewalk called for an hour a week of unstructured time to experience creativity in some form, I found that my time in the galleries seemed to always last longer.  So much to see, and in so many forms.  It’s one thing to read about art, and another to actually experience it.

One of the ways that Scottsdale celebrates art is with the year-round Thursday Night Art Walk, held every Thursday night, from 7 to 9 pm.  Since most galleries close in the late afternoon, it’s a excellent way to see some of the amazing artwork, in a relaxed atmosphere.

Directions to ArtWalk:

• Located along Main Street and Marshall Way in Scottsdale Downtown
• Between Fifth Avenue on the north and Main Street on the south
• Between Scottsdale Civic Center on the east, and Goldwater Boulevard on the west.