Flagstaff is a great place to take a walk. For one thing, the summer weather is gorgeous! Plus, there’s the Flagstaff Urban Trail System (FUTS), a network of over 56 miles of walking and biking paths throughout town.
Wheeler Park
When we were in Flagstaff recently, I wanted to take Quijote on a short walk before we went to meet up with family. I found a nice little quarter-mile route downtown from Wheeler Park to Heritage Square.
Wheeler Park has a central location with free parking nearby. I recognized the park name from Happenings List events that take place there, like Flagstaff Art in the Park.
I had done a quick search, and it didn’t seem like anything like that was scheduled for that day.
“Sound of Flight” mural on the side of the Orpheum Theater by Sky Black and Mural Mice.
Unexpected Hullabaloo
But there was. The sidewalks got more crowded the closer we got. The street we planned to turn on to get to the park was completely closed. As we circled around the block, we realized the entire park was fenced off. And so was the parking lot.
The cause of all the hullabaloo was, in fact, Hullabaloo.
The “fun and funky” festival that had taken over the park was Hullabaloo Flagstaff, an annual community celebration that also raises money for local non-profits. It somehow had completely eluded my search results.
The Orpheum Theater in Flagstaff.
An Even Shorter Walk
When we finally did start our walk, Quijote had been sitting in the sun and was already approaching being overheated. (These days he gets too hot or too cold pretty quickly.)
So we went as far as the Orpheum Theater, and then turned back towards the car to get Quijote cooled off.
If we hadn’t been running so far behind already, we may have found a lunch spot with a shaded patio and let him cool off there. (Diablo Burger was temptingly close by!)
But it was time to leave downtown Flagstaff for the day and move on.
Getting Around Downtown Flagstaff (+ Beyond)
Even the center of a smaller city can have a lot going on that makes it tricky for visitors to navigate. Here are a few tips I’ve learned…
Part of the FUTS map via City of Flagstaff.
1. Get on Your FUTS
Get a physical Flagstaff Urban Trails System map at City of Flagstaff offices or find the PDF version on their site. The FUTS map will also show you which paths are paved, which ones are specifically for bikes, where you’re likely to see wildlife, where to find water fountains, and where there are bus stops along the trail. It’s especially helpful since these trails don’t necessarily show up on Google Maps.
Flagstaff Hullabaloo banners hanging on the temporary fencing around Wheeler Park.
2. See what’s going on
I had kind of forgotten about Flagstaff365.com, but they have a pretty comprehensive event listing that you can filter by date, venue, etc. I bet if I had checked there first, I would have known about Hullabaloo Flagstaff.
City and County lots are free after 5pm on weekdays and all day on weekends. (Employees only during the workday.)
Pay-by-plate system: Instead of parking meters, pay at centralized kiosks by entering your license plate number and using a credit/debit card or (at certain kiosks) cash.
The Flowbird app allows you to pay for parking and extend your time. It has a $0.23 per transaction fee.
Pay-to-Park spots are $1/hour starting at 9am daily. These lots (and curbside parking spaces) are free after 5pm Sunday—Thursday and after 8pm Friday—Saturday.
In case you’re not familiar, you can think of a quilt shop hop as kind of like a pub crawl, only with less alcohol and a lot more fabric.
Different quilt shops in a region will participate with demonstrations, prizes, and fun activities. You “hop” around to the different ones. Instead of tickets or admission, you can purchase a single passport that allows you to join in the extra festivities at each shop.
Banner project via Quilt N Sew Connection, Prescott Valley.
To join in, you just start in any of the 6 participating shops and buy a passport for $5. That gets you entry into prize drawings and a 10% discount on merchandise, as you visit the rest of the shops (or as many of them as you’d like).
Route on Google Maps.
The Plan
My mom wanted to go check out that Northern Arizona Shop Hop, so we hatched a plan to make a day trip while I was visiting her recently.
The plan was to time our two-hour drive from Phoenix so we’d arrive as the shops were opening. We wouldn’t get to all of them, but we might be able to go to 3 or 4 out of the 6, and then get back to her house in time for Phillip and I to drive home to Tucson (two hours in the opposite direction).
What actually happened was a different story – more on that in a minute.
While the day did not go as planned, I had looked up a bunch of stuff about the shops ahead of time. And had done some deep dives into Google Maps street views of our destinations, because even map apps can be confusing!
Via Sew-n-Sew Fabric, Notions + More.
Let’s Go to the Hop
In case you’d like to plan your own Northern Arizona quilt store expedition (during a shop hop or not), I wanted to share the information I found about the shops I was planning on going to.
Before you drive across the state, it’s always a good idea to check AZ511 for road closures because of construction, weather, wildfires, etc.
Exit to Chino Valley, via Google Maps.
Start here!
Take the I-17 north out of the Phoenix area.
When you get to Cordes Junction, peel off onto AZ-69 North (take exit 262 for Cordes Lakes) towards Prescott.
You’ll get to Prescott Valley first, and that’s where you’ll find the first two shops on our list…
One of the town trails via Prescott Valley Parks + Recreation.
Prescott Valley
In case you’re not familiar with the area, yes, Prescott Valley is a different town than Prescott, which is almost 100 years older!
Find them at 6546 E. Second St., Suite A, Prescott Valley
From Cordes Junction, stay on AZ-69 for about 30-40 minutes.
Take a left onto Valley View Drive – which may look less like like a street and more like the entrance to the Mattress + Furniture Gallery parking lot.
Quilt N Sew Connection is in one of the Santa Fe style buildings on Second Street, across from the Post Office.
“A great selection of quality quilting fabrics, battings, books and supplies,” as well as “a passion for batiks!” On the home decorating side, they carry an assortment of upholstery fabrics for both DIYers and pros – and (heads up, cosplayers!) they also have an entire foam department.
Find them at 6479 E. Copper Hill Dr., Prescott Valley
From Quilt N Sew, cross AZ-69 and turn onto Copper Hill Drive.
ClothPlus is in a warehouse-looking building on the south side of the street.
Prescott Courthouse via Visit Prescott on Flickr.
Prescott
Prescott’s Courthouse Plaza is home to craft fairs, festivals, and lots of other outdoor events! It’s surrounded by a town square full of quirky shops and restaurants, historic hotels, and old-timey saloons. We were hoping to be there by lunchtime.
Snow falling on the shop! Via Prescott Quilt Works.
A new full-service quilt shop with “a curated selection of both traditional and modern fabrics, patterns, and supplies.” Their goal is “to inspire and help you create your vision while having fun from start to finish.”
Open Tue, Thr-Sat 10am-4pm / Wed 10am-6pm
Contact hello@prescottquiltworks.com / Instagram / Facebook / Pinterest / (928) 515-2276 Find them at 1781 E. AZ-69, Suite 29, Prescott
Get back on AZ-69 North until you spot Frontier Village Shopping Center on your left.
Prescott Quilt Works is a couple doors down from Sportsman’s Warehouse.
Overlooking Chino Valley in Northern Arizona at sunset. Via Discover Chino Valley.
Chino Valley
If we had time to squeeze it in, this would be our final stop of the day.
Antique sewing machine at Sew-n-Sew Fabric in Chino Valley.
“This store has been a dream of mine for over 30 years and to see it come to fruition has me beyond words. Our goal is to provide a one stop shop for all your basic sewing needs.”
Open Mon-Sat 9am-6pm
Contact yoursewnsew@yahoo.com / Facebook / (928) 636-3769 Find them at 1120 S. Hwy 89, Suite E. Chino Valley
Get back onto AZ-69, but prepare to take a pretty quick right.
Exit onto AZ-89 North.
Go through like 6 traffic circles. Make sure you’re still on AZ-89 when you come out the other side of each one!
At the stoplight intersection with Rt 2 S, make a U-turn. (Where are those traffic circles when you finally need one?!)
Sew-n-Sew will be on the right, in a strip mall with a blue roof.
Quilter’s Quarters shop, photo by Paula Fleming via Google Maps.
Cottonwood + Flagstaff
The other two participating shops that we knew we wouldn’t be able to fit into our day trip…
Usually, going to Northern Arizona in the summer means cool weather instead of Phoenix heat.
However, as the shop hop got closer, the whole state seemed to be scorching. Even in the high country, they were expecting temps of 98-100, which is not cool. But cooler than Phoenix by about 20 degrees, so that’s something.*
I checked in with Mom.
Me: If it’s hot up north, do you still want to go?
Mom: Sure!
Mom remembered she had a doctor’s appointment scheduled for the morning of our trip. It would mean heading north a bit later, but we could make it work if the appointment didn’t go too long.
Me: If we leave straight from your doctor’s office, do you still want to go?
Mom: Sure!
The appointment went too long. It was midday before Mom finally reappeared in the waiting room. We started talking about if it made any sense to try to drive up just for the afternoon. Then Mom had an idea.
Mom: Instead of making a long drive, do you want to visit a couple nearby quilt shops and then go see the Barbie movie?
Me: Sure!
That was a plan that worked out perfectly. The Barbie movie was great! And I’ll fill you in on the Phoenix-area (East Valley) stores we visited in the next few weeks.
*Temperatures were around 37 Celsius in the normally-much-cooler northern Arizona region. Hot. But slightly less hot than the Phoenix area, where it was 47 C!
In many cultures, around the world and across time, the spoken word has been seen as having a power to create and destroy. In the Hebrew Bible, creation is spoken into existence with the words “Let there be light.”
The words of the Diné (or Navajo) people helped to bring an end to World War II. Diné serving in the U.S. Marines developed a code adapted from their tribal language that baffled the Japanese. These “Code Talkers” were able to communicate top secret information to aid the Allied Powers’ efforts in the brutal theater of war in the Pacific.
The Navajo Code Talker program has grown in public consciousness over the last 40 years and has been the subject of many books, documentaries, and even the 2002 film Windtalkers. Yet, with all this focus on what the language accomplished, you couldn’t watch a Hollywood film in Navajo until recently.
A New Hope in Navajo
In 2013, Navajo Nation Museum director Manuelito Wheeler embarked on a project with Lucasfilm to dub the original Star Wars: A New Hope into Navajo!
It would be the first mainstream film to be translated into any Native American language.
I learned about this as I was preparing to go to Anaheim for Star Wars Celebration 7 (2015 convention celebrating all things Star Wars). One of the panels that intrigued me most was a discussion and documentary screening about the project.
During this panel, I was surprised to learn that there are a sizeable number of Diné that still speak the Navajo language, traditionally known as Diné Bizaad, almost exclusively. However, their numbers are slowly growing silent as many from the younger generations are no longer learning their parents’ language.
The panelists explained that, despite the admonitions of their parents about the importance of learning to speak their native tongue, the younger generation often see the language as a relic of the past, irrelevant to their lives.
Diné voice actor in the documentary.
Film as a Cultural Force
The excitement that the Star Wars dubbing project generated was multigenerational, drawing voice talent and actors from throughout the Diné community.
When the project was complete, the newly-dubbed film was shown outdoors at rodeo grounds on the reservation. After the movie finished, a Navajo elder, who spoke no English, exclaimed through a translator that it was the best movie she had ever seen! The original 1,500 DVDs sold out quickly with profits going to the Navajo Nation Parks and Recreation Department, which helped fund the dubbing project.
Indeed, this project was amongst recent efforts to blaze a trail for the resurgence of Diné Bizaad on the reservation. The movie has even been used in Navajo language classes for the youngest generation. In the eyes of the youth, it is giving a voice to their language that many find compelling. If a hero like Luke Skywalker speaks Diné Bizaad, there’s no denying that their parents’ language has cultural force!
A Fresh Perspective
At the end of the panel, we were treated to a viewing of the Navajo-dubbed version of Star Wars.
Being a language geek, I knew that I would find the story behind this project enjoyable. But I was surprised by how moved I was by actually viewing part of the film in the Diné Bizaad language.
Because I couldn’t understand what was being said, I paid more attention. I watched the background and noticed how much the dry landscape of Tatooine reminded me of Arizona and the Navajo reservation. I noticed how objects looked rusty and well worn, like abandoned buildings along the old Route 66.
“A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away….”
I listened to the voices of the Diné voice actors. I was surprised to find out that, in this dubbed version, the voice of C3PO was a woman! But why not? It actually worked really well.
Even Uncle Owen’s words sounded more kindly and thoughtful than his English-speaking counterpart.
As the panelists wrapped up, one of the voice actors from the dub quoted something an older tribal member had said to a younger one, “Remember your language. Use it. One day your language will feed you.”
Words have power. They can start wars. They can bring peace. They have the force to create new ways of seeing.
– More Info –
The next Star Wars Celebration convention is scheduled for August 27-30 in Anaheim, CA.
The second major motion picture to be translated into Navajo was Finding Nemo in 2016.
Language:
According to Ethonologue: Languages of the World, as quoted in a 2017 article in the Navajo Times, there are 7,600 Navajo-only speakers and over 171,000 fluent speakers worldwide.
The same article shows a steady decline in Navajo speakers, with U.S. Census data showing that 93% of Diné spoke the language in 1980, but only 51% by 2010.
Know what’s between Phoenix and Las Vegas? Nothing.
I don’t mean it’s totally empty – on the way to Las Vegas, we drove by a Joshua tree forest and ate at an unfriendly hot dog place.
We also noticed a spot on the map off highway 93, between Wickenburg and Wickieup, for the town of Nothing, Arizona. I’m using the term “town” very loosely here.
On the way back, we stopped there, in front of the abandoned gas station that’s the only building in sight. According to the sign painted on the side, Nothing has a population of 4.
Does hearing about Route 66 put Nat King Cole’s “Get Your Kicks” in your head too?
I don’t know the whole song, but I always chime in when he gets to “Flagstaff, Arizona.”
The “Mother Road” turns 90 this year, and Flagstaff is celebrating the milestone Friday (11/11). There will be food, music, games, classic cars, and bowling from 12-5pm between the Historic Museum Club and Starlite Lanes Bowling Alley. Bring cash – proceeds benefit the Military Order of the Purple Heart and Bowling for Vets.
If you’re in town through Saturday, you can also go to the opening reception for the It’s Elemental exhibition at the Coconino Center for the Arts 11/12, 6-8pm. You can find more ideas of what to see in the Flagstaff Visitor Center’s itinerary guide (PDF).
According to the leaf-o-meter, there is still some fall color, and the forecast looks good. It should be a great weekend to get your kicks in Northern Arizona!
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