We’re right smack dab in the middle of Sonoran Restaurant Week, when around 100 (!) restaurants in Tucson and surrounding cities offer special prix fixe menus for $25, $35, or $45 (plus tax and tip). The price often includes several courses that would regularly cost more.
The idea is to encourage diners to try restaurants they haven’t been to, as well as revisiting old favorites. You many need to ask for the Sonoran Restaurant Week menu if you’re at a participating place and don’t see one. Find participating restaurants and menus on TucsonFoodie.com.
View of the city from inside the Museum of Contemporary Art, Tucson.
Agave has been cultivated in the Tucson area for hundreds of years.
While tequila might be the most widely known product made from agave (a.k.a. the century plant or maguey), it’s certainly not the only one! Different species of the plant are distilled into different spirits, collectively called mezcal.
Native peoples would also use agave to make food, medicine, and even rope. They developed farming techniques to maximize the plant’s adaptability and drought-resistant qualities, so they could grow it where other crops wouldn’t thrive.
Mural of Mayahuel, the agave goddess, by Rock ‘‘CYFI’’ Martinez.
The annual Agave Heritage Festival in Tucson celebrates the plant’s natural and cultural significance. It includes special agave-centered menus at local restaurants, gardening demonstrations, concerts, lectures, mezcal tasting events, hikes to ancient agave roasting pit sites, and a re-creation of the traditional way agave hearts were cooked underground.
After the spring 2020 festival was canceled and last year’s was replaced by a monthly series of virtual talks and DIY tastings, the Agave Heritage Festival made a joyful return this past May!
It has come back as a more compact, focused four days of events – in contrast to the week (or more) it stretched out pre-pandemic.
Following right on its heels was the first annual Pueblos del Maíz Fiesta. The kickoff event for both festivals was a concert by multiple Grammy Award winning Mexican-American singer and activist Lila Downs.
One of this year’s events was the Agave Expo, which included panels, vendors, tables for organizations doing conservation work in Southern Arizona, and a plant sale. It was held on a beautiful morningin Mission Garden, a collection of demonstration gardens where a 17th-century Spanish mission once stood.
Feed the Bats
I arrived right before the first talk of the day, parking next to a woman who was alreadyloadingassorted agave purchases into her car.
“Pollination Nations” was a discussion about agave, bats, and ecology on both sides of the border.
Nectar-eating bats cross-pollinate agaves’ nighttime blooms, creating the genetic diversity essential for the plants’ long-term survival. However, agave planted for human consumption is prevented from blooming. Recent large-scale agricultural methods have lead to hungry bats and a monoculture crop that’s susceptible to disease.
The Bat Friendly project promotes more sustainable practices, encouraging growers to let 5% of the agaves they plant to live out their natural bloom cycle and allow bat pollination. Following their guidelines earns mezcal producers a special Bat Friendly™ label, as well as helping to ensure the continuation of their industry.
The panel discussing these topics was made up of experts from Bat Conservation International, Borderlands Restoration Network, and Sonora Silvestre, as well as mezcal-makers from Bacanora Batuq and Mezcal Zincantan. It was moderated by Jesús García, Research Associate at the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum and Co-Chair of the non-profit Friends of Tucson’s Birthplace (FOTB).
(Incidentally, Moderator Jesús had returned from a trip to Mexico just in time for the Lila Downs kickoff concert and gave it rave reviews!)
On the Table
Afterwards, I wandered over to the ramada where raspados (snow cones) were being served in hollowed out half lemon peels, in exchange for donations to the garden.
They had three different flavors made from garden produce, and I was not prepared for that kind of decision making. I was especially torn between the refreshing sounding lime-mint flavor and the artisanal agave syrup, which seemed like the most fitting choice for the occasion. Then the volunteer scooping the crushed ice suggested I have both. Sold.
Sprinkled throughout the garden were informational tables and artist booths, including Found Design Sculptures by Leonard Ramirez and Cold Goose Pottery by Judy Ganz.
Found Design Sculptures by Leonard Ramirez
Tucson Audubon Society was there with resources. They were especially highlighting their Habitat at Home program, which shares ways to support birds and other pollinators from your house. One thing they suggest here in Southern Arizona is to leave your hummingbird feeder out on summer nights, because bats might stop by for a drink!
Chocolate Ritual
Before I left, I made a final stop at the Chocolate Ritual booth to pick up some of their mezcal-infused chocolate truffles. They create their chocolates to have a taste that pairs well with either mezcal or coffee. The “ritual” is as simple as sipping your preferred beverage in between bites of chocolate and savoring the combination. It’s a practice I can definitely get behind.
Another agave goddess mural by Rock ‘‘CYFI’’ Martinez!
When the Tucson Rodeo Parade Committee realized they’d have to cancel the 2021 parade, they came up with a creative alternative to the usual crowded streets and packed grandstands – they’d turn the parade inside out!
Wagons and buggies would be pulled out of the Rodeo Parade Musuem and set up along a winding route through the rodeo grounds in South Tucson. For one day, you could drive through it, passing by the floats and entertainment that would normally be passing you by.
In lieu of charging admission, they’d accept donations for Casa de los Niños, a local organization that promotes children’s wellbeing by supporting families. You could drop off school supplies for them in a rodeo bucking chute set up in the Museum parking lot.
We tied a bandanna on Quijote and headed to the rodeo grounds to check it out.
When we arrived, cars were backed up from the entrance, up one side of the street, curled around the dead end, and down the other side. We inched forward, idling in front of a tortilla factory.
Once we were through the front gate, we caught a glimpse of 5 beautiful black draft horses taking a snack break. Apparently, these are Shire horses, a breed that’s supposed to be from Britain, but I suspect may have actually originated in Middle Earth.
Some of the horse-drawn wagons along our route were decorated by local businesses who were sponsoring the event.
Others had been used by early Tucson firefighters and police, and still others were used for ranching, mining, or making deliveries. We even passed a replica of a steam calliope and an old circus wagon with rodeo scenes painted on the side.
We continued on to see the Modelos y Charros de Arizona, a non-profit group dedicated to preserving their Mexican heritage.
The Modelos (models) were wearing super-sized versions of their trademark Mexican folklorico dresses. Since this would probably be the one year they wouldn’t need to be able to actually walk in their embellished hoop skirts, they could really go next level.
They were interspersed with Charros (distinctively-dressed riders of Mexican rodeo – or charrería) demonstrating trick roping.
Also showing off their roping skills were members of the Tucson Arizona Boys Chorus, who swung lassos while recordings played from past choir performances.
High school folklorico dancers performed in front of closed ticket windows.
We drove through a section of wagons from movies and television.
A lot of classic westerns were filmed at Old Tucson Studios and on location in Southern Arizona. The Rodeo Parade Museum often provided antique vehicles for their shoots, like fringe-topped surreys (carriages) for the movie Oklahoma. Or the simple buckboard wagon that retired from working on a farm and went on to appear in the TV series High Chaparral and the film McLintock!
Farther down, the band Gertie and the T.O.Boyz played their signature Waila (old time dance music) tunes.
The final section was devoted to wagons made by F. Ronstadt Wagon Works, founded by Linda Ronstadt’s grandfather.
After that, we exited the west gate and went to get lunch. The band kept playing, the draft horses’ tails flicked away flies. But, like those antique wagons, we were history.
For more on charreada, “Mexico’s original rodeo,” check out this Q+A with painter Edgar Sotelo. (He also explains the difference between a charro and a vaquero.)
Wild Ride: The History and Lore of Rodeo by Joel H. Bernstein: Book they gave away copies of at the drive-through event and a great resource about rodeo history!
Visit the Rodeo Parade Musuem at 4823 S. 6th Avenue, Tucson. It’s open Thursdays through Saturdays. Admission is $10/adults, $2/children.
Alejandro’s Tortilla Factory storefront is located at 5330 S. 12th Avenue, Tucson. You can buy freshly made tortillas and chips and/or order breakfast or lunch from La Cocina Lorena (menu).
You’ll be in the heart of the Best 23 Miles of Mexican Food (north of the border, of course). Nearby 12th Avenue is full of places to get Sonoran hot dogs, tacos, birria, and all kinds of deliciousness!
We picked up food at BK Carne Asada + Hot Dogs after the Rodeo Parade Drive-through. Both the carne asada and the Sonoran dog were excellent!
South Tucson is also known for its abundant murals and mosaics, so keep your eyes open!
The San Xavier Co-op Farm is a cooperative of Tohono O’odham landowners growing traditional crops. They sell honey, dried beans, mesquite flour, and other products in their farm store at 8100 Oidak Wog, Tucson. It’s closed Sundays and Mondays.
The phrase made me pause the first time I heard it, as I tried to make sense of those words together as a unit. I wasn’t aware that rodeos had parades or that parades had museums – until I moved to Tucson.
Rodeo
Officially known as “La Fiesta de los Vaqueros,” Tucson’s Rodeo takes place for nine days in late February. It’s a big enough deal that schools take off the Thursday and Friday of Rodeo Week. There are roping and riding competitions, a large parade, kids’ events, barn dances, a rodeo clinic that’s also a fundraiser for local breast cancer patients, and something called “cowboy church.”
La Fiesta de los Vaqueros was first held in 1925, as a way to preserve Tucson’s cowboy-era culture, while also bringing in tourist dollars.
The idea came from winter visitor and Arizona Polo Associaton president Frederick Leighton Kramer. He met with local business owners, cattlemen, and probably some of his polo buddies to organize the inaugural Tucson Rodeo, which they held at a polo field near his house.
Parade
Before the competitions began, however, there was a 300-person parade down Congress Street. Among the participants were ranchers, U.S. Army bands from the Buffalo Soldier 10th Cavalry and 25th Infantry Regiments, Leighton Kramer’s polo players, and artist/cowboy/part-time Tucson resident Lone Wolf in the impressive regalia of his Blackfeet tribe.
Now considered the longest non-motorized parade in the U.S. (possibly the world), the 2.5-mile long procession of horses, carriages, bands, folk dancers, and decorated wagons continues to be a part of La Fiesta de los Vaqueros tradition. In past years, it has attracted around 200,000 spectators.
Museum
When the historic vehicles are not on parade, they reside in the Tucson Rodeo Parade Musuem on the west side of the current rodeo grounds in South Tucson. Specifically, they’re exhibited in a couple barns and a hangar that’s a holdover from the property’s previous days as an early municipal airport.
After the first Tucson Rodeo Parade, the museum started collecting horse-drawn vehicles and restoring them. In some cases, families donated carriages that they no longer used after switching to automobiles.
In 2021, many of these wagons and buggies were put on display outside of the museum for a special event (which is where most of these photos were taken), but that is a story for another day…
As far as I can tell, “Rodeo Week” in Tucson refers to the 5-day workweek in the middle of the festival. The Rodeo also includes the weekend before and after that, making the whole thing 9 days.
La Fiesta de los Vaqueros is one of the top 25 professional rodeos in the U.S.
Professional rodeos are the ones where the competitors do rodeo full-time (like professional ball players). There are also regional amateur rodeo circuits for people who just want to compete on weekends.
I learned about Tucson schools observing “Rodeo Break” or “Rodeo Vacation” from a friend who grew up here. He always had those days off – and he never went to the rodeo.
We were already on the road to Colossal Cave Mountain Park, when we realized we’d overshot our original destination. We had heard about the cave but hadn’t ever been there. So, instead of doubling back and trying to find the entrance for the nature preserve we had probably just driven through but weren’t sure how to access, we kept going!
We weren’t even sure if we’d be able to get into the park or if it was still closed due to the coronavirus. And we certainly weren’t planning on going into any caves since Quijote was with us. But it was Phillip’s birthday, and he voted to go see what we could find.
Colossal Cave Mountain Park
Colossal Cave is a dry cave system under the Rincon Mountains in the Tucson-adjacent community of Vail. Before being developed into a tourist attraction by the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) in the 1930s, the cave had served a variety of functions, including a shelter for the Hohokam people, train robber hideout, and guano mine.
What to know if you decide to visit:
The park around the cave is open for hiking, camping, and taking in the views. (Free entrance. You just pay fees if you’re going on a cave tour or camping.)
Cave tours have restarted on a limited basis – currently only the Classic Cave Tour is available.
You can choose your tour time and book tickets online. (Adult $18 / child $9 / military or first responder $14) You can only enter the cave on a tour.
Face coverings and social distancing (six feet apart) are required during tours.
Under the roof of this cool rock structure built by the CCC is the cave entrance, Terrace Cafe, and gift shop.
Because the CCC were so instrumental in developing Colossal Cave Mountain Park, there’s a statue in honor of the CCC workers at the entrance to the terrace.
There are also nice hiking trails outside the cave – I’m sure they’ll be even nicer when it’s not summery hot.
Coatimundis
We were looking around the terrace when I overheard one of the staff tell the group waiting for their tour time that they often see coatimundis going in and out of the cave.
That stopped me in my tracks.
A coatimundi (or “coati”) is a long-nosed member of the raccoon family that mostly lives in Central America, but has also found its way into higher elevations of the Southwestern U.S. and Mexico (Mt. Lemmon, for example).
Phillip and I have been on the lookout for one ever since we went to Chiricahua for the first time and didn’t see any there.
We had no idea there’d be a chance to see one that day. Apparently, though, they’re a common sight, going in and out of the cave and hunting around the park for trash (which, of course, is on-brand for the raccoon family).
Moments later, we saw a young coati atop the hill above the cave entrance! He started sniffing along the edge, and then scampered down its sheer face and into the cave.
Phillip barely had time to snap photos, and I had my hands full with Quijote.
But we saw it.
It was like nature gave Phillip a colossal birthday surprise!
Manage Cookie Consent
To provide the best experiences, we use technologies like cookies to store and/or access device information. Consenting to these technologies will allow us to process data such as browsing behavior or unique IDs on this site. Not consenting or withdrawing consent may adversely affect certain features and functions.
Functional
Always active
The technical storage or access is strictly necessary for the legitimate purpose of enabling the use of a specific service explicitly requested by the subscriber or user, or for the sole purpose of carrying out the transmission of a communication over an electronic communications network.
Preferences
The technical storage or access is necessary for the legitimate purpose of storing preferences that are not requested by the subscriber or user.
Statistics
The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for statistical purposes.The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for anonymous statistical purposes. Without a subpoena, voluntary compliance on the part of your Internet Service Provider, or additional records from a third party, information stored or retrieved for this purpose alone cannot usually be used to identify you.
Marketing
The technical storage or access is required to create user profiles to send advertising, or to track the user on a website or across several websites for similar marketing purposes.
