January 17, 2018 • Vol. 16, No. 8
POSTAL PATRON CAVE CREEK
www.thefoothillsfocus.com
ECRWSS Carrier Route PreSorted Standard U.S. POSTAGE PAID Permit No. 371 Cave Creek, AZ
Anthem | Black Canyon City | Carefree | Cave Creek | Desert Hills | New River| North Phoenix | Tramonto | Vistancia
Third annual Prickly Pedal Mountain Bike Race
Photo courtesy of Prickly Pedal Race/ Maricopa Trail Foundation
Pictured: Mountain bike racers take on the Maricopa Trail in last year’s Prickly Pedal Race, a 40-mile course.
TARA ALATORRE STAFF
CAVE CREEK – The third annual Prickly Pedal mountain
Arizona Storytellers coming to Peoria PEORIA – The Arizona Storytellers Project, a series of oral storytelling events, will take place for the first time-ever in the west valley at the Peoria Center for the Performing Arts on January 24. The event will feature live storytelling with, true, firstperson stories from local neighborhoods and notables, who have a story they are willing to share. Each story is told in front of a live audience in 6-10 minutes. The Peoria event, “Arizona Storytellers: New Beginnings,”
bike race is on Jan. 20, it features a 40-mile course that takes riders through rocks, sand, mud, and aggressive ascents on the Maricopa Trail; it also features purse prizes for all the rider categories, a kid’s bike race, an after-party with a beer garden and an awards presentation. All proceeds from the Prickly Pedal support the Maricopa Trail and Park Foundation, a non-profit organization created by the county that supports the maintenance and construction of the Maricopa Trail, which is over 200 miles of connected desert trails that circle the Phoenix Valley. “This event is to really focus the energy to Arizona about the Maricopa Trail initially,” said the event director of the
Prickly Pedal, Jeffery Frost. “Two, three years down the road, then we become more national. But we want to build the following here first.” The ultimate goal is that the Maricopa Trail will eventually form a giant ring and link Maricopa County’s 10 regional parks surrounding the Valley in a loop. Currently 213 miles of the trail are finished, but it will be a total of 310 miles when totally completed. “It is really undiscovered,” he says of the race and the Maricopa Trail. Not only will the proceeds from the race go to maintaining and completing the Maricopa
PRICKLY PEDAL continued on page 11
Bobcat family forces lockdown at Boulder Creek HS
will focus on change, and feature stories about the choices, discoveries and accidents that change our lives. The featured speakers are: Julie LaJoe, John Vazquez, Mark Garcia, Dhamana Shauri, Sarah Edwards and Dominique Flagg. The performance is from 7-9 p.m. at the Peoria Center for the Performing Arts located at 10580 N 83rd Avenue. For more information or to purchase tickets visit www.storytellersproject.com.
ANTHEM – A mother bobcat and her two kittens were discovered at Boulder Creek High School on Jan. 8 around 8 a.m. forcing the campus into lockdown for four hours while Arizona Game and Fish Department attempted to remove and relocated the wild cats. It appears the mother bobcat
NORTH VALLEY:
BALD EAGLES:
Congressional District 8
Breeding season,
special elections
brings outdoor closures
Page 3
Page 5
TARA ALATORRE STAFF
BOBCATS
continued on page 8
Pictured: The bobcat family captured at Boulder Creek HS.
Photo courtesy of James O’ Brien/Southwest Wildlife
SCOTTSDALE: AZ Fine Art Expo
Page 12
OTHER : • Bluhm Column
4
• Service Directory
15
• Classified Ads
18