••
20
COMMUNITY
TheMesaTribune.com |
THE MESA TRIBUNE | SEPTEMBER 19, 2021
@EVTNow
/EVTNow
'I Love Mesa Day' a jam-packed celebration TRIBUNE NEWS STAFF
C
ouncilwoman Julie Spilsbury told her counterparts at a meeting last week she attended an Arizona League of Cities conference. “I just felt so proud to be from Mesa the whole time,” she said. “Every session someone brought up Mesa and the great things we’re doing here.” The civic pride continues Saturday, Sept. 25, when a downtown festival celebrates how much locals heart their city. I Love Mesa Day, sponsored by the city and Downtown Mesa Association, is a free, family-friendly festival featuring outdoor activities, including two concerts. The festival begins at 8 a.m. and lasts until 10 p.m. A Kid Zone features activities for
the young on Macdonald between Main Street and Pepper Place from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. The Kid Zone will feature carnival games, activities, entertainment and carnival rides. Older folks can enjoy live music with Dr. Dave Yount at Il Vinaio from 6:30 to 9 p.m. On the restaurant’s menu is the I Heart Mesa burger and Mesa Pecan Pie Bread Pudding a la mode, made with Mesa honey. The Neighborhood Comedy Theatre plans improv shows at 7:30 and 9:45 p.m. (for tickets, visit nctphoenix.com). One of the stars of downtown Mesa’s beer scene, 12 West Brewing Company, showcases rock and reggae singer Raul Burruel from 1 to 4 p.m., with the Tommy Grills Band playing
I Love Mesa Day features games for kids and music around town. At the Mesa Amphitheatre, free concerts will be provided by Young the Giant and Mesa’s own LEFT: Michale Franti, RIGHT: Quetzal Guerrero. (Special
��� MESA DAY ���� 21 to the Tribune)
Mask event today will be a fun, non-divisive event TRIBUNE NEWS STAFF
A
t last, a Mesa nonpro�it is putting on a mask event this afternoon, Sept. 19, and it has nothing to do with COVID-19. The Cultural Coalition is sponsoring its fourth annual Mask Alive Festival 2-5 p.m. at Pioneer Park, 526 E. Main St., Mesa. The free event is focused on a series of masked performances that will be introduced by Mayor John Giles. The family-friendly event also will feature arts and craft activities from the i.d.e.a. Museum and other organizations as well as food trucks with tacos, desserts and vegan options. There also will be artist vendors and a raf�le to win a one-of-a-kind hand carved and painted mask by artist Zarco Guerrero. Guerrero is a celebrated Mesa artist and sculptor who has described himself as
Arts and crafts activities also will be provided at the Cultural Coalition’s Mask Alive Festival at Pioneer Park today. (Special to the Tribune) “captivated by the power of the mask.”
“The fascinating story of the Native
American Mask dance became an artistic obsession,” he has written in his autobiography at zarkmask.com. He has been making bronze sculptures and ceramic masks since 1972 and has lived with mask makers in Mexico and visited with other mask makers around the world to deepen his craft. “I adopted the philosophy of art with a social conscious and adhered to the ideology of David Alfaro Siqueiros, while being profoundly inspired and motivated by the indigenous people, their art and culture,” he has written. He has been an artist in resident at Stanford University and founded the Xicanindio Artists Coalition, Inc., a non-pro�it arts organization established to promote Native American and Chicano arts that is the oldest Latino and Native American Arts organization in Arizona.
��� MASKS ���� 21
