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Easter in Scottsdale

Josh Kenzer — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 17:29:09 +0000

Looking for Easter activities in Scottsdale. Here’s a few fun things to do:

Easter Brunch in Scottsdale

The Phoenician
10:00 – 3:00 pm
McCormick Ranch Golf Club
“Easter Champagne Brunch”
10:00 – 3:00 pm
Z’Tejas
(with Easter Egg Hunt – see below)
11:00 – 2:00 pm
Fairmont Scottsdale
Easter Baskets for grown ups!
Join us at our Easter Sunday brunch celebration and enter to win our deluxe Willow Stream Spa Wellness Easter Basket! Willow Stream Easter baskets for grown ups and that special someone in your life available for purchase at Willow Stream Spa Boutique.
Radisson Fort McDowell
11:00 – 3:00 pm
Four Seasons Resort Scottsdale – Crescent Moon
10:30 – 3:00 pm
W Scottsdale
12:00 – 2:00 pm
Complete with gospel choir and jazzy interludes, W Scottsdale is hosting its first ever Easter Sunday Gospel Brunch.
Trader Vics
11:00 – 8:00 pm
Cafe ZuZu
(with Easter Egg Hunt – see below)
6:00 am – 3:00 pm

Easter Egg Hunts in Scottsdale

Glow in the Dark Easter Egg Hunt at Enchantment Resort in Sedona
7:00 – 8:30 pm, Camp Coyote
Join the Camp Counselors as they hunt for glow in the dark eggs throughout property. The hunt will end at an undisclosed location for a special surprise!
Easter Egg Hunt at Enchantment Resort in Sedona
9:00 – 10:30 am, Tipi
Keep your eyes peeled for these delicious decorated eggs. The Easter Bunny will make a special appearance for pictures with the kids!
The Borgata of Scottsdale shopping center is hosting an Easter Egg hunt on Saturday April 3^rd in the center courtyard from 10:30 – 11:30 am. The event is free. Guests can enjoy kids crafts, beverages and a light breakfast provided by Starbucks, a visit from the Easter bunny and of course the main event, the Egg Hunt!
Z’Tejas will also be hosting their annual Easter egg hunt for the kids that will take play every hour from 11:00 am with the last egg hunt starting at 2:00 pm. The Z’Tejas Easter Bunny will be one site throughout the day while Z’Tejas staff takes pictures of families and children with the costumed bunny. The pictures are available to all families for free!
Four Seasons Resort Scottsdale will be transformed to celebrate Easter festivities with all the trimmings. In addition, the Resort’s youngest guests will enjoy a visit from the Easter Bunny himself and two spectacular Egg Hunts at 10 a.m. and 1 p.m. on Fountain Terrace. There also will be a bouncy house, potato sack races and Easter-themed crafts for kids of all ages.
Cafe ZuZu will hold its 5th Annual Easter Egg Hunt at 9:00 am on the ZuZu Patio. Meet under the pink and purple balloons! Prizes will be awarded to the participants who collect the most eggs as well as the lucky person who finds the golden egg. Parents are asked to remain with their children.

Easter Activities in Scottsdale

The 15th Annual Spring Paintout at the Desert Botanical Garden
Over 40 of Arizona’s finest landscape artists painted on site at the Desert Botanical Garden throughout March. Art Show and Sale showcasing their amazing work will be in the Stardust Foundation Plaza
April 2, 3, and 4 from 9:00 – 3:00 pm
Free with Paid Garden Admission
Desert In Bloom Tour by Across Arizona Tours
This tour offers a rare opportunity for photos and a short walk among the wildflowers and plants in bloom everywhere in the Sonoran Desert.
Mild to Wild is offering Easter weekend special savings on guided whitewater raft trips on the Upper Salt River Canyon (April 2, 3, 4): 1 free child with 2 paying adults!
Wildflower and Cactus Bloom Adventure and Birdwatching by Arizona Desert Events.

Easter Discounts in Scottsdale

Residence Inn Scottsdale Paradise Valley has an Easter weekend promotion for our Studio Suites at a rate of $99 per night.
The Scottsdale Plaza Resort is offering an $89 per night for standard rooms (April 1^st through the 5^th) and an Easter brunch on the 4^th for $39.95 for adults and $14.95 age 6-12, 5 and under free.
Sprinkles Cupcakes: From March 26th through April 4th, Sprinkles will create a special Easter HOP Box filled with 12 tasty cupcakes with 4 different flavor of cupcakes including dark chocolate, red velvet, carrot and brown sugar praline cupcakes, the former only available on Easter. The cupcakes are adorned with pink and green bunnies, sure to bring out the Easter spirit in us all!

Local Luminaries: Stan Utley

Josh Kenzer — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 17:18:24 +0000

Each year, Experience Scottsdale profiles a selection of local celebrities, from restaurateurs and sports figures to artists and adventurers for our Destination Guide. We invite you to meet this year’s luminaries and find out what they have to say about living, working and enjoying life in Scottsdale.

Stan Utley is golf instructor at Scottsdale’s Grayhawk Golf Club.

Request your free destination guide for Scottsdale, Arizona today!

Looking for Last Minute Valentine’s Day Plans?

Josh Kenzer — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 22:22:48 +0000

Yeah, it’s getting that close (close enough to say last minute at least). If you want to treat her right, check out our Valentine’s Day page to find both events and packages that are going on here in Scottsdale. Whether you’re looking to surprise her with a long weekend trip (don’t forget that Monday the 15th is a holiday) or a single night out, it’s not too late make arrangements.

Here’s some ideas to get you thinking (all these are from our packages tab on the Valentine’s page):

Have dinner at one of the fabulous Scottsdale restaurants
Pamper her with a spa treatment
Take a food tour of downtown Scottsdale
Get a posh room at a world-class resort
Take a romantic train ride
Cruise over the Grand Canyon in a helicopter tour
or create your own experience a la carte.

Fish Roundup at the Scottsdale Waterfront this Saturday

Josh Kenzer — Mon, 04 Jan 2010 20:04:20 +0000

Join Salt River Project and Scottsdale Public Art in the first fish roundup at Scottsdale Waterfront since its construction. Come out and enjoy permanent and temporary public art, meet Dewey the Waterdrop SRP’s water safety mascot, and learn more about the canals from experts and educational displays. Watch SRP crews herd the white amur fish, employed by SRP as natural canal cleaners, in preparation for draining the canal for routine inspection and repairs.

Art installations include Flowing Overlapping Gesture and Transfix.

Flowing Overlapping Gesture is a 100-foot-long artwork designed specifically for the canal by Phoenix painter Fausto Fernandez. Beginning 8:00 am on January 9th, crews will spend 3 days installing the artwork at the Marshall Way Bridge. The artwork will be on display while the canal is dry. Once the canal is refilled, the artwork will float in the canal for 3 days.

Transfix at Sunset Point

Transfix is a collaborative , interactive urban intervention that will be performed by 20 performers on January 9th from 8:00 – 10:00 am. Wearing white and weaving in and around the urban architectural spaces of Scottsdale Waterfront, Rachel Bowditch’s Vessel will transform the canal into a stage, revealing the poetry and beauty of the mundane. Performers break out of the traditional theatre arena into a public space where the audience becomes part of the performance, coming and going as they please and often intermingling with the
performers.

Bring your family and friends down to the Scottsdale Waterfront and explore why the canal is critical and why canal maintenance is so important to Scottsdale.

UPDATE: Here’s a video that SRP sent over that shows the fish herding process

Fish Herding

The Capitol Christmas Tree is Coming from Arizona

Josh Kenzer — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 20:29:36 +0000

Arizona has been given a grand opportunity to showcase the “Grand Canyon State” with a tree to provide that magic splendor you see each year on television of the beautiful Christmas tree illuminating the foreground of the Nation’s Capitol.

There will be a tree cutting ceremony this Saturday, November 7th in the Apache-Sitgreaves National Forest near Alpine, Arizona. From there, the tree will make several stops in Arizona before heading across the country to be presented to the President on Monday, November 30th.

You are invited to attend the tree cutting ceremony or stop in and see the tree as it travels through Arizona. For all the details, check out the official website at http://capitolchristmastree2009.org/

The Bigger and Better Scottsdale Fashion Square

Mitchell Tay — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 23:03:23 +0000

For those who love shopping Scottsdale Fashion Square is the mall just for that. The mall recently added a new 100,000 square foot extension to the already ginormous mall, now totalling 1.9 million square feet of retail space. If you’re not aware, Fashion Square is the the largest mall in the southwest so make sure to wear your comfortable shoes handy if shopping for awhile. In the newly expanded wing you’ll find the widely-known Barney’s New York anchored at the end of the mall, with other popular stores such as, Forever 21, H&M, Banana Republic, and J. Crew adjacent to it. While the majority of the major stores have already opened there are still a handful of stores waiting to make their debut. And if you love to eat be sure to check out the two restaurants that opened up in the expansion: Modern Ssteak and Marcella’s Italian Kitchen.

Modern Steak is not your typical steakhouse ambiance. It’s light and youthful with very elegant decor, yet still intimate. My colleague, Melissa, raved about the short rib sandwich and peanut butter cup dessert which she said tasted like “deliciousness.” Modern Steak also has a convenient walk-up window for a quick bite on the run called Modern Burger. It has a fairly simple menu with very reasonable prices. Marcella’s Italian Kitchen is also a moderately priced restaurant that’s not too casual or too fancy. My other colleague, Sara, really enjoyed the restaurant’s lunch specials.

A couple other items to make note of is the new underground parking and valet parking options for convenient access to the mall.

Regardless if you’re just visiting Scottsdale or a local, make sure you have enough hours set aside if you love to shop.

Get your Insight Bowl Tickets Now

Josh Kenzer — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 15:31:54 +0000

Buy your tickets today to the Insight Bowl, featuring hard-hitting college football action between teams from the Big Ten and Big 12 conferences.

The 21st annual Insight Bowl is set for 4 p.m. (MST), Thursday, Dec. 31, 2009, at ASU’s Sun Devil Stadium.

An electric atmosphere featuring exciting game action, collegiate marching bands and cheerleaders are staples of the Insight Bowl.

For tickets, contact the Fiesta Bowl’s ticket office at (480) 350-0911 or visit insightbowl.com.

Picture of the Travelocity Gnome at the Grand Canyon

Josh Kenzer — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 17:13:52 +0000

Travelocity Gnome hanging out at the Grand Canyon

Meet the Travelocity Roaming Gnome Monday July 20

Mitchell Tay — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 16:30:05 +0000

After much voting on http://votetravelocity.com Arizona won the contest for the Travelocity Roaming Gnome’s next visit. The Roaming Gnome arrived to Arizona yesterday and will be traveling all around the state until Tuesday.

The Roaming Gnome will be making an appearance at Trader Vic’s at the Hotel Valley Ho on Monday, July 20, from 5:00 – 7:00pm to meet all of you before he goes off to Boston, Philly, or Washington D.C.

Trader Vic’s will be having drink and appetizer specials for this unique event.

So come on out and meet the Travelocity Roaming Gnome! Take a picture and have a drink with him!

Meet the Man Behind the Megafish

Josh Kenzer — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 23:09:06 +0000

Who: Zeb Hogan – Aquatic Ecologist, National Geographic Explorer

Hogan is third in a series of eight National Geographic Explorers who will be visiting the Valley of the Sun this summer at the new National Geographic Explorers Camp at the Fairmont Scottsdale.

What: National Geographic Explorers Camp is an adventure-based resort kids camp, where children ages 5-12 navigate a GPS to discover desert creatures, go on a photo safari, play on gigantic continent maps and meet real-life explorers. The camp runs Tuesdays-Sundays for overnight guests through Labor Day. The world-renowned speakers are an added feature, approximately ever other Saturday.

More on Hogan: Big fish? Make that megafish. Dr. Zeb Hogan is an aquatic ecologist who travels the world searching for giant, fresh water fish weighing over 200 pounds. As the Director of National Geographic Megafishes Project based in Reno, Nev., Hogan is leading a team of investigators to study freshwater ecosystems on six continents. Hogan’s project is racing against the extinction of bear-size catfish, half-ton stingrays, giant trout and other monster fish. He believes these fish provide insight into the health of ecosystems and that it is just as important to save Mekong catfish and river dolphins, as it is to save tigers and whales. To do this, he involves local anglers in his research, hoping to engender pride in the bounty of their lakes and rivers and encourage sustainable fishing practices.

A native of Tempe, Ariz. and U of A graduate, Hogan is returning to the state to interact and educate youngsters during two Saturday National Geographic Explorers Camp sessions at the Fairmont Scottsdale. Hogan will then keynote a special family dinner event, sharing his expertise, conservation efforts and adventures to save these freshwater giants. The kids’ camp and family dinner event are available for overnight resort guests for a nominal fee.

Where: At the Fairmont Scottsdale, located at 7575 E. Princess Drive in Scottsdale.

Interviews: Available for in-studio interviews, Friday morning, June 26

Photo Ops: On Saturday, June 27, Hogan will “edu-tain” young explorers during morning and afternoon camp sessions. During an informal dinner event for the whole family, Hogan will give a lecture presentation, sharing his adventures:

Best on-site photo opportunity: First Camp Session: 9 am – 10 am *
* Hogan will be fishing with the campers at the resort’s lagoon

Price: Daytime sessions for kid campers start at $59 for a half-day and $89 for a full-day with lunch on a speaker Saturday. Other days, the camp starts at $49 per session. The dinner event is $30 for adults, $15 for children ages 6-12 and kids 5 and under dine free. The camp and dinner are exclusively for overnight guests of the resort.

Summer room rate specials feature the “Summer Splash Package” at $199 per room, per night, which includes a $100 daily food and beverage credit. The camp is a la carte. Room only rates start at $145 per night.