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Talk of the Town: Happy Halloween to one and all!

JAIME RICHARDSON | GREEN VALLEY NEWS
The Green Valley Rose Society hosts its annual Rose Show, Sunday, Nov. 2 at the East Social Center.

By Regina Ford

Published: Thursday, October 30, 2008 9:25 PM MDT

Today is Halloween. I’m dressing as myself today, since it’s scary enough when I look in the mirror!

Because of the unknown, Halloween is the one of the most captivating holidays, often celebrated by both adults and children. The element of surprise makes it fun and unpredictable. Enlighten yourself with Halloween trivia and fun facts to enjoy the holiday even more thanks to our friends at theholidayspot.com:

Halloween was brought to North America by immigrants from Europe who would celebrate the harvest around a bonfire, share ghost stories, sing, dance and tell fortunes.

Orange and black are Halloween colors because orange is associated with the Fall harvest and black is associated with darkness and death.

There are no words in the dictionary that rhyme with orange, the color of pumpkin.

According to folklore, the jack-o-lantern got his name from a man named Jack.

Turnips and beets served as the original jack-o-lanterns.

Jack-o-lanterns originated in Ireland where people placed candles in hollowed-out turnips to keep away spirits and ghosts on the Samhain holiday.

Mexico celebrates ‘The Day of the Dead’ instead of Halloween.

Pumpkins also come in white, blue and green. Great for unique monster carvings!

Growing big pumpkins is a big-time hobby. Top prize money for the biggest giant pumpkin is as much as $25,000 dollars at fall festivals.

Halloween is the second most commercially successful holiday, with Christmas being the first. People spend as much as $2.5 billion during Halloween on candies, costumes, decorations and parties.

Halloween candy sales average about 2 billion dollars annually in the United States.

Chocolate candy bars top the list as the most popular candy for trick-or-treaters.

It is believed that the Irish began the tradition of trick-or-treating. In preparation for All Hallow’s Eve, Irish townsfolk would visit neighbors and ask for contributions of food for a feast in the town.

Black cats were once believed to be witches’ familiars, who protected their powers.

Samhainophobia is an intense fear of Halloween. I never knew that!

Art aficionados will have a chance to step back in time to the early days of the Tubac Artist Colony during the village-wide “Art Experience” with the “Then and Now in Old Town Tubac” exhibits and walking tours hosted by Aldea de Artisticas—Working Artists Village in Old Town Tubac, Nov. 8 and 9.

The “Then” part of the exhibit will feature the paintings of Marion Valentine—one of Tubac’s early artists, with her daughter, Nancy, on hand to talk about her mother’s work, and to conduct “Tubac—Where Art and History Meet” guided tours.

The “Now” part of the exhibit will feature the work of Valentine’s daughter, Judy VanCleve of Sierra Vista and grandchildren Cathey Torrey of Tucson and Corey Stevens, New York, and the current resident artists at Aldea de Artisticas including sculptor Mike Taylor and photographers and jewelers Warren Allen and Martita Foss.

Marion produced more than 1,000 paintings expressing her impressions of Tubac’s village life and natural habitat through a unique wax resist process during her Tubac times from 1965 to 1984. A graduate of Layton Art School in Milwaukee, Wis., Valentine, and her craftsman husband, Hans Valentine, purchased the historic Lowe House in 1965, where they lived, worked, sold art and built community with their fellow artists and residents of the time. Valentine’s work, as well as those of her offspring, will be on exhibit in what was formerly the artists’ studio and gallery. The current Aldea de Artisticas resident artists’ work will be on exhibit in the gallery which was once the living room of the Valentine family.

The “Tubac—Where Art and History Meet” guided walking tour will begin at 2 p.m. each day of Art Experience. In addition to drawing from her personal experience as Valentine’s daughter during the tours, Nancy will draw upon her extensive research for her book, Three Hundred Years of Tubac Times—Writings, Illustrations and Recollections of those Who Lived Tubac: From 1691 to 2002, to interweave the stories of life and times of Old Town’s historic buildings and the artist residents who lived and worked there.

Aldea de Artisticas—Working Artists’ Village is located in Old Town Tubac in the Historic Lowe House, 14 Calle Iglesia, and is open daily from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

The annual Rose Show sponsored by the Rose Society of Green Valley and Green Valley Recreation, will be blooming with activity this coming Sunday, Nov. 2, at the East Center, 7 Abrego Drive. Anyone may enter a rose in the show and newcomers are especially invited. Beginning at 6 a.m., all roses for entry should be brought to the back patio at the East center. No entries will be accepted after 9:30 a.m.

Help for exhibitors and novices will be available on the back patio at the East Center. You must know the name of the rose to enter it. If unknown, an aide for novice rose enthusiasts will help identify your rose from the Arizona Rose Society Handbook for selecting roses. A schedule may be obtained at the East Center office or online at www.gvrose.org.

There are many categories in the show. Roses may be exhibited as singles, sprays, in bowls, frames and arrangements.

Judging by American Rose Society judges will begin at 10 a.m. The public viewing is from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m.

Karen Packer, Rose Society of Green Valley president, says there will be hundreds of roses and arrangements are sure to delight everyone.

In addition to local and Tucson-based rose growers, exhibitors come from New Mexico and California.

A photography contest will also be held in conjunction with the Rose Show, Photographs must have been taken by the exhibitor and must have one or more roses as the focal point.

Rose Show chairperson, Marianna Steele, will provide the afternoon entertainment. Her piano selections will all feature roses in the title.

The Santa Rita Art League and the Green Valley Camera Club will display rose-related works in the lobby and halls.

A raffle will be held for prizes donated by Green Valley merchants. A hospitality table will offer punch and cookies.

A small boutique offering rose-related good for sale will be set up in the East Center lobby, including the book, “Blast Furnace Rose Gardening” by the Tucson Rose Society.

Barbershop harmony is returning to Valley Presbyterian Church Sunday afternoon, Nov. 2, at 3 p.m. for the 25th annual Green Valley Barbershop Harmony Show, “Riverboat Revue” directed by Jeff Dolan and featuring the Tucson Sunshine Chorus, Green Valley Aires and various quartets. Recent appearances on barbershop society competition have helped them fine tune their harmonious sound and entertaining presentations.

The Green Valley Aires, under the direction of Charlie Bauder and Wayne Brumm, will start the revue of river boat songs with numbers like “Sailin’ on the Henry Clay” and “Mississippi Mud.”

Throughout the show will be a parade of quartets including local favorites, G.V. Blend and Osteochordosis. Of course, the ever-popular Eastsiders and Chordinary Guys will be singing familiar favorites.

Tickets are $10 and can be purchased from any chorus member, or at Continental Barbers (Continental Shopping Plaza); Second Look Bookstore; The Book Shop; Robin’s Nest Beauty Salon near Bashas’ and at the door the day of the show.

rford@gvnews.com


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