Anza Day event marked in Tubac

www.sahuaritasun.com

In 1776, while new Americans were fighting for their independence from Britain, Capt. Juan Bautista de Anza II was gathering about 300 Spanish settlers and military people for a long trip.

They mounted up and left the Tubac Presidio on a 1,200-mile trek to the West Coast to build the Presidio at San Francisco. Their mission was to connect New Spain with San Francisco.

Tubac Presidio State Historic Park will celebrate Juan Bautista de Anza’s trek on Saturday, Oct. 17, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tubac, which grew up around the Spanish presidio built in 1752, is Arizona’s first European settlement.

The event was reduced from two days to one this year because of state budget cuts.

The Anza Trail runs from Nogales, Ariz., to San Francisco, with the 3.5 miles section between the two parks followed by re-enactors each year. (Read the journals of the military leaders and learn more about this historic trip at www.nps.gov/juba/index.htm.)

The Tumac‡cori Mission will present “Reflections of the Past” at 10 a.m., and then Juan Bautista de Anza, portrayed by Luis Bracamonte, and his troops will ride up the Anza Trail and arrive in Tubac about noon.

“Anza” will give a presentation to the awaiting crowd on the journey that he, his troops and courageous settlers will begin to establish the Presidio at San Francisco in October 1775.

The festivities, which begin at the Tubac Park at 10 a.m., will include living history presentations. There will also be music, including the “La Paloma Folklorico” group who will perform their traditional Mexican cultural dances. The event will feature the historic Washington Printing Press and copies will be printed of The Weekly Arizonian, Arizona’s first newspaper, printed in Tubac on March 3, 1859.

Information, Tubac Presidio State Historic Park, 398-2252.

The park entrance fee is $4 per person for ages 14 and up, and $1 for children aged 6 to 13. No charge for children younger than 6.

Tubac Presidio State Historic Park is at 1 Burruel St., in Tubac.

This event is co-sponsored by the Tubac Chamber of Commerce, Tubac Historical Society and the Anza Trail Coalition of Arizona.