Best Arts Festival 2012 | Sunnyslope Art Walk | People & Places | Phoenix
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Best Arts Festival

Sunnyslope Art Walk

Each year during the past five years, more than 100 local artists line Sunnyslope's Central Avenue between Dunlap and the canal during a weekend in October and April for a change-of-pace art festival.

Here, you're not going to find a collection of "artisan" lawn decorations or tchotchkes made in foreign countries. Instead, the town that's home to the Sunnyslope Rock Garden and historic home tours encourages its own artists and members of surrounding creative communities to set up a booth, showcase their work, and engage with the neighborhood to the tune of live music, local food, and plenty of people watching to soak up an afternoon.

Best Craft Festival

Crafeteria at Medlock Plaza

More than 45 local crafters let their hands rest and machines cool down long enough to set up booths, talk shop, and sell their goods during the annual Crafeteria. The event, hosted by Frances, plays by one rule: Everything must be 100 percent handmade.

Crafeteria's an annual gathering for arts and crafty types and one of our favorite places to do some serious holiday shopping. Last December's lineup included paper goods, apparel, accessories, artwork, buttons, and everything else we have a soft spot for. Artists Keri Mosier, Annemarie Miskovic, Cyndi Coon, Maria Mueller, Megan Hull, Kelly Roach, Kathy Cano-Murillo, and more proved once again that it's never too late to start saving for Crafeteria, and it's never too early to call dibs on a parking spot.
  • W. Camelback Rd., Phoenix, 85013 Map

Best Place to Let Your Maker Flag Fly

Maker Faire

In October 2011, Maker Bench Tempe, Roosevelt Row, Make Magazine, and Craft magazine brought science, art, and engineering together on Roosevelt Row. Throughout the day, local and national crafters showcased their creations, demonstrated their skills, and celebrated all things DIY.

The event, which started in San Mateo, California, in 2006, is "the family-friendly Burning Man festival," with more than 100 exhibitors, including laser pumpkin carving, epic marshmallow launching, giant flaming robots, tiny finger puppets, and a maker market for attendees to try their hand at a few nerdy crafts to take home.Yes, it's a festival of geeks. And it's just the kind of celebration we could use a lot more of.

Best DIY Letterpress

Letterpress Central

Cindy and Gary Iverson aren't afraid of a little fresh ink. Cindy's an artist who specializes in mixed media and paper arts. Gary's a chemical engineer. And together, they've owned and operated The Paper Studio, where they've made paper and printed stationery for online sales.

This year, the two traded up for a big space in Chandler where, for the first time, they have room to store, display, and operate a number of handpresses and full-size machines. Letterpress Central was born. Cindy and Gary, along with letterpress pro Mike O'Connor, now host workshops and classes, parties, and open houses where anyone can learn the basics of letterpress, experiment with their countless cast-types and images, drool-worthy selection of paper, and, of course, a good amount of ink.

Best Historic Neighborhood

Yaple Park

Yaple Park is one of the smallest historic neighborhoods in Phoenix, but what it lacks in size it makes up for in charm. One of our favorite things about the area, which is bordered by Third and Seventh avenues to the east and west, and Minneoza and Turney avenues to the north and south, is its proximity to the shopping and restaurants in the Melrose on Seventh neighborhood.

Not only that, but homes in this area are still affordable, unlike many of the other historic neighborhoods in downtown Phoenix. Homes in Yaple Park range anywhere from $50,000, for a three bedroom/one bath, to about $200,000. The fact that the Grand Canal may literally be in your back yard is also a plus, at least for bike enthusiasts. The light rail is within easy walking distance, with its stop at Campbell Avenue and Central.

Best Home Tour

Modern Phoenix

Alison King knows a thing or three (okay, probably more like hundreds — if not thousands — of facts) about the Valley's status as a Midcentury Modern mecca. Apart from compiling binders of info about architects such as Ralph Haver and Al Beadle, whose buildings and influence can be seen all over town, and blogging to serve local mod obsessives like herself, King leads an annual spring tour that takes enthusiasts to explore neighborhoods rife with architectural eye candy. Arcadia, Sunnyslope, and Marion Estates all have been featured neighborhoods in the past incarnations of the tour, which sells out well in advance year after year.

Best New Lease on Life

The Icehouse

There's a big reason why a "for sale" sign isn't planted in front of The Icehouse right now — and that reason is Peter Conley. The 50-year-old tirelessly has attempted over the past year to swat away the dark clouds that formed over the iconic downtown Phoenix arts venue, which was in danger of closing because of unpaid property taxes owed to Maricopa County. Conley, the director of the nonprofit organization overseeing the Icehouse, began teaming with such local creatives as painter Hugo Medina to stage fundraisers to help alleviate the financial burden. A few artsy endeavors also have sprung up at the property in recent months, including the new Quiet Mind Tea & No Frills Coffee Bar and secondhand store/junk shop Urbane Recycler. The historic arts complex, which originally opened in 1910 as Constable Ice Storage, also has hosted film screenings by Steve Weiss' No Festival Required, after-hours parties promoted by Quincy Ross, and epic group shows featuring the works of dozens of locals. Needless to say, Conley and his cohorts are continuing to keep the Icehouse cool, and — more importantly — open for business.

Best Downtown Building to Poke Your Head Into

Phoenix Financial Center Rotunda

Two identical rotundas share a grassy midtown lot with W.A. Sarmiento's 19-story, Googie-style Phoenix Financial Center. Should you ever be offered the chance to peek into either, we have two words for you: Take it.

Inside the buildings, which were Mad Men-esque banking offices in their heyday, light floods through floor-to-ceiling windows, and surfboard-shaped stairs lead to a second-floor loft. Cast your glance up and you'll find that the space-age dome ceilings are adorned with carved-out stars filled with colored glass. Should you access the southern rotunda (last we checked, it's still sitting empty), its loft has access to a closed-off loggia built as a connecting walkway to the second floor of the Financial Center. While you're there, perhaps you'll have some luck finding the rumored time capsule buried on the site — building managers have hunted for it, but it's never been found.
  • 3343 N. Central Ave., Phoenix, 85012 Map

Best Tourist Attraction

Tovrea Castle

You're bound to spot the cake-like structure just off Interstate 202 and 48th Street if you look carefully around the bend. Sitting on the top of a hill, the house has one of the best views of the Valley — and a colorful backstory to boot. It was built in 1929 by an Italian immigrant and sold in the '30s to cattle baron E.A. Tovrea for his wife, Della. The estate was passed down through the Tovrea family, wrapped up in one of Arizona's most sensational murder trials, and ultimately left to collect dust. It's a historical oddity in the middle of the city. Thanks in large part to John Driggs, a retired politician and historic preservation champion, it was reopened this year for small tours and volunteer hours in its iconic Carraro Cactus Gardens. Future plans include availability for private parties and, yes, maybe even weddings. The city just needs to work on some piping and fix a few exterior lights first.

Best Fake Landmark

The Marcos De Niza Inscription

In 1539, a Franciscan friar named Marcos from Italy led a scouting party from Mexico's interior through Arizona and into New Mexico, where he later claimed to have seen the prosperous land of Cibola. Along the way, he visited what is now the Valley and, the story goes, scratched a short inscription on a rock that, translated into English, says: "Fr. Marcos of Nice crowned all of New Mexico at his expense, 1539."

The inscription, first seen in the 1920s, is located on a hill just south of the parking lot at the Pima Canyon entrance to Phoenix's South Mountain Park. Iron security bars were put there long ago to protect it. Researchers say it's a fake, forged no earlier than 1850 and likely much later. One big clue: The phrase "New Mexico" didn't come into use until the late 1500s. And historians believe Marcos' route didn't pass through South Mountain or anywhere else near Phoenix. The etching's an apt symbol for Marcos de Niza, disgraced as one of the biggest liars in the New World. Researchers argue over whether Marcos promoted the idea that Cibola was loaded with gold, but apparently he did, because early the next year, the Spanish launched a massive expedition to the area led by Spanish conquistador Francisco Vasquez de Coronado. When no gold was found, Marcos was lambasted by Coronado's soldiers. And now the priest from Nice has a high school named after him in Tempe, not too far from where he didn't scratch his name on a rock, while on his way to a land of gold that didn't exist.

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