What’s New in Greater Phoenix?
September 2011
HIGHLIGHTS FROM THIS MONTH’S EDITION
• Arizona Restaurant Week returns September 17-25.
• The Westin at Kierland Resort & Spa reopens Latin-inspired restaurant Deseo.
• CALA Festival celebrates Arizona’s Latin heritage beginning September 14. |
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| RESORT NEWS |
| The Arizona Biltmore gives couples the Casablanca Package, featuring amenities catered to bring out the romance seen in the iconic film. Guests experience the resort’s Ocatilla accommodations which include 500 sq. ft. rooms, granite and mosaic tile bathrooms, and a French balcony with beautiful views. They arrive at the hotel to champagne and a Biltmore Chocolate Box with Truffles, and the package’s Rose Petal Turndown awaits them in the evening. A viewing of Casablanca in the Ocatilla Screening Room is paired with gourmet popcorn and soda, and in the morning they can enjoy a romantic Parisian breakfast. Rates start at $279 and require a resort charge. Valet parking is complimentary.Families going on vacation should consider the Kierland Mining Co. at The Westin at Kierland Resort & Spa which offers unique and interesting hiking trails. The Kierland Family Challengeadds to the fun every Saturday evening, bringing a series of challenges for rival families to compete for a grand prize. Challenges include pie eating, balloon pop, bobble head, and others. Guests can win a complimentary room night or Starwood Preferred Guest points for superior family teamwork.Pointe Hilton’s Squaw Peak Resort and Tapatio Cliffs Resort offers their Stay and PlayPackage dedicated to golf lovers with room rates starting at $89 per night, per person. The package includes a one-night stay, a Hilton Breakfast for two, and one round of golf.Vacationers can enjoy daily breakfast for two, a welcome amenity, and four tickets to their choice of attraction from the Heard Museum, Desert Botanical Garden, or Musical Instrument Museum when they book a room using the Destination Package at The Phoenician. The resort takes leisure and luxury a step further with a 4 p.m. checkout. Rooms must be booked three days prior to arrivalGuests can stay at least two nights in a one-bedroom king suite at Xona Resort Suites starting at just $119 per night with the Choose Your Summer Fun package. This offer includes up to two gift cards from Harkins Movies, Cracker Jax Family Fun Park Gift Card, or F and B credit to either Asada Desert Grill or Orange Iguana Lounge Resort. During their stay, both out-of-towners and locals can enjoy the resort’s Movies by the Pool starting at dusk on Friday and Saturday nights.The Four Seasons Resort Scottsdale at Troon North offers guests a top-down, air-in-your-hair experience with its new Open Road Package. The package is part of the resort’s entrance into the Mercedes-Benz Hotel and Test Drive Program, which brings luxury travel to vacation properties. Cruise the Arizona landscape in a Mercedes-Benz E350 Cabriolet with a specialized driving itinerary. Each customized package is a perfect fit year-round, making convertible travel available with any vacation. Special vehicle features include an electric AIRCAP® wind deflector and AIRSCARF® heating system which makes your neck so warm it’s scarf-worthy. The Open Road Package is valid until Dec. 31, 2011.
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| ARTS, CULTURE & ENTERTAINMENT |
| Arizona residents can celebrate Arizona’s Latino cultural heritage with the first ever bi-annual CALA Festival from Sept. 14, 2011 to Nov. 16, 2011 put on by the CALA Alliance, a community-based organization dedicated to cultural inspiration and appreciation of the Americas. This months-long festival offers more than 35 possibilities for excitement and awe, bringing them Latin American arts and entertainment from organizations such as the Phoenix Art Museum, Scottsdale International Film Festival, the Tempe Center for the Arts, the Musical Instrument Museum, and more.The Pioneer Living History Museum is having a Family WeekendSeptember 24-25. Guests will journey back into colonial times with entertaining gunfights, carriage rides, and craft activities during this two-day event. Saturday boasts a special Fast-Draw, which is sure to excite even the oldest of the family. Visiting the newly renovated Opera House and walking through the Village’s brand new sidewalks will transport visitors into the world of the Arizona Territory from 1862 to 1912. With the time period’s jovial music filling guests’ ears as they absorb the historical culture, it would be hard to not attend the museum’s future family weekends which will happen every month..Art frequenters shouldn’t miss the Heard Museum’s on-going exhibit California Dreamin’: Reflections on Land and Culture. Being showcased is a diverse assortment of paintings, etchings, and ceremonial apparel from central and northern Californian artists. Those featured are various indigenous peoples from the 1700s to the 20th century who have had their resources stripped from them by European developers. The exhibit ends in November 2011.
Guests of the Desert Botanical Garden can walk among bugs and other creepy creatures at David Roger’s Big Bug Exhibition which debuts September 12. The exhibit features 11 sculptures weighing 300 to 1,200 pounds and ranging from seven to 25 feet long, made from unique materials like twigs, branches, sapling, and twine. They illuminate at night, allowing guests to enjoy the exhibit in cooler temperatures. Enjoying the garden with the kids, but wanting something a bit more mature? On September 29, older guests wear bug-inspired masks and attend the Moonlight Masquerade to view the exhibit. They will experience burlesque acts, fire shows, and catered food by Fabulous Food Fine Catering and Events. In addition, starting September 24, the garden presents hundreds of butterflies with the Mariposa Monarca Monarch Butterfly Exhibit.
Musical Instrument Museum reveals its permanent Elvis Presley exhibit showcasing the King’s clothes, personal paraphernalia, and instruments, one being the Martin D28 acoustic guitar Elvis played at his last concert. The entire exhibit takes place in the museum’s newly renovated Artist Gallery.
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| SPORTS/GOLF |
| The Diamond Tee Package, offered by the Kierland Golf Club at The Westin at Kierland Spa & Resort, is worthy of this indulgent name for its inclusion of 12 rounds of golf, one dozen Titleist Prov1’s, one Foot-Joy glove, one Kierland logo hat, two Kierland koozies and a Troon Rewards membership. This is the superlative value for guests’ golfing adventures. The offer is valid throughout the end of September.The Legacy Golf Resortis hosting its 1st Annual Industry-wide Hospitality Golf Tournament on Sept. 23, 2011. Golfers will have the chance to show their swing on an award-winning golf course, followed by a dinner and award celebration. Included in the package are green and cart fees (fully equipped with cooler and tees), personalized scorecards, signs, and rules sheet, fun things provided by sponsors at the holes, and a buffet dinner with awards, entertainment, and cash bar. Special rates starting at $69 per night are available at the resort for that extra getaway experience. In conjunction, The Arizona Sunbelt Chapter of Meeting Professionals International and the Arizona Chapter of the Hospitality Sales & Marketing Association International are providing a golf clinic and dinner. All proceeds support the associations’ efforts to provide education and scholarships to pursuers of a hospitality and meeting industry career.
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| DINING |
| The fourth annual Arizona Restaurant Weekexpands its boundaries to the entire state this year from September 17-25. The Arrogant Butcher, Calistro California Bistro, McCormick and Schmick’s, and Avanti Restaurant of Distinction are a sneak peek of the participating restaurants. Menus are now available.Thought the District American Kitchen & Wine Barcouldn’t possibly have more mouthwatering drinks to quench your thirst? Think again. Guests are encouraged to enjoy September’s welcomed cooler weather on the outside patio with an order of the Pineapple Lavender Mint or the Sage Julep. Paired with the restaurant’s modern twist on American comfort foods, featuring their own roof-top gardened herbs, meal is sure to offer them that extra slice of ease during Arizona’s last lazy summer month. The restaurant’s dedication to the Greater Phoenix community is shown by its inclusion of local brews and produce. Chef Jay Bogsinske’s passion for locally sustained creations ignites a fresh and surprising perspective on fine desert dining. Customers should be sure to stop by before the end of September to experience the summer menu.Every Saturday at 11:30 a.m., cooking amateurs can join Agave, the Arizona Spa at the Westin Kierland Resort for a Seasonal Eatingcooking class. The class offers participants a recommended diet with easy recipes that are both delicious and nutritious. Special appreciation for the body’s natural response to the changing seasons sets this cooking class apart from the rest. Michele Rusinko, a certified Health Coach from the Institute for Integrative Nutrition leads the $25 per-person class. It includes a prepared meal and choice of Yoga or Pilates class.Deseo at the Westin at Kierland Resort & Spareopens after its summer hiatus this September. One of “America’s 100 Best Wine Restaurants”, Deseo will demonstrate a Latin-inspired, bold-flavored menu by noted Nuevo Latino Cuisine inventor Chef Douglas Rodriguez.Visitors and Arizona natives alike can walk out of the desert heat of Phoenix and into the tropical Caribbean with Rum Bar, a bar which features rum as its main course. Located at The Breadfruit, Rum Bar offers guests an excellent selection of rum-filled drinks to pair with their island-inspired meals. Try the bar’s fiery signature Spicy Rumtini, a mixture of Wray & Nephew Overproof, vermouth, basil, lime juice, and scotch bonnet pepper. Dive deep into some southern spirit with the Hurricane New Orleans Style, an original drink accentuating Appleton Estate, a 30-year-old rum with only 1,400 bottles worldwide. All drinks are under $10, making extravagance affordable.Locals can grocery shop and feel at ease with their community at Luci’s Healthy Marketplace, a market that specializes in organic and natural products from Arizonan and surrounding vendors. Not limited to just food, the market offers organic cosmetics, baby, cleaning, and pet care products. Luci’s is also the perfect place for a healthy and satisfying meal with The Kitchen, which also offers cooking classes every Sunday. Don’t let them miss Happy Hour at The Coffee Bar, where blended drinks and selected pastries are 50 per cent off.
Steak lovers can bite into intense flavor and tenderness of Snake River Farms American Wagyu Beef from Bourbon Steak at the Fairmont Scottsdale Princess as they offer a Kobe Steak Tasting special. Guests are presented with three different cuts, each perfected by exquisite preparation and accompanying side dishes. For just $85 per person, this meal is a flawless as an anniversary surprise or birthday celebration. Make it even more unforgettable with the restaurant’s Bourbon tasting, which offers a choice of three different Bourbon flights for just $16 to $19. The specials last Tues.-Sat. from September until the end of December.
Throughout the month of October, Arizona Stronghold Vineyards will donate a portion of the proceeds from each individual sale of their Dayden Rosé directly to the Southern Arizona Affiliate of Susan G. Komen for the Cure®. Drink Pink this October by purchasing your own bottle of Dayden Rosé for only $13 to help support the fight against breast cancer.
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| CITY NEWS |
| The PHX Sky Train™is scheduled to reach all terminals nearly 6 years earlier than planned. Stage 1 of the PHX Sky Train™ will open in 2013, running between the regional METRO Light Rail system, Sky Harbor’s East Economy Parking and Terminal 4. A continuation to the other terminals and the Rental Car Center was not scheduled to open until 2020. Recently, the Phoenix City Council approved connecting the train with all terminals by early 2015, nearly six years earlier than planned. The extension to the remaining terminals is referred to as Stage 1a. The Stage 2 extension to the Rental Car Center is still scheduled for late 2020.METRO light rail can take advantage of an innovative system that utilizes solar power and the company’s downtown district cooling system to provide air conditioning to the seating areas of the popular 3rd Street/Washington METRO light rail station. NRG Energy Inc. launched this “cool” system that will operate annually May through September.Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airporthas demonstrated its commitment to safety by receiving the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Safety Award. Sky Harbor also received its sixth consecutive perfect FAA certification safety inspection, a thorough check done every year by the FAA to ensure the safety and condition on the airport.
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For more information on any of these events or updates, please contact the
Greater Phoenix Convention & Visitors Bureau Media Department.
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