Wild, Weird, Wicked Arizona – Surprise

City of Surprise City Hall - City Council Chambers 16000 N Civic Center Plaza, Surprise, AZ, United States

For a state that has been home to Geronimo, Wyatt Earp, César Chavez and Wonder Women, you would think Arizona earned some respect. Yet achieving statehood was a 50-year struggle, which finally ended on February 14, 1912. Jana borrows from both her work for True West Magazine and her work for Phoenix Magazine to put […]

Free

Cowboys and Cowgirls: Icons of the American West – Surprise

City of Surprise City Hall - City Council Chambers 16000 N Civic Center Plaza, Surprise, AZ, United States

Cowboys and Cowgirls: Icons of the American West Few symbols have been more durable than the American cowboy. This program will give an overview of this populist figure, whose image was first defined by painters Frederic Remington and Charles M. Russell. Also important to the story are brave cowgirls and the Mexican vaqueros. Buffalo Bill’s […]

Free

In the Footsteps of Martha Summerhayes – Surprise

City of Surprise City Hall - City Council Chambers 16000 N Civic Center Plaza, Surprise, AZ, United States

Martha Summerhayes was a refined New England woman who entered the Arizona Territory in 1874 as the young bride of an Army Lieutenant. Traveling in horrific conditions and dreadful heat, she soon despised the wild and untamed land. She gave birth to the first anglo child born at Fort Apache where the native women took […]

Free

Pearl Hart, the Lady Bandit- Victim or Vixen… or Both?

City of Surprise City Hall - City Council Chambers 16000 N Civic Center Plaza, Surprise, AZ, United States

Separating fact from fiction is no easy task when it comes to flamboyant stage coach robber Pearl Hart. A mountain of conflicting stories abound, thanks in no small part, to Pearl herself. So enamored of the Wild West, she embellished her own tale to accommodate the interest of newspapers and public fascination. This presentation will […]

Free

Honky Tonks, Brothels and Mining Camps: Entertainment in Old Arizona

City of Surprise City Hall - City Council Chambers 16000 N Civic Center Plaza, Surprise, AZ, United States

In pioneer Arizona, among the best places to experience the performing arts were in the mining towns. Striking it rich meant having disposable income and miners, like the well-heeled of the Gilded Age, wanted to demonstrate their sophistication with culture. From the early popular music of ragtime and minstrelsy during the forming of these communities […]

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