This Eye on Sedona City Talk article written by Parks and Recreation head Rachel Murdoch and submitted by staff.
Sedona AZ (April 9, 2014) – You love community events, so do not miss even one by checking out the Sedona Parks and Recreation 2014 Event Calendar online. Family activities, senior attractions, adult sports, new classes, new parks and more are available for the lucky participant to enjoy!
Why not get started participating with the most popular family event of the year, the Celebration of Spring. Held at Posse Grounds Park on Saturday, April 19, at 9:00 a.m., this action-packed morning event includes egg hunts, scavenger hunts, carnival rides, petting zoo, pony rides, and friendly vendors galore! There are rides to be ridden, eggs to be found, faces to be painted and food for sale. This event is family friendly, grandparent friendly, and just plain entertaining for the kids. It will sell out quickly and we recommend pre-purchasing tickets for children 12 and under for only $2 now at the Parks and Recreation office.
Limited tickets will be available at the gate.
After celebrating spring, let’s enjoy the beautiful outdoors even more! Encouraging outdoor recreation has a positive effect on one’s experience, including that had by a child. This is why you should try out the Kid’s Photo Hunt & Hike held this year at the Sedona Wetlands Preserve. Targeted for children ages 6 to12 years old, this free activity guides participants through the preserve while they search for a given list of items. Each child learns about and photographs all items on the list in order to complete their field journal. It’s an adventure worth having.
Keeping with the outdoor theme, what could be nicer than sitting outside enjoying the spring breeze and listening to great music? This May, every Wednesday at noon, the community is encouraged to join others at Sedona City Hall for the new Concerts in the Plaza events. Live music (flamenco, country, Latin, jazz and world music) from noon to 1:30 p.m., food for sale, and beautiful sunshine for everyone to enjoy. Bring your own chair and relax at the Plaza.
Still aren’t convinced to join Parks and Recreation in 2014? Check out our photo galleries of each event, detailed class descriptions, and a complete calendar on our City website at www.SedonaAZ.gov/Parks.
Sedona Parks and Recreation. Come Out and Play!
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Aha, Ms. Rachel Murdoch. Maybe you are the one who can shed light on just exactly when this long established event was changed from an Easter type picnic outing (not a religious service) to a Celebration of Spring? So far not one member of the City Council has responded to my question, and even a former Sedona Mayor is scratching his head because it most assuredly did not occur during his term in office.
So, who was it authorized the change, when did it occur, and was it ever discussed in a public meeting?
I’ve Cc’d City Manager Tim Ernster with some of my correspondence with City Council only because a specific answer to my question has not been forthcoming. Easter ultimately concludes staggered spring breaks which have annually lured tourists to Sedona for years (nope, the Chamber of Commerce didn’t originate that trend).
Who authorized removal of the words Easter Egg Hunt from the sign at Posse Grounds Road and other publicity and have all the little children been advised that the Easter Bunny is dead and buried because “it was the politically correct thing to do?”
Thank you.
On Monday, April 21st, 2014, the First Family will host the 136th annual White House Easter Egg Roll. This year’s theme is “Hop into Healthy, Swing into Shape,” and more than 30,000 people will assemble on the South Lawn to join in the fun. The event will feature live music, sports courts, cooking stations, storytelling and, of course, Easter egg rolling. In addition to all of the fun, the day’s activities will encourage children to lead healthy, active lives in support of the First Lady’s Let’s Move! initiative. You can follow the Easter Egg Roll on Twitter with the hashtag #EasterEggRoll and watch the event live on WhiteHouse.gov/live.
The Easter Egg Hunt used to be free. With a $38 million dollar 2104 Sedona city budget, now you have to pay for your kid to attend the ” Celebration of Spring.”
If that is progress under home rule, please vote for NO HOME RULE!!
Richard Sanders/Tony Tonish (?)
(deleted by editor) you are so funny in a very twisted manner
You cry, bitch and moan about “how your Hard Earned tax dollars are spent particularly on Freebee’s given to the Freebee’s takers”(which happens to be only the things they tax when you buy something ie: sales tax) which for a guy like you probably ain’t much!!
Now your crying that Sedona is charging for an Easter egg hunt!!
Your like a jellyfish with no spine, just float which ever way the wind blows with the only constant in your life is Hate of everything!!
Way to go Tony, you must be a very interesting man( NOT)
Keep your camera ready there may be two police talking to each other for 10 min, quick take a picture your idiot!!
@Richard Saunders. Wasn’t it around $13,000 the city spent for the one-week use of the artificial non-ice skating rink in December? Also, the $269,000 price tag now being spent on the splash pad at Sunset Park, to be used free of charge? Then I believe they offered free refreshments at various locations during the Holiday Central event which, of course, the city helped fund. Therefore:
(1) I agree with voting “NO” on Home Rule;
(2) I believe fees should be implemented at events across the board if this city continues their march to serve entire northern Arizona and, especially, the thousands of tourists the Chamber of Commerce takes credit for bringing into Sedona.
@Tom G
You loose all credibility by your constant negative and personal vents and attacks.
I’ve lived in Sedona for 4 decades and we always had an “EASTER EGG HUNT” for my kids and now my grandchildren ….maybe done by a woman’s business group or ?? or ??? Never the less – it was always an Easter Egg Hunt.
Suffice it to say – My kids grew up with the annual “Easter Egg Hunt” at the Posse Grounds. And I repeat the word ” EASTER” Egg Hunt.
I agree with Bonnie.
@Tom G: I really think you are the one crying and moaning. Richard S simply points out truth of budget and concepts.
Please Tom G – Find a new hobby!
Last question to all: is taking the word “Easter” out of the historic events at Posse Grounds Park a way of denuding or sterilizing Easter out of our vocabulary? If so, WOW, this new political and religious free concept of how it works is just nuts and without merit…God is on all our currency, Easter is a bunny and Christian’s Celebration, as our Jewish Friends celebrate Passover…
Can’t we just all live together and celebrate all religions and holidays?
Sharlett!
I suspect you’d be happy about the city charging for the event!!
Damn freeloaders, right Sharlett!!?
You and tea party crowd love talking out both sides of your mouth!!
If you think Richard Sanders/tony Tonish is a smart legit man, your as crazy and fraudulent as he is!!
By golly the $2 fee is really going to break the bank! Come on folks. The only ” Tea Partiers” are the good ole boys. The ole Sedona Clan. They are controlling the city and getting paid to do so. Chamber, Newspaper, and Nonprofits. They use taxpayers money to build thier busness. Staff and city counselors are to blind to see they are being the facilitators.
Giving them millions and then charging $2 bucks for kids under twelve for a Easter Egg Hunt! Every time one penny goes to special interest group they degrade their own citizens and employees. Real smart. Let’s throw more money at the chamber and double our sewer fees. “They deserve it”
The real “Tea Party” in Sedona are those spending tax payers money on their own special groups. They have nothing to do with city. A 1.3+ million dollar party for the chamber, 250,000 party for the film festival. Newspaper gets the advertising money to advertise the city meeting and event, along with chamber and film festival. Don’t forget the editors own group gets funding from city .
Citizens pay, kids pay. But the good ole boys know better. Look at who speaks on behalf of the city funding these groups, every single one have a conflict of interest.
The only tea party crowd I see are those who get funded for their parties by the City of Sedona!