Arts and culture

Annual cultural events and fairs Tucson Gem and Mineral Show

The Tucson Gem & Mineral Show is one of the largest gem and mineral shows in the world and has been held for over 50 years. The Show is only one part of the gem, mineral, fossil, and bead gathering held all around Tucson in over 45 different sites. The various shows run from late-January to mid-February with the official Show lasting two weeks in February.

Tucson Festival of Books

Since 2009, the Tucson Festival of Books has been held annually over a two-day period in March at the University of Arizona. By 2010 it had become the fourth largest book festival in the United States, with 450 authors and 80,000 attendees. In addition to readings and lectures, it features a science fair, varied entertainment, food, and exhibitors ranging from local retailers and publishers to regional and national nonprofit organizations. In 2011, the Festival began presenting a Founder's Award; recipients include Elmore Leonard and R.L. Stine.

Tucson Folk Festival

For the past 25 years, the Tucson Folk Festival has taken place the first Saturday and Sunday of May in downtown Tucson's El Presidio Park. In addition to nationally known headline acts each evening, the Festival highlights over 100 local and regional musicians on five stages is one of the largest free festivals in the country. All stages are within easy walking distance. Organized by the Tucson Kitchen Musicians Association, volunteers make this festival possible. KXCI 91.3-FM, Arizona's only community radio station, is a major partner, broadcasting from the Plaza Stage throughout the weekend. In addition, there are numerous workshops, events for children, sing-alongs, and a popular singer/songwriter contest. Musicians typically play 30-minute sets, supported by professional audio staff volunteers. A variety of food and crafts are available at the festival, as well as local micro-brews. All proceeds from sales go to fund future festivals.

Fourth Avenue Street Fair Sailors take part in the annual St. Patrick's Day parade.

There are two Fourth Avenue Street Fairs, in December and late March/early April, staged between 9th Street and University Boulevard, that feature arts and crafts booths, food vendors and street performers. The fairs began in 1970 when Fourth Avenue, which at the time had half a dozen thrift shops, several New Age bookshops and the Food Conspiracy Co-Op, was a gathering place for hippies, and a few merchants put tables in front of their stores to attract customers before the holidays.

These days, the street fair has grown into a large corporate event, with most tables owned by outside merchants. It hosts mostly traveling craftsmen selling various arts such as pottery, paintings, wood working, metal decorations, candles, and many others.

The Tucson Rodeo (Fiesta de los Vaqueros) Team roping competition at Tucson's Fiesta de los Vaqueros

Another popular event held in February, which is early spring in Tucson, is the Fiesta de los Vaqueros, or rodeo week. While at its heart the Fiesta is a sporting event, it includes what is billed as "the world's largest non-mechanized parade". The Rodeo Parade is a popular event as most schools give two rodeo days off instead of Presidents Day. The exception to this is Presidio High (a non-public charter school), which doesn't get either. Western wear is seen throughout the city as corporate dress codes are cast aside during the Fiesta. The Fiesta de los Vaqueros marks the beginning of the rodeo season in the United States.

Tucson Meet Yourself

Every October for the past 30 years, Tucson Meet Yourself has presented the faces of Tucson's many ethnic groups. For one weekend, dancing, singing, artwork, and food from more than 30 different ethnicities are featured in the downtown area. All performers are from Tucson and the surrounding area, in keeping with the idea of "meeting yourself."

All Souls Procession Weekend Day of the Dead float, Pima County Public Library, 2009 procession

All Souls Procession is one of the largest festivals in Tucson as well it is one of the largest Day of the Dead celebrations in North America. Celebrated since 1990, it is held on the first Sunday in November.

Although the procession is a "developed" event and has no historical basis in the culture of the area, it is modeled on the Mexican holiday Dia de los Muertos (Day of the Dead), combining elements of African, Anglo, Celtic, and Latin American culture. Native American, Serbian-American, and Filipino culture are not represented. The procession is organized and funded by the non-profit arts organization Many Mouths One Stomach.

Cultural and other attractions

Cultural and other attractions include:

Arizona Historical Society The Fremont House is an original adobe house in the Tucson Community Center that was saved while one of Tucson's earliest barrios was razed as urban renewal. Fort Lowell Museum Mission San Xavier del Bac Old Tucson Studios, built as a set for the movie Arizona, is a movie studio and theme park for classic Westerns. The Tucson Museum of Art was established as part of an art school, the Art Center, which was founded by local Tucson artists including Rose Cabat The University of Arizona Art Museum includes works by Franz Kline, Jackson Pollock and Mark Rothko as part of the Edward J. Gallagher Memorial Collection, a tribute to a young man who was killed in a boating accident. The museum also includes the Samuel H. Kress Collection of European works from the 14th to 19th centuries and the C. Leonard Pfeiffer Collection of American paintings. Center for Creative Photography, a leading museum with many works by major artists such as Ansel Adams and Edward Weston. International Wildlife Museum, which is 5 mi (8.0 km) west of Interstate 10, maintains an exhibition of over four-hundred different species from around the globe. The DeGrazia Gallery in the Sun is an iconic Tucson landmark in the foothills of the Santa Catalina Mountains. The Arizona-Sonora Desert taken looking back towards the museum entrance Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum is a combined zoo, museum, and botanical garden, devoted to indigenous animals and plants of the Sonoran Desert. Titan Missile Museum is located about 25 mi (40 km) south of the city on I-19. This is a Cold War era Titan nuclear missile silo (billed as the only remaining intact post-Cold War Titan missile silo) turned tourist stop. Pima County Fair Trail Dust Town is an outdoor shopping mall and restaurant complex that was built from the remains of a 1950 western movie set. Museum of the Horse Soldier Jewish Heritage Center Tucson Tucson Chinese Cultural Center

Shops in Summerhaven on Mount Lemmon offer such items as jewelry and other gifts, pizza, and delicious fresh-fruit pies. The legacy of the Aspen Fire can be seen in charred trees, rebuilt homes, and melted beads incorporated into a sidewalk.

Fourth Avenue, located near the University of Arizona, is home to many shops, restaurants, and bars, and hosts the annual 4th Avenue Street Fair every December and March. University Boulevard, leading directly to the UA Main Gate, is also the center of numerous bars, retail shops, and restaurants most commonly frequented by the large student population of the UA.

El Tiradito is a religious shrine in the downtown area. The Shrine dates back to the early days of Tucson. It's based on a love story of revenge and murder. People stop by the Shrine to light a candle for someone in need, a place for people to go give hope.

The Biosphere 2 is a 3.14-acre educational facility, designed to mimic a tropical or sub-tropical climate-controlled environment.

Literary arts

The number of accomplished and awarded writers (poets, novelists, dramatists, nonfiction writers) in Tucson is too numerous to mention, though David Foster Wallace and Barbara Kingsolver are two of the more prominent. Some are associated with the University of Arizona, but many are independent writers who have chosen to make Tucson their home. The city is also rich in literary organizations, particularly active in publishing and presenting contemporary innovative poetry in various ways. Among them are Chax Press, publisher of poetry books in trade and book arts editions. The University of Arizona Poetry Center is one of the leading academic sites for poetry in the nation, and, in addition to its sizable poetry library, it presents readings, conferences, and workshops.

Performing arts

Theater groups include the Arizona Theatre Company, which performs in the Temple of Music and Art, a mirror image of the Pasadena Playhouse; and Arizona Onstage Productions, a not-for-profit theater company devoted to musical theater. In 2004, the NY based Nederlander Organization also opened a local operation. Broadway in Tucson presents the touring reproductions of many Broadway style events at the Tucson Music Hall. Celebrating it's 10th anniversary recently, Broadway in Tucson events are now held on the UA campus at Centennial Hall.

Music

Musical groups include the Tucson Symphony Orchestra (founded in 1929) and Arizona Opera (founded as the Tucson Opera Company in 1971).

Mariachi music is popular and influential in Tucson, and the city is home to a large number of Mariachi musicians and singers. Mariachi is celebrated annually at the Tucson International Mariachi Conference. There is also a yearly Norteño Festival in the enclave city of South Tucson.

Tucson has a small but committed independent music scene, nearly all of which is concentrated in the city's downtown area. Bob Log III, Flagrante Delicto, God of the Sea, Calexico, Overcast Off, Giant Sand, Hipster Daddy-O and the Handgrenades, The Bled, Salvador Duran, Linda Ronstadt and Tucson's official troubadour Ted Ramirez are among the prominent musical artists based in Tucson. Local performers also receive some airplay (and occasionally play live) on the community radio station KXCI. The Tucson Area Music Awards, or TAMMIES, are an annual event.

Also, Paul McCartney owned a ranch in Tucson, AZ, where in 1998 his wife Linda McCartney died of breast cancer.