Music in the Canyon

Sabino Canyon's 14th annual Music in the Canyon outdoor concert took place the evening of Saturday, March 28th from 5:00-9:00PM. It also happened to be the night for Earth Hour, a global event from 8:30-9:30PM to raise awareness about climate change. The three of us wanted to participate in Earth Hour by turning off all the lights and computers in our house. Since we didn't feel like sitting indoors without lights on, we decided to mosey on over to Sabino Canyon. It was a very dark night with just a sliver of moonlight.
The Tucson Amateur Astronomy Association was having a stargazing party near the parking lot. As we were walking away from the astronomers in the darkness, we saw a spectacular shooting star. It was big, colorful and lasted about three seconds.

Pictured below is the Sabino Canyon Visitor Center at night. Sorry about the poor quality of these photos taken in low light. The little orange lanterns on the ground are luminarias.

Luminarias are popular in the Southwestern states of Arizona, New Mexico and Texas for decorating houses on Christmas Eve. They are simply brown paper bags with sand at the bottom and a lit candle inside.
There must have been hundreds of luminarias set up! They lined both sides of the pathway from the visitor center to the Lowell Complex about a third of a mile away. I'm not sure what the Lowell Complex is, but apparently horses live there. By the time we arrived, we had missed the Fiddlin' Foresters and Smokey the Bear, but we did catch the end of the Tucson Arizona Boys Chorus' energetic performance.

Arco, with Dale Clark on the electric violin, and Ken Alexander on guitar, closed the program with two or three Carlos Santana songs, Ain't No Sunshine by Bill Withers, Time of Your Life by Greenday and Summertime by George Gershwin.
Between 2500 and 3000 people were expected to attend the Music in the Canyon concert with proceeds of the suggested donation of $5 individual and $10 family going to the Friends of Sabino Canyon to help preserve the recreation area. We fully enjoyed the entertainment of the talented musicians at the Music in the Canyon concert and plan on going next year, even if it doesn't coincide with Earth Hour.