THE VOICE OF THE EAST VALLEY SINCE 1891 AND WINNER OF THE PULITZER PRIZE FOR LOCAL REPORTING
Midseason HS football awards
THE SUNDAY
Tribune
PAGE 27
FREE ($1 OUTSIDE THE EAST VALLEY) | EastValleyTribune.com
Gilbert Edition
INSIDE
This Week
EAST VALLEY
Advertising icons featured at eclectic museum PAGE 3
Sunday, October 2, 2016
COVER STORY
It’s October, and they’re coming
East Valley’s best secrets for entertaining your NEWS.............................. 8 Chandler program brings winter visitors health services to veterans in need
COMMUNITY ......... 18 Pinners passionate about empowering women
BUSINESS ................. 25 Gold Canyon stretches beyond candles
BY DAWSON FEARNOW TRIBUNE CONTRIBUTING WRITER
I
f you listen closely, you can hear it just over the horizon: the sounds of Aunt Judy from Appleton and cousin Maury from Manitoba packing up their sandals and swim trunks, gassing up their RVs and heading south for the winter. Yes, the "snowbirds" are coming, aka the East Valley’s annual influx of winter visitors looking to flee the frozen north for a little fun in the Arizona sun. So what will you do with them when they arrive on your doorstep (again)? Where can you give them a little authentic taste of East Valley living—none of that phony Wild West stuff—all without boring yourself to death? Heck you might even learn a thing or two about your own backyard, like a worldfamous landmark hiding inside the basement of a Mesa pizzeria.
(Will Powers/Tribune Staff Photographer)
Patrick Faith adds paint to the 1912 Parker Carousel as Schnepf Farms continues preparations for winter visitors.
A peach of an idea
But first, have you ever wondered why you live here, why anyone ever decided to settle in this famously sun-blasted stretch of the Sonoran Desert in the first place? The answer is right beneath your feet, says Mark Schnepf, who runs the first must-hit
destination, Schnepf Farms in Queen Creek, along with his wife Carrie and their four children. “We have such amazing soil here,” he says. “People are always amazed that we can grow See
VISITORS on page 4
Crime overall is dropping in East Valley EVENT.......................... 31
Monster truck driver throws fear out the window COMMUNITY ................15 OPINION.........................21 BUSINESS .......................24 SPORTS........................... 27 FAITH ..............................29 CLASSIFIED ....................36
BY JIM WALSH TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER
T
he FBI’s annual Uniform Crime Report confirms what many East Valley residents already know: relatively low crime is among the best reasons to live in the region. Although the number of murders rose slightly, only Chandler posted a slim increase in violent crime among the four cities in 2015
compared to 2014’s report. Property crime dropped in Chandler, Gilbert, Mesa and Tempe, with all four cities posting a drop in burglaries. Excluding Phoenix, the entire region of more than 1.1 million residents recorded 26 murders investigated by municipal police departments. “There’s no question about it. We are policing much more efficiently and smarter,” said Chandler Police Chief Sean Duggan,
who is president of the East Valley Police Chiefs Association. “Technology has changed the nature of police work.” Duggan attributed the strong numbers to strategic policing based on analysis of crime trends and the sharing of intelligence, through the East Valley Gang and Criminal Information Fusion Center, and partnerships with federal agencies. “We share resources,” he said. “We’re not See
CRIME on page 14