AHWATUKEE FOOTHILLS NEWS www.ahwatukee.com
Wednesday, November 22, 2017
@AhwatukeeFN |
@AhwatukeeFN
Lights party kicks off Ahwatukee holiday season
SPECIAL HOLIDAY
AHWATUKEE FOOTHILLS NEWS EDITION
Inside: Your guide to the party
POLICE ARE READY
BY COTY DOLORES MIRANDA AFN Contributor
R
esidents are counting down the days to Saturday, Nov. 25, when “Ahwatukee’s Biggest Outdoor Festival” – the Festival of Lights Kick-Off Party – heralds the start of the holiday season. The Festival of Lights Kick-Off, always held the Saturday after Thanksgiving, marks the illumination of the Million White Light Display in the saguaros, palo verde trees and ocotillos that fill the median of Chandler Boulevard from 24th Street to Desert Foothills Parkway. They will be ablaze through New Year’s Day. The free-admission festival runs noon-8 p.m. at Desert Foothills Park, on the corner of Chandler Boulevard and Desert Foothills Parkway, Ahwatukee. Festivalgoers are provided a host of activ-
AHWATUKEE FOOTHILLS NEWS . 12
P
LOCAL GIFT GUIDE
. 25
P
ON GRATITUDE
(AFN file photo)
Thousands of people attended the Festival of Lights Kick-Off Party, shown here last year. Admission is free and the attractions will keep you entertained for hours.
ities, including the Marketplace Street Fair with more than 100 vendors, two entertainment stages, a Kid Zone with inflatables, carnival rides and games, a vintage car show, a variety of foods from 20 restaurants and food
Summit students give back big
See
LIGHTS on page 14
Ahwatukee women bring holiday joy to hundreds of foster kids BY PAUL MARYNIAK AFN Executive Editor
. 35
P
T
A STAR’S NEW GIG
(Kim Carrillo/AFN Staff Photographer)
Loading up baskets of holiday goodies for poor families is one of many ways Summit School of Ahwatukee students learn about community service. Standing with some of what they collected are, from left, Beth Stone, Roan Martinez, Marissa France, Zoey Momnissen, T.D. Vanderah, Niko Bricka, Drew Vanderah, Annika Almquist, teacher Melissa France and Piper McKeever. Read the story on p. 6.
. 42
P
hanksgiving came a little early for nearly 400 foster children in group homes, but without the help of some Ahwatukee women, it probably would not have come at all. For the fifth consecutive year, the Ahwatukee Kiwanis Club and the women of Desert Foothills United Methodist Church teamed up with the women of First United See
UP TO
$15,000
trucks, and beer and wine tavern. New this year is a cornhole tournament, under the auspices of KB Kornhole Games,
OFF MSRP
ALL 2017 FORD F-150s (with 302a package)* Must finance with Ford credit
FOSTER on page 11