December 2015
Stormtrooper fans with the 501st Legion pose for a photo before a recent charity event. More on page 18.
Refurbished terminal at Falcon Field Fate uncertain for Buckhorn Baths, historic spring training site means greater appeal to pilots By Kenneth LaFave A newly expanded and refurbished terminal will be unveiled Saturday, Dec. 12, at Falcon Field Airport. To celebrate the completion of this first of several planned renovations to the Northeast Mesa facility, Mayor John Giles and Councilman David Luna, District 5, will do the ribbon-cutting honors at 11:30 a.m. that day. The public is invited to attend the ribboncutting and tour the facilities afterward. The interior of the terminal, located at 4800 E. Falcon Dr., has been expanded from 3,560 to 5,600 square feet. The lobby, a public waiting area, the pilot briefing room, restrooms and a conference room all have been en-
A refurbished terminal at Falcon Field will help put the best possible face on Mesa. Above is a rendering of the facility.
larged and improved. Pilots now have more space to prepare and review flight plans, and there are charging stations for electronic devices. The
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By Kenneth LaFave The ghosts of Leo Durocher and Ty Cobb haunt the halls where the twoheaded sheep sits, cloistered among the other beasts of Arizona, the bobcat and pheasant and deer and elk and large-mouthed bass, all of them captured forever by the taxidermist’s art. From the 1940s until 1999, the Buckhorn Baths—a combination of motel, mineral baths and taxidermy museum that also served as a spring destination for the New York (later San Francisco) Giants—was an attraction so unusual that the 1992 book, “Roadside America,” included it among its “Uniquely Odd Tourist Destinations.” The Baths are listed in the National Register of Historic Places.
The fate of Buckhorn Baths is uncertain after negotiations failed last month.
“The Buckhorn Baths property has historical significance from its roots and its connection to spring training. It helped give Mesa a name,” said Marc Heirshberg, the City of Mesa’s director of parks, recreation and commercial facilities.
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