Longbow plan tweaked P. 3
Industrialized Eastmark P. 10
An edition of the East Valley Tribune
INSIDE
This Week
COMMUNITY ............. 14 Mesa native basks in glow of Oscar.
Sunday, April 3, 2022
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Legendary Wild Horse raceway closing for good BY PAUL MARYNIAK Tribune Executive Editor
A
fter four decades of racing thrills, Wild Horse Pass Motorsports Park will be closed forever next year as the Gila River Indian Community’s development arm takes a giant step toward creating a 3,300acre entertainment-retail-office complex. The Wild Horse Pass Development Authority announced March 25 the former Firebird International Raceway would hold its final
National Hot Rod Association race (NHRA) next February at the 440-acre complex, which includes a drag strip, road course and 2.4-mile oval motorboat racing lake. “For nearly 40 years, the NHRA, in conjunction with the Wild Horse Pass Development Authority, has wowed Arizona spectators and fans at the fastest quarter-mile in Arizona,” its brief announcement on social media stated. “Wild Horse Pass Development Authority is excited to celebrate the final race of this storied racetrack, February 2023.”
Authority Interim General Manager Elizabeth Antone added, “Arizona has been an incredible supporter of the NHRA and Wild Horse Pass Motorsport Park for the past four decades and we are very grateful for this tremendous fan support. We know this final race will be a celebration that NHRA fans are famous for.” Neither tribal nor authority officials returned phone calls and emails seeking further
see MOTOR page 6
Easter Pageant makes an old tradition brand new
BUSINESS ...................17 BBQ chef develops a big following.
SPORTS.................. 23 Mesa High wrestling star takes over program. COMMUNITY..................................14 OBITUARIES.................................. 15 BUSINESS ...................................... 17 OPINION ........................................ 20 SPORTS........................................... 23 GET OUT ........................................ 25 CLASSIFIED ................................... 28 Zone 2
BY PAUL MARYNIAK Tribune Executive Editor
J
enee Prince has a vague memory of going with her family as a little girl to the Mesa Arizona Temple for its modest Easter morning sunrise service. She has a more distinct recollection of visiting home from college more than 20 years ago and seeing how a humble sunrise service that began in 1938 had been transformed after 1976: It had blossomed into an inspiring reenactment of the life of Jesus Christ with dozens of volunteers dressed in period clothing, their script verbatim passages from the Bible and a moving score accompanying them. Now, the lifelong Mesa resident is the artistic director of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints’ Jesus the Christ Easter Pageant, meticulously conducting the movements of 425 people in the world’s largest annual outdoor production of its kind.
Many of the 425 cast members in the Mesa Arizona Temple’s Easter Pageant gathered last Thursday evening, awaiting their turn to take the stage for a media night rehearsal. (David Minton/Tribune Staff see PAGEANT page 8 Photographer)
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