COMMUNITY
THE MESA TRIBUNE | AUGUST 21, 2022
TheMesaTribune.com |
@EVTNow
17
/EVTNow
Museum recounts Mesa as entertainment hub BY PAUL MARYNIAK AFN Executive Editor
I
t may be hard to believe to know that Mesa was once a mecca for entertainment, the only Valley city besides Phoenix that offered regular appearances by groups and performers of all kinds. But a new exhibit that goes on public display starting Saturday, Aug. 27, at the Mesa Historical Museum likely will quell any skepticism. The exhibit, titled “Early Entertainment in Mesa, offers a collection of theater, movie and television photos and objects that give people a look at “how various forms of entertainment have captivated and transformed local audiences for over a century,” explained museum Executive Director Susan Ricci. “We’re highlighting all the earliest entertainment venues in the early 1900s,” she said, adding the exhibit includes relics from long-gone places like the Zenos Coop Manufacturing and Mercantile Company, which, until it was destroyed in a fire in the 1920s, used to host dances.
Then there are pieces of memorabilia from the old Nile Theater, Mesa’s first air-conditioned building, which once had been the place to catch the latest on the silver screen. And there was a dance theater started by a local rancher who didn’t think there was enough entertainment for young people. “It was very important to them,” Ricci
explained. “We have quotes from people that they just would not miss a Friday night dance. It was just so important to the social life of everybody in the area.” And there are artifacts from the Mezona, a multi-purpose facility that housed dances, theatrical productions, funerals, operas, fairs, movies. According to saltriverstories.org, the
Renowned Mesa horticultural expert has floral design class TRIBUNE NEWS STAFF
M
esa resident Dr. Dirk van Leenen has a bargain for anyone who wants to learn the art of floral design. An internationally accredited horticultural and floral design expert, he’s starting a 10-week instructional program Oct. 12 at the Las Sendas Clubhouse, 7900 E. Eagle Crest Drive, and each day’s lesson will end with students taking home a floral design. Van Leenen is only one of 12 Dutch master designers in the
world and gave floral design lessons in 20 countries over 45 years as a representative of the United Nations. A native of The Netherlands, he has spent his life working with flowers and has several degrees in horticulture and floral design. He also studied English at the University of Leiden in Holland and worked a number of years in Holland as an English teacher and has published four books. Three books comprise a trilogy of novels that detail how the Dutch Resistance helped Jewish families
during World War II to escape Nazi concentration camps. The novels, including “Resistance on a Bicycle,” came from stories that van Leenen heard from his parents, who were part of that Resistance, as well as his own memories as a child growing up in those dark days, “They risked their lives to hide
see FLORAL page 18
Mesa resident Dr. Dirk van Leenen is offering a 10-week course on floral design. (Special to the Tribune)
LEFT: Mesa Historical Museum Exhibition Designer Tony Peters adds artifacts to a new exhibit about the history of entertainment in the city. The exhibit opens Saturday, Aug. 27. RIGHT: One item in the exhibit includes plaster facade decorations, a piece of original carpet and a page from a movie guide from the former Nile Theater in downtown Mesa (David Minton/Tribune Staff Photographer)
Mezona hosted Mesa’s first Edison moving picture machine in 1909 and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints held dances as well as classes and welfare projects there.
see HISTORY page 19