Wasn’t that rain on Saturday a pleasant surprise.

I heard the first pitter patters on the skylight shortly after midnight early Saturday morning. Daughter Dani is not usually fond of rising early in the morning. But that day she came out wondering why the doors weren’t open to let in ”the smell of that wonderful rain.” She had a big smile on her face.

From what I saw on the local news stations, we had more rainfall than any other community in the Valley.  One report had Fountain Hills at .43 inches just before another shower began at about the time of the 10 p.m. News weather report. The Times’ rain gauge collected .52 inches for the weekend.

And it was all over except for some remaining clouds in the eastern skies for the Sunday Easter activities including the annual Sunrise Service at Fountain Park.

Several planned Easter activities in the Valley including the Tempe Kiwanis Egg Hunt on Saturday were cancelled or greatly cut back due to the rainfall. Since ours had been held the Saturday before, there was no disappointment for our town’s little ones. I always thought our town egg hunt should have remained on Sunday as it was in the early days of our community when the Noon Kiwanis Club sponsored it. 

That was when the eggs were real and cooked the morning before by Kiwanis Club members led by Pat Harvey.  Wife Sue headed up the coloring committee. Then on Sunday morning, club members would spread the eggs around the north end of the park with different age group areas roped off. Pat and Sue would arrive, usually on a fire truck, in their yellow and pink Easter bunny outfits.

For most families, it was tradition to attend the Sunrise Service, go out to breakfast in one of the local restaurants, head to church, go back to the park at noon for the egg hunt, head home for a mid-afternoon ham dinner and then take that nap that you needed to recover from getting up for the Sunrise Service. 

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Well, I see the Fort McDowell Yavapai Nation’s plan submission may be one of three finalists as the site of the Arizona Diamondbacks Spring Training facility.  It’s still a tough road ahead for the tribe and President Clinton Pattea to realize his long-time dream of getting a Spring Training facility in their community.

Mayor Phil Gordon really wants to have it in north Phoenix. And the folks in the Salt River Pima Community have been getting more aggressive lately with their economic development activities.

As I said, it’s going to be a tough battle.

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For those of you who may be interested, the memorial service for Town Councilmember Keith McMahan has been set for Thursday, April 23, starting at 4 p.m. at Christ’s Church. A reception will follow at 5 p.m. at the Community Center.

A Keith McMahan Memorial Fund has been established at the River of Time Museum. Anyone wanting to contribute may do so by making a check out for any amount to the Keith McMahan Memorial Fund and mailing it to the museum at P.O. Box 17445, Fountain Hills, AZ 85269.

The Fountain Hills and Lower Verde River Historical Society board of directors has decided to have a statue created in the likeness of Jack Swilling and dedicate it to Keith. He was always asking me when we would be adding a Swilling figure to the river tamers exhibit in the museum.  Keith was always fascinated with Swilling, who is credited with starting Phoenix. One of his achievements was to use the old Hohokam canal remains to irrigate fields for growing hay along the Salt River.

He sold the hay to the U.S. Army soldiers at Fort McDowell in the late 1800s.

The statue will cost $5,000 and will be created by Rex Witte. The Mesa artist was the creative director who designed and built many of the displays in the museum. He also sculpted the conquistador that is in the explorers and trappers exhibit.