Just about every resident has an opinion about the special events held in our town each year. The different events will be the subject of our Fountain Hills history lesson for this week and at least the following week.
We have had a number of celebrities as a result of the financial support provided by the developer, McCulloch Properties, and later, MCO Properties. The developer gained exposure for its properties. The clubs expanded their treasuries by selling food items at the larger events.
“Actually, we never really sold many lots on the day of the concerts as the people just wanted to listen to the music and look at the fantastic scenery surrounding this community,” said Bill Brown, who was among the first salesmen hired by McCulloch on the original sales team.
“The (sales) numbers were always higher for the two weeks after a concert or an art festival.”
Overall, I thought the big events were good for the community. They attracted people to our community that otherwise may never have moved here.”
We reminisced about those early years at his 90th birthday party.
Now deceased, Brown sold Fountain Hills real estate well into his 90s.
In the beginning, the residents didn’t complain much about the inconveniences that came with the concerts and other special events. But, as time passed, there was more traffic, and trash left behind.
The first celebrities to appear in Fountain Hills were western movie and TV personalities Pat Buttram and Chill Wills. They told jokes and stories about filming the western movies and the Roy Rogers TV series. They also served as judges for the Arizona Chili Cooking Championship that I wrote about last time.
A series of “Concerts in the Park” kicked off with the Phoenix Symphony in April 1973. David Rose was the first guest conductor. He led the symphony through a number of his songs including “The Stripper”, which closed out the show. During the evening, he led the symphony in 30 of his television theme songs that he composed with the “Bonanza” theme drawing the largest response to that type of music.
Les Brown and his Band of Renown were next on Feb. 23, 1975, bringing a variety of big band sounds for the large audience to enjoy.
Taking a break from the park concerts, McCulloch brought in an array of Hollywood personalities for the opening of the Fountain Hills Swim and Racquet Club.
The special guests included Davis Cup player Tony Trabert, Barbara Anderson (“Ironsides”), Lloyd Bridges (“Sea Hunt”), MacDonald Carey (“Days of Our Lives”), Claudine Longet (Mrs. Andy Williams), Doug McClure (“The Virginian”) and Robert Stack (“The Untouchables”).
The headliner was Bobby Riggs who was coming off his Battle of the Sexes loss to women’s tennis star, Billie Jean King.
Riggs defeated Chris Penn, the top-ranked player on the Arizona State women’s tennis team.
The July 4th fireworks show was initially produced by the Civic Association in 1973 and the Fountain Hills Jaycees in 1974. A crowd of some 30,000 people attended the first year and better promotion in the Phoenix Metro area raised the attendance for the second event to between 40,000 and 50,000.
Largest attendance for any July 4th celebration was in 1989 when an estimated 125,000 to 150,000 people came out for a concert sponsored by then new Valley country radio station KMLE. It featured the Gatlin Brothers, Highway 101 and Fountain Hills’ own Jeff Dayton Band. But, Fountain Hills paid the price for all the negative publicity it received. The massive traffic jams along the Beeline Highway and Shea Boulevard were talked about for weeks on talk radio.
There were many reports of people running out of gas and food. There was an abundance of calls where people did not reach their homes in the Valley until 4:30 the next morning.
I’m going to end my column by giving you a preview of my next column:
It will be on the variety of special events that have been held here over the years and what they have done for me and my business.
