Walking Street Celebration

This was a great neighborhood gathering to officially celebrate the beginning of the walking street. Mary Lou Thompson cut the ribbon - much fanfare and good cheer.

Happy Father's Day

....to all the Mercado men who are fathers, step-fathers, brothers, uncles, or otherwise mentors to those younger and not-so-young. It seems to me we have an excellent crop of men in our 'hood.....so take a bow and have a great day.

Caution: Open Trench on Westend of Walking Street

This is a serious hole and won't be filled in for a couple of days....

We are who we are...

http://azstarnet.com/news/local/article_0822f18f-790d-5cd1-882c-4767665f65b5.html

The 1st Annual . . .

A great time was had by all - an event that is sure to become a May tradition in the Mercado!

Running of the Bulldogs - Sat. May 1 - the plaza

early evening - just before sunset Some more info that Tom Wuelpern asked to have posted on the blog: "The details – I believe most of you received a flier for Saturday’s “Running of the Bulldog’s”. This is a informal event – but we hope if it goes over well that it becomes tradition. Imagine when the walking street is done and more homes are completed. Remember to wear your Pamplona style whites. Red scarves and Bota bags with Vino are a plus – or a must! Josh and I are organizing a Pastor Taco oriented plate. We have no idea how many will be at this event – so we will make about 12 pounds of Pastor on Phil Hall’s Rotisserie Saturday Morning and then have a stove and griddle on site to keep things warm. Josh was planning to buy all the needed stuff – beans, Pico De Gallo, limes, runny Avocado sauce, cabbage, flour and corn tortillas, plates from Herredura Market since they make the good stuff in all categories. This will feed many but we still need Chili (per the flier) along with coolers, ice and so on or whatever you want to contribute. So we will let you decide if you want to supply something or contribute a bit to the main menu. Josh plans to buy it all and then he will know the total cost. You can donate to the dinner if you like. Also this is a BYOB event. Thanks and pass this on and maybe put something on the blog if you could."

Garden 2010

Haley's Garden Sign

On her 10th birthday Haley made a beautiful sign for the Mercado Community Garden. Great job! Thank you Haley!!

Sounds Like Us

If you want to find a good place to live, just ask people if they trust their neighbors. Levels of social trust vary enormously, but countries with high social trust have happier people, better health, more efficient government, more economic growth, and less fear of crime (regardless of whether actual crime rates are increasing or decreasing).

By DAVID BROOKS

The New York Times

Published: March 29, 2010

Pigeons

Pigeon spikes are 50% off at ACE HARDWARE right now. Tom Wuelpern has a guy who works for him named Josh. Josh is willing to install the spikes for all Mercado District residents. Owners can buy spikes and then pay Josh cash for the install. Contact Tom for more information.

More Garden Photos

The 2010 Mercado Community Garden!!

On Saturday, Rick Rakowski, AAA Landscaping Manager and friend of the Mercado brought his rototiller and made a real garden out our clay pits. Thanks to all the neighbors (Paolo, Gene, Phil, who got and spread the horse manure and the sand, the tilling created a very rich soil. On Sunday Joe was in charge of the lot allocation and then the fun began. The rains later that day and into the night and on Monday will only enhance the taking root of the plants.

More photos to follow!

Roger

Wild Life...and Im not talking about the humans!

What a great place to live! Roadrunners in the swale this morning and bunny rabbits this afternoon. Then, tonight while we were walking the dogs, a cute little baby owl sitting on one of the bolldards. I only wish we would have had the camera....next time for sure! We gotta keep those cameras handy, as there is always something special to see here!

In the Beginning

Main Plaza, circa 2006

Oh nooo.....

More Evidence of Spies

They are everywhere!

Spies

Some of you may have missed the ReMax people peeking from above on Monday a.m. ! They were getting dangerously low but then with a WHOOSH of hot air, they rose higher and floated off.

Roaman's Photo Shoot

Tom asked that this be put on the blog - updated info re the photo shoot: "Roaman’s of NYC will be back on Thursday (weather pending) to begin their catalogue shoot again. I do not have every one’s e-mail so if someone would put it on the blog that would be great. As before it will be primarily exterior shots. This may go into the weekend and early next week due to the weather. I imagine it will be 2 maybe 3 days total. Anne-Marie, Phil, Gilbert and Pat – they would like to take more shots in your front courtyards if at all possible. None inside. I would be the one to secure their entry and lock up if you would consider volunteering your homes again. They will contribute the third time towards the plaza improvement project which Gordon is putting together." Thanks all, Tom Wuelpern

2nd Annual Yard Sale!!!

Hey gang! Its that time of year again! Is your closet getting too full? Is the stuff starting to pile up in the garage? Can you not find anything in your basement? (ok, scratch that one) I was wondering if anyone is interested in having a second annual garage sale sometime this month? It was SO much fun last year, we thought it would be fun to do it again. Our garage sale pro, Betty, will be here until February. So let me know and we can pick a date. Please post here if possible.

-DT

Another Photo Shoot!!!

So, here we go again. Tom has informed me that our friends the models, stylists and photographers are coming back for more Mercado District pictures. They will be here on January 26, 27, 28, 29. Of course, this brings more income to the association so we can pay for the plaza improvements. This place is turning into a real money making machine!!!