You’ve read their informative and often humorous insights into Arizona life, and now you can meet two of the Arizona Oddities storytellers in person. On November 21 and 22, Clay Thompson and Marshall Trimble will host book signings at the ArtFest of Scottsdale, an outdoor festival featuring more than 200 artists. They will be part of a special “Book Street” for Arizona authors. The free event will be held at the Scottsdale Civic Plaza from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Skulls are usually hidden away where they’re hard to find, but the Giant Skull of Date Creek is right out in the open, and it’s been in the exact spot for more than 100 years. The skull is actually a huge boulder painted white with black eyes, nose and a black toothy mouth so it looks like a real skull, even to those who are “imaginationally” challenged. Like many pieces of rock art, the origins are a bit hard to trace, but local legend says it was the work of some railroad workers who had extra paint and extra time on their hands.
Most communities adorn their water towers and tanks with either the town’s name or first initial, but in Yuma they opted for something more artistic — a giant tryptich that spreads across the city’s three huge water tanks. The city council received gallons of flak when it approved the $50,000 project in 1999, but the criticism died down a year later when the work received an award from the Governor’s Pride in Arizona Committee.
The world’s largest kachina is a 39-footer that stands guard over the Tonto Hills subdivision about sevel miles north of downtown Carefree. This giant Hopi legend weighs 14.5 tons and took four months to complete. E.V. Graham, the subdivision’s developer, had it built as an inducement to get his wife to move onto the property, which at that time was way out in the country.
