City Week: Weekly Picks

Fall Artisan Market in Oro Valley

A curated selection of artists and artisans offer unique fine arts, fashions, home goods, jewelry and food items, amid pop-up musical performances and craft activities for all ages. Food trucks round out the experience. The website shows examples of every artist’s work and lists food vendors, details of workshop and craft activities, and the times for musical performances.
10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 1, and Sunday, Oct. 2, Oro Valley Marketplace, 12155 N. Oracle Road, saaca.org, free

Lewis Black: “Off the Rails”

Grammy Award winner Lewis Black acts out our angry id and makes us laugh at it. For the 18 years since he debuted in the middle of Comedy Central’s “Best Standups,” he’s toured the world as an international treasure. But has he ever seen a socio-political environment so worth yelling about?
8 p.m. Friday, Sept. 30, Fox Tucson Theatre, 17 W. Congress Street, foxtucson.com, $35 to $125

Duct Tape Drag Racing

Former Hot Rod Magazine editor David Freiburger, best known for his podcast “Roadkill” and his YouTube series “Finnegan’s Garage,” leads a cruise from LA for some Battle of the Beaters at Tucson Dragway. Only a car that meets NHRA safety standards can compete. The trick is, it can’t be worth more than $2,999. The real competition may be in the ridicule. There’s also a doughnut pit, a Tri-Fives race, and bonfires.
4 to 11 p.m. Friday, Sept. 30; 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 1, “Duct Tape Drag Racing,” Tucson Dragway, 12000 S. Houghton Road, ducttapedrags.com, $25 per day admission, $95 full event pass

Tucson Pride Presents “OUTober Fest 2022”

The Tucson Pride Festival is now the oldest and longest-running Pride Festival in Arizona. This year it returns to where it all started in 1977 — with a picnic. In 2019, it attracted more than 5,000 attendees and nearly 150 vendors and exhibitors.
Noon to 10 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 1, Demeester Outdoor Performance Center, Reid Park, 900 S. Randolph Way, $10 to $15

October Foothills Art Walk

The Foothills Art District at Skyline Drive at Campbell Avenue hosts an art walk on the first Thursday of every month. Included are Jane Hamilton Fine Art, Sunset Interiors, Sanders Gallery, Settlers West Gallery, For Fine Art and Wilde Meyer Gallery, where harpist Vanessa Myers will perform ambient jazz on a Celtic lever harp.

4 p.m. to 7 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 6, Wilde Meyer Gallery, 2890 E. Skyline Drive, Suite 170, wildemeyer.com

Apple Annie’s Orchard Corn Maze

Choose from three levels of difficulty, but you’ll never actually get lost in this 12.5-acre, 600,000-stalk corn maze. It’s the largest in Arizona. The fun is in competing with friends and family. Staff says the average visitor takes about two hours to complete it. Can you beat that? Flip flops are not advised.
9 a.m. to 4 p.m. daily, through Oct. 31, Apple Annie’s Pumpkins & Produce, 6405 W. Williams Road, Willcox, $12, $10 ages 3 to 11, free children 2 and under, includes a hayride

Vamos a Tucson Mexican Baseball Fiesta

Obregon, Navojoa, Hermosillo, Mexicali and the Arizona Wildcats play a four-day tournament celebrating Hispanic Heritage Month. There will be noise. Baseball fans dance in the stands, the refreshment vendors sell tacos, and generations of families sport T-shirts promoting their clans’ favorite teams.
5:05 p.m. first of two games, Thursday, Oct. 6, to Sunday, Oct. 9, “Vamos a Tucson Mexican Baseball Fiesta, Veterans Memorial Stadium, 2500 E. Ajo Way, mexicanbaseballfiesta.com/games/tucson, $15, $20 box seat, $8 kids, seniors and military.

Nightfall at Old Tucson

Tucson’s most immersive spooky experience turns 30 with the return of Old Tucson’s Nightfall. It arrives with new enigmas and revelations for guests to expose. What mysteries might lurk in the traditional stunt shows? Or emerge from the Grand Palace Theatre stage in a scripted revue or musical performance? Are you brave enough to lure secrets from the wandering specters, apparitions and lost souls in your path? Nightfall is exactly as spooky as you make it.
5:30 p.m. to 11 p.m., Thursday, Oct. 6, to Sunday Oct. 30, Old Tucson, 201 S. Kinney Road, nightfallaz.com, $35, $30 kids ages 5 to 11

Oktoberfest 2022 on Mount Lemmon

Sample German culture and that country’s greatest contribution to partying: Oktoberfest. The beer will flow, the schnitzel will sizzle, and John Prokop’s Bouncing Czechs Band will have you polkaing with friends you haven’t met yet. Take a sweater, though. The temps can be 30 degrees cooler up there. Remember, too, that Mount Lemmon General Store has the only ATM, and fudge, for 30 miles. Seasonal fudge flavors now available include caramel apple pie, orange cream, pumpkin praline and s’mores.
Noon to 5 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 8, and Sunday, Oct 9, Oktoberfest, Mount Lemmon Ski Valley, 10300 Ski Run Road, Mount Lemmon, skithelemmon.com, free. 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. daily, Mount Lemmon General Store, 12856 N. Sabino Canyon Parkway, mtlemmon.com

This article appears in Sep 29 – Oct 5, 2022.