Imagine that Tucson is a puzzle. Well, we just found a key missing
piece behind the sofa.

It’s been more than two years now since the project to reconstruct
the Fourth Avenue underpass began, and on the date that’s now
recognized as Tucson’s birthday—Aug. 20—we’ll be able to
enjoy the much-anticipated results. Once again, we’ll be able to easily
move between three of the city’s major entertainment hotspots. In
celebration, Fourth Avenue, downtown and Main Gate Square will each be
throwing parties, complete with constant live music, food/drink
specials—and free birthday cake.

Cara Rene, vice president for community development at the Downtown
Tucson Partnership, says she was somewhat surprised by the magnitude of
the response she received while putting together the event. She says
that, initially, “people were slow to get on board.” But then the
enthusiasm began to build, and in the end, she’d “never seen so many
people come on board for an event like this with so much
excitement.”

Kurt Tallis, marketing and events director at the Fourth Avenue
Merchants Association, echoes the idea of collaboration—but also
emphasizes the parts of each area that make it unique.

“A big part of the celebration is that the three different areas are
all doing very different things,” he says. Yes, there will be live
music, food and drink all over the place, but the events at each area
are created and driven by the businesses there, resulting in three
separate, distinct parties brought together by a common reason to
celebrate.

“Everyone is so different,” he says. “We need to be connected.”

He says that the underpass is central to the idea of collaboration,
especially with the addition of the Tucson Portrait Project. The
project consists of more than 6,000 photos of people, newly installed
in the underpass, that were taken all over Tucson. Tallis says it will
remind us: “It’s not my underpass; it’s not your underpass; it’s
our underpass.”

Rene says that the event was not given a huge budget.

“People have stepped up and said, ‘I want to be a part of this,
because it’s an important event for Tucson’,” she says.

The underpass also marks the return of what Rene calls “the
pedestrian experience.” (She admits that the Old Pueblo Trolley will be
running, and the underpass also gives drivers an easy way to get
around.) She says that in a city that seems so averse to walking, the
underpass “enables us to enjoy entertainment in a true pedestrian
way.”

The event itself will take place at all three locations
simultaneously, with entertainment starting at 3 p.m. and going until
about 10 p.m. The opening ceremony at the underpass will feature Mayor
Bob Walkup, City Council members and other dignitaries. The ceremony
will start at 4 p.m.

After the ribbon is cut, other events will start all over the place
(including a birthday-cake competition judged by Mayor Walkup, Tucson
Symphony Orchestra conductor George Hanson and KOLD Channel 13’s Chuck
George; you can find more info on that elsewhere in City Week). With so
much going on, it might be difficult to decide what to actually do, but
Rene emphasizes the family-friendly events. She especially recommends
the free ice cream social at Chris’ Café in La Placita Village,
and the Elemental Artistry performance and face-painting at the Tucson
Children’s Museum.

What’s got Tallis most excited isn’t really an event so much as a
message. Each location will be handing out free glow-light pendants to
those who visit there first. He says that those who go downtown will
get blue lights; those who go to Main Gate Square will get red, and
those who go to Fourth Avenue will get green. “By the end of it, reds,
blues and greens will be mixing,” he says. “It will help us visually
make the connection.” In other words, everyone will see how intertwined
the three areas are.

Tallis sees this event as a welcome back to an old friend who has
gotten a facelift and has come back new and improved. “It’s true,” he
continues, “you don’t miss something until it’s gone.”

This article appears in Aug 13-19, 2009.