Supporting Sponsors
Desert Foothills Christmas Pageant
Sat. & Sun.,
Dec. 5th & 6th,
7:00 p.m.
SPUR CROSS RANCH
Presented by the
Foothills
Community
Foundation
How it all started . . .
In 1952, the local 4-H Club in Cave Creek, under the leadership of Jean Hackler, put together a holiday pageant entitled "Oh Holy Night", that included a live re-enactment of the Christmas story, and showcased some of their animals. For the next 50 years community members joined together to produce this homespun show that became an area tradition.
The original production took place nestled among the rocks at the base of Black Mountain in an area known as Tse Bonita. Audience members sat on blankets on the ground while fires lit in the rocks on the mountainside lit the angels and provided added "starlight" to the production. The beautiful desert skies brought a sense of awe to the event.
The location was secluded, but it was always easy to find as a luminaria trail lit the way. In the pageant's heyday, the trail lined both sides of the road all around Black Mountain and up to the site. As the towns of Carefree and Cave Creek grew and volunteers dwindled, it was not always easy to cover as much of the road, but the trail persisted with what could be accomplished.
When, in 2002 (after 50 years) the pageant's parent organization, the supporting organization disbanded, and volunteers decided they were tired and wanted to move away from pageant presentation; the town of Cave Creek and Spur Cross Ranch stepped in to produce a quiet holiday event at Spur Cross Ranch. The luminaria crew worked once again, and the trail lit the way down Spur Cross Road from Cave Creek Road.
In 2003, there was no event at Spur Cross or anywhere and it looked like the pageant was over. The Luminaria Run was created to at least keep the luminaria trail aspect of the event alive.
In 2004, Toby Payne asked the Foothills Community Foundation if they would consider supporting the resurrection of the pageant. They agreed and the pageant was presented in its last location at Desert Arroyo Middle School.
As the run was created to support the Cave Creek tradition, luminaria crews from the run also helped light the road to Desert Arroyo. They did so in 2005 as well.
From the moment of the pageant's return, organizers had been working with the town of Cave Creek to find a desert location more similar to that of Tse Bonita. Spur Cross Ranch seemed the perfect solution, but it was not quite ready--until 2006.
The 2006 Desert Foothills Christmas Pageant marked the first year the pageant will be held in a beautiful new Spur Cross location. Under the stars, out in the desert, the new location will bring back the beauty of the event.
Once again, luminaria crews will light the way to the pageant.
2009 Sponsors
In-Kind SPONSORS:
Big Earl's Greasy Eats, Indian Village, Watermill Express, Southwest Barricades