"The Best Fest" Arizona is gonna be !00

Arizona will be 100 next year.  The state is sponsoring events all over the state until February 2012.  The kick-off celebration was held in downtown Prescott.  Prescott was the first capital of Arizona.  All kind of things were going on during this three day fun fest.  i only had my telephone to take pictures because this was the same weekend Gary was in Alaska.  There were a lot of displays  ' that were set up to showcase the state.  I especially enjoyed the 'old west" town that was set up on "Whiskey Row." There were people dressed in periond appropriate clothing teaching how to make a horse shoes, pan for gold, telling the story of the people who lived here at the time of statehood.  .  There is a charity group here in Prescott that  dedicate themselves to re-enacting the old west. They dress in the coolest clothes and do shows.  The one I watched while I was there was the "shoot out at the OK Corral" which is a true story that happened in the Tombstone area in Tucson, Arizona.  The Indiana village had on-going demonstrations everything from grinding corn to building hogans made from the brush gathered from desert. They showed how they made pottery, weaved baskets, carved bows and arrows, really cool painting and carving the way it was done back then with the tools they used in the late 1800's. I tease Gary  when we watch hunting videos and see all the new fan-dangled equipment hunters use today to bag their game.  I say to him....hmmm, i wonder how the Indians hunted all those years without out all this special stuff. It's a wonder they were able to keep themselves alive.  And they hunted for the whole tribe, that was their meat for the season.  They didn't just hunt for the trophy and bragging rights. I felt like a little kid on a school field trip while I went from one demo to the other.  i learned a lot and have a new appreciation for the people who founded this state.  If the BEST FEST comes to your area, you really should go check it out.