Experience Pinal County in series of seven guided tours

Beginning next week Maricopa residents have the opportunity to Experience Pinal County, a program sponsored by Maricopa’s Friends of the Library and the Chamber of Commerce.

“This is way to experience more and to learn more about your community and your county,” said Mary Lou Smith, one of the program’s organizers.

A series of seven guided tours to various parts of Maricopa and Pinal County will begin Jan. 5 and end on April 6.

On Monday, Jan. 5, a guided tour of Pinal Energy’s ethanol plant and the Global Water Treatment Plant will be offered at no cost. The tour will leave from the Maricopa Public Library (adjacent to Rotary Pool off the Maricopa-Casa Grande Highway) promptly at 1:15 p.m., returning to the library at 4 p.m. Appropriate for adults, some walking is required to enjoy this tour.

The sixth annual Wuertz Farm Gourd Festival is scheduled for Saturday, Feb. 7, leaving the library at 9 a.m. and returning at 2 p.m. Festival admission is $6, and although walking is required, the event is appropriate for adults as well as school age children.

This nationally acclaimed festival includes over 100 gourd artists/vendors, gourdster races, sailing regourda, gourd games and non-stop live music, food (lunch will be available from vendors), fun and thousands of dried gourds (from tiny to gigantic) for sale. Main attractions are indoors. The show has grown to the largest gathering of gourd enthusiasts in the country and draws 8,000 to 10,000 people. The Wuertz family, Pinal County farmers since 1929, hosts the annual festival.

On Saturday, Feb. 14, a tour will leave the library at 9 a.m., heading for Florence’s once-a-year trolley/walking tour of some of the 100 historic buildings there listed on the National Register. Those structures include: Chapel of the Gila, the last remaining mission church from Arizona’s territorial period, a 1910 adobe home and the first Pinal County courthouse. Appropriate for both adults and older school age children, the tour will return to Maricopa at 4 p.m.; lunch is on your own in Florence.

Maricopa’s Agriculture Center, in conjunction with the University of Arizona, will offer Agventure on Thursday, Feb. 26. This tour, appropriate for adults, will leave the library at 8:45 a.m. and return at 4 p.m. Admission is $20, which includes lunch.

This event will feature speakers, Arizona agriculture products and a farm tour, including a look at the center’s experimental arid land studies.

“These tours are really a great way to have fun near home,” said Smith. For further information on any of the events, contact her at (520) 568-2285.

To make reservations for any or all of the scheduled tours, contact the Maricopa Chamber of Commerce at (520) 568-9573 at least one week in advance of the tour date. Let the Chamber know if you will be having lunch during the tour; lunches are optional and at each individual’s cost.

Photo courtesy of the Wuertz family farm