Start of Fall News

Hello Friends!

Here we are at the end of August. The Friends of Oracle State Park board has been busy this summer. One of our biggest accomplishments has been to revamp our website. Emily Düwel, who designed the original website 15 years ago, was generous enough to create a new website page for FOSP. We are excited to share it with you as it continues to evolve. You can still find us at friendsoraclestatepark.org.

Mark your calendar for some wonderful upcoming events. On September 24th there will be a star party extravaganza at the park in conjunction with David H. Levy Dark Sky Star Party Conference. There will be many interesting and fun activities.  First at 11:00 a.m. Tom Buckley will be giving a geology walk and presentation. Tom has been volunteering his time at the park and working with Park Manager, Vince Micallef, to create the new geology trail. The geology in the park and around Oracle is mind boggling.  Did you ever wonder how all the giant boulder piles were formed?  Tom has the answers.  Later in the day, Friends of Oracle State Park will sponsor two music events for the star party: Ric Volante and Vicky Smith at 2:00 p.m. and The Morpholinos at 7:00 p.m. Other events include Dr. Joel Diamond, who will be doing a presentation about bats at 5:00 p.m.  At nightfall, amateur and professional astronomers will be available to observe planets, nebulas, and much more. You can find the schedule of events at azstateparks.com/oracle/ or explorescientific.com/events. Free with park entrance fee.

On October 16th at 1:00 p.m. Author Wynne Brown will be giving a presentation called Following the Footsteps of a Forgotten Botanist, based on research for her 2021 book.  Wynne Brown will present a visual journey through the remarkable life and work of Sara Plummer Lemmon — including watercolors discovered in the UC and Jepson Herbaria Archives as recently as this summer. Her book, The Forgotten Botanist, Sara Plummer Lemmon’s Life of Science and Art, will be available for purchase and signing. Mt. Lemmon is named after Sara and her husband, John Gill (J.G.) Lemmon, who first botanized in the Santa Catalina Mountains in 1881. Wynne Brown is an independent scholar, editor, poet, and graphic designer.  She is the author of More Than Petticoats: Remarkable Arizona Women and the coeditor of Cave Creek Canyon: Revealing the Heart of Arizona’s Chiricahua Mountains, among other books. To learn more about Wynne Brown, go to wynnebrown.com/.

Friends of Oracle State Park along with park management are working on a history project with longtime docent and expert on the Kannally family, Mary Bast. More information about this project will be forthcoming.

Our next board meeting will be September 14, 2022 at 10:00 a.m. at the Oracle State Park.

If you would like to become a member or make a donation, visit our Join & Support page.

Sincerely,

Deborah Gaines
President, Friends of Oracle State Park