Good morning, Queen Creek.
Memorial Day is behind us. The Olive Mill ran its Grill at the Mill cookout Monday, and the calendar stays lighter than last week between now and the start of June. The bigger stuff is mostly next week.
🌾 A Queen Creek family fights to save the Big Tin cotton gin. The property already sold for a new gas station.
⚾ Baseball Showcase and Prep Hoops Finals, Saturday. Both at AZ Athletic Grounds, right at the QC border in east Mesa.
👮 QC Police chief tours the new facility. ABC15 got an inside look at the just-opened building.
📚 Library summer reading kicks off Monday. Dinosaur-themed run, all month at the QC branch.
🐴 Beat the Heat riding series returns June 6. Chapman Arena at Horseshoe Park opens Saturday mornings to community riders.
📋 Touch a Truck and voter registration at STV Library, June 5. Mid-morning at the San Tan Valley branch.
A Queen Creek family fights to save the Big Tin cotton gin
A historic Queen Creek cotton gin known as the Big Tin is the subject of a family preservation push after the property it sits on was sold to make way for a new gas station.
Key facts:
- What it is: A long-standing cotton gin tied to QC's pre-incorporation farming era
- What changed: The property has been sold for a new gas station development
- Who's fighting: A family with historic ties to the gin is leading the preservation effort
- Status: Sale has closed; the family's preservation push is active
The town's founding charter set out to "preserve the benefits of rural life while providing an avenue for managed change." That sentence has been written into nearly every zoning fight in Queen Creek since incorporation in 1989. Schnepf Farms and the Olive Mill exist today partly because the town wrote agritainment zoning around them. Bare-land gins and barns from the Rittenhouse era don't have that protection, and when one comes down, it doesn't come back.
What to watch: Whether the family lands a preservation arrangement, a relocation, or any cooperation from the gas-station developer before construction begins. ABC15 has the story.
The weekend
Quieter weekend than the last, sandwiched between the holiday and the start of June. The two biggest draws are at AZ Athletic Grounds, the sports complex sitting on the QC border in east Mesa.
⚾ Baseball Showcase, Saturday. At AZ Grounds Diamonds. Tournament-style play; gates and start times on the event page. Details and tickets.
🏀 Prep Hoops West Coast Region Finals, Saturday. At AZ Grounds Fieldhouse B. Worth the drive if there's a high-school hooper in the household. Details and tickets.
Around Queen Creek
👮 Police chief tours the new QC facility. ABC15 was given an exclusive look inside the just-opened building that now houses the Queen Creek Police Department. The walk-through covers the working spaces of a town police force that has been growing alongside QC itself. Watch the tour.
🐴 Beat the Heat Summer Riding Series returns June 6. The Chapman Automotive Group Arena (the covered indoor arena at Horseshoe Park) opens to the public from 6 AM to noon on Saturdays through August. The schedule: June 6, 13, 20, 27; July 11, 18, 25; August 1, 8, 15, 22, 29. Community arena rules apply, free to ride. The covered arenas are the move when desert mornings get over 100. Schedule.
📚 Library summer reading: dinosaurs all month. The MCLD Queen Creek branch kicks off a dinosaur-themed summer reading schedule starting Monday, June 1. The first week is dense:
- Babies, Books, and Bubbles, Monday June 1 at 9:30 AM (infants 0 to 20 months, registration required). Register.
- Dino-mite Movie Matinee, Monday June 1 at 3 PM (all ages, drop-in). Details.
- Adults Discover: Mug Painting, Tuesday June 2 at 10 AM (registration required). Register.
- Teens Unearth Acting: Improv, Tuesday June 2 at 2 PM (ages 13 to 17). Register.
- The Magic and Comedy of Jolly Roger, Wednesday June 3 at 1:30 PM (all ages). Details.
- Playcation, Thursday June 4 at 10 AM (all ages, drop-in). Details.
- Unearth Food and Family History, Thursday June 4 at 6 PM (adults and teens, registration required). Register.
The dinosaur thread runs through June. Notable later: DIY Cardboard Dinosaurs (Tuesday June 9, 5:30 PM, preschool), Are Dinosaurs Really Extinct? with Jungle Jill (Wednesday June 10, 1:30 PM, all ages), and Dino Designs: Dinosaur Painting (Monday June 15, 3 PM, youth and tweens). Add-ons for adults this month: Copper Painting (June 9), Mystery Book Club (June 10), Cinema Club (June 15), and Suminagashi marbling (June 16).
📋 Touch a Truck plus voter registration, San Tan Valley Library, June 5. Pinal County's Library District is running a Touch a Truck event from 10 AM to noon at 31505 N Schnepf Rd. A voter registration table runs alongside it. Free, family-friendly. Details.