Good morning, Queen Creek.
🥬 Pecan Lake Farmers Market is back Saturday. Queen Creek Botanical Gardens, indoor-outdoor, growers and artisans. Details.
💰 Vineland Towne Center sold for $69.9M. Fidelity Investments out, FCREF Vineyard Towne in, Vestar brokered. Details.
🎭 Puppet theater at Queen Creek Library, Friday. The Little Red Hen, 10:30 AM. Details.
🏈 QCHS Bulldog Isaia Glass signs with the Panthers. Class of 2021, NFL offensive tackle. Details.
📋 Leadership grads, the Civics Bee, a measles update. Quick notes from the week. ICYMI.
Pecan Lake Saturday morning
The Pecan Lake Farmers Market runs Saturday morning at the Queen Creek Botanical Gardens, beside Pecan Lake and the nation's first all-edible gardens.
Key facts:
Saturday, May 16, 7 AM start
Queen Creek Botanical Gardens, beside Pecan Lake
Local growers, artisans, handmade goods
Indoor-outdoor format, free to walk in
The market is a standing Saturday fixture, but the venue is the part that lands. The gardens are billed as the nation's first all-edible gardens, the kind of detail that gets a shrug in Queen Creek and stops people cold in Scottsdale.
What to watch: peach season is on the way at Schnepf Farms a few minutes east on Rittenhouse, and the market's produce mix tends to shift toward stone fruit by late May. Market page.
The weekend
🎭 Great Arizona Puppet Theater: The Little Red Hen. Queen Creek Library, Friday, 10:30 AM. All ages, drop-in. Library page.
🥬 Pecan Lake Farmers Market. Queen Creek Botanical Gardens, Saturday morning. Details.
🐾 Empty The Shelters adoption push runs through May 17. Reduced fees at Maricopa County Animal Care locations countywide. County page.
Around Queen Creek
💰 Vineland Towne Center sold for $69.9M. Fidelity Investments handed the shopping center on the Queen Creek and San Tan Valley line to FCREF Vineyard Towne I and II LLC. Vestar brokered. QC Tribune.
It's the biggest QC retail trade in recent memory and a sign that institutional buyers are still treating this corridor as a long-hold asset, not a flip.
🍺 Uncle Bear's Grill & Tap is reinvesting in the flagship. Approaching 18 years at its original Queen Creek location and 26 years as a brand, the chain is rolling renovations into a refresh aimed at longtime regulars and new families. More.
🏦 First Credit Union opened a branch on E Queen Creek Rd. 22335 E Queen Creek Rd, ribbon-cut April 24. More.
💪 ROAR Aesthetics and Wellness opened in town. Nurse practitioner Krystal Carey runs the new med-spa storefront. More.
🧠 Brain Balance ribbon-cut a QC location. Cognitive and behavioral development program for kids, now open. More.
🗳️ Chamber rolls out a "Meet the Candidate" video series. Town Council interviews up first, with San Tan Valley and other races to follow. A Town Council Candidate Forum is also on the Chamber's calendar. More.
From the schools
🏈 Isaia Glass signs with the Carolina Panthers. The QCHS class of 2021 alum is now an NFL offensive tackle. About 0.023% of high school football players make it to the league. ESPN profile.
Glass is the kind of name that gives Friday-night football at QCHS its long shadow. The Bulldogs banner now has someone on a Sunday roster to point at.
🎓 NEWS Point Academy is enrolling its founding class. Tuition-free public charter high school at the Arizona Athletic Grounds, opening July 2026 for 9th and 10th graders with an academics-plus-athletics focus. Enrollment page.
📚 QCHS PTO meets tonight. Library, 5 PM. School calendar.
ICYMI
🎓 Queen Creek graduates 42 from its leadership program. The annual class wrapped up this past week. QC Tribune.
🏛️ The 2026 National Civics Bee regional landed in Queen Creek. The Chamber hosted the middle-school civics competition on April 24. Chamber.
🏛️ Arizona Heritage Center is closing for major repairs. The state history museum is going dark for an extended restoration. QC Tribune.
🦠 Maricopa County's measles count hit 15. Three exposure sites have been identified in Mesa and Queen Creek. 12News.
📊 A new report sketches where Queen Creek goes from here. QC Tribune walks through the town's planning outlook. QC Tribune.
That's the rundown for the weekend.