In Maui fires' aftermath / p. 3
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Inside This Week
Holiday display group is now Light Up Ahwatukee BY PAUL MARYNIAK AFN Executive Editor
T COMMUNITY .......28 Mountain Pointe Theatre Company marks a special anniversary.
he organization that for a quarter century had been responsible for the holiday lights display on Chandler Boulevard has rebranded itself to take on a broader civic mission aimed at elevating a sense of community in Ahwatukee. The Festival of Lights organization is officially no more. In its place, the six people who currently comprise the nonprofit’s board recently vot-
Tempe Union and academics part of BUSINESS ........ 32 new leader's DNA
Ahwatukee woman goes from the high seas to a landlubber business.
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Wednesday, August 23, 2023
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ed to become Light Up Ahwatukee. Its mission will include supporting other community charities, maintaining the Festival of Lights Kick-Off party the Saturday before Thanksgiving as well as the springtime Wine and Beer Festival and possibly starting new community-wide events down the road. The rebranding also clears up some confusion in the community over the difference between the now-defunct Festival of Lights group and The Foothills HOA when it came to responsibility for fundraising for the lights
display along the medians of Chandler Boulevard between 24th Street and Desert Foothills Parkway. That confusion emerged in a series of posts on the Ahwatukee 411 Facebook site after the Foothills HOA sent a fundraising solicitation to its 4,200 homeowners as it approaches a deadline of Aug. 31 to raise $50,000 for this year’s display. Under a 2021 agreement with the now-
see LIGHT page 12
Grit and grace
BY PAUL MARYNIAK AFN Executive Editor
A
GET OUT .............42 Ahwatukee band rocking music festival in the Valley this weekend. COMMUNITY ............................ 28 BUSINESS ................................32 SPORTS ................................... 37 GETOUT ...................................42 CLASSIFIEDS ...........................46
sk Dr. Stacia Wilson who, as an English major, is her favorite author and she answers American essayist Ralph Waldo Emerson, readily quoting his observation that “There’s nothing as sacred as the integrity of one’s mind.” That line also seems to sum up her career as an educator – and her approach to her new job as interim superintendent of the Tempe High School District, overseeing the development of about 13,000 young minds. The district’s governing board picked Wilson two weeks ago after her boss, Superin-
see WILSON page 16
The 2023 football season for Desert Vista and Mountain Pointe high schools begins this week and both teams are pumped. Thunder senior wide receiver Barrett Reginald, left, and Pride running back Christian Clark, share their respective teammates’ excitement. For a full preview of the season, see page 37. (Dave Minton/Staff Photographer)
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