Good morning, East Mesa. June is here, the heat is settling in, and the libraries just flipped on summer mode.
- 🌳 A national report rates Mesa's parks as middling. Trust for Public Land's annual review puts the city mid-pack, with the east side's parks and trails part of the picture.
- 🏗️ Two East Mesa restaurants go before council June 8. A Vietnamese spot on Ellsworth and a bar and grill on Greenfield are up for liquor licenses.
- 📚 Summer reading opens June 1. Mesa libraries are signing up readers through June 20, and Red Mountain started today with a dinosaur show.
- 🛒 Two Saturday markets. The Eastmark Farmers Market and Vertuccio Farms' Berry Sweet Market both run June 6.
- 🎶 Around the Valley. Dodgers at Chase Field, Yellowcard, and a founding Beach Boy at the MIM this week.
A middling grade for Mesa's parks
A national parks group gave Mesa's park system a middling grade, and the rating lands on a region where parks pull double duty for two very different sets of residents.
Key facts:
- Who: Trust for Public Land, the group behind the annual national parks rankings.
- The verdict: Mesa came in mid-pack. Not a failing grade, not a standout.
- Named in the report: Andrea Alicoate, Mesa's interim parks and recreation director, and Will Klein, the group's parks research director.
- The East Mesa stake: Eastmark Great Park, the Red Mountain trails, the neighborhood parks across the family communities, and the rec amenities the 55+ communities lean on.
East Mesa carries two park audiences at once. Families in Las Sendas, Mountain Bridge, and Eastmark want playgrounds, splash pads, and ball fields. The retirement communities along Baseline lean on walking paths and golf. A mid-pack score says less about any one park than about how much land, access, and spending the city puts behind the whole system.
What to watch: whether the rating turns up in budget talks as Mesa sets park spending for the year ahead. Details.
The week ahead
What's on the calendar across the east side, Monday through Sunday.
Monday and Tuesday
Wednesday and Thursday
- 🃏 Pokemon Trading Card Game Club. Red Mountain Library, Wednesday afternoon. Bring a deck or learn there. Details.
- 🦅 Eagle watercolor paint night. THINKspot at Red Mountain, Wednesday, tied to the America 250 series. Details.
- 🧵 Learn to quilt. THINKspot at Red Mountain, Thursday. Supplies provided. Details.
- 🎤 Trivia night by music genre. What's Crackin Cafe on McDowell, Thursday. Details.
Weekend
- 👶 Kith and Kin caregiver workshop. Red Mountain Library, Friday. A 10-week series for family and neighbor caregivers. Details.
- 🎸 Live music with Guitarras Latinas. What's Crackin Cafe, Friday. Details.
- 🥕 Eastmark Farmers Market. Eastmark Great Park, Saturday morning. Details.
- 🍓 Berry Sweet Market at Vertuccio Farms. Power Road, Saturday. Details.
- 🍳 Sunday brunch with Rachelle Romeo. The Patio and Grille at Las Sendas, Sunday. Details.
Around East Mesa
- 📚 Summer reading is open. Mesa libraries are signing up readers June 1 through June 20, with a goal of 20 minutes of reading a day. Red Mountain Library kicked things off today with the Dino Crew dinosaur show. Details.
- ⛳ Father's Day scramble, June 21. Augusta Ranch Golf Club in central East Mesa hosts its holiday scramble in three weeks. Worth booking a tee time now if dad plays. Details.
🏗️ Eastmark corridor and dev watch
What's moving along Ellsworth, Signal Butte, and the rest of the east-side pipeline.
- 🍜 Tastea Pho Banh Mi Cafe, Ellsworth Road. A new sit-down Vietnamese restaurant is requesting a restaurant license at 3442 South Ellsworth Road, Suites 101 and 102. No prior license at the spot. It goes before City Council on June 8. Details.
- 🍺 Tailgate Bar and Grill, Greenfield Road. A bar at 1762 South Greenfield Road, Suites 111 and 112, is up for an ownership transfer of its bar license. Also on the June 8 council agenda. Details.
- 🏢 Land deal near Signal Butte and Southern. Mesa signed a development agreement with WS Holdings for a parcel just east of the northeast corner of Signal Butte and Southern. The filing sets the terms; it does not spell out what gets built there. Details.
Around the Valley
A few picks worth leaving the east side for this week.
- ⚾ Diamondbacks vs. Dodgers. Chase Field, downtown Phoenix, Monday at 6:40 PM. The Dodgers only swing through a handful of times a year, and the rivalry crowd shows up. Tickets.
- 🎸 Yellowcard. Arizona Financial Theatre, Phoenix, Monday at 7 PM. Early-2000s pop-punk for anyone who wore out "Ocean Avenue." Tickets.
- 🎤 The Kid Laroi. Arizona Financial Theatre, Phoenix, Tuesday at 7:30 PM. Tickets.
- 🏖️ Al Jardine and The Pet Sounds Band. Musical Instrument Museum, Phoenix, Wednesday at 7 PM. A founding Beach Boy in the MIM's small theater. Tickets.