The Duke Comes to Sonoita
John Wayne fans of all ages gathered at the County Fairgrounds in Sonoita on Saturday, October 18, to view a documentary about John Wayne and a feature film starring the legendary film star.
Donald and Nancy Webster of Sonoita hosted the movie event. Over 40 guests started the evening with dinner provided by Russell Compton’s R-B-Cue mobile diner. A 20-minute documentary, produced by local resident Francis Causey, was shown first. It featured clips from the numerous western movies John Wayne filmed in Tucson and at locations in Santa Cruz County. Movie historians and friends of John Wayne reminisced about working with Wayne in his movies. Following the documentary was a showing of the feature film starring Wayne titled “McLintock!”
A surprise visitor to the movie event was Fred Moreno. A lifelong resident of Patagonia, he revealed that he was a business friend of Wayne many years ago, when they worked a cattle business on South River Road.
This event was just one of many presented throughout the weekend as part of the Third Santa Cruz County International Film Festival. Participants were treated to films, documentaries, workshops, movie location tours and parties.
Educator of the Month
Valerie Etchart was recently honored as Elgin Elementary School’s Educator of the Month Valerie has served as the school’s kitchen manager for 14 years. She received a gift certificate for dinner at Tia Nita’s and her name will be placed on a permanent plaque at the school.
Christmas in Elgin
Don’t forget to mark your calendar for this annual holiday festival, to be held on December 6, with over 30 vendors. Call Ginny at (520) 455-4641 for more info. Or check next month’s “What’s Going On?”
Accessible?
In response to our article on the Sonoita Landfill, (Sept 2014), a reader who is disabled wrote that she is unable to climb the stairs to the roll-off container (shown at right) to drop off cardboard. Replacing the stairs with a ramp would provide handicap access.