Cancer Awareness Balloon Glow

 

Friday evening, February 3 will be our balloon glow from 6:30 to 7:30 pm.  

Saturday morning, February 4, we will have a mass ascension from the field just outside the main gate at 8:00am.  Everyone is welcome to come out and observe.

All the monies collected will be donated to our park's combined donation to our local Casa Grande Caner Awareness Center.  

However, it does not happen without our wonderful volunteers that assist the seven pilots during our Balloon Glow on Friday evening and our flights on Saturday morning.  A flyer will be sent out soon and you can sign up to volunteer at the Activities Office.

Whether you wish to volunteer as a crew person for the events or donate the fees to ride in one of the balloons for a flight on Saturday morning, the Activities Center is your one stop for all your answers.

If you have volunteered in the past with a certain pilot, just let the folks at Activities know and we will get you assigned with that individual once again.

If you have never been around a balloon team before, we will insure you learn how to safely enjoy the experience.

Thanks in advance from John Ross, Balloonmiester

Volunteer to be part of the event!

EVENT ANNOUNCEMENTS

 

SATURDAY NIGHT DANCE:  December 10

DJ & The Midnight Sun will be playing on the Bistro patio this Saturday.  Change of time!  Due to chilly weather, the dance time will be held from 4:00 till 7:00.    Watch for further announcements.

HORSESHOES:

Our horseshoes group has big news!  They are starting a lady's league on Monday mornings at 9:00.  Meet at the horseshoe pits.  Equipment and lessons will be provided.

They have lots of activity this season.

Monday 9:00 new women's league

Tuesday is a mixed league at 9:00.  

Wednesday is men's singles at 9:00.  

Thursday mixed league at 9:00

Thursday night mixed league at 6:00

Friday 9:00 mixed CORN HOLE

HOT AIR BALLOON GLOW:

The annual Cancer Awareness weekend (February 3) will again host the traditional Hot Air Balloon Glow in Palm Park at 6:30 p.m.  John Ross and his friends will light up the night sky with seven balloons as everyone gathers together.  They will also continue the tradition of having passenger flights available the following morning.  All funds received will be donated to our combined fundraising efforts for this most worthwhile endeavor.  There will not be a tether ride operation on Friday evening this year.

The Activities Office will have info in the January Happenings as well as a special flyer will be distributed to all.  They are looking for about 20 volunteers for Friday evening's Glow as well as 20 volunteers to assist the Saturday morning flights.  A signup board will be in Activities if you wish to help out.

P.S.  John has let it be known that this will be his last season flying passengers so if you or family or friends want this bucket list experience, reach out to John SOON.  

CHRISTMAS CHORUS CONCERT:

Don't forget the Christmas Chorus program for this Thursday, December 8, at 7:00 in the ballroom.  Rumor has it there will be cookies available after the program.  😁

Balloon Glow Info plus more

EXCITING NEWS regarding the February Cancer Awareness Weekend!

After a two year hiatus, the balloons are coming back!   We will once more kick off all of our park’s amazing activities to support our Cancer Awareness weekend.

 Friday evening, February 4th wIll be our balloon glow and also the opportunity to ride as a passenger in the balloon  tether operation adjacent to Palm Park.

Saturday morning , February 5th, we will have a mass ascension from the field just outside the gate at 7:30am.  Everyone is welcome to come out and observe.

ALL THE MONIES COLLECTED WILL BE DONATED TO OUR PARK’S COMBINED DONATION TO OUR GASA GRANDE CANCER AWARENESS CENTER.

However, it does not happen without our wonderful volunteers that assist the seven pilots during our Balloon Glow on Friday evening, and our flights on Saturday morning.   All the details will be coming out from our Activities Center, and all the signups and information will be at the Activities Center.

Whether you wish to volunteer as a crew person for the events, or wish to participate in the Friday night  tether operation as a passenger, or donate the fees to ride in one of the balloons for a flight on Saturday morning , the Activities Center is your one stop for all your answers.

If you have volunteered in the past with a certain pilot, just let the folks at Activities know and we will get you assigned with that Individual once again.

If you have never been around a balloon team before, we will insure you learn how to safely enjoy the experience.

Thanks in advance.

John Ross

Balloonmiester

Thank you, John, for setting up this wonderful event over the years.  It is always a thrill.

 The Firemen's Spaghetti dinner was a HUGE sellout success.  They must have seated and fed 400 people!  I'm glad we Creekers support the firemen as they have certainly been here plenty of times to rescue us. 

CREEKSIDE BAND

I saw this announcement on Nextdoor so want to join them next week to watch their show.  The Creekside band will be playing in the ballroom:

        Wednesday, January 19

        Wednesday, February 16

        Tuesday, March 22

All events are free.  6-8 pm

Get out those dancing shoes.  The band members live in Palm Creek and are available to play at no charge for your street party or event.  They plan for fun!

Speaking of fun:  Fellow resident Ron St. Pierre recently appeared in the Casa Grande Dispatch with his latest remote control project.  I've never seen one that looked like a bird.  Fun!

We should be able to see this winged (feathered??) machine at the next Fly-In event at their airfield.  The next event will be Saturday, February 12 from 9-3 benefiting the Valley Humane Society so mark your calendar.

The park seems to be very busy these days.  I rode past the horseshoe pits and saw they were completely full with active players.

....and the shuffleboard courts were fully occupied!

Folks are out for some early morning fun.

Today's weather is beautiful at 73 degrees and lots of sunshine.  Don took the drone out for a look around the resort.  Enjoy the ride!

Kat and Mouse like to watch all the traffic going by.

CANCELATIONS:

That's Country--The Outlaw Show scheduled for Sunday, January 16 is cancelled due to band member illness.  Hold your tickets until the event can be rescheduled.

The Washington State Party scheduled for Tuesday, February 22 has been canceled and will not be rescheduled for 2022.

Beautiful Weather, Bingo

What absolutely perfect weather we have been having.  

Look at this gorgeous sky.  What a great day for a balloon ride above the park.

This week's Monday night bingo winners.  David was a lucky winner on the starburst number for a grand total of $253.  Greg won game twelve for $120.  Congratulations!!

Bonnie Sewell's Android class was learning how to post videos to You Tube.  We also shared various apps that are useful and fun.  You can join us on Tuesday afternoons at 2:00 in the Ocotillo Room.

Hot Air Balloon Rides & QOV

John Ross wants to send a BIG thank you to all the volunteers who helped with the balloon glow.

My sincere thanks to the incredibly generous folks in our park that participated in our Cancer Awareness Center Balloon Glow earlier this month.  Thanks to their participation, we tethered 68 people that Friday night and flew four the next day.  More than $2000 was generated by these folks.

I also wanted to correct a misperception about my ballooning here at Palm Creek. I fully intend to continue the seven year tradition of bringing in my friends to create the balloon glow to kick off our weekend.  I am just closing down my ride business this summer but will continue to fly family and friends.  We hope to continue to be winter residents of Palm Creek for years to come.

Finally, a huge thanks to all of the residents who volunteered to help crew the balloons.  Without you, it does not happen.

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Elana and Jack Riggins with Maureen Edwards being presented with a Quilt of Valor.  Jack served his country from 1955-1961. He was a medic in the Navy and was stationed in Virginia; tank driver in the Army stationed in Washington; and a medic in the Marine Corps stationed in Virginia.

Cancer Awareness Weekend

T'is the weekend of our huge Cancer Awareness extravaganza.  There were golf tournaments, horseshoe tournaments, tennis and probably more that I didn't get to see.  The highlight, of course, was tonight with the parade and events at Palm Park.  

THANK YOU to John Ross and his comrades for donating their time for the balloon glow!  It's fascinating to be up close and personal when these giant balloons fill with air and come to life. 

This giant wizard stole the show.

This is John Ross's balloon where he gave customers a quick tethered ride up above the trees.  I'll bet it was a lovely sight to see all the luminaries from above.

 It's a lot of work to heat up the balloons and then get them all packed up again at the end of the night.  Thank you to everyone for making this a part of our events.

After all the excitement, I enjoyed a lovely walk home down the streets with the luminaries all aglow.

I didn't get a picture of the food tents but want to give credit to the group that baked over 2500 cookies for us.

Tennis & a lemon tree

These tennis courts are getting the same top-grade professional quality surface as our new pickleball courts.  In fact, it's the same company doing the work so the layout and process looks very familiar.

All this cabling gets strung so tension can be applied to help prevent concrete from cracking.

That's a LOT of cable....and this is only in one direction.  It gets applied in both directions to form a grid.

Bingo!  The next day the concrete is poured and you would never guess how much work has been performed underneath that cement blanket.

No..................I was not there for the actual pour like we did for pickleball but I see the results.

Two courts done.  Two to go.  Chores aren't easy when working with cement as all the tools take a great deal of care to keep clean.  It must be very rewarding for these workers when they see the final results of their job.  It's quite an accomplishment!

I always smile when the grandkids come to visit Jim & Kathleen Koch as they leave pleasant memories and best wishes for us with their chalk drawings on Grandpa's driveway.

And Grandpa Koch has the most BEAUTIFUL lemon tree with a bountiful harvest.

Have a great day folks!  Get out and enjoy this wonderful Arizona sunshine!  It is predicted to be in the mid to upper 70s all week.  Yahoo!

P.S.  I have a bunch of aerial photos of the resort so put them into a slide show that will remain on the right side of the blog for a while.  What a pretty place we live in.  Photos are from John Ross and his hot air balloon.  Inquire in the Activities Office if you'd like a ride across our sky.

Construction Update

A quiet early morning brought a nice surprise as we spotted John Ross and his balloon for the first time this season.  Welcome back, John!  Want to take a balloon ride and view Palm Creek from the air?  Check with the Activities Office and get the contact information for John.  

Monday is bingo night in the ballroom.  Come join us for fun.  The jackpots are growing!

Tuesday we spotted a whole truckload of fresh green sod arriving.

Bales of it were stacked out by the softball warm-up field.

Today it looks like this!!!  What a transformation!

Congratulations to Fernando and crew for some fast work.

Now comes the job of planting all these trees.  Digging a hole is never an easy chore in our hard desert soil so jackhammers were heard for the day.

These trees will line both sides of the warm-up area.

Many more bushes and trees are being planted between the new rental houses.

Meanwhile, our housekeeping staff is busy cleaning and shining the new rental homes as they ready for their first guests.  Notice in the background that some guests are already arriving.

The batters box at the softball field is being readied for the season.

Holes for the gas pipeline are being filled in after the pipe is strung under the streets.

Our landscape crew is hard at work planting flowers to beautify the whole park.

Thank you guys for all your hard work to make our park so beautiful.

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