December 18, 2020

Episode 709

Memories of Winterhaven; The Bookshop at the End of the World: Remembering Lute Olson’s first day at U of A; Catalina State Park; and From the Vault: 1985’s Ho Ho Hotline (28:00)
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Winterhaven Memories
There might be no more cherished local holiday tradition than strolling through the Winterhaven Festival of Lights with family and friends. Unfortunately, in an effort to ensure the safety and wellbeing of the community, the 2020 festival was cancelled. Although there is no substitute for being there, we offer this behind the scenes story produced in 2015.

A Bookshop at the End of the World
Best-selling mystery writer J.A. Jance described the subject of our next story as “a beacon of hope …somebody who says, ‘I don’t care if everybody says it’s impossible. That’s what I’m going to do and I’m going to do it here in the middle of the desert.”…when Winn Bundy passed away in October at the age of 90, she had operated the Singing Wind Bookstore for 46 years…gaining global attention by “getting the right book to the right person.”

Hiring Lute
We say goodbye to a local legend…Lute Olson. For the University of Arizona basketball program the 1982-83 season, the season before coach Olson came to Tucson, was one to forget. The Wildcats' record was a dismal 4 wins and 24 losses. Its PAC 10 record of 1-17 still stands as the worst in team history. But help was on the way...Lute Olson. By the time coach Olson retired he had amassed 589 wins – and only 187 loses. Olson passed away in Tucson on August 27, 2020. We remember and honor him by looking back at the day he was introduced to the community in 1983…

Catalina State Park
Just a few miles north of Tucson is a place that might have been a housing development with a golf course but instead, thanks to a cooperative effort to save the land in the 1970s and 80s, is one of the most visited destinations in Arizona's state parks and trails system… it was also closed due to this summer’s Bighorn fire and again in October by the quickly controlled Catalina fire…here is a virtual visit to Catalina State Park

From the Vault: The Ho Ho Hotline
For boys and girls all across Arizona waking to a pile of gifts mysteriously delivered by St. Nick is the highlight of the season. But before those gifts are even wrapped Santa, and in this case, Mrs. Claus' need to check in to see whose been nice or naughty…as we see in this 1985 fan favorite.
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