As the hot southern Arizona summer recedes into autumn, those of us who live in southern Arizona desert year round begin to emerge from our air conditioned cars, homes, offices, shopping malls, etc. and into the warm (but no longer hot) and dry climate that makes this such a great place to live most of the year.

While our neighbors to the north see the season as the end of outdoor activities and begin preparing to shelter themselves from the coming winter, we are emerging from our summer shelters ready to embrace the outdoors. And what better way to get out and enjoy the beautiful autumn weather than to attend a Calabazas Fiesta?

Of course Calabazas is simply the Spanish word for Pumpkins and Fiesta is Spanish for Festival so we are talking about a Pumpkin Festival here.

Fall, winter and spring are our time to be out of doors and we embrace it with outdoor activities and festivals. This Saturday was such a day - a balmy 80 degrees, dry air, bright sunshine and a clear blue sky with just a few wisps of cotton-like clouds floating across it.

Our plan for this weekend was to spend part of Saturday visiting the Fiesta de las Calabazas at Oracle State Park located about 30 miles north of our home. The festival ran from ten in the morning until 7 in the evening and I had hoped to head up there mid-morning but, my wife had to attend a mid-morning function at work and when she returned I discovered among the clutter on my desk the notice from a couple of weeks ago that her car was due for its annual emissions test which had to be done before we could renew her license plates which were due to expire on Monday. As a result we had to detour to the nearest emissions test center before heading north to the festival. We finally arrived at the festival about two which still gave us plenty of time to enjoy it.

While this was our first visit to the festival, it was actually the eighth annual running of this festival which started in 2000 and since 2002 has been held in beautiful Oracle State Park in the town of Oracle, Arizona. Situated in the northern foothills of the Santa Catalina Mountains, Oracle State Park and the surrounding area is located at a slightly higher altitude than Tucson with the park being 3,500 to 4,500 feet in altitude versus about 2,500 feet for Tucson. As a result, it was both a little cooler and the mountain backdrop closer and a little more spectacular than Tucson. The park itself was once a part of the Kannally Ranch which was once a vast 50,000 acre operation most of which was sold to the Magma Copper Company in 1952. The remaining 4,000 acres were later donated to the State of Arizona for use as a state park following the death of the last surviving member of the family, Lucile Kannally, in 1976.

The festival itself was a typical rural harvest type festival with food, exhibits for children, music, arts and crafts for sale by local artists and just general fun. Not having eaten since breakfast, we were hungry when we arrived and were fortunate that there was still some food available. Four dollars apiece brought us each a plate of beans and shredded beef.

At the Tucson Herpetological Society Booth, my wife, with great reluctance, got to touch her first live snake. A member of the society was holding a live snake and having people touch it. My wife politely declined at first. But she wanted a picture of the snake and the handler told her he would only pose if she touched the snake while posing.

One of the old corrals of the ranch housed the Pumpkin Patch where hundreds of pumpkins and other goards, all decorated by local school children, were on display for viewing and voting on.

Finally, at the top of the hill by the ranch house were the craft booths and stage with live musicians playing southwestern music.