Apache Junction begins yearlong centennial celebration Saturday

PHOENIX — Apache Junction is celebrating its centennial in 2022 and plans to start yearlong festivities Saturday with an event that has something for all ages.

The free event at Prospector Park near McKellips Boulevard and Idaho Road will run from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. and include live music, a car show, gold panning demonstrations, cowboy rope tricks, a Pony Express handoff. A fireworks display will cap the evening.

Other activities for opening day include Teton Ken and his burro Mary, ventriloquist Chuckwagon Wanda and her sidekick Digger the Donkey, Frank and Wayne from the History Channel TV series “Legends of the Superstitions” and stories about the Lost Dutchman.

There will also be a pie-eating contest and cornhole tournament, along with props set up all over the park for photo opportunities, the city said in a press release.

Kids can enjoy bounce houses, pony rides and a petting zoo that has snakes deemed safe to be around kids.

A beer garden and food and drink vendors will also be available all day, the city said.

Local bands Mogollon, Highway 85 and Outside the Line are set to provide live entertainment.

The Apache Junction High School ROTC color guard will open the event with a presentation of the colors, the city said.

The event was planned by the Apache Junction Founder’s Centennial Committee, which was formed to organize celebrations for the founding of the city by George Cleveland Curtis in August 1922.

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