This week is packed with great events both large and small. In fact, there are so many great things to do in Downtown Phoenix that there is a new look to the What’s Happening Weekly.
We had to go bigger, and in this case bigger means better. There were simply too many great events to fit in the usual format so the newest edition is four pages chock full of the fun stuff to do Downtown.
This week our featured event is the Downtown Phoenix Partnership’s 20th Anniversary Celebration! In fact, Arizona Center and the Herberger Theater Center also turned 20 this fall so to celebrate these occasions the DPP is hosting a not-so-little shin-dig this Friday afternoon from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., closing down Adams Street between 1st Ave. & Central to give everyone plenty of room. There will be live music, nearly 70 restaurants and businesses, street performers and more – all to thank you for your support as Downtown has grown over the years. You love downtown, and we love you right back!
Look for your favorite Ambassadors to lead the way. Ollie the Trolley will be on hand, too, with one and only trolley host Gary on board. (If you’ve spent anytime Downtown at night you may recognize Gary’s booming voice from, “hey folks, you need a ride?”).
There is one more bit of exciting news I am happy to impart to you: Phoenix Urban Grocery and Wine Bar is expanding its hours. Starting tomorrow, their new store hours will be 7 a.m. to 8 p.m., Tuesday through Saturday. With the new expanded hours they will be offering quick and healthy breakfast items from their delicious Market Cafe. If you haven’t been there yet, I can’t think of a better way to start a morning than with tasty local fare and amazing coffee from Royal Coffee Bar. The Urban Grocery and Wine Bar, Market Cafe and Royal Coffee Bar are already hotspots for lunch and dinner so whether you’re eating in or taking out, know that your purchasing dollars were well spent at a local business helping to sustain our neighborhood and our tummies. And that REALLY does your heart good. Get out and go have a good time Downtown!
We’ll see you on Friday!
The logo on the door features a Scales of Justice fashioned out of coffee cups. Upstairs you might overhear a woman speaking legalese on the phone. Even the name, Gideon’s Coffee, is taken from the 1963 landmark Supreme Court case of Gideon vs. Wainwright, which ruled that state courts are required under the Sixth Amendment to provide counsel in criminal cases for defendants who are unable to afford their own attorneys.
He chose his roaster (Echo Espresso, which supplies beans to many of the top shops in Central Phoenix and Downtown), his syrups (1883, a French import that Kephart calls the “Cadillac of syrups”), his methodolgy (100 percent French Press) and his go-to barista (Kaylee, pictured, whom Kephart recruited from another shop).
Come see what they have to offer on Saturday, Feb. 27 at Portland Park (next to the Roosevelt light rail station).
