Green Valley shops in the morning. That's the rhythm of the town, south of Tucson, and it's why I often open this weekend on Thursday. Tell a friend and come out and join us at Continental Shopping Plaza, 210 W Continental Rd. People who came for groceries walk the booths on the way back to the car.

It's a friendly crowd. A lot of them have lived in Green Valley for years and treat the art show like a regular stop, which is about the best thing that can happen. You'll see paintings, jewelry, photography, pottery, yard art. Walking through is free. If Thursday is the day you can come, come Thursday. The hours for the next one are on <a href="https://brakebee.com/events/841">Art at Continental Plaza</a>.

Artists apply on that same page. If you just want the address and the dates, stay on the <a href="/green-valley">Green Valley</a> page. And if you're already headed down I-19 with the afternoon free, Tubac is a nice stop. Our booths are at the plaza.

Oro Valley and Dove Mountain, when I have them on, are up on the <a href="/tucson">Tucson</a> page with this one.

Shoppers walking the booths at a Kevin's Art Attack festival

A Thursday start in Green Valley

Dove Mountain sits up where Marana turns into foothills. I use the shops at 12050 N Dove Mountain Blvd, the northeast corner where Tangerine meets Dove Mountain Boulevard. Great visibility from Tangerine Road. On a clear morning you can see why people live up there.

I keep this fair small on purpose. You can walk it without losing anybody, which matters if you came with family or a dog. The booths are handmade. You can pick something up, talk to the person who made it, and carry it back to the car. Come in for free. The <a href="/dove-mountain">Dove Mountain</a> page has the next weekend I've posted, and the hours follow that listing.

It's an easy one to pair with the rest of a northwest-side day. Oro Valley and Green Valley are the other Tucson stops, and they're all on the <a href="/tucson">Tucson</a> page when they're coming up.

Southwest artwork at a Kevin's Art Attack festival

Dove Mountain on a Saturday

Head east out of Apache Junction on US-60 and the Superstitions take over the windshield. Gold Canyon is the town along that stretch, and I set up in the Gold Canyon Village lot at 6900 E Hwy 60. People are already on the highway for the mountains. The art festival is a reason to pull off.

It feels more like a road-trip stop than a city street fair. You park at the village, walk the booths, and you can see the ridgeline the whole time. A lot of the work fits that drive. Photography, yard pieces, jewelry, paintings of the same desert you just came through. Free to walk in.

I've been doing this weekend for several seasons. The next dates land on the <a href="/gold-canyon">Gold Canyon</a> page when I post them, and they show up with the rest of the Valley on <a href="/phoenix">Phoenix art festivals</a>. If you're applying, the booth details are on that show.

Photography booth at a Kevin's Art Attack festival

Gold Canyon, on the way to the Superstitions

I put the Scottsdale weekend at the Mercado, 10105 E Via Linda. It's a regular shopping lot in north Scottsdale. You park, you walk the booths, you get back in the car. That's the appeal if you already live up that way.

Via Linda is already full of people doing Saturday errands. A show in that lot gets seen by folks who were going to be there anyway. The booths are handmade. Paintings, jewelry, photography, pottery, things for the yard. Free to come in.

Over the years I've also used other Scottsdale lots, including one by a California Pizza Kitchen. The Mercado on Via Linda is the one I built the <a href="/scottsdale">Scottsdale</a> page around. When I post a weekend, the dates show up there. Cave Creek and Gold Canyon are on the <a href="/phoenix">Phoenix</a> page with it.

Shoppers at a Kevin's Art Attack festival

The Scottsdale show at the Mercado

Drive up Cave Creek Road and the town still looks like it decided to stay western. Frontier Town is the street in the middle of that, at 6245 E Cave Creek Rd. People come for the false fronts and the shops. I put the Cave Creek show right on that street, so you walk the art and the town at the same time.

The place opened in 1969. Herman King bought the old guest-ranch property because he wanted a western town, and his family has kept it going ever since. Cave Creek was already an old ranch and mining settlement by then. It didn't even incorporate until 1986. Frontier Town grew up inside a town that was in no hurry to become a suburb.

A lot of the street is theme, and that's part of why people come. A few pieces are older than the attraction. There's a Leather Mill building from the late 1880s on the grounds, and a 1936 Works Progress Administration outhouse that still gets pointed out. Other structures came from the Bartlett Dam camps in the 1930s, when crews were housed out this way. The gallows and Boot Hill along the walk are part of the western street. Kids who saw them in the seventies bring their own kids now.

The shops change. The address doesn't. Frontier Town is still a place to walk, shop, and eat, and their calendar is at <a href="https://www.frontiertownaz.com/">frontiertownaz.com</a>. When I'm in town, the booths go up on that same street.

The next one is <a href="https://brakebee.com/events/751">Art at Frontier Town</a>. If you want a booth, that's where you apply. If you just want to come out, the dates and hours are there too. I list it under both <a href="/frontier-town">Frontier Town</a> and <a href="/cave-creek">Cave Creek</a>, and with the other Valley weekends on the <a href="/phoenix">Phoenix</a> page.

Frontier Town in Cave Creek, and the art show on its street

If you've driven Oracle Road through Oro Valley, you already know the corner. Magee comes in from the west and the lots stay full. That's why I set up at 7951 N Oracle Rd, on the southwest corner. Tens of thousands of cars go by every day. Some of them stop.

You park in the lot and walk a short row of booths. Paintings, photographs, jewelry, pots, yard art. Most of the makers are local or regional, and I also book people who haul work in from out of state. It's free to walk in. Most weekends I run Friday and Saturday 10 to 5, Sunday 10 to 3. If you're planning the day around it, check <a href="https://brakebee.com/events/750">Art in Oro Valley</a> before you leave the house. That's the live listing, hours and all.

Oracle and Magee is the Oro Valley show I mean most of the time. I've also done a weekend up at Entrada Del Oro. Same town, different drive. When I post that one, it shows up with the rest on the <a href="/oro-valley">Oro Valley</a> page.

Bring the dog if it can handle a leash and a crowd. If you want a booth, apply on that same event page. The size, the power, and what it costs are written there, show by show.

Dove Mountain and Green Valley are my other Tucson weekends. I keep them together on the <a href="/tucson">Tucson</a> page.

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A Thursday start in Green Valley

Dove Mountain on a Saturday

Gold Canyon, on the way to the Superstitions

The Scottsdale show at the Mercado

Frontier Town in Cave Creek, and the art show on its street

The Oro Valley art show on Oracle Road