What great times! The SunBird Far Out Fest was an absolute blast. The band Uncorked was playing live music from the clubhouse outdoor stage while dancing went on all night long. Delicious food trucks, an old, retro camper trailer-converted photo booth, and beer gardens were available in parking lots. Best of all was the crowd of nearly 1,000 people having fun. It was so far out that even SpaceX launched a rocket, Falcon 9, from the Space Force Base in California during the festival, which could be seen flying to outer space from SunBird. Now that’s truly far out! The hula-hoop contest was quite a competition. It was narrowed down to three, two, and then won by Colleen Norgard. The costume contest was totally groovy. More than 50 participants were dressed in ‘60s colorful, hippie, tie-dyed-type clothing. They paraded down the street and through the parking lots. Strike a pose. We appreciate all the sponsors, volunteers, staff, and community for making this event arguably the best SunBird has ever had.
It has been an unusual season this year for SunBird with the weather that is normally always very nice. However, this year, good weather during the weekdays and then windy and rainy on the weekends. Good weather normally is something we can typically always count on in Arizona. This year several outdoor events had to be altered or rescheduled due to this. We appreciate those who worked together to alter schedules to continue on with these events. The weather has also created a perfect recipe for weeds to grow everywhere. The weeds in the SunBird common area landscape have been treated several times over the past few months with pre- and post-emergent. The challenge is, as soon as one batch is removed or dies off, another starts and/or the weather is not consistently warm enough for the treatments to be effective. The office has received many calls of homes and properties that have weeds. The Architectural Control Committee and staff have been actively reviewing and inspecting the community. Well over 100 reminder notices have been sent out to homes, and the common area battle of controlling weeds continues.
Following up on some efforts, SunBird is trying to improve upon and is gaining the help of all who invite guests, visitors, or contractors into SunBird. SunBird is a gated community, which helps control the vehicles that attempt to enter the community. The walls, fences, and gates reduce some of the opportunities and make it more difficult for people to enter into SunBird. This may cause a potential thief to consider going to another neighborhood with easier access. The gates and walls can give a false sense of security that SunBird is a highly secure area or completely immune to crime. The gatehouse at Riggs Road and Championship Drive is staffed every day from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m. to check in all guests, visitors, and contractors. During the check-in process, the address or name of the person they are visiting, vehicle license plate, and date and time is required and recorded for entrance. Further, several cameras are video recording the entrance areas into SunBird. SunBird homeowners are each given a unique personal keypad code for entrance into SunBird at Riggs Road. This code should only be given to people you trust, like someone you would trust to give the keys to your house. The remote-control key fobs are for the use of SunBird homeowners, residents, and/or, in unique circumstances, family members or healthcare providers. If anyone has provided their keypad code to a contractor and/or a person they no longer wish to have the code, please contact the SunBird office. The keypad code can be terminated and a new one issued to you at no charge. If you have lost track of a gate remote-control key fob, please also contact the SunBird office, as these can also be deactivated at no charge. Please join our efforts in trying to tighten up and reduce the opportunities for unauthorized vehicles attempting to enter into SunBird.
SunBird wouldn’t be SunBird without the people. All of these activities and events couldn’t have been successful without the many clubs, groups, and staff working together. We want to express our appreciation to all those who assisted, organized, marketed, sold tickets, set up, operated, and cleaned up after each of these events. Working together keeps SunBird an active and fun community.