Keep Sedona Beautiful's Annual Awards
>> 2006 • 2005 • 2004 • 2003 • 2002 • 2001 • 2000 and prior
KSB is committed to preserving the wonder of our area: ensuring that the scenic beauty of Sedona should is protected, and that the built environment doesn't compete for attention with our natural surroundings, day or night.
Each year, a special committee of KSB goes about a very difficult job selecting those to be honored from the nominees submitted. The members of the selection committee work through many meetings and site visits to study the proposed recipients. Please, get involved, use the form below to nominate an individual, business or organization you feel has contributed to keeping Sedona Beautiful.
Special attention is given to major improvements in existing buildings, including changes to lighting and signage that previously did not conform to these standards. Innovations in environmentally sensitive building, native low-water-use landscaping, and elimination of non-conforming signs will be considered as well. Community service awards are made for outstanding contributions by individuals, businesses, or organizations.
For more informations, contact KSB at 282-4938.
Download the 2006 Awards Program
2006 Awards Ceremony Photo Gallery
We Are The Guardians ~ Watch the Video
Keep Sedona Beautiful extends special thanks to Shondra Jepperson for writing the music and lyrics for We Are the Guardians which expresses her love of Sedona and the responsibilities of all residents and visitors who care about Sedona! We are grateful to Shondra for presenting We Are The Guardianstheme song as a gift to Keep Sedona Beautiful on the occasion of its 35th anniversary of Preserving the Wonder®.
Awards of Excellence 2006 Honorees
Sedona Treasures ~ Watch the Video
The United States Forest Service serves all of America and its visitors, but the people of the Coconino National Forest have also been especially good neighbors and participants in our community since the first ranger came here in 1898. Their primary jobs are to maintain the forest and to help visitors enjoy the benefits of the forest while protecting it from their impacts. But the rangers and other USFS personnel have also been productively involved in our local community affairs. Greater Sedona is surrounded by the beauty that they protect, for our benefit as well as America’s. In recent years the Forest Service has adopted new management plans which recognize the special nature of Red Rock Country, and it has now begun to build a new headquarters to help them serve the public more effectively.
The Chapel of the Holy Cross has, for the past half century, been a connection between the natural beauty of Sedona, the arts and the spiritual needs of all who live or visit this special place. The plaque at the door reads "Though Catholic in faith, as a work of art the chapel has a universal appeal, its doors will ever be open to one and all, regardless of creed. That the church may come to life in the souls of men and be a living reality... herein lies the whole message of this chapel." The idea for this chapel came to Marguerite Brunswig Staude in 1932. That concept was of a cross imposing itself through the very core of the structure. "I had no idea of the significance of her work, nor the spiritual impact it would have for people all over the world who visit here," said John Raphael Staude, her son. Many who have visited the Chapel have been moved and touched in a very special way.
The Sedona Public Library was established in 1958 in a private garage with volunteers and donated books. In 1966 two Sedona women donated land on Jordan Road. In 1969 the Library moved into its own home there, built with many donated materials and funds and volunteer labor. As Sedona grew during the following 20 years, the Library outgrew the Jordan Road building. In 1986, Mrs. Ethel Low donated four acres on White Bear Road for a new Library, and ground was broken there in 1991. In 1994, a parade of Sedonans hand-carried books from Jordan Road to White Bear road, and the new Library opened its doors. Last year, the Sedona Public Library and the Yavapai Library Network reached 100,000 items in its collection of books and other materials. Next year, the Library will celebrate its 50th anniversary of service to our community.
Tlaquepaque Arts & Crafts Village was the realization of a dream that a man named Abe Miller had back in the early 1970’s. Through hard work and intelligent creativity, respectful of what Nature gave to Sedona, he preserved the grove of stately sycamores, designing his buildings around and between them and developing a system for preserving them to this day. Inspired by the original Tlaquepaque village in Mexico, Miller used materials and color treatments that recreated its antiquity and warmth. Fountains, walkways, wrought iron balconies and centuries-old wooden doors make many visitors wonder if this didn’t begin as a 19th-century Spanish monastery. Abe Miller was one of the first to really “get the idea” that Keep Sedona Beautiful has adopted. He was more artist and missionary than developer, and he firmly believed that the built environment must harmonize with nature, never compete with nature for attention. Even before KSB was organized, Abe Miller knew that keeping Sedona beautiful really is good business.
Sedona Arts Center started with a vision nearly 50 years ago. Egyptian sculptor Nassan Gobran and a group of visionaries saw the need for a place where artists could work together. The “art barn” became Sedona’s creative hub. Today the Sedona Arts Center is a legacy to those original ideals. The Members Gallery displays juried artwork by member artists and houses the largest collection of Sedona artists’ work. The School of the Arts holds classes in a variety of mediums and the organization sponsors major local events such as the Pin-Up Show and the Plein Air Festival. The Arts Center has played a major role in bringing thousands of visitors to Sedona each year. With new Executive Director Marilyn Fravel on board, a committed Board of Directors, an important renovation to the historic building on the horizon and a 50th Anniversary in 2008, exciting times lie ahead.
Keep Sedona Beautiful Awards of Excellence
Building Design ~ Watch the Video
Desert Hills Bank
Designer Bob Groat planned every aspect of Desert Hills Bank in West Sedona with the Sedona Red Rocks in mind. The stone pillars recall the colors in the surrounding mountains. The paint colors harmonize with Sedona’s earth. From the interior, the large windows and stonework make a seamless transition to Capital Butte and the surrounding Red Rocks. The Desert Hills Bank sign takes advantage of sunlight and shadow to feature the lettering. The building is in harmony with the beauty of Sedona and enhances it rather than competes with it.
Building Design ~ Watch the Video
Tequa Plaza
This commercial development in the Village of Oak Creek is designed and constructed to reflect pueblo architecture and to complement the surrounding red rock scenery. It is an elegant adjunct to the Red Rock Scenic Byway, Highway 179, which is an All-American Road. The developer, Pacific Ridge, could have built a strip mall on this large site at less cost. With no prompting from the Big Park community or Yavapai County, they chose instead to design and build (at significantly higher costs) an outstanding commercial development that is completely in keeping with the Sedona area's beauty.
Outdoor Lighting ~ Watch the Video
Master’s Bible Church
Masters Bible Church at Kallof Place in West Sedona was not required to bring its outside lighting up to present City standards, but it did so voluntarily at some expense, just to be a good neighbor. We believe the church deserves our award for doing is part to protect the dark night skies that we value so much in Sedona.
Park Development ~ Watch the Video
ILX Corporation and Los Abrigados for
First Piggy Park
This is an excellent example of a special place developed in the heart of Sedona. First Piggy Park provides an area for chess, checkers and bocce ball. There’s a children's playground, a miniature golf course, a relaxing labyrinth and peace pool, and a dream fountain. Beautiful interpretive signage tells of our wildlife and native plants, as well geological information. The portion named Mia’s Place has recently been designated as a Certified Wildlife Habitat by the National Wildlife Federation. The whole park is in a peaceful natural setting on the bank of Oak Creek. Best of all, ILX has not only dedicated this park for its guests, but for the benefit of all Sedona residents and visitors.
Community Service ~ Watch the Video
Firefighters of Sedona
Every year we depend on our brave Sedona Fire Department to protect our people, our homes and our businesses in all kinds of emergencies. But this year we all recognized this need even more, during the La Barranca fire and the Brins fire. We also recognize the hundreds of firefighters who came from the Forest Service and from other communities around Arizona to fight this fire. These men and women worked day and night – on the ground and in the air -- to contain this fire, and managed to prevent damage to any home or business. We especially pay our respects to the two helicopter pilots who made many risky flights over our Brins fire, and later died fighting another fire in California. Every day, our fire crews and rescue squads respond to other emergencies as well. When we hear their sirens, we know that someone somewhere is being helped by them. It’s beyond our power to do justice for the heroic efforts of these firefighters, but we hope they understand how much they are appreciated.
Community Service ~ Watch the Video
Sedona Friends of the Forest
In 1994, the Sedona Academy conducted a Forum entitled “Building Partnerships with the Forest Service.” With the opportunity to analyze the real issues and learn the facts, Forum participants joined together to form a group of volunteers dedicated to help the Forest Service do jobs that are beyond the limits of its budget and staff hours. For more than a decade, the volunteers of the Friends of the Forest have built and maintained trails, patrolled the hiking paths during times of fire danger, staffed the visitor center, raised funds to do jobs that the Federal budget doesn’t cover, and assisted USFS personnel in many other ways.
Community Service ~ Watch the Video
Mary Guaraldi and Canyon Moon Theater
It’s impossible to talk about Canyon Moon Theater without talking about Mary Guaraldi, the Founder and Producing Artistic Director of the Canyon Moon Theater. Sedona is a community dedicated to the arts, and among the most important to us are the performing arts. Mary was a director for Missouri Repertory Theatre, and before that, she was Literary Manager of Pittsburgh Public Theatre. She recently directed her first opera, The Marriage of Figaro, in Michigan. Mary has worked with Horton Foote, Amanda Plummer, Sylvia Sidney, Dale Wasserman and Roddy McDowall. Her career on stage began at the age of five!
Community Service ~ Watch the Video
Sedona International Film Festival
The Festival was started in 1994 as a fund raiser for the Sedona Cultural Park. Pat Schweiss accepted the Executive Director position approximately 2 ½ years ago, because he loved the challenge of taking the Festival to a level that would put Sedona on the map. And he has done just that! Patrick believes a large contributing factor to the success of the Festival is the support it receives from the City, the festival staff, its Board of Directors, and the many volunteers. The 13th Annual Festival beginning February 28 will present more than 140 films over its five days, with appearances by top actors and a workshop on film distribution and management.
Community Service ~ Watch the Video
Carolyn Fisher
The next Award of Excellence for Community Service has been earned by Carolyn Fisher, who has a long history of dedication -- in the Peace Corps in Asia, as a teacher in Europe, and as a traffic controller and financial analyst for the Air Force and now through her many activities in Sedona and the Village of Oak Creek. Upon her retirement in 1994 and move to the Village of Oak Creek, Carolyn became a math mentor at the Big Park School. As Director of the Sedona Literacy Center, she has expanded it to 26 tutors and two coordinators. A link to the University of Northern Arizona now brings graduate students to assist with the program. Carolyn has served as President of Soroptimist International of Sedona during the same period she was President of the Big Park Regional Coordinating Council in the Village of Oak Creek. She has helped to foster a strong sense of community. With the support of the Sedona Public Library and many donations, she was instrumental in creating the Village Library.
Carolyn was also the recipient of the prestigious 2006 Ruth K. Birkner Leadership Award. She holds a commercial and instructor pilot’s license and was a charter member of the Sedona ‘99s Women’s Flying Club.Special Keep Sedona Beautiful Awards
The Ken Corey Award ~ Watch the Video
Bill Pumphrey
The late Ken Corey was a KSB member who devoted most of his time during the last several years of his life to making our KSB Pushmataha Center what it is today – a beautiful meeting place and a fine resource for the Greater Sedona community. In his name KSB established this award to recognize an individual’s outstanding dedication to preserving and maintaining the historic Pushmataha Center building. Bill Pumphrey has earned this award for his work in 2006.
Special Litter Lifter Award ~ Watch the Video
Barbara Zeschke
Probably no KSB member in our 35 years has worked harder and longer than Barbara Zeschke. She has been KSB Vice President for Litter Lifters for 20 years, from 1985 until she retired last year. She scheduled the troops, recruited new ones and solicited substitutes for those on vacation, and inspired them with her own efforts at keeping our streets and highways clean. Barbara Zeschke has earned this special award for her 20 years of dedication and service.
Norman McGee Award~ Watch the Video
Harry Newman
The Norman McGee Award is the highest recognition that KSB can bestow on an individual for outstanding dedication and service to Keep Sedona Beautiful and to the community, over a number of years. This award is not given lightly nor regularly – only when obviously and richly deserved. This year it is richly deserved by Harry Newman.
Special Thanks to the Awards Committee
(in alphabetical order)Doug Blackwell, Raffle
Barbara Copenhaver, Research
Stephen DeVol, Video and Technical Production
Hal Driggs, Research and Plaques
Jim Eaton, KSB History Video and Awards Script
Catherine Moore, Chair
Norris Peterson, Research
Gail Shaw Simpson, ResearchAnd for additional support, thanks to
Carolyn Peterson, Registration
Jan Wind, Office Manager for KSB
Mindy Mendelsohn, Public Relations SpecialistAnd special thanks to the following people who worked
with Stephen DeVol to produce the award videos:Marg Coole
Suzan Drury
Jim Eaton
Bill Lyons
Diane Petrusich
Emcees: Tom & Shondra
Special thanks to Shondra for writing the music and lyrics for We Are the Guardians which expresses her love of Sedona and the responsibilities of all residents and visitors who care about Sedona! Keep Sedona Beautiful is grateful to Shondra for presenting We Are The Guardianstheme song as a gift to Keep Sedona Beautiful on the occasion of its 35th anniversary of Preserving the Wonder®.
Most Sedonans know Shondra as half of the well known entertainment duo, Tom & Shondra. What most people don’t know is that she composes and arranges all of the duo’s music herself by layering and recording each instrument digitally. The duo does not use karaoke tracks but rather her recorded compositions whether it be dance music or show tunes. In addition, she is a songwriter and has been composing her own songs in every style imaginable for years. This includes tunes she’s written for organizations, commercials and projects of all kinds.
To contact Tom & Shondra, call 282- 3530 or www.tomandshondra.com
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Keep Sedona Beautiful promotes conservation of the greater Sedona area, and, by all practical means, seeks to preserve the unique natural environment and to enhance the quality of life for future generations. Make a donation to Keep Sedona Beautiful: |
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