Advertise on podcast: It's Always Cool In Mesa

On the Friday evening after Thanksgiving, we kick off the holiday season here at the Mesa Arts Center with a theatrical retelling of The Man Who Killed Santa Claus. Audiences love it. But never so much as this last year when it was performed for the first time as a musical. Mayor Giles sits down with the show's creator and writer, Brian Nissen, the producer, Mark Arnett, and the musical director Emily Susan Pack, and asks them how they did it. If you've only heard the non-musical version, you haven't really heard this true Mesa story. Disclaimer: No actual Santa Clauses were harmed in the production of this musical.

In the full version of our "Always Cool" theme song, there's a line that goes, "If you say Venice makes you wistful, Well, we've got canals by the fistful!" And it's true - miles and miles of canals that deliver water to every reach of the city. They also provide a place to walk, bike, and enjoy our Arizona sunsets. The story of how the canals came to be is an epic and sacred one.

Everyone calls it "the Dinosaur Museum". And that's fine. But it's actually the Arizona Museum of Natural History. And while its dinosaur offerings are truly incredible, it actually has a lot of non-Dino stuff that makes it one of the Southwest's premier natural history museums. And don't miss Visit Mesa's newest music video, featuring the song, "We Walk" that highlights Mesa's dedication to supporting inclusivity and acceptance within our community. Watch here www.visitmesa.com/FLOM or you can listen on Spotify.

The story of how the Mesa Arts Center got built and almost didn't get built is a lesson in vision and persistence. And Mesa didn't just build an arts center. We built a world-class, international award winning arts center. If you've ever wondered how Mesa pulled it off, here's the decades-long story.

All cool American cities have their annual traditions. Boston has its marathon. There's the Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta. And Ashland Oregon has a world class Shakespeare festival. Here in Mesa, we don't take ourselves so seriously. Every year we get together and celebrate the fact that 90 years ago we killed the jolliest man on the planet.

If you were asked in 2021 to name an Academy Award winner from Mesa, you probably would have broke the google machine trying. But if you search today, dozens of articles will tell you all about Troy Kotsur, winner of the Oscar for best supporting actor in 2022 for the film CODA. He's the first male deaf actor to win an Oscar. Best of all, he's Mesa born and bred. How cool is that? To watch the full interview, visit https://youtu.be/WxwTxvvJQtQ To get more info about Visit Mesa’s passports, visit https://www.VisitMesa.com/passes For a complete transcription of the Troy Kotsur episode, visit https://www.mesaaz.gov/home/showdocument?id=45714

Every Olympics has its "first-evers'. One of the "first-evers" in the most recent summer Olympics came from Mesa Arizona. Jagger Eaton, the kid with a moniker to match his style, grabbed America's first-ever skateboarding medal - a bronze in the men's street competition. Shaggy-haired and super chill, but at the same time extremely hard-working and wise beyond his years, Jagger both reinforces and smashes skateboarder stereotypes. Lots of things make Mesa cool. This kid may just be the coolest.

We've got quite a few world-class things in Mesa. A world-class Arts Center, Asian District, and sunsets, to name just a few. Add this to the bunch: The Hawes Trail System. A network of desert trails attracting mountain bikers from across the country. Hikers and horseback riders enjoy it, too. The story of how Hawes Trail came to be (and almost didn't come to be) is one for the ages.

When Mesa resident Fred Engstrom was eighteen he enlisted in the Army Air Force and learned how to fly. Two years later he flew twenty-five missions over Germany in the plane that some people say won the war - a B-17 bomber. Today you can take a ride in a B-17 (and other vintage warbirds) at Falcon Field operated by the Arizona Commemorative Air Force. That’s where I met Fred. It was an honor to ride along with him on his 26th mission.

This year, legendary guitar-rocker Alice Cooper, who Rolling Stone called, "the world's most beloved heavy metal entertainer" opened his second Solid Rock Teen Center right here in Mesa. The goal is to help young people find purpose in creativity. Turns out "No More Mister Nice Guy" is a really nice guy.

The city of Mesa may have started a new holiday tradition. The day after Thanksgiving, we lit the city Christmas tree as usual, but then afterwards we went into the Mesa Arts Center to enjoy some holiday entertainment - including the retelling of a true Mesa story - The Man Who Killed Santa Claus.

Every American city has an iconic piece of architecture. Seattle's skyline would be incomplete without its space needle. St. Louis has its Gateway Arch. And one of the most iconic buildings in Mesa is its Latter-Day Saints Temple. It was built almost a century ago and just recently underwent a major restoration.