August 20, 2015

Tucson Celebrates 240 Years with Historical Flags, Cake

Presidio San Agustín del Tucson will host a festival and events Thursday

Presidio w. Transamerica Spot The Transamerica Building looms over the historical reconstruction of the Presidio San Agustín del Tucson.
Mariana Dale, AZPM

Listen:

Tucson’s birthday will have all the trappings of a festive celebration– music, cake and plenty of seats – with a few added bonuses.

“Tucson’s birthday celebration commemorates that it was 240 years ago that Hugo O’Conór came this way from Tubac and told the king of Spain that he had found a location for the presidio in Tucson,” said Marty McCune, a member of the Tucson-Pima County Historical Commission.

She’s also part of the Tucson’s birthday subcommittee.

The modern-day celebration will include a mariachi performance and a procession of the city’s historical flags.

“First it was Spanish, then it was part of Mexico then it was part of the U.S., then it was part of the Confederacy briefly, and then it was a part of Arizona,” McCune said. “So it’s been over the years, under many flags.”

The flags of the Tohono O’odham Nation and Pascua Yaqui Tribe will also be displayed. McCune said while the birthday marks 240 years, there is evidence people inhabited the Tucson area 4,000 years ago.

What about the cake?

There will be vanilla and chocolate– not exactly historical, but it comes from another long-standing Tucson institution– Le Cave’s Bakery.

The free event starts at 5:45 p.m. at the Presidio San Agustín del Tucson Courtyard

Watch this Arizona Illustrated story for a deeper look at Tucson's history

By posting comments, you agree to our
AZPM encourages comments, but comments that contain profanity, unrelated information, threats, libel, defamatory statements, obscenities, pornography or that violate the law are not allowed. Comments that promote commercial products or services are not allowed. Comments in violation of this policy will be removed. Continued posting of comments that violate this policy will result in the commenter being banned from the site.

By submitting your comments, you hereby give AZPM the right to post your comments and potentially use them in any other form of media operated by this institution.
AZPM is a service of the University of Arizona and our broadcast stations are licensed to the Arizona Board of Regents who hold the trademarks for Arizona Public Media and AZPM. We respectfully acknowledge the University of Arizona is on the land and territories of Indigenous peoples.
The University of Arizona