In the Catalina Foothills This Fall, Sunset Sets the Evening Calendar

Ted DeGrazia did much of his drawing after midnight. From 1955 on, and for two decades after, he would pick up a pen late at night while most of Tucson slept. He often drew on prepaid U.S. Mail postcards and envelopes, then added watercolor and marked the time each one was finished. Every time falls between midnight and 5 a.m. Those small sheets are on display now at DeGrazia Gallery in the Sun in The Midnight Sketches of Ted DeGrazia, which opened Sept. 4 and runs through Jan. 27, 2027.

You can only see them in daylight, though. The gallery is open daily from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., and adult admission is $10. That makes a fair introduction to Foothills evenings this fall. The hours after dark are worth planning for, but the sun sets the schedule, and the sun is leaving earlier every day.

Forty-one minutes, one minute at a time

On Oct. 8, Tucson's sunset is at 5:59 p.m. By Oct. 31 it is 5:34 p.m., and by Nov. 30 it is 5:18 p.m. That is 41 minutes of evening light gone in under eight weeks. Most days it changes by a minute or so, which is easy to miss. The effect adds up, though. Events that start at a fixed time sit later and later relative to dusk, so a program that began in daylight in early October begins in the dark by late November.

The table puts this season's dated Foothills-area evenings next to the sunset time for each date, using timeanddate's Tucson tables.

Sabino after dark has four Saturdays left

The Sabino Canyon Crawler brought back its Saturday night tours on July 4, and the season ends Oct. 31. The tour is a 7.4-mile round trip by electric shuttle at the Sabino Canyon Recreation Area, 5700 N. Sabino Canyon Road, with recorded narration about the canyon along the way. Departure times change from night to night and are posted on the Crawler's site. Weather can cancel a tour.

Four tour Saturdays remain after today: Oct. 10, Oct. 17, Oct. 24 and the closing run on Oct. 31. The operator's release lists the Hunter's Moon for Sunday, Oct. 25. That makes the Oct. 24 tour the closest night ride to this fall's full moon. Sunset that evening is 5:41 p.m., so any departure after about six will head up the canyon in the dark.

Shuttle tickets do not cover entry to the recreation area. The $8 daily or $10 weekly vehicle fee is charged separately. The release says two wheelchair-accessible electric shuttles that seat 62 each will run the tours. Depending on demand, riders may get one of the newer 23-passenger electric vehicles instead.

The resort terraces already start at dusk

Once the night tours end, after-dark plans in the Foothills move to the resorts. Their published schedules show how closely they follow the light.

At Hacienda del Sol Guest Ranch Resort, the October music sheet puts Facundo Martinez on flamenco guitar at Terraza on Oct. 8 from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. Pianist Dennis Moore plays The Grill from 6 to 9 p.m. Sunset that evening is 5:59 p.m., so the Terraza set begins in daylight and ends after dark. Pete Swan's jazz piano trio with Susan Artemis plays Terraza on Oct. 9, and Matt Mitchell's jazz guitar trio follows on Oct. 10, both from 6 to 8:30 p.m.

The resort's 27th annual Zin, Blues & BBQ is Sunday, Oct. 11, from 5 to 8 p.m. It includes unlimited zinfandel tastings, barbecue, and the Heather Hardy Band playing outdoors. Tickets are $105 per adult, and the resort says the event usually sells out quickly. Sunset that night is 5:55 p.m., so the first hour runs before dark and the last two run after it. On Monday, Oct. 19, Executive Chef Ramon Delgado and Sommelier David Mills host a five-course Eyrie Vineyards wine dinner at The Grill from 5:30 to 9 p.m. It costs $250 per person, and reservations are at (520) 529-3500.

At the Westin La Paloma, "Sunset Spirits" is offered every night at 6 p.m., and local musicians play Casa 71 every Friday and Saturday from 6 to 8 p.m. The pour stays at 6 p.m. while the sunset moves. On Oct. 8 it starts one minute after sunset. By Oct. 31 it starts 26 minutes after, and by Nov. 30 it starts 42 minutes after. A drink that began at sundown in early October begins in twilight by Halloween and in full dark by the end of November.

The resort's Moonlight Vines, a holiday jazz and wine evening, takes the later dark into account. It runs Thursday, Nov. 19, from 6 to 8 p.m. at $50 per person, with wines, small bites and stargazing on the program. Stargazing works at 6 p.m. only because sunset will be well before then by that date.

Earlier dark means an earlier start for stargazing

The Tucson Amateur Astronomy Association builds its fall calendar around this timing. Its public star party at Catalina State Park is Saturday, Oct. 10, from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. at the trailhead picnic area at the end of the park road. The association expects about 10 telescopes, and the park's regular entrance fee applies. Sunset is 5:56 p.m., so the telescopes go up about half an hour after it. The park is just north of the Foothills, near Oro Valley.

The bigger event is on River Road. The TAAA's free, annual Tucson Astronomy Festival takes over Brandi Fenton Memorial Park, 3482 E. River Road, on Saturday, Oct. 17, from 3 to 9 p.m. It starts with safe solar viewing and astronomy exhibits in the afternoon. A door-prize drawing at 5:30 p.m. includes a telescope, and winners must be present. Night-sky observing follows after dark. Sunset is 5:48 p.m., 18 minutes after the drawing, so the schedule moves from the sun to the night sky over the course of that hour. Visitors are invited to bring their own telescopes for help with setup and operation.

The same timing applies higher up the mountain. The University of Arizona's Mt. Lemmon SkyCenter runs SkyNights as a five-hour program that begins two hours before sunset. It includes sunset viewing, dinner, binoculars and telescope observing, at $85 for adults and $60 for ages 7 to 17. Because the start time is tied to sunset, every earlier sunset this fall moves the drive up Catalina Highway earlier too. The center sits at 9,170 feet, and it says conditions there run 25 to 30 degrees Fahrenheit colder than in Tucson. The Coronado National Forest's Catalina Highway page points drivers to the Pima County Sheriff's road-condition line, (520) 351-3351, before heading up.

Tohono Chul's evenings run through Nov. 28

Tohono Chul sits just west of the Foothills, and its Jazz Under the Stars series lines up with the shorter days. Performances run Friday and Saturday evenings from Oct. 2 through Nov. 28, from 5 to 8 p.m. Admission is $5, free for members, and the main gardens close during the event. In early October the first hour of each night falls before sunset. By late October most of the first hour is after sunset, and by the closing weekend nearly all three hours are in the dark.

If you'd rather go in daylight, the garden's fall plant sale opens to members on Oct. 16 and to the public Oct. 17 and 18, with no admission charge for public shopping. Its Day of the Dead Altar Project is on view Oct. 31 through Nov. 8. For an adults-only evening, Terruño: Flavors of the Desert is Sunday, Nov. 8, from 4 to 7 p.m. Tickets are $150, and guests must be 21 or older.

Back to the midnight sketches

The DeGrazia exhibit fits this season because it is about the hours most people never see. The pen-and-ink drawings are small and watercolored, done on the postal stationery DeGrazia had on hand, and each carries the time it was finished. In the same building, "Saint Francis of Assisi" brings together drawings, prints, sculptures and paintings from 1950 to 1978. "Ted DeGrazia's Painted Ponies" follows his carousel imagery from 1948 to 1975, in materials from ceramic and bronze to glass and Nambé. All three stay up through Jan. 27, 2027.

Here is how the season's after-dark calendar closes out. The last Sabino night tour runs Oct. 31, the Hunter's Moon rises Oct. 25, and the final Jazz Under the Stars is Nov. 28. By Nov. 30, sunset is 5:18 p.m.

If you're weighing how your Foothills home works as the evenings start earlier, including terrace orientation, sunset sightlines and outdoor living after dark, The Bonn Team can walk through it with you in a confidential market consultation.