Thatcher Warrick Hess

On a blistering Tuesday evening, over 100 city officials, community members and skateboarders huddled in chairs under Highway Interstate 10. On the southside of Cushing Street below the underpasses, the community sat across the construction of Arizona’s first shaded skate park. Mariachi music and skateboarding echoed in the underpass before city officials spoke. VIEW LARGER A mariachi band plays at the groundbreaking on Cushing Street on June 30, 2026.

In 1889, a young German immigrant named Anna Stattleman arrived in Tucson from Bavaria. She bought a plot of land, married Mammoth Mines superintendent Frank Lester and became one of the early residents of what is now the Jefferson Park neighborhood. Miriam Pattison remembers meeting Mrs. Lester as a child in the 1950s. “She was a very hefty, gray-haired, nice, friendly woman who enjoyed meeting the grandchildren,” Pattison said. “She had built the bigger house on what's now Lester in 1918.

The Downtown Tucson Partnership is launching an after-hours event this summer sponsored by Pima County. Known as the Downtown Tucson Experience, a select number of museums and restaurants will open after hours for a variety of family friendly activities and dining options. Crystal Moore is the president of the Downtown Tucson Partnership which is a non-profit group that helps promote community and growth through events and services, which started in 1998.