Three things arrive in the Village of Oak Creek this month. The Village's restaurants gather for a Sunday food festival at The Collective. A steel sculpture goes up in the first roundabout that was designed with a pad for art. And ADOT keeps repaving State Route 179 at night. A service club organized the festival. Volunteers and one couple's donation paid for the sculpture. The Big Park Council's newsletter has been keeping residents informed about the road work. Most of the Village's public life this October was made by its own people, and following who built each piece makes the calendar easier to use.
A Rotary Club Runs the Village's Food Festival
The Rotary Club of Sedona Village calls itself the only service club based in the Village of Oak Creek. Its second annual Taste of Sedona Village runs Sunday, October 18, from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. at The Collective Courtyard & Grotto. The club says food vendor spots are already full, with more than a dozen restaurants and food businesses signed up.
The Collective at 7000 AZ-179 is a mixed-use center with restaurants, retail, a tasting room, a spa, a bar and event space. Its courtyard seats up to 200. The vendor list shows how much of the Village's food scene sits within a short drive of that courtyard on SR 179.
| Vendor | Address |
|---|---|
| Doc's BBQ & Whiskey | 6101 AZ-179 |
| Big Park Bakery | 6446 AZ-179 |
| Rak N' Sak | 6500 AZ-179 |
| Flew the Coop Hot Chicken | 6507 AZ-179 |
| Firecreek Coffee | 6586 AZ-179 |
| Tortas de Fuego | 6657 AZ-179, C7 |
| Miley's Café | 7000 AZ-179, The Collective |
| Willy's Empanada House | 7000 AZ-179, B110, The Collective |
| Dellepiane | 7000 AZ-179, C-106, The Collective |
| Clark's Market | 100 Verde Valley School Road |
| Juniper Bar & Grille | Sedona Golf Resort, 35 Ridge Trail Drive |
The lineup also includes Gerardo's Italian Kitchen, DA Vines, Carolina's Chocolate and Bosa Donuts. On the drinks side, Alcantara Vineyards, Verde Brewing Company, Bell Rock Brewing Company and Wild Tonic/Good Omen Bottling are confirmed. Beer and wine tastings are included with admission for guests of legal drinking age. Dellepiane is worth a stop for locals who knew it as a burger-and-empanada shop. It now describes itself as an Argentine grill, seafood market and burger bar, and it sends customers next door to Willy's for its signature empanadas.
Early-bird tickets cost $35 through today, September 30. Starting tomorrow they rise to $45, and tickets at the door will be $50 if any are left. Tickets are sold at SedonaVillageRotary.org. The club has collected more than 20 raffle prizes worth over $4,000 combined, and it is adding a silent auction this year. Guitarist Eric Miller will play through the afternoon. Proceeds go to the club's service projects for local youth, veterans and the community, including the Village Rotary Community Garden.
Last Year's Trophies Hang in Village Dining Rooms
The first Taste had a weather problem that had nothing to do with rain on the day. It was planned for October 12, 2025, and moved to October 19. A Rotary director told the Sedona Red Rock News that the site would have been muddy even under sun, because the water had to be shut off several days ahead. Attendance estimates differ. Sedona.biz reported 300 people, and the Red Rock News said a couple hundred.
Guests voted for People's Choice awards. Miley's Café won first place, Tortas de Fuego second and Doc's BBQ third. Doc's had been open only a few weeks. It opened in fall 2025 in the former Colt Grill space on SR 179. The trophies stay with the winners only until the next event.
"They get to display these beautiful trophies in their restaurant for a year, until we take it back for the next one."
A Rotary director said that from the stage last October. So on October 18, the three trophies now hanging at 7000, 6657 and 6101 AZ-179 are up for a new vote, and guests will again choose first, second and third place.
Four Years, One Donation and a Road District for a Sculpture
The Rotary club also shows up in the second October story. On February 19, the roundabout art committee presented its plans at a Rotary Club of Sedona Village meeting. Rob Schaefer, a Rotarian, said the club's board had voted to join the effort.
The first piece is "Village Treasures" by Reagan Word. It is a Corten steel sculpture about 13 by 16 by 9 feet, built around red rocks, junipers, cacti and hummingbirds, with stainless-steel cactus blossoms. It goes in the roundabout at Verde Valley School Road and Jacks Canyon Road. Word also made "Open Gate" at the Schnebly Hill roundabout and the paired "Eagle Dancer" sculptures in the Uptown roundabouts.
Rob and Alix Schaefer, who live in the Village, gave $110,000 and paid for the whole piece. The project needed several groups to get there. ADOT approved the installation, and the Sedona Area Garden Club designed the landscaping. The Arizona Community Foundation provides long-term maintenance funding. The Red Rock Road Enhancement Maintenance District, a taxing district set up in 2008 to maintain public areas along SR 179, will own the finished work. The committee started under the Big Park Regional Coordinating Council and now operates under the Sedona Village Main Street Partnership, a nonprofit formed in 2024 for these installations. Camille Cox, one of the committee's original co-chairs, explained why it took so long.
"That's kind of why this project's taken four years. It's never really been done before by a non-municipality or … no county sponsorship or anything. It's just been a group of volunteers and a community that had a desire to beautify our roundabouts, which were designed to have art in them from the very beginning."
The installation date has moved several times. In March, the committee expected the first two pieces by April. In August, the Big Park Council reported a delay of about four to six weeks because of the detailed metalwork. By the council's September 10 meeting, the monument stone and plaque were in place, fabrication was nearly done and installation was expected in October. A formal installation event will be held at Chase Bank once the work is complete. No date has been announced.
What Follows Village Treasures
The plan calls for four pieces along SR 179. The second is "Dream Catcher" by Chris Navarro, whose sculptures stand outside his gallery at Tlaquepaque. It has finished fundraising and is planned for the Cortez Drive roundabout. Word and Navarro both live in the Village. Phase 2 will cover the roundabouts at each end of the Village, at Ridge Trail Drive and Bell Rock Boulevard. The committee plans a nationwide call for artists, followed by a public event. Last time, that event was held at the library. No installation date for Dream Catcher has been published.
The State Highway Under All of It
Every address in the vendor table and every roundabout in the art plan sits on SR 179, and the state controls that road. ADOT's pavement preservation project between the Red Rock Ranger Station and Chapel Road replaces the top layer of pavement and repaints the markings. Crews work from 9 p.m. to 6 a.m., Sunday evening through Friday morning. During those hours the road narrows to one lane that alternates direction, with flaggers, a pilot car and a 12-foot width limit. Restrictions lift each morning. Because of that schedule, daytime trips to a Sunday afternoon event like the Taste fall outside the work window.
The project started June 17. ADOT's page says only that it should finish in fall 2026. The Big Park Council's September newsletter, which has been reminding residents about the work since it began, gives November as the estimated end. The same council has a separate road item on its list. President Joe Skidmore reported that he is pushing for the I-17/SR 179 interchange project to be included in the state's next five-year plan before the October State Transportation Board meeting.
Other Weekends on the Calendar
The Oak Creek Arts and Crafts Show producer lists these fall dates in the Village:
- Sedona Vista Village: October 9–11 and 23–25, November 6–8 and 27–29
- Bell Rock Plaza: October 17–18, October 31–November 1, and November 14–15
Visit Sedona's calendar shows different dates for Bell Rock Plaza, so check the producer's schedule before you go. The October 17–18 show at Bell Rock Plaza falls on the same weekend as the Taste, which means two Village events within a day of each other.
If the steel sculpture going up at Verde Valley School Road makes you curious about how the Village works behind the scenes, from road districts to the volunteer groups that care for its shared spaces, Katrin Themlitz is glad to talk it through. Let's connect.
