"It is with much gratitude that we say goodbye to our restaurant that has been a gathering place for celebrations, special occasions, family dinners, date nights and countless memories."
Old Town Tortilla Factory posted that goodbye this summer. The restaurant had served at the corner of Main and 69th streets since 1996. It operated out of a converted home about 75 years old, with a patio built around a fountain topped with fire and a list of more than 100 agave spirits, as Phoenix New Times reported on Aug. 3. A month later, PHOENIX magazine's August roundup reported that Branden Levine's Sel Bistro had closed after 10 years in Old Town. No reason was given.
Neither space has a named successor yet. The Tortilla Factory's owners have said only to "stay tuned for what is next." (as KOLD reported). We found no announcement for the Sel Bistro space either.
So this fall in Old Town, the nights out are mostly in public spaces. Between Saturday, Oct. 17, and Sunday, Nov. 15, Scottsdale Civic Center and the Scottsdale Waterfront host free programming on 15 of 30 days. The new restaurants and bars that opened nearby keep mostly daytime and early-evening hours, so they fit around those events.
Fifteen free days between Oct. 17 and Nov. 15
Here is the stretch laid out in order, because the gaps between events matter as much as the events:
- Saturday, Oct. 17: Scottsdale Fall Festival, Civic Center, 5 to 9 p.m.
- Thursday, Oct. 22 through Sunday, Oct. 25: Día de los Muertos art installations and altars, Civic Center, 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. daily
- Saturday, Oct. 24: Fiesta de Muertos festival, Civic Center, 1 to 10 p.m., with Lupita Infante at 8 p.m.
- Monday, Oct. 26 through Thursday, Nov. 5: No major free Civic Center or Waterfront event on the calendar
- Friday, Nov. 6 through Sunday, Nov. 15: Canal Convergence, Scottsdale Waterfront, ten nights
That's one day in the first week, four in the second, then an 11-day pause, then ten nights straight.
Oct. 17 is the city's own warm-up
The City of Scottsdale's calendar says the Fall Festival is "leveling up" this year. The event area is bigger, and the festival runs an hour longer, 5 to 9 p.m. Everything listed is free: a live band and DJ, local food trucks, a cocktail garden, trick-or-treating, carnival games, hands-on crafts, and city department booths. The listing tells families to get their costumes ready, which makes this the costume-friendly Saturday before Halloween weekend.
The Fall Festival sets up at Civic Center, and five days later that same plaza turns into something very different.
Día de los Muertos turns ten
The Scottsdale Día de los Muertos Fiestas is marking its 10th annual celebration at Scottsdale Civic Center, 3939 N. Drinkwater Blvd. It runs in two layers.
The Art Installation Experience places large-scale Day of the Dead art and altars throughout Civic Center from Oct. 22 through Oct. 25, open 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. each day. Four days with a 14-hour window means you can see the altars on a morning dog walk, at lunch, or after dinner, not just during the festival.
The Fiesta de Muertos Festival fills Saturday, Oct. 24, from 1 to 10 p.m., with music performances through the day plus food, arts, crafts, and merchants. The headliner is GRAMMY-nominated artist Lupita Infante at 8 p.m., and admission is free. Organizers describe her appearance as a connection to Mexican musical heritage and to the tradition of the holiday itself.
There's also a Catrina Fashion Contest open to individuals, couples, families, and participants accompanied by a dog. Para las familias que celebran en casa con su ofrenda, this is a chance to share that tradition in a public plaza, in a year the organizers call a decade of "culture, art, remembrance, and community."
The 11 quiet days still have places to go
From Oct. 26 to Nov. 5, Old Town's galleries and the ballpark carry the calendar.
At Bonner David Galleries, 7040 E. Main St., Hunt Slonem's solo show Flourish features his flower paintings and runs through Oct. 31. Wilde Meyer Gallery, 4142 N. Marshall Way, has its group show Leaning Abstract up through Oct. 31, with work by David Manje, Manny Valenzuela, Denise Mathot, and others. If you're tracking Main Street's changes, Bonner David sits on the same street where the Tortilla Factory served for three decades.
At Scottsdale Stadium, 7408 E. Osborn Road, the new Arizona Baseball Legacy & Experience exhibit is open during every Arizona Fall League game since Oct. 3. It covers baseball stars who trained in Arizona and were shaped by military service. Through Oct. 25, Titanic: An Immersive Voyage is also running at the Galleria Corporate Centre, 4301 N. Scottsdale Road.
Canal Convergence is the longest run of the season
Scottsdale Arts' Canal Convergence takes over the Scottsdale Waterfront from Nov. 6 to 15 under the theme "Western Nature," with interactive, light-based artworks as the anchor. Hours change through the week, which matters if you plan a school night around it:
| Dates | Nights | Hours |
|---|---|---|
| Nov. 6–7 | Friday–Saturday | 6–10 p.m. |
| Nov. 8–12 | Sunday–Thursday | 6–9 p.m. |
| Nov. 13–14 | Friday–Saturday | 6–10 p.m. |
| Nov. 15 | Sunday, closing night | 6–9 p.m. |
The artwork lineup includes KaKtos by Amigo & Amigo, Desert Choir by OTTOMATA, Prairie Fire by True North Absurdities, Dream Rider and Sky Wrangler by William Nemitoff with Curious Form, and grandmother turtle, a collaboration among In Theory Art Studios, Laura Tohe, and Nora Naranjo-Morse. Walter Productions brings Western Fire Garden. Chalk River Labs is showing a piece called APOGEE in the August announcement and PERIGEE on the current artwork page.
The Sept. 30 programming release adds nearly 100 workshops, performances, tours, and activities. The details worth putting on your calendar:
- Fire shows by Walter Productions nightly at 6:30, 7:30 and 8:30 p.m.
- Nationwide Innovation Zone workshops led by Indigenous and Latinx artists: natural-pigment painting with the Center for Imagination in the Borderlands on Nov. 9, beading with Maxica Colectivo on Nov. 10, and bandana printing with Jeremy Arviso on Nov. 15
- Scottsdale Arts Roundabout at Marshall Way, hosted by community partners including CALA Alliance, Western Spirit: Scottsdale's Museum of the West, Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater Scottsdale, and S'edav Va'aki Museum
- Herberger Stage at Soleri Plaza, with a nightly beer and wine garden, food trucks, and weekend headliners QVLN, a Latin pop act, and Nodaway, an indie rock band
- WEARABLE WILDS, an ASU FIDM student fashion show on Nov. 12, new this year as part of weekday stage programming
- Dance from NicoleOlson|MovementChaos on Nov. 14 and Scottsdale Community College Dance at 7 and 8 p.m. on Nov. 15
The main event, the performances, and the drop-in workshops are free. Nightly art tours, ticketed workshops, and some special events need tickets, and those are on sale now.
The new openings work around these events
The places that opened near Old Town this season aren't trying to fill the long dinner hours the Tortilla Factory and Sel Bistro kept. Their schedules line up with afternoons and early evenings.
Los Milics Vineyards outgrew its small Marshall Way tasting room and moved across the street to 7045 E. Third Ave., Suite 101. The new space has two patios, an open kitchen, and a grazing-style menu that includes hand-pulled mozzarella. Arizona wines are poured by the flight, glass, and bottle, and the room is open Tuesday through Sunday, 11 a.m. to 9 p.m., according to Forking Scottsdale. Those hours cover both Civic Center weekends, and on Canal Convergence weeknights the tasting room closes at 9 p.m., the same time the Waterfront event does.
Holla Brunch Girl opened Sept. 26 at 7320 E. Indian Plaza. It's a Saturday-only, 21-and-over rooftop brunch with live DJs and sing-alongs, running 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. On Oct. 17, it closes two hours before the Fall Festival opens. On Oct. 24, the Fiesta de Muertos starts at 1 p.m., so the two overlap for the last two hours of brunch, and the 8 p.m. headliner is still five hours off when Holla closes.
Smiling Moose Sandwich Grill opened in August at 2765 N. Scottsdale Road. It's the first Arizona franchise of the Colorado-based chain, opened by ASU alumni including NBA player James Harden, and it serves all-day breakfast, made-to-order sandwiches, burgers, and salads.
One evening-focused arrival is still pending. Phoenix New Times listed Drake's Hollywood at 3828 N. Scottsdale Road under "still to come this fall" on Sept. 15, and we haven't confirmed that it has opened. Until that changes, or the Main Street and Sel Bistro spaces get new names, Old Town's latest free evenings this fall are the 10 p.m. closings, at Civic Center from Oct. 22 to 25 and at the Waterfront on Nov. 6, 7, 13 and 14.
We follow Old Town because every change on Main Street ends up shaping how a block feels to live on. If you're curious how close the Civic Center and Waterfront event footprint sits to a home you own or are considering, or you want our contractors' read on an older Old Town property, Imelda Reyes and our team are glad to walk it with you, in English or en español. Work With Us.
