"Mrs. P"

Cele Peterson, a 75+-year veteran business owner in Tucson, has played a major role in establishing many our community's longest standing civic, cultural and social service institutions. Her imagination, and rare talent for catalyzing others, have won her nearly every award Tucson has to offer over the years. To those who work with her, she is simply, and affectionately known as, Mrs. P.

Tucson's Birthday is a product of her spirit and creativity. Here, she outlines her philosophy behind the month-long celebration in August.

All my life, everywhere I've traveled, being from Tucson has opened doors for me. You've probably had the same experience. All over the world people know this is a special place. I believe our history, from ancient times to the present, has captured people's imaginations. So much history! So many cultures!   

But I believe what makes Tucson most special has been its unique sense of community. Our town is a warm and friendly place, where everybody knows everybody else. No matter how big we grow we want to preserve that.

As we continue to grow and develop, that quality of community depends on our commitment to sustaining and sharing our traditions, from our older residents to our younger ones, our long-time neighbors to our newer ones.

August is uniquely "our time." Tucsonans are returning from their summer adventures, getting ready for school, preparing for our winter guests, and planning for our Fall season of social and community events.

August is also hot, but its sunsets are the most beautiful of the  year, and the monsoon storms are more spectacular than a George Lucas movie.

Luckily, August gives us historic reasons to pull together, have fun and share our traditions as a community. August 20 is the anniversary of Tucson's first historic document: The declaration of the Presidio de Tucson. And for generations our community held a month-long fiesta in August, in honor of Tucson's patron saint, San Agustin.

 So when people ask me, "Why don't we celebrate in winter, sometime when the weather is nice and the winter visitors and students are here," I have a ready answer. Our community's ancestors were the kind of people who lived here in August without air-conditioning or trips to the beach. They had a lot of the same problems we have today, and they worked them out as a community. That's what we're celebrating.

We're still here, and we're still working together as a community. As much as I welcome growth in our town and our economy, I think it's essential to maintain that sense of community that makes Tucson special. So I hope you will join me in celebrating our history, traditions and culture throughout the month of August, and throughout our community.

Happy Birthday!
Cele Peterson