Agave Heritage Festival

The Agave Heritage Festival is a four-day event across the Tucson area, and is the "destination for all things agave". The festival celebrates the unique importance of the agave plant and the borderlands culture with seminars, tours and field trips, spirit tastings, bar takeovers, movie screenings, music, roasting demonstrations, and world-class culinary demonstrations, all with a focus on sustainability.

This year, a special presentation will be held at the Red Hills Visitor Center at Saguaro National Park West, where local naturalist Dan Collins will narrate a presentation on how the agave plant has been utilized by both indigenous and modern peoples to make over 40 products - from textiles to tequila. The presentation takes place on Saturday, April 20th from 1:15 - 1:45 PM.

The agave also plays a significant role in the ancient history of Marana. The Hohokam peoples cultivated the plant on a large scale in the foothills of the Tortolita Mountains in present-day Marana, which they put to a variety of uses. Read more about the history of the Hohokam people in Southern Arizona!