Agave Heritage Festival - Saguaro National Park

The Agave Heritage Festival is a four-day event across the Tucson area celebrating all things agave.

Head to Saguaro National Park West on Thursday, April 9 for The Amazing Agave program. Agave is called “Tree of Wonders," and has been celebrated for centuries throughout Mexico and the American Southwest, and utilized to make over 40 products - from textiles to tequila. Uncover the adaptations that enable this native succulent to thrive in the hot and harsh Sonoran Desert, and discover how a prized ornamental holds the promise of a practical and sustainable crop. Join a Park Naturalist for this narrated theater presentation, and prepare to be amazed!

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. For more information on other events held during the festival visit the Agave Heritage Festival website.

The agave 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!