By 1970, the first planned residential development in the area, the Village of Oak Creek, was already four years old. Families were moving to Sedona and it wasn’t long before area businessmen began recognizing the need for incorporation, schools, and arts venues. Their motivation was a profound dedication to a new, evolving community with a lot of need.
It was on the way to a Phoenix Suns’ basketball game in 1979 that Bill Garland and Dave Blauert came up with the idea to form a group modeled after the Phoenix 40, a group of Phoenix business leaders who, over the course of nearly two decades, successfully pursued a variety of community-building measures that have shaped Arizona.
Contributing Historians: Dave Blauert, Bruce Rogers, Ralph Roney, Mal Wienges, and Serge Wright