Quartzsite ignites with propane wars

Snowbirds come to Quartzsite for plenty of good reasons: Desert sunsets. Scores of vendors with products to sell. Quiet times around the campfire with good friends. Warm weather. Warm weather? If you've looked at the weather map, you'll notice the "warmer than average temperatures" are giving way to some definitely chilly nights. Yep, you'll soon see Paul the "Naked Bookseller" put on his coat – when that happens, you KNOW it's cold.

Maybe it's a good thing that Quartzsite is in the middle of a propane war. Yep, the chief heating fuel of RVers is on sale across the great Quartzsite metropolis. Here are the prices (and a few tips) from around QZ as of December 10.

$2.15 Patties RV Park on the B-10 (Main Street) across from the Family Dollar. Patties offers free pickup and delivery, which is a big draw, especially for those with those honkin' big 20 gallon tanks. Trouble is, they won't take your credit card.

$2.15 Herb's Hardware Store on Highway 95 (Central Boulevard). When there's a line-up at other LP purveyors, you'll often find a quick fill-up at Herbs, and it's handy when you're picking up those repair needs. Many don't know about Herb's LP, because the tank is stashed away out of sight of the main road. A bonus: Herb's takes credit cards.

$2.15 RV Pit Stop on Highway 95 (Central Boulevard). The Pit Stop also offers a dump station, and you can fill up with either RO water or city water. Sorry, no credit cards here, but if you need custom-made LP hoses and LP fittings, you'll find them here.

$2.15 Texaco Quick Check, Highway 95 and the B-10. Credit cards OK here.

$2.09 Fill-R-Up, on Highway 95, just north of the Texaco Quick Check. These fellows moved in last year and are giving most of the LP retailers a run for their money. Making them attractive is their acceptance of credit cards – sorry, checks only drawn on the local bank. Fill-R-Up also offers free pickup and delivery for the same low price. Laundromat on the property.

$2.05 Mobile Station, far east end of the B-10 (Main Street). Yep, at present the low-price leader, but hang on to your hats, prices have been flipping around like a landed fish. Mobile will take your credit card; our big beef: You'll probably have to send somebody inside to fetch the LP attendant, then run inside again to pay. Kind of a hassle, but if you're watching your pennies . . .

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New rock festival in Quartzsite may not be what you think

Cruising up Interstate 10, a mile west of Quartzsite, we were a bit startled to see a billboard advertising a "Rock Fiesta" slated to come to Quartzsite in March. Now anyone who's been in Quartzsite during the winter season knows that Quartzsite is "all about rocks." From the fantastic "Rock, Mineral, and Gem Show" put on by the QIA, to the any one or more of dozens of rock vendors, if you want rocks, you'll find them in Quartzsite. So, we figured, a new rock selling venue.

Perfectly wrong. 

Come March 18 and 19, this Rock Fiesta is nothing about "a naturally occurring solid aggregate of one or more minerals or mineraloids," and everything to do with, "a genre of popular music that originated as "rock and roll" in the United States in the 1950s, and developed into a range of different styles in the 1960s and later." Ready or not, electric guitars a plenty are headed to this so-called quiet little corner of Arizona.

In an event aimed particularly at folks who enjoy Latino-accented Rock music, the existing Desert Gardens Showgrounds, (which is already getting populated with vendors of "naturally occuring solid aggregates of one or more minerals") will give way to this two (or three) day extravaganza that will bring in groups going by names like "Caifanes," "Maldita Vecindad," "Molotov," "PXNDA," "Kinky," and others. Kinky? As an RVer I'm familiar with that word – it happens every time I have to pull out my long water hose and spend a half-hour cussing the thing out when the water won't flow through it.

One of the local papers is praising (puffing?) the event like some tout flu injections every fall. Says Blythe's Palo Verde Times of the fiesta, it is "intended as an annual event providing global promotion for Quartzsite, tax revenue, revenue for contractors and local businesses and providing hope to this small town with the same financial concerns as any American small town. Rock Fiesta is the next jewel in Quartzsite's tourism crown." Sounds like a phrase pulled straight out of a media release.

Who knows. Maybe all the features of this big show will bring in people with bucks. After all, what with saloons, a dance tent, "the world's largest inflatable double water slide," and a "human car wash" (boy, does that ever present some scary mental images), maybe the vast crowd that's to be contained by a 11,000 foot perimeter fence will bring plenty of loot to drop in on the local economy. Whether or not that 11,000 feet of fence will also contain high levels of rock decibels is another thing to wonder about – guess we're just glad we live a couple of miles away. Hang on – is that really far enough?

We posed the question of crowd control and "guest" management to one of the few local Quartzsite police officers. He said that the local police agency will definitely be needing help from other agencies. Meantime, festival organizers say they'll have their own security team, as well as first aid crews, and fire responders.

With tickets on sale now for as low as $99 for the entire weekend, Quartzsite may never be the same.

map: rockfiesta.com

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