Patrick Duffy

City of Surprise

September is a reminder that cooler temperatures are almost here! This month brings fresh opportunities and key initiatives that will impact us all. Inside this month’s newsletter, you'll find details on recent business openings, upcoming events and important updates.

AUGUST HIGHLIGHTS

Café Zupas Ribbon Cutting

Mayor Hall, Economic Development Director Jeanine Jerkovic and I joined Cafe Zupas Operating Partner, Anthony Ramirez and District Manager Josh Burt, on Thursday, August 8 to celebrate the grand opening and ribbon cutting for their new restaurant in Surprise! Café Zupas is located at 13260 N. Prasada Pkwy. We are excited to welcome this fresh and delicious new business to our community!

Now Open in Prasada!

• Cold Beer & Cheesburgers, 13400 N. Prasada Pkwy.
• First Watch, 16430 W. Waddell Rd., Suite 104
• Buckle, 13276 N. Prasada Pkwy.
• Carl’s Jr., 13290 N. Prasada Pkwy.
• Einstein Bros Bagels, 16430 W. Waddell Rd., Suite 116

CURRENT EVENTS

City Council Meetings

The next City Council Meeting is on September 17 at 6 p.m. The public is welcome to attend in person, or you can tune in on surpriseaz.gov/SurpriseTV, the Surprise City Gov Facebook page at facebook.com/CityOfSurprise or on Cox channel 11. 

Community Meeting

My next community meeting will be on Saturday, September 7, at 9 a.m. at Total Wine & More, 13440 N. Prasada Pkwy. See you there!

Upcoming Blood Drive

The City of Surprise is partnering with Vitalant Blood Donation to host several blood drives in September.

Community members wanting to participate are encouraged to make an appointment through the Vitalant website using Blood Drive Code p1T62. Although walk-ins are welcomed, those with an appointment will be given priority.

Blood Drive Events:

• September 20 | 9 a.m. - 1 p.m.| Surprise Regional Library (Program Room)
• September 20 | 10 a.m. - 2 p.m.| Asante Library
• September 23 | 9 a.m. - 1 p.m.| Surprise City Hall (Community Room)

As a thank you for your willingness to help others through blood donation, Vitalant is providing a Halloween costume t-shirt through their Donor Rewards program while supplies last.

As a local non-profit, donations through Vitalant stay in the community to help our neighbors. Every day, an average of 5,500 blood donations are needed to meet patient needs. This is an excellent opportunity to transform your life and the lives of so many others!

Perfect Game Event Series

The City of Surprise will play host to Perfect Game’s Southwest Labor Day Classic and Fall National Championships protected by G-Form this September at the Surprise Stadium Complex. These events are expected to bring in over 125 teams and 2,500 players from across the country. 

Here are the upcoming Perfect Game events in Surprise:

September 6 - 9: 13U / 14U / 15U Fall National Championship Protected by G-Form
September 13 - 16: 18U Fall National Championship Protected by G-Form
September 20 - 22: 16U Fall National Championship Protected by G-Form

Daily gate admission is $10 per person, or a tournament pass is available for $35 per person, per tournament. Ages 14 and younger are free. All games will take place at the Surprise Stadium Complex, located at 15930 N. Bullard Ave.

For additional information about the Surprise Stadium Complex, contact the City of Surprise Sports & Tourism Department at 623.222.2222 or visit ExploreSurprise.com.

SAVE THE DATE

Surprise Fiesta Grande

Join us on Saturday, October 5, from 5 - 9 p.m. for Surprise Fiesta Grande at Mark Coronado Park, 15960 N. Bullard Ave. This all-ages event celebrates the vibrant culture and traditions that have shaped our City with an evening of live music, food, entertainment and more! Families will experience authentic Mexican food, mariachi music, folklórico dancing, a car show, Lucha Libre wrestling, a petting zoo and pony rides, inflatables and other great attractions! For more details, check out surpriseaz.gov/FiestaGrande.

Spring Training

Major League Baseball, along with the Texas Rangers and Kansas City Royals, have released the 2025 Cactus League Spring Training schedule. Opening Day is Friday, February 21, with the Royals hosting the Rangers at Surprise Stadium, which recently ranked second in the USA Today 10Best Readers’ Choice awards for “Best Spring Training Facility.”

2025 Spring Training ticket packages, including season tickets, mini-plans and group tickets will go on sale starting Tuesday, October 29, at 10 a.m. (AZ time). Each of these options offers savings over individual game ticket prices, first choice of the best available seating locations and exclusive access to pre-sale opportunities. 

Individual game tickets for Spring Training at Surprise Stadium will go on sale online at SurpriseStadium.com on November 12, at 10 a.m. (AZ time). Information regarding game times and promotional events will be announced later. To be alerted to the most up-to-date ticket information – please go to ticket information form. 

For general information, please visit SurpriseStadium.com or sign up for Sports & Tourism notifications

Also save the date for the 2025 Out of the Park Music Fest on March 22, after the Royals and Rangers game. Time, artists and more details to be released at a later time.

NEWS & UPDATES

City Seeking Applications for Voluntary Commissions

The City of Surprise is currently accepting applications for the following commissions:

• Arts & Cultural Advisory Commission
   Two positions (one term expiration 6/30/2027 & one term expiration 6/30/2029)
• Audit Committee
  
  One position (term expiration 6/30/2025) 
• Library Advisory Commission
   One position (term expiration 6/30/2027) 
• Personnel Appeals Board
   One position (term expiration 6/30/2029)

All Board/Commission positions are voluntary. To serve on a board/commission, you must reside within the City of Surprise. Download the Application: surpriseaz.gov/Boards. Submit your completed application by email to clerk@surpriseaz.gov, mail or hand-deliver Monday - Friday, 8 a.m. - 5 p.m. to Surprise City Hall.

Applications will be kept on file for future vacancies.

To contact the City Clerk’s office, please email clerk@surpriseaz.gov or call 623.222.1200.

Public Art Coming Soon

Public art is coming to the West Valley in a whole new way! Municipal public art programs across six cities – Buckeye, Goodyear, Litchfield Park, Peoria, Surprise and Tolleson – are joining forces with WESTMARC, the Western Maricopa Coalition, to launch a vibrant new initiative called "iHola! West Valley." This exciting partnership will bring a series of temporary, site-specific art installations created by local artists to various locations throughout the West Valley.

iHola! stands for, “Highlighting Our Local Arts,” and aims to connect West Valley cities and residents to arts and culture resources, spotlight the abundance of arts and culture activities and opportunities in this thriving region, and provide mentorship for local artists to enter the field of public art. Once art is installed, the goal is to create a map of locations, paving the way for future bus tours. This allows residents to discover new art experiences and explore different aspects of the West Valley's artistic landscape.

A Call to Artists
iHola! West Valley is now accepting applications from Arizona-based artists across various disciplines to create temporary, site-specific art projects in a variety of West Valley locations. This initiative aims to foster a deeper connection between our cities and residents. Interested artists can submit proposals by visiting westmarc.org/HOLA by the deadline of October 1, 2024.

Neighborhood Grant Program Application

The Neighborhood Grant Program provides eligible neighborhoods with small grants to fund neighborhood events, functions or community improvements. An opportunity to encourage community engagement and further build strong relationships with Surprise's communities.

To be considered, projects must meet the following program criteria:

• Provide a public benefit
• Result in a product, which benefits a neighborhood or the larger Surprise community
• Be feasible for completion by June 2025
• Involve the benefiting neighborhood in project identification, planning and execution
• Emphasize neighborhood self-help; be educational or community-building
• Nonprofit 501(c)3 organizations are ineligible

Additionally, a minimum of five neighbors within the residential area must sign the application and support the idea; neighborhoods governed by a homeowner association (HOA) must have HOA approval, if required. 

Interested communities should deliver the complete Neighborhood Grant Program application to City Hall, attention Jodi Tas, by 5 p.m. on Friday, October 11.

For more information about the grant, visit surpriseaz.gov/NGP or contact jodi.tas@surpriseaz.gov or 623.222.1330.

Household Hazardous Waste

Surprise is rolling out a new Household Hazardous Waste (HHW) Collection Program. Instead of offering collection events three times a year, a pilot program will allow residents to schedule collections monthly. The pilot program will run from September through November 2024.

During this pilot program, HHW collection will be split into two types and scheduled separately. One pick-up will occur for just electronic HHW, including TVs, computers and cell phones. Another pick-up will occur for all other HHW, including pool chemicals, pesticides and solvents. Crews will schedule up to 50 collections for just electronic HHW materials per month on the first day of the collection week (Mondays) for residents north and south of Bell Road.

All other HHW materials will be collected Monday through Thursday, for one week per month, with two days reserved for residents south of Bell Road and two days reserved for residents north of Bell Road. Crews will be able to complete about 40 scheduled HHW collections per day.

Starting Monday, August 26, residents can start requesting an appointment for collections during this three-month pilot period. To schedule a collection, residents can use the My Surprise app or call Customer Service at 623.222.1920. All scheduling is based on availability and is first come, first served.

On the date of your scheduled collection, all acceptable items must be placed outside on the driveway and up against the garage by 6 a.m. on the scheduled collection date. Properly packaged, sealed and labeled items will be picked up between 6 a.m. - 4 p.m. DO NOT place any hazardous waste on sidewalks or curbside.

For more information, visit surpriseaz.gov/HHW.

Keep in mind this is not a bulk trash appointment. Residents can schedule bulk trash and appliance pickup services anytime throughout the year. See a full list of acceptable bulk trash items online at surpriseaz.gov/BulkTrash.