Jordan Road's Fall Runs on Thursdays, and This Season Arrives Before Paid Parking Does

Every Thursday this fall, the barn doors of the Historic Apple Packing House at the Sedona Heritage Museum open toward Wilson Mountain, and at 5:15 p.m. violinist Tyler Carson begins his set while the sun goes down. The museum sits in Jordan Historical Park at 735 Jordan Road, a short distance up from the 89A storefronts. The Sedona Arts Center at 15 Art Barn Road is nearby, and between the two of them, the north end of Uptown has a fall calendar of its own.

This calendar has a weekly beat, and Thursday is the day it lands on. It also runs on borrowed time. The Uptown Parking Garage on Forest Road has slipped to a December or January opening. The city's paid parking plan includes Jordan Road, and it isn't expected to start before the garage opens. That means almost all of the season described below will take place under the parking rules Uptown has right now.

Ten Thursdays in the Apple Packing House

The museum's Fiddler on the Rock series page lists ten fall performances, all on Thursdays.

Nov. 26 is Thanksgiving Day, and it isn't on the list. After Dec. 10 the page shows no further dates, and it doesn't name a formal end to the season. According to the performer's own concert page, general admission is $55 and VIP is $85. VIP guests can enter at 4:30 p.m., general seating starts at 5:00, and the music begins at 5:15. The museum lists the show as running until 6:45 p.m. and asks guests to buy tickets in advance at fiddlerontherock.com.

The museum describes the room this way:

The wide barn doors invite the beauty of Sedona inside, while the shaded indoor space keeps things comfortable and intimate.

One detail on the concert page matters for anyone who has never gone inside the museum. Every ticket valued over $20 per couple includes free museum entry. The museum's daytime hours are 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. every day. It closes on major holidays, and admission is $10 for adults and free for children under 13.

Two Thursdays Bookend the Day

On two of those ten Thursdays, the museum programs both ends of the day. Sedona Stories is the museum's free speaker series. It runs from October through May and usually meets at 10 a.m. on the second Thursday of the month. This fall the second Thursdays are Oct. 8 and Nov. 12, and both are also Fiddler nights.

On Oct. 8, Kevin Schindler, historian and public information officer at Lowell Observatory, presents "(Mother) Road to the Stars: The Space Heritage of Route 66" at 10 a.m. in the historic Apple Shed. The talk is timed to the highway's 100th anniversary. The museum's announcement adds that Route 66 had an enormous impact on Sedona's development in the middle of the 20th century. Schindler has written nine books and writes the bi-weekly "View from Mars Hill" column for the Arizona Daily Sun.

On Nov. 12, Jim Banks talks about the meteorite researcher H.H. Nininger, from 10 to 11 a.m. The two talks share a subject that fits the Lowell connection: what people have learned by looking up from northern Arizona.

You can't fill December the same way. The museum's Sedona Stories listings show no December talk, so Oct. 8 and Nov. 12 are the only Thursdays this fall with a free morning program and an evening concert at the same address.

The Late-October Stretch Is Where the Two Venues Overlap

For most of the fall, the museum and the Arts Center keep separate schedules. For about ten days in late October they overlap, and this is the busiest part of the north end's season.

The 22nd Sedona Plein Air Festival runs Oct. 16 to 24. Most festival events take place at venues around the region, but the Arts Center hosts an artist demonstration on Tuesday, Oct. 20. Around that, the two venues stack up like this:

• Oct. 22, Thursday. Fiddler on the Rock plays in the middle of festival week.
• Oct. 24, Saturday. The festival's last day is also the museum's Fall Arts & Crafts Fair, which features handmade goods and an 11 a.m. set by Acappella Sedona. The fair listing gives no admission price or full hours.
• Oct. 25, Sunday. Michael Peach performs "Haunted History" at the museum from 3 to 4 p.m. Tickets are $10 in advance or $12 at the door.
• Oct. 26, Monday. "Sedona Plein Air at 22" opens at the Arts Center with paintings made during the festival, and it stays up through Nov. 22.
• Oct. 31, Saturday. Uptown Trick or Treat runs from 5 to 8 p.m., according to the Sedona Chamber.

The Plein Air exhibition is a reason to come back. Paintings made outdoors during the week of Oct. 16 will hang on Art Barn Road for almost four weeks after the easels are put away. Peach's other fall show, "Rowdy Outlaws," opens the museum's October on Saturday, Oct. 3, from 1:30 to 2:30 p.m., with the same $10 and $12 pricing.

November Gets Quieter, Then Builds Toward the Holidays

After Plein Air week, November has fewer events and more room between them. Wednesday, Nov. 11 brings the museum's free Veterans Day Tribute at 11 a.m., with an Armed Forces tribute, patriotic music, speakers and a veterans-service expo. The Thursday Fiddler shows continue on Nov. 5, 12 and 19.

At the Arts Center, November is mostly classes. Form and Color runs Nov. 7 and 8, Art and Writing meets Nov. 18, and a Holiday Ornaments ceramics class runs Nov. 15 to 22. October's classes are iPhoneography on Oct. 2, Introduction to Book-Making on Oct. 3 and 4, and an Alternative Firing workshop on Oct. 11.

The holiday stretch starts the week of Thanksgiving. "Portals of Transcendence," a two-person exhibition, runs at the Arts Center from Nov. 25 to Dec. 1. Its opening reception is Nov. 27 from 4 to 6 p.m., and a workshop follows on Nov. 29 from 2 to 4 p.m.

December Is One Weekend and Two Thursdays

December's calendar is shorter but more concentrated, and the Arts Center's first weekend carries most of it:

1. Thursday, Dec. 3. Fiddler on the Rock.
2. Friday, Dec. 4, 4 to 6 p.m. Celebrate Sedona and the opening reception of the Holiday Artist Market at the Arts Center, with ceramics demonstrations and a sale. Live music was still listed as TBD.
3. Saturday, Dec. 5, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., and Sunday, Dec. 6, 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Holiday Artist Market hours. The Center's own pages disagree on how many artists will be there. The event page says about 25, and the exhibit schedule says up to 40. An Alternative Firing workshop is also on the schedule for Dec. 6 and 13.
4. Wednesday, Dec. 9. "Out of the Fire," a student ceramics exhibition and sale, opens and runs through Jan. 10, 2027.
5. Thursday, Dec. 10. The last Fiddler date currently listed.
6. Saturday, Dec. 19, 3 to 4 p.m. Michael Peach performs "A Christmas Carol" at the museum. Tickets are $10 in advance or $12 at the door, and proceeds go to the Sedona Food Bank.

An in-person iPhoneography class on Dec. 18 is the Arts Center's last listed class of the year.

Why This Season Happens Before the Parking Plan

The parking timeline puts a limit on this calendar. Work on the Forest Road garage began in May 2025, aiming for a spring break 2026 opening. That moved to June and has now moved to December or January, with total project cost put at about $28.25 million. On Aug. 25 the City Council voted 6-0 to approve a $3,741,285.50 contract with J. Banicki Construction Inc. The contract covers water-system upgrades the garage needs and sidewalks on both sides of Forest Road, connecting the garage to the existing sidewalks along 89A.

The parking framework the city approved sets on-street rates on SR 89A and Jordan Road at $4 an hour, or $5 in peak season, with a three-hour limit. Spaces in the garage and City Lot 5 are capped at $2.50 an hour, or $3.50 in peak season. These changes aren't expected to take effect until the garage opens. A residential permit program would need separate council approval later, after the city has monitored parking conditions.

Jordan Road is named in that rate schedule, and the garage has already missed two target dates. As things stand, every Fiddler Thursday, both Sedona Stories mornings, Plein Air week and the Holiday Artist Market weekend fall before the earliest projected opening.

A second project could reach Jordan Road later. A possible Phase 2 of the water work would extend the upgraded main up Van Deren Road and across Schnebly Road to Jordan Road. It is estimated at about $2.5 million, could start construction next summer at the earliest, and could finish in December 2027. The council has not authorized it.

If you own near Jordan Road and want to know how the parking framework or a Phase 2 water project might affect your street or a future sale, Oak Creek Realty can go through the city's current documents with you. Schedule a free consultation, and Liz Adams will walk you through what has been approved, what is still pending, and what each step could mean for your property.

This article is general information, not legal, tax or financial advice. Consult a qualified professional about your situation.