When residents go outside to enjoy their community, they want it to look its best. In a city the size of Maricopa, that takes a big group effort. The Keep Maricopa Beautiful program helps everyone get involved in cleaning up their community.

MARICOPA — Judith Zaimont and Nancy Smith are perhaps the biggest cheerleaders for the Maricopa arts scene. The two have made it their mission to ensure that area residents have plenty of opportunities to enjoy visual and performing arts without leaving Maricopa.

MARICOPA — Details have always been important to Russell Frank. As an artist known for his finely detailed animal paintings and ceramic pots, it takes him more than an hour and a half to paint about one square inch of his work. “I sharpen the pastels to a fine, fine point to get a realistic …

The city of Maricopa may have been founded 18 years ago, but it has history worth exploring for residents and tourists alike.

MARICOPA -- Go to any of Maricopa’s many points of interest, and a familiar form might greet you — a statue of a wild horse. But no two of them will look the same, thanks to the creativity of local painters.

Every golfer knows about that itch to go hit some balls for a round, or even just some drives. Some get that itch every once in a while, but for others it comes every day, to the point where getting to the course has been as routine as a cup of coffee.

Recreational sports leagues often come with the idea of kids learning new sports and making friends over apple slices and juice boxes. But there’s another side to these activities, where people of all ages can get together to play the games they love.

The term “bedroom community” has lingered over Maricopa since it started to boom nearly 20 years ago. The idea that the city is a place where people leave in the morning to go to work and come home at night to sleep is mostly reflective of the number of commuters leaving each day because the…

MARICOPA — Since childhood, Theresa Judkins has been passionate about music, singing and playing various instruments.

When Joe Jackson finally makes his way onto a court in Japan, he will be representing Maricopa on quite the international stage.

MARICOPA — More than a year after the COVID-19 pandemic prompted the closure of churches, worshipers have been returning to Maricopa area churches.

You might have seen the phrase hung up on walls at a diner or in a well-stocked house: “Home is where the food is.” The problem in Maricopa was that the food itself didn’t have a home, a permanent one anyway, until now.

Kids heading back to school are not only starting out a new school year, they’re starting a “new normal” — a post-pandemic school system. Students last year were faced with obstacles most have not seen in their lifetime, and as they return to school this fall, teachers prepare for new challe…

A public health crisis is hard enough for any community to get through, but it might be a little easier if there’s a hospital in town. While all can hope that there isn’t another pandemic for many years to come, at least Maricopa will be more prepared with a wider diversity of health care op…

Maricopa is a city of dreams and ambitions. That’s how it started, of course, with a group of developers staring at miles and miles of farmland and dreaming of a time when they would all be filled with homes and businesses. And those dreams have turned into reality, with a city bursting at t…

Can you imagine a high school taught at a movie theater? Or online? Due to varieties of events, our first year was taught at a movie theater (scholars loved it!); our second year was a COVID online year (not as many loved that). What a start, right?

MARICOPA — Workplaces around the world looked a lot different last year.

MARICOPA — It’s been more than a year since the applause and cheers of crowds could be heard in The Events Center at Harrah’s Ak-Chin Casino, but with a slate of concerts on the schedule, fans are set to soon return.

You are riding your bike along Whimsical Drive here in beautiful Maricopa admiring the Estrellas and thinking about that slice of rhubarb pie you are going to enjoy after your exercise when your gears start slipping. You take your eye off the road and – Bam! – you smash into a trash container.

MARICOPA — As students in Maricopa prepare for the new school year, many are looking forward to a return to in-person education. For some students though, the transition to online school has been a permanent and surprisingly welcome change to their education.

Last year was an unforgettable demonstration of resilience, flexibility, perseverance, and patience. We have been transformed as a community and emerge with talents and skills we never expected.

MARICOPA — Americans have heard the numbers. Thirty-three million COVID-19 cases in the United States alone, and 600,000 people dead from the virus in the last year. Those 600,000 represent grandparents, community members, church goers, city officials; and they also represent the millions of…

In the spring of 2020, as the pandemic was sending people home and shutting down the economy, Kooline Plumbing Heating & Air President Mohammed Nazeem received some bad news. His general manager and two other employees foresaw the difficulties small businesses would have during the lockd…

It seemed just like any night, sitting in my car and waiting for my turn in line. It could have been a drive-thru at a fast food restaurant based on the whole vibe. But finally I drove under the pop-up tent at the State Farm Arena, I told the nurse to use my right arm so my left could still …

MARICOPA -- For the time being, Maricopans have no need to fret about maintaining a pool or backyard garden for their home.

Maricopa Nursery owner Agnes Gabica is one of the go-to plant suppliers in Maricopa and has her green thumb on the pulse of the latest gardening trends in Arizona. Many of these trends revolve around the Southwestern desert climate in Pinal County, but some are also national trends that refl…

Last spring was memorable, and I was feeling anxious as I squeezed into my chair at a day-long medical conference in a local hotel. My sister and brother-in-law were coming to stay with us for a week and I felt unprepared. There must be over 400 people stuffed in this conference hall, I thou…

MARICOPA -- It’s all about the details for Maricopa artist Herman Zelig Neuberger.

MARICOPA -- Perhaps unlike anywhere else, Maricopa residents are keenly aware of the real estate market. They have to be, as so much of the local economy is based on housing. That is how the city rose so quickly in population, as houses were built by the thousands. And it’s how everything ca…

MARICOPA -- Housing trends in Maricopa are built on the foundation laid by Mike Ingram’s El Dorado Holdings. Ingram is El Dorado’s founder and chairman.

As I begin my first column for Copacetic, I want to thank Maricopa Monitor for the opportunity to present a superintendent’s column to inform readers about the MUSD programs, promise and potential and offer insight on educational issues impacting our communities. I am happy to contribute and…

MARICOPA — In much the same way that a bodega or corner store remains a central part of urban city culture, Water and Ice stores have made their way into the storefronts of the Southwest, serving the same purpose of providing necessities through warm community charm.

MARICOPA -- In most communities in the United States, the farm is far removed from the table. Food can travel thousands of miles from the farm to the grocery store before ending up in people’s refrigerators, and growing food from scratch has become something of a rare skill.

MARICOPA -- Area pool builders say the past year has had record-breaking demand for new pool construction and backyard improvements and they expect the trend to continue.

MARICOPA -- If Harrah’s Ak-Chin Casino blackjack dealer Agnes Gabica was told in 2009 she would be running a successful plant nursery and landscaping business in just 12 years, she would’ve laughed.

It’s easy to think of Maricopa as a brand new city. In many ways, when comparing its lifespan to everywhere else, this is true. But whether it feels this way or not, it is now approaching 20 years since the big subdivisions started moving into what was just a small farming town with a couple…