Happy Sunday, Holbrook. Here is your week.
Holbrook High School students walked into city council last week and turned some heads, and folks are still talking about the vision they laid out for this town.
Clue No. 3 in the hunt for the hidden hundred-dollar bill is waiting inside, and the search is heating up.
The Roxy has a free family movie this week too, plus a major new title taking over the marquee this weekend.
⛈️ This Week's Weather
Highs near 95 and lows around 65 this week, so the afternoons are going to feel like full-on summer. Stormy weather is in the mix, so do not be surprised if the sky has other plans.
If you are thinking about heading to the City Pool for open swim, keep one eye on those clouds. A little thunder can change the afternoon fast, so stay flexible and check the sky before you head out.
Around Town This Week
Colleen hosts line dancing every Monday and Friday out at the Holbrook Elks Lodge, and every level is welcome to join in. Classes run $10 each, or you can grab a 5-class pack for $40. To get signed up or ask any questions, reach Colleen at 928-241-2601 or Venmo @Colleen-Dawes.
Join us at the Holbrook Public Library for Craft and Sip. This week: Sun Catchers & Statues. Create a colorful dinosaur sun catcher to hang at home. Enjoy a Watermelon Fresca mocktail while you craft. All ages welcome. Limited to 50. Adult supervision required for those under 8. Mess level is medium, smocks will be available.
Every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday evening from 6:30 to 8:30pm, the Holbrook Summer Dance Group gathers at the Old Courthouse downtown to share traditional Native American dances, and watching is completely free. This group of local kids will keep performing through July 24. On some nights, Navajo tacos, frybread, and concessions are also available for sale to help support the group.
Youth soccer is back this fallFree pickleball instruction and games are on the schedule every Tuesday and Thursday this summer, open to all skill levels ages 13 and up. Sessions take place from 6:30 to 8:30pm in the Holbrook High School wrestling room. Whether your goal is to learn a new sport, make new friends, or just get active, beginners are welcome and lessons are available.
Youth soccer is back this fallHolbrook Youth Soccer League is running a free two-day skills camp for kids ages 8 to 14 at Hunt Park in Holbrook. It focuses on the basics of dribbling, passing, and shooting, with small groups and one-on-one coaching. Whether your kid is trying soccer for the first time or already plays, all experience levels are welcome.
Holbrook Youth Soccer League sign-ups are open for the Fall 2026 season. The season runs August 24 to November 14, with the first games on Saturday September 12. Registration is $50 and closes July 18, so get your player in before it closes. Sign up at the link.
Open Swim runs every afternoon from 1 to 5pm at the Holbrook City Pool, and on Monday through Wednesday evenings there is also a Night Swim once the daytime heat finally breaks. Admission has stayed refreshingly old-school: $4 for adults, $3 for kids 6 to 17 and seniors, and $2 for little ones 5 and under. When the Arizona summer heat gets serious, the pool is the easiest answer in town.
For the Kids
The Holbrook Public Library welcomes everyone to drop in for Story Time, held Tuesdays at 10:30am and Fridays at 1:30pm through the end of the month. There is no cost, and all ages are invited. Each session comes with a craft for everyone, and the bigger kids will find a scavenger hunt waiting for them somewhere in the library as well.
Lego LeagueThis week at Messy Science Friday: Tar Pit vs Quick Sand. Make and compare two of science's stickiest mysteries using corn starch, liquid fabric starch, and glue. Free at the Holbrook Public Library. Mess level is medium. Aprons will be available. Adult supervision required for those under 8.
The Holbrook Public Library keeps things cool with its Summer Family Movies series, showing free family movies every Thursday at 1:30 pm, with free popcorn included. The library drops fun clues each week to hint at the title, so the film stays a surprise until showtime.
Every Tuesday at the Holbrook Public Library, kids of all ages are invited to come build and create at Lego League. It is completely free to take part.
Learn to draw in the anime style with artist Carlos Nieto at the Holbrook Public Library. Free and open to all ages.
The Roxy has a free family movie this week as well, see below.
Now Showing at the Roxy
Now Playing: Minions & Monsters
Catch it Sunday at 3pm, Monday at 7pm, and Thursday at 7pm.
Starting Friday, July 17: Masters of the Universe
Masters of the Universe takes over the Roxy, Friday at 7pm and Saturday at 3pm and 7pm.
Free Summer Movie: The Super Mario Bros. Movie
Beat the heat with a free family movie at the Roxy this Wednesday, July 15. Doors open at 12:30 and it starts at 1pm, and it is completely free, so round up the kids, grab a seat, and make an afternoon of it.
Talk of the Town
At last week's city council meeting, the Holbrook High School Student Council stole the show with one simple message: let's make our town look as good as it should.
Their community cleanup turned up the real culprit, weeds, dragging down the whole town's curb appeal. So they came with a plan: year round weed control, low maintenance landscaping on empty lots, an Adopt a Block program, more regular cleanups, and beautified town entrances that make travelers actually want to stop. They even floated a bowling alley.
A big vision, and it came straight from our own students. Keep an eye on this one.
Holbrook Lore
The only man ever legally hanged in Navajo County, and the sheriff whose hanging invitation stunned the world
On a cold afternoon in January 1900, a crowd gathered at the Navajo County Courthouse right here in Holbrook to watch a man named George Smiley hang. More than 125 years later, he is still the only person ever legally executed in the county's history.
Smiley had been convicted of murdering his railroad section boss, a man named McSweeney. The court sentenced him to death, and carrying it out fell to the county sheriff, Frank Wattron. That should have been the end of it. It was only the beginning.
Wattron, egged on by his friends, decided a hanging deserved a proper invitation. So he had them printed on fancy gilt edged cards and mailed them around town. The wording is still quoted in Arizona history books today:
You are hereby cordially invited to attend the hanging of one George Smiley, Murderer. His soul will be swung into eternity on December 8, 1899. The latest improved methods in the art of scientific strangulation will be employed, and everything possible will be done to make the surroundings cheerful and the execution a success.
A reporter got hold of one and put it on the wire. Within days it was running in newspapers from New York to London to Paris. The country was scandalized, and word reached all the way to the White House. President McKinley himself wired the territorial governor, who handed Wattron a thirty day stay of execution and a stern public reprimand.
Wattron was not one to back down quietly. For round two he printed a second batch of invitations, this time trimmed in funeral black and dripping with mock solemnity, sternly warning guests that any flippant or unseemly language or conduct on their part would not be allowed. The delay held, and Smiley finally hanged on January 8, 1900.
The old courthouse still stands today as the Navajo County Museum, and if you ask around, more than a few Holbrook folks will tell you George Smiley never quite checked out. Next time you climb those stairs, mind your manners. The sheriff was very clear about that.
The Hidden Hundred
Each week this month we run a Holbrook clue, a photo, a landmark, a statue, or a piece of local history, with a few letters shaded in the answer. Figure out the answer, write down the shaded letters, and keep collecting.
At the end of July we hide the bill, and your collected letters unscramble to spell exactly where it is. First to find it keeps it, and subscribers always get the clues first.
Solve the spot, then keep the shaded letters to yourself. 2 more sets coming this month, then the hunt goes live at the end of July.
I only know 25 letters of the alphabet.
I don't know y.
A joke that'll make us groan, a slice of Holbrook history, an event folks should know about, or a great photo you snapped?
Send it our way.
Share It With Us →That's the roundup for this week, Holbrook. Rest easy, and we'll meet you back here next Sunday.
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