English Bulldog Puppies for Sale in Peoria, AZ

PEORIA, Ariz. — While it isn't something you see every day, we have learned that anything is possible in Arizona.

Residents of the Vistancia neighborhood in Peoria got a visit from some wild donkeys after the sun went down Wednesday night.

"AZ wildlife is in our neighborhood taking advantage of the night time temperatures," 12News Weather Watcher Jackie Waldrop said in the caption of the video.

You can hear the donkeys braying while running down the street and through yards.

Hundreds of donkeys roam free around Lake Pleasant, near north Peoria. You can often see them while hiking near the lake.

The Bureau of Land Management manages the burros on public lands in Arizona and other states.

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PHOENIX – Today, Rep. Ruben Gallego (AZ-03), announced that U.S. Department of Commerce and Amkor Technology, Inc. have signed a non-binding preliminary memorandum of terms (PMT) to provide up to $400 million in funding under the CHIPS and Science Act. This funding would support Amkor’s investment of approximately $2 billion and 2,000 jobs in Peoria, Arizona.

“Once again, our CHIPS and Science Act is delivering for Arizona,” said Rep. Gallego. “The Valley of Sun is the national hub for end-to-end semiconductor manufacturing, which is critical to our national security. The funding announced today will create even more good-paying jobs and lower costs for Arizonans. I look forward to working with Commerce and the City of Peoria to ensure this project’s success.”

The CHIPS and Science Act, which Rep. Gallego helped pass, provides $52.7 billion for semiconductor research, development, manufacturing, and workforce development – fueling Arizona’s technology and manufacturing growth. According to the Arizona Commerce Authority, from January 2020 to March 2024, Arizona attracted more than 35 announced semiconductor industry expansions representing over 13,000 jobs and over $65 billion in investment, making Arizona number 1 in the nation for new semiconductor jobs, investment, and supplier expansions.

To maximize the opportunity to bring microchip manufacturing to Arizona, Rep. Gallego backs the bipartisan, bicameral Building Chips in America Act. The legislation would ensure federal environmental reviews are completed in a timely manner for these microchip projects by streamlining approval for projects currently under construction and others that could be delayed, and by providing the Secretary of Commerce greater tools to more effectively and efficiently carry out reviews.

Updated: Jul. 22, 2024 at 12:54 PM PDT

PEORIA, AZ (AZFamily) — Are you looking for a way to cool down in the summer heat? A new dessert shop is bringing Hawaii-style shave ice and ice cream from the islands to the Valley.

Happy Honu Shave Ice, located near 91st Avenue and Union Hills Drive, opens on Monday.

Owner Desmond Martin says he wants to share the refreshing dessert he grew up enjoying on the north shore of Oahu with the Peoria community.

“Shave ice is, let’s just say, it’s kind of like in my DNA,” said Martin. “It’s kind of like something you’ve experienced when you were little, and now when you eat it as an adult, it kind of brings back memories. It’s just like a memory food.”

Martin and his wife Laura run Happy Honu with their two kids, Anthony and Alyssa.

Happy Honu offers various desserts that make you feel like you are in Hawaii.

The shave ice includes traditional syrup flavors like banana, cherry, blue raspberry, and strawberry, as well as flavors of the Hawaiian Islands like passion orange guava (or P.O.G.), lilikoi and haupia.

There is also pineapple habanero for those who want a sweet and spicy shave ice.

Customers can try one of the many flavor combinations, such as Sunset Beach, which has strawberry, peach and pina colada, or Pineapple Upside-Down Cake, which has pineapple, cherry and cake batter. They can also choose up to three flavors and create their own shave ice.

Toppings include mochi bites, snowcap (condensed milk drizzled on top of the shave ice), whipped cream, mango chamoy, coconut jellies and more. Try it with vanilla ice cream on the bottom for an extra creamy treat.

Shave ice and snow cones are often compared. Shave ice is popular in Hawaii, while snow cones are found on the continental U.S.

However, Martin says the difference comes down to the texture of the ice and how it absorbs the flavor.

“With a snow cone, you usually get crunchy texture, crunchy ice, and flavors that actually permeate, but they flow all the way to the bottom of your cup. And so now you’re left with like a bare, icy surface, and you’re having to take a straw and sip out of the bottom of the cup,” said Martin.

“Whereas shave ice is finely shaven to the point where it’s fluffy, it flows just like snow falls out of the sky. Then you permeate that with a syrup that will actually stick to every part of the dessert,” he said.

He adds that the ice in shave ice is meant to be soft and melt in your mouth immediately as you eat it, and the syrup won’t collect at the bottom of the cup.

Along with shave ice, Happy Honu also serves Dole Whip or a pineapple-flavored soft serve. The dessert became popular from the Dole Plantation in Wahiawa, Oahu.

Martin recommends trying the Dole Whip with li hing mui, a sweet, salty and tart plum-flavored powder or syrup to enhance the taste and take it to the next level.

There is also a variety of ice cream from the Island of Kauai to try. Flavors include ube macapuno (purple sweet potato mixed with coconut puree), double chocolate fudge, cookie monster, lemon creamsicle, blueberry cheesecake, macadamia nut, Kona coffee and pineapple coconut.

Making shave ice started as a hobby for the Martin family. From 2009 to 2016, they served it at various schools, events and festivals.

In 2016, Laura found a trailer that soon became known as the “Honu Hut,” and the family started taking their business on the road.

They’ve now taken Happy Honu a step further by opening the shop.

Martin says he envisions Happy Honu as a place where people can come together, share aloha and feel part of the family.

“Come have some shave ice, come have some Dole Whip, come experience the aloha. It’s all served here,” said Martin.

Happy Honu Shave Ice

Location: 8976 W Union Hills Dr #104, Peoria, AZ 85382

Hours:

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Business leaders • Women of the C-Suite

Az Business spotlighted some of Arizona’s most influential leaders in the July issue, including Jennifer Stein, economic development director for the City of Peoria.

MORE NEWS: The Trailhead mixed-use development breaks ground in Peoria

Jennifer Stein

Economic development director

City of Peoria

Background: Stein brings more than 25 years of public and private sector communications, marketing, strategic planning, management and community relations experience to her economic development role in the City of Peoria. Prior to Peoria, Stein worked for the City of Glendale, spearheading the 2008 Super Bowl media efforts, marketing the annual Fiesta Bowl and BCS Championship games, building business and community partnerships in Westgate, and securing record-breaking media coverage. In addition, Stein was a news producer for KTVK-TV Arizona’s Family and a senior account executive for HMA Public Relations.

Impact of PR background: “It has prepared me for this job because a big part of economic development is branding, positioning your city and selling your assets and your lifestyle in a way that tells a story about why Peoria is the best place on Earth to land your business.”

Qualities of a great economic developer: “Communication skills are key. The ability to connect and build relationships and understand how to problem solve is another huge aspect. We’re constantly removing barriers to help companies find success, expand and grow in our community. How do we make things easier? How do we help mitigate risk? How do we speed things up to give them opportunities? What resources can we provide? A good economic developer must communicate really well, have problem-solving skills and understand the challenges business leaders are trying to address. We always look at everyone we work with not as a short-term partner, but a long-term partner.”

Attraction to economic development: “It started when I used to play Sim City. I remember how exciting it was to shape a community and plan a city. I was already working with cities and a lot of businesses on the media side, so I was exposed to all these different industries and building my knowledge base. When I transitioned to working with the city, it’s like we already had a shared vision because we were representing a similar audience. I found my passion in economic development because I can play a role in making the community better, creating jobs and helping enhance the city in a different way.”

Career goal: “The biggest goal is attracting businesses that will bring high quality jobs that align with our workforce. There are so many people leaving the city every day for work and I would love to see those people stay closer to home because we know being in a car and commuting is not a good example of quality of life. A traffic jam going west instead of east would be a huge accomplishment.”

Chef Schuyler Estes is making his return to Sky Restaurant Concepts, which he helped found, after seven years. He’ll revamp the company’s restaurant Urban Agave in Glendale and aid with opening the new restaurant Sparrow slated to open later this year.

“It’s very exciting now. At first I just felt so removed from it because I had left about seven years ago,” Estes said. “But now that I’m back it’s great. We still have people here from when we first opened the restaurant in 2010. So, a lot of familiar faces and a lot of returning guests and regulars. It’s been fantastic.”

According to Estes, what inspired his return was the rekindling of his friendship with co-founder Parker Ganem, which led to them deciding to partner in opening Sparrow.

Estes knew since eighth grade that he wanted to be a chef after his passion for cooking was ignited by watching his father cook for his family.

“He had all these family recipes, and it was just great watching him,” Estes said.

“I first started baking pies and making cakes and stuff like that when I was pretty young and then, I don’t know, I just got the itch. I even flew out to (Arizona) my freshman or sophomore year to tour culinary schools.”

He moved to Arizona from Illinois right after high school for culinary school. Estes worked all around the Valley eventually landing at the sushi restaurant that was sold to his future business partner, Ganem. That is when they decided to partner and open their own sushi place — another Sky Restaurant Concepts restaurant — Squid Ink in Peoria.

Estes has also worked in Massachusetts with chef Ming Tsai at his restaurant Blue Ginger before moving back to Arizona.

The chef has been back at Sky Restaurant Concepts for about three weeks and has been busy working on the new menu that will be implemented at Urban Agave in the upcoming weeks.

“Right now, Urban Agave’s menu is very traditional, so I wanted to think outside of the box a little bit, get some cool new ideas and just put a twist on things,” Estes said. “Same traditional offerings, but just twist them a little bit to refresh them and update them.”

The way that he plans to do that is by combining Southwestern cuisine and Mexican cuisine — both of which he said have a really big presence in Arizona. Estes explained that the flavors of the two cuisines contrast each other in “the perfect way.”

“Between your spices and acids and smokiness, all the flavors to me just feel very comforting,” Estes said.

“So just the flavors and the freshness of the product that we’re going to be offering. And that goes for the food and the

cocktail list, we’re going to have a tequila list of upwards of about 50 tequilas. So, it’s pretty exciting stuff.”

On the other hand, Sparrow will have more of an eclectic menu as Estes wanted to use all of the training he has in different cuisines.

“I have a lot of training in many different cuisines, and I don’t want to be pigeonholed into a single cuisine,” Estes said. “So, I’m going to take my experiences from sushi, from Southwestern to Thai to Korean to Italian, I’ll combine them all and create a menu that doesn’t tie my hand behind my back. Get to have some fun, play with it, bring different cuisines together, and make it fun and exciting.”

Estes said the new restaurant is expected to open toward the end of the year.

His goal for the future is to create a restaurant group company where each restaurant and concept has its own personality and feel to it but still has the cohesiveness that when guests step inside, they know it’s a Sky Restaurants Concept restaurant.

“Since my absence seven years ago, I’ve learned new skills and I want to put them into my everyday work and see what comes up next,” Estes said.

“I don’t think this is going to be three restaurants and that’s it. We’re planning on growing the restaurant group hopefully pretty quickly to more concepts and more locations. And to me, it’s pretty exciting because the growth potential is huge.”