January

■ The Camp Verde Town Council selected Columbia Ltd. to recruit the town’s next manager.

■ The Camp Verde Disc Golf group and the Camp Verde Recreation Association began a fundraising effort for the 18-hole disc golf course at the Camp Verde Sports Complex.

■ Camp Verde’s 13th annual Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day March took place on Jan. 15. Chandler Plante, 18, started planning the first event when he was 5 years old.

■ The U.S. Forest Service hosted a community meeting for the proposed Yavapai-Apache Nation Federal Land Exchange on Jan. 17.

■ The Camp Verde Unified School District board continued its discussion of a teacher pay raise during its Jan. 9 meeting.

■ The Camp Verde Planning and Zoning Commission approved the plat for the High View at Boulder Creek planned area development.

February

■ Camp Verde’s second Touch-A-Truck event took place at the Camp Verde Sports Complex on Feb. 10.

■ Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs opened Rockin’ River Ranch State Park, Arizona’s 33rd state park, located near the confluence of the Verde River and West Clear Creek, on Feb. 8.

■ The Sycamore Vista development received $2 million in federal Low-Income Housing Tax Credits and $1 million in state Affordable Housing Tax Credits.

■ The Yavapai-Apache Nation commemorated Exodus Day on Feb. 24, to remember the return of the Yavapai and Apache peoples who had been forced to march 180 miles to San Carlos Reservation by the U.S. government.

March

■ Former Camp Verde Town Council member William “Bill” LeBeau died on March 15. LeBeau served as a member of the Camp Verde Town Council from 2018 to 2022.

■ The V-V Ranch Heritage Site was renamed the Crane Petroglyph Heritage Site on March 16.

■ Camp Verde’s annual Pecan and Wine Festival returned for its 23rd year on March 16 and 17.

■ The Camp Verde Town Council discussed construction options for the planned concession and restroom facility for the Camp Verde Sports Complex.

April

■ The Town Council announced three finalists for town manager: Former Cottonwood city manager Scotty Douglass, Miranda Fisher and Carla Reece. Douglass withdrew on April 2, and the town held a meet-and-greet for Fisher and Reece on April 4. Council eventually hired Fisher.

■ The Camp Verde Artists Group launched their debut exhibit at the Camp Verde Community Library.

■ The Arizona Wingfields held a gathering in Camp Verde on April 27 to celebrate their family’s long history in Camp Verde and tour historic Wingfield-related buildings and sites.

■ The Culpepper & Merriweather Circus played Camp Verde on Monday and April 29 and 30.

May

■ Copper Canyon Fire and Medical District Chief Danny Johnson informed the Camp Verde Town Council on May 1 that the district’s projected budget for FY25, pending approval, would be $8,924,110.

■ The Verde Valley Archaeology Center and Museum hosted its annual American Indian Ancestral Garden open house and plant sale on May 4.

■ David Edward Castillo, former head boys’ and girls’ cross-country coach at Camp Verde High School, pled guilty to sexual abuse on May 14. Castillo was later sentenced to six months in jail, 20 years of probation and registration as a sex offender upon release, plus fines and restitution.

■ The Verde Valley Cultural Collective held its first popup art sale on May 18, at the Distant Drums RV Resort in Camp Verde, with Barry Brennan, Jennifer Kira Eissinger, Efren Lopez and Liila Leslie.

■ The Town of Camp Verde held an open house on May 22 to discuss zoning codes regarding animal counts.

■ Miranda Fisher took over as Camp Verde town manager as of May 28.

June

■ The 2024 Hot Summer Nights Rallycross event took place at the Camp Verde Arena on June 15.

■ After six years of providing a wide array of cultural and music programs, the Phillip England Center for the Performing Arts Foundation announced that the organization would be suspending operations effective June 30 due to low attendance.

■ The Yavapai-Apache Nation Tribal Council voted unanimously on June 26 to approve the Yavapai-Apache Nation Water Rights Settlement Agreement to settle the Nation’s longstanding water rights claims.

July

■ Clients and former staff of the Verde Valley Sanctuary reported neglect and verbal abuse at the shelter. Two longtime employees were fired after they voiced concerns to VVS leadership and objections to VVS selling a Cottonwood thrift store.

■ U.S. Rep. Eli Crane [R-District 2] and Pinal County Sheriff and U.S. Senate candidate Mark Lamb spoke in Camp Verde on July 18.

■ Camp Verde Parks and Recreation Manager Michael Marshall retired on July 20 after 12 years with the town.

■ Incumbent Camp Verde Mayor Dee Jenkins defeated former Mayor Charlie German in the July 30 primary election. None of the 12 candidates for the three open town council seats received enough votes for an outright win, sending six to a runoff in the general election on Nov. 5.

August

■ Republican U.S. Senate candidate Kari Lake spoke in Camp Verde on Aug. 9.

■ Cottonwood Police arrested 50-year-old Damian Andre, a Camp Verde resident and teacher at Verde Tech High School in Cottonwood, on charges of supplying marijuana and tobacco to a minor.

■ Larry David Petersen, a Cottonwood resident who was reported missing on May 25, was found dead on Aug. 14.

■ On Aug. 14, Robert Don Schield, 40, of Camp Verde, was sentenced to 10 years in prison after he pleaded guilty to the distribution of methamphetamine and fentanyl that resulted in an overdose death in February 2022.

■ Yavapai County Sheriff’s Office deputies responded to the area near the intersection of East Beaver Creek Road and Stevenson Road in Rimrock to a report of a head-on collision involving a 2024 Toyota Rav 4 and a 2013 Volkswagen Passat, whose driver died.

September

■ The Verde Valley Fire District, Cottonwood Fire Department and Yavapai County Sheriff’s Office responded to the scene of a plane crash in the Verde Villages around 6:56 a.m. on Sept. 8.

■ Recreational Investment Group LLP announced on Sept. 12 that it had completed the purchase of nearly 16 acres at the northwest corner of Highway 260 and Dickison Circle for $1 million for a new recreational vehicle park.

■ Copper Canyon Fire and Medical Authority announced the sudden death of Copper Canyon firefighter Shane Gage on Sept. 28.

■ Former Camp Verde Mayor Tony Gioia was named the grand marshal for the 68th annual Fort Verde Days Parade to be held Oct. 12.

October

■ The Coconino National Forest began its five-year update to the National Visitor Use Survey on Oct. 2.

■ Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs [D] attended the groundbreaking ceremony for Phases 1 and 2 of the Sycamore Vista affordable housing project in Camp Verde on Oct. 16.

■ Prescott National Forest Supervisor Sarah Clawson signed the decision notice authorizing an equal-value exchange of lands currently owned by the Yavapai-Apache Nation for parcels of national forest land on Oct. 18.

■ A mulch pile in the Hayfield Draw area near Camp Verde caught fire on Oct. 12 and burned until Oct. 19. Copper Canyon Fire and Medical District reported that the mulch pile was more than 30 feet high and burning deep inside the pile.

■ Police and fire agencies from across the Verde Valley held a charity fundraising basketball game on Oct. 26, at Mingus Union High School.

■ The Yavapai County Sheriff’s Office reportedly arrested two teenage girls who were students at Sedona Sky Academy following six separate incidents of assault.

November

■ The Yavapai-Apache Nation and U.S. Forest Service held a signing ceremony at the Tunlii Community Center on Nov. 4, to commemorate the transfer of 4,782 acres of tribal land within the Prescott, Coconino, Kaibab and Apache national forests to the USFS in exchange for 3,201 acres of federal land adjacent to current National lands.

■ Incumbent Camp Verde Town Councilwoman Jessie Murdock won the most votes in the Nov. 5 general election, followed by newcomers Robert Foreman and Brian Bolton. In the race for three seats on the Camp Verde Unified School District Governing Board, Steve Gresham and Paul Hawk joined the board, and incumbent Carol German kept her seat.

■ Four members of the Camp Verde Town Council voted to support the town’s traditional agricultural lifestyle on Nov. 13, when they approved a new livestock ordinance increasing the number of animals allowed on nonagricultural parcels within the town. Council also voted to increase the number of complaints that must be received to delay issuance of a livestock permit.

■ Camp Verde Marshal Corey Rowley presented a CPR lifesaving award to Joshua Collins on Nov. 13.

■ Penny Wagner took over as superintendent of Montezuma Castle and Tuzigoot National Monuments on Nov. 17.

December

■ Up to $103,500 in rewards were offered for locating the killer of a Mexican gray wolf found dead south of Flagstaff.

■ Cars, trucks, horses, tractors and trailers adorned with lights paraded down Main Street during the annual Parade of Lights on Dec. 14.

■ Shawna Figy was appointed manager of the Camp Verde Parks and Recreation Division after serving as interim manager since the July 20.

■ Wendy Cook-Roberts retired from the Camp Verde library on Dec. 20.