Things to Do in Eloy

When people look at the poisonous reptiles slithering inside habitats at the California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco, they are looking at Khabir Salahadyn’s work. Khabir––an artist and a certified structural welder––created Working Art, which is now run by his wife Ceri Jones Salahadyn. The mission stayed the same: to "make ideas tangible," which is explored by finding new ways to make artwork that is both functional and creative. Along with Working Art, The Collaboratory––Khabir and Ceri's brainchild––has other divisions such as The Whole Way, in which Ceri uses her 20 years of business and leadership experiences to advise ways to fulfill the potential of art, industry, people, and businesses. Both Khabir and Ceri believe in art education, and together they have created the classes and workshops in their Ability Center.

No one knows where Dr. Vantas lost his way. Once an esteemed doctor at the vanguard of electroshock therapy for the mentally insane, the physician let his psychiatric hospital become a madhouse, prompting rumors of Vantas using inhumane experiments on patients. Those who enter The Asylum risk falling prey to its deranged denizens and the quack’s extremely cold stethoscope. This is the spine-tingling, horror-film narrative that plays out to visitors as they creep through The Asylum, a haunted site modeled after an 1870s-style mental institution and half of The Crypt Haunted Attractions’ two-piece tribute to fear.

The other creepy venue, The Crypt, beckons intrepid guests to descend into a vault filled with the living dead. As they tiptoe through the chamber's darkened corridors, voyagers must stay poised as they strafe around staggering corpses groaning about their hunger for brains or the lack of legroom in their casket.

"From the first time I worked extensively with clay, I felt a connection to it, and a passion for it that has never waned," asserts Michelle Katz, owner of Desert Dragon Pottery. A ceramics artist for more than a quarter century, Katz harnesses her fine arts degree and aesthetic aptitude to teach students of all levels how to exercise their imaginations. Through a roster of classes, pupils explore the shapes of vases and plates, before leaving their finished works for Michelle to fire in her self-made, gas-fired car kiln. When not teaching, Katz often exhibits her work with pottery guild Arizona Clay Association, a collection of regional artists who share with the community their insights, masterpieces, and tips for creating life-like body doubles

As toes twinkle onstage, visitors can bask in the renovated scenery of Symphony Hall, which couples hand-blown glass chandeliers with a quartet of designer tapestries. One of the largest machine-made draperies known to man, the theater’s colorful Grand Drape symbolizes the renewal of generations, creativity, and library books discovered during fossil digs.