Fiesta Sahuarita draws new attendance data, town begins using Placer AI; Stars and Stripes will be a drone/pyro hybrid

Parks and Recreation and Economic Development staff reported results from the April 5 Fiesta Sahuarita and described a new approach to counting attendees and measuring economic impact using a location‑intelligence platform.

Lacey Simmons, event supervisor for Parks and Recreation, said Fiesta Sahuarita is one of the town's signature events and that the April festival hosted 127 marketplace vendors, 50 children's entrepreneur market vendors and 36 food trucks. Simmons said program features included a free Kids Zone with carnival rides, a beer garden supplied by local vendors, stage performances and a drone show to end the night.

Alex Magalanes, economic development specialist, described the town's new use of Placer AI, a commercial location‑intelligence service that aggregates anonymized mobile-device data with census-tract information to estimate visitor volumes, dwell times and origin areas. Magalanes said the platform was used to compare Fiesta Sahuarita on April 5, 2025 with…