SPECIAL EVENTS Events This Week PARTY AT THE PLAZA. 2940 N. Swan Road. Experience the charm of a European style open-air market from 4 to 8 p.m. Thursdays at Plaza Palomino. Enjoy gourmet food, fresh produce, herbs, coffee, arts and crafts, live music and more. Call 795-1177 for information. HOT! HOT! HOT! St. Philip's Plaza. 4380 N. Campbell Ave. Hear the hottest tunes and taste the hottest salsa at the Tucson Jazz Society's annual Latin jazz dance, salsa tasting and "cook-off" from 8 p.m. to midnight Saturday, August 31. The Tucson Latin Jazz Orchestra will perform Latin jazz, salsa, merengues, cumbias and other Latin sounds for dancing or just listening. This event also celebrates their album release party. There will be salsas galore created by both commercial and individual entrants. Admission is $9, $5 for TJS members, available at the door beginning at 7 p.m. Call 743-3399 for more information. NORTEÑO FESTIVAL. Come listen to music, watch traditional dancers, enjoy home-cooked Mexican food, Indian fry bread and more at the Pio Decimo Center's ninth annual Noretño Music Festival from 2 to 11 p.m., Saturday and Sunday, August 31 and September 1, in the City of South Tucson (South Fourth Avenue at 36th Street). This event kicks off the Diez y Seis de Septiembre, Mexican Independence Day festivities. There will be traditional norteño bands competing in a battle of the bands competition, and more than 40 booths including food, arts and crafts. Admission is free. Call 622-2801 for information and a schedule of Diez y Seis de Septiembre activities. SONORAN CELEBRATION. It's the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum's 44th birthday. Come share in the celebration beginning at 7:30 a.m. Monday, September 2, at the museum, 2021 N. Kinney Road. The day begins with a demonstration by the Sonoran Desert Raptors and continues through the afternoon with fun family activities like gold panning for the kids, cooking with prickly pears, live animal demonstrations, Abenaki Indian story teller Gerard Tsonakwa, and much more. All festivities are free with regular museum admission. Call 883-2702 for a specific schedule of birthday events and information. WALKTOBERFEST ALERT. Get your friends, neighbors, kids and colleagues together for Walktoberfest '96, on Sunday, October 6. Teams will compete for prizes, with individual walkers also welcome. After the walk there will be an awards ceremony with live music from Pulse; Tuffy Toro and Wilber and Wilma Wildcat will be on hand to visit with the kids; munchies from Eegees and more. Registration deadline is October 1. Call the American Diabetes Association at 795-3711 for information.

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