This is a reminder about our summer contest.

Each week we are giving away $100 to one person who has had his or her coupon drawn in our weekly drawing.

We are doing this to help bring business out to our merchants and restaurants during these hot days.

And one of the conditions of participation is that the merchant or restaurant include a weekly special in their ads, preferably a new one each week.

Hopefully, you, the readers, are reading and watching for those specials.

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The rain on Sunday was a welcome change for this time of year. I couldn’t believe when I looked at the thermometer on my patio at about 2 p.m. and it showed 75 degrees.

That was a welcome change from the 115-plus readings in the two weeks prior. The lightning show the night before was spectacular.

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I haven’t used any of the Fountain Hills facts from the town history book in quite a while. This seems like a good week to do so.

Fountain Hills has a very active Chamber of Commerce. It promotes a strong business community and strives to improve the quality of life for all citizens. Organized as a non-profit corporation on Nov. 19, 1974 with approximately 15 members, the Chamber now has more than 600 members. It has two major fundraisers each year, the Fountain Festival of Arts & Crafts each November and the Fountain Hills Great Fair in February.

The Comfort Inn was the first hotel to locate in Fountain Hills. Holiday Inn and The Inn at Eagle Mountain opened later and there are overnight accommodations available at the nearby Fort McDowell Radisson Resort and the Courtyard by Marriott adjacent to the Mayo Clinic in Scottsdale.

Fountain Hills High School opened for classes in 1992. The Falcons football team played the community’s first official football game before 1,300 fans in September. The Falcons beat Brimhall 35-3 and Jason Devoning scored the school’s first touchdown.

The Neighborhood Property Owners Association was formed in 1992 by concerned residents who felt it was in their best interest to maintain architectural control over new construction and re-construction of existing buildings in the community. The Neighborhood Committee of Architecture (NCOA) is the branch of NPOA charged with architectural controls. The group reviews plans and issues permits for all new construction as well as changes to existing structures from an aesthetic standpoint.

The Fountain Hills McDowell Mountain Preserve brings desert hiking right into the back yard, literally in many cases, of Fountain Hills residents. This 940-acre preserve was acquired over several years during the late ‘90s and early into the new decade. There are 740 acres owned by the Town of Fountain Hills, and 200 acres are owned by the City of Scottsdale.