Save the date of June 21, 2014.That’s the day of our joint anniversary party with Bashas’.

Why, you ask, are we having a joint birthday with a grocery store?

It is because we started in business virtually at the same time, some 40 years ago in Fountain Hills.

Bashas’ opened its store in the building that most recently housed the local Goodwill store on June 19, 1974. That building is located on the northeast corner of Palisades Boulevard and La Montana Drive. After Bashas’ moved out in 1986 to its present location, Paul’s Hardware moved in.

It’s a 10,000-square-foot space, small for a supermarket, but to the residents of Fountain Hills at that time, it was the “big time.”

When the first residents of Fountain Hills started moving into their homes in 1972, the closest supermarket was located at Scottsdale Road and Shea Boulevard, 14 miles away. In the warm months you would have to take a cooler with ice with you for the cold items. Getting ice cream home intact was always questionable, particularly in the summer months.

There were two U-Tote-M convenience stores in Fountain Hills with somewhat pricey items if you didn’t feel like driving into Scottsdale.

So when the Bashas’ opened, most residents greeted them with open arms.

Their pricing was the same as in all Bashas’ stores. It had a fresh pro-duce section and a meat department with a butcher. Because of the size of the store, its only limitation was the number of items it could stock. But the first store manager, Dean Seaman, made it known that he could special order items on an “as-needed” basis.

A “Meet Your Neighbor” party was held the night before the store was opened for business. Company President Eddie Basha was in attendance as well as some 400 residents (I don’t think we had over 1,000 at the time). Free samples were handed out and, for many, it was the first opportunity to meet their fellow pioneer residents. There were lots of smiling faces.

The Fountain Hills Bashas’ was the 21st store in the chain that started in 1932.

As I said earlier, Bashas’ opened on June 19, 1974, Less than two weeks later, on June 27, we published the first edition of our newspaper. It was called The Times of Fountain Hills. We later changed it to the present name when The Times of London said they had a copyright on the name “The Times of” and had won several challenges in court over its use. In those early days, there were weeks when I didn’t collect a pay check, so how could I possibly pay for a court challenge?

That first edition did not have a Bashas’ ad. In fact, it was two years before we had our first ad from them. But they have been with us ever since either with a display ad or an insert. And they have sold more copies of The Times than any other location over the years.

So that is why we are having a party with Bashas’ on June 21.

It will be held from 3 to 5 p.m.

There will be free birthday cake, 25 cent hot dogs and 25 cent Cokes. You can meet The Times staff, and talk with store Director Ken Fett. With the passing of Eddie Basha, we have invited Johnny Basha, who was the driving force for opening the bigger location in 1986.

Also invited is Leonard Borsuk, longtime store director, who took over for Seaman six months after the original store opened.

Then we will have the drawing for prizes. The drawing is open to Times subscribers only. And they must fill out a coupon to enter.

The prizes include 10 $40 gift certificates to Bashas’, Diamondbacks tickets and gift certificates donated by local advertisers.

Come join the fun on June 21.