Featured Events & Tours

The City of Twentynine Palms, home of the Joshua Tree National Park Headquarters & Oasis Visitor Center and the Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center, has exciting events happening year-round. From art festivals, open studio tours, parades, and car shows to birdwatching and wildflower walks, there is always something happening in 29! We invite you to enjoy our desert and mountain vistas as you enter the great California Outback. Click here to see some of our annual events.

Wildflower Photography Contest

The Twentynine Palms Chamber of Commerce is hosting a wildflower photography contest during the month of March 2010. Two divisions: (1) traditional photography contest and (2) photo scavenger hunt. Click the PDF file below to read more about the contest and prizes...

Press release 3-1-2010 - Wildflower Photography Contest

Art Exhibits in Twentynine Palms

Through March 16: "The Mad Veritas Art of Robyn Goudy" (mixed media, mosaics, collages, paintings) at 29 Palms Creative Center, 6847 Adobe Road, 29 Palms, (760)361-1805.

Through March 21: "Allen & Mita's Adventures in Wonderland" (Allen & Mita Barter) at The Glass Outhouse Gallery, 77575 Hwy. 62 at Thunder Road, Wonder Valley, located just off the highway 5 miles east of downtown 29 Palms, (760)367-3807. Open Tues.-Sat. 1-5 p.m.

Through March 28: "Mojave Views" - Watercolors by Audrey Gillick and Collage & Acrylics by Anne Lear - and "Other Worlds" paintings by Scott Monteith are featured at 29 Palms Art Gallery. 74055 Cottonwood Dr. off National Park Dr., 29 Palms, (760)367-7819. Open Wed.-Sun. 12-3 p.m.

Through April 29: Wildflower watercolors by Pat Flynn in Art in Public Places at City Hall, 6136 Adobe Road, 29 Palms, (760)367-6799. Art Reception Tuesday, MARCH 9, 5 to 6 p.m.

Through March: Exhibit at A Roadside Attraction Gallery, 69197 29 Palms Highway, Indian Cove area, 29 Palms, (760)362-4100. Open Mon.-Sat.

Theatre 29 - Walmartopia - March 12 to April 10, 2010

The campy musical comedy "Walmartopia" makes its West Coast Debut at Theatre 29 from March 12 to April 10, directed by Charles Harvey. From the humble heartland of Madison, Wisconsin, the habitat of the big box store, comes the "campy, caustic, and comically irresistable" musical that tells the hilarious and timely tale of Vicki Latrell, a single mom who speaks out against her company's working conditions and who finds herself jettisoned to 2040 where Wal-Mart rules the world, except Vermont! Yes, the musical features the singing head of Wal-Mart, founder Sam Walton.

Performances are 7 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays. Tickets are $12 regular, $10 seniors and military, $8 children under 12 and students with I.D. Call the Box Office: (760)361-4151 or visit: www.theatre29.com.

Art at the Oasis - April 2, 3, and 4, 2010

ART AT THE OASIS

18th Annual Joshua Tree National Park Art Festival

Art and nature come together in charming cordiality at the 18th annual Joshua Tree National Park Art Festival. Located at the park's Oasis of Mara visitor center in Twentynine Palms, 74485 National Park Drive, the show takes place Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, April 2-4, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily.

More than 25 artists representing a variety of mediums will be on hand to exhibit and sell their work. A theme show, all work is an output of creativity inspired by Joshua Tree National Park and the desert southwest. Meet the artists and find out what it was in their desert view that so inspired their creativity.

The festival is sponsored by the Joshua Tree National Park Association, a non-profit organization that provides support and assistance to the park's interpretive, educational, and scientific programs.

Festival admission is FREE. For more information, call (760)367-5537.

Explore Twentynine Palms!

Weekly tours are offered of historic and cultural sites in Twentynine Palms. Contact the Chamber of Commerce for more information, (760)367-3445.

Desert Wildflowers in the Spring

	Verbena Dunes- Jim Bagley 2008

Twentynine Palms, CA – 2009

During the wildflower season each spring, more than 60 species of wildflowers can be seen in Joshua Tree National Park and in the surrounding desert areas of Twentynine Palms.

Bill Truesdell, retired chief of interpretation at Joshua Tree National Park, says not all species are visible from the road. When tourists find a good patch of flowers, they should stop, get out of their cars and walk around. “They’re likely to find more than they really realize is there,” said Truesdell, who now volunteers at the park.

Species in bloom near the south end of the park often include chuparosa, yellow brittlebush, Arizona lupine, desert poppies and chia. Near the Pinto Basin, visitors may find pink sand verbena, brown-eyed evening primrose, desert dandelions, white pincushions and yellow daisies. Desert lilies bloom near Interstate 10, off Highway 62, and in the Pinto Basin, and bladderpod blooms all over the park. The Cockscomb Mountains and Clarks Pass are also great places to see wildflowers.

Joshua Tree National Park offers wildflower walks. Visitors should call the park for dates and times. Joshua Tree National Park, 74485 National Park Drive, Twentynine Palms, CA 92277. (760)367-5500. www.nps.gov/jotr

Linda Slater, chief of resource interpretation at Mojave National Preserve, said desert dandelions bloomed the most at the preserve in early spring 2009, and visitors could see them on Kelbaker and Cima Roads, at the Kelso Depot Visitors Center, and on Interstate 40 between Barstow and Ludlow. “We had an area that burned in our park a couple years ago, and that always puts on a good wildflower show,” Slater said.

Lupine, cecilia, desert chicories, cacti, daisies, pincushions, Mojave asters, wild rhubarb, purple mat and fiddleneck were also visible in Mojave National Preserve, said Lesley Thornburg, operations manager at Cadiz Inc.

Wildflower blooming varies from year to year, but generally occurs from February through May in the Mojave Desert, Joshua Tree National Park, and Mojave National Preserve areas. Wildflower information is available at the Oasis Visitor Center in Joshua Tree National Park and the Kelso Depot Visitor Center at Mojave National Preserve.

Visitors can also get wildflower updates at Joshua Tree National Park’s website: http://www.nps.gov/jotr or at Mojave National Preserve’s website: www.nps.gov/moja.

Contact the Twentynine Palms Chamber of Commerce for more information: (760)367-3445.

Jackrabbit Homestead audio tours

"Jackrabbit Homestead: Tracing the Small Tract Act in the Southern California Landscape, 1938-2008" is a forthcoming book by Kim Stringfellow, available Fall 2009 from Center for American Places, and a Web-based multimedia presentation (available now!) featuring a downloadable car audio tour. The audio tour explores the cultural legacy of the Small Tract Act in Southern California's Morongo Basin region near Joshua Tree National Park. Stories from this regional history are told through voices of local residents, historians, and area artists -- many of whom reside in reclaimed historic cabins and use the structures as inspiration for their creative work.

The self-guided car audio tour and driving map of Wonder Valley -- a jackrabbit homesteading settlement located east of Twentynine Palms -- can be downloaded for free at www.jackrabbithomestead.com

The Jackrabbit Homestead project is made possible by a grant from the California Council for the Humanities as part of the Council's statewide California Stories Initiative.