"We didn't set out to do it; we just kept going." That is how co-owner Lauren Van Winkle describes the decade behind Local Jonny's Tavern & Café, according to AZ Big Media. At 10 a.m. on Thursday, Oct. 8, the Cave Creek Museum will present the business with a bronze Local Landmarks plaque.
The plaque is the headline of the month, but it also explains the calendar around it. The museum reopened, hosted a ghost-hunt night, and will hand out the plaque. The Cave Creek Thriller finishes inside a landmarked park. The 2025 Mayor's Cup at Taste of Cave Creek went to a landmarked restaurant. Most of October's dated events happen at a landmark or finish at one. Taste of Cave Creek and the month-ending art festival are at Stagecoach Village.
One address, several businesses
Local Jonny's sits at 6033 E. Cave Creek Road, and the building has changed jobs many times. The AZ Big Media profile puts a Highway Variety Store there in the 1950s and '60s. Later tenants included a hardware shop, a barber, a locksmith, an auto repair shop and Lauren's Feed and Tack.
The chapter most people in town would recognize started in 1997:
- 1997: Cave Creek Coffee Company, known as C4, opens with specialty roasting, art exhibitions, community events and an outdoor venue that seated 200.
- 2012: The building closes.
- 2014: Van Winkle and her husband, Jon Oughterson, lease it and share it with the Flat Tire Bike Shop. Local Jonny's begins as a small coffee counter with a few breakfast items and four tables out front.
- 2019: The bike shop moves out, and the couple builds out a full tavern.
Oughterson knew the building before he owned any of it. Arizona PBS reports that he started there as a 20-year-old barista, and a 2021 Images Arizona profile says he worked the bar and security at C4 for years. That profile also says he built the tavern's outdoor tables from the old C4 bleachers. So the plaque goes to a building that keeps getting reused, and part of the reuse is literal.
Local Jonny's is one of three Local Landmarks chosen for the 2026-27 season. The Cave Creek Museum manages the program for the Town. Each plaque links its site to a storytelling map that anyone can explore. As of 2024 the Town counted 20 landmarks, and the list runs from restaurants to a library to a regional park. It includes Harold's Corral, Horny Toad, Hideaway, Big Earl's, Le Sans Souci, El Encanto, Indian Village, Dairy Queen, Black Mountain Feed, the Cave Creek Museum and Cave Creek Regional Park.
October, laid over the map
| Date | What | Where | Landmark connection |
|---|---|---|---|
| Thu, Oct 1 | Museum reopens for the season | 6140 E. Skyline Dr. | The museum is on the landmark list |
| Wed, Oct 7 | Haunted History with AZ Ghost Adventures, 6:40 to 9:30 p.m. | Cave Creek Museum | Same building |
| Thu, Oct 8 | Local Jonny's plaque, 10 a.m. | 6033 E. Cave Creek Rd. | The new landmark |
| Wed and Thu, Oct 14 and 15 | Taste of Cave Creek, 5 to 9 p.m., $15 | Stagecoach Village | Harold's won the 2025 Mayor's Cup |
| Sat, Oct 17 | Cave Creek Thriller trail race | Finishes in Cave Creek Regional Park | The park is on the landmark list |
| Fri through Sun, Oct 30 to Nov 1 | Sonoran Fine Art & Wine Festival, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. | Stagecoach Village | Free entry, pay only for tastings |
The museum anchors the front of the month. Its own site says it opened October 1 and invites everyone to "party like we're 40." The Town of Cave Creek incorporated in 1986, and the museum is selling shirts for the 40th anniversary. The museum is open October through May, so check cavecreekmuseum.org for this season's hours. The Haunted History night on Oct. 7 featured AZ Ghost Adventures, a local team that has appeared on the Travel Channel's Destination Fear. The evening included a demonstration of professional paranormal investigation equipment and an interactive investigation with it. When the museum ran a version of the event in 2023, it covered the exhibits and outdoor mining equipment and required registration. For any future Haunted History event, check the rules with the museum before you go.
What a new restaurant does with an old address
The month's newest restaurant follows the same pattern. Creekers Restaurant & Dive is at 6554 E. Cave Creek Road, Suite 14. The Town's dining directory lists Fantastico's Mexican Food and It's a Divine Bakery at the same street address. The Cave Creek/Carefree Independent reported in June that Creekers would open in August. The restaurant's website now lists its hours, and the coverage I found does not give an exact opening date.
The Independent describes the team as Cave Creek residents: general manager Robbie Boccelli, front-of-house manager Caris Kuhn and chef Ryan Leander. It says the space was designed to feel as if it was always part of town, serving "familiar food made with care." Creekers moved into an existing strip and did not need a ground-up project. That is the same move Van Winkle and Oughterson made in 2014, when they took a shuttered coffee house and gave it new work.
That context helps at Taste of Cave Creek, held at Stagecoach Village on Wednesday and Thursday, Oct. 14 and 15, from 5 to 9 p.m. Over 25 local restaurants serve their top dishes, and there is a beer garden and live music. Admission is $15, and children 12 and under get in free. Restaurants take cards or cash at their booths. The beer garden runs on $1 tickets, and no pets are allowed unless they are service animals. The organizers advise arriving early for the best restaurant selection.
Last year's Mayor's Cup went to Harold's Cave Creek Corral at 6895 E. Cave Creek Road. Harold's says it has hosted Cave Creek parties for more than 90 years. It is also on the landmark list, so the festival's headline award last year went to a restaurant the Town had already plaqued.
Stamping the map
The Local Landmarks program gives the month a way to tie its stops together. It runs a Passport program. You pick up a passport at the Cave Creek Museum or the Cave Creek Visitors Bureau, visit up to 10 locations and answer the questions. You then bring the passport back to either place for Cave Creek swag.
The museum is the natural first stop, since it is both a landmark and a place that hands out passports. It reopened Oct. 1, and passport pickup is there. From there, a passport holder could trace a route through the dated events:
- Oct. 7: the museum hosted Haunted History.
- Oct. 8: Local Jonny's, for the plaque ceremony. The tavern serves breakfast, brunch and lunch daily. Its website lists live music on Fridays and Saturdays from 6 to 9 p.m. The Arizona PBS profile names the Flat Tire burrito and Jonny's Famous Pancakes as go-to breakfast orders, and says burgers are the best seller at lunch and dinner.
- Oct. 14 and 15: Taste of Cave Creek, then dinner at any landmarked restaurant the next night.
- Oct. 17: Cave Creek Regional Park, for trail runners and anyone watching the finish.
The Thriller is Aravaipa Running's Cave Creek race, now in its 15th year. Its 50K and 24K distances follow the Maricopa Trail point to point and finish inside the park. The 11K and 5K stay within the park on hilly mountain trails. The race is the morning after the Cave Creek Thrasher Night Trail Runs. Anyone planning a Saturday hike in the park should expect runners on the trails and check with the park before heading out. Its race page has the details.
The month ends off the landmark list, at Stagecoach Village for the 17th Annual Sonoran Fine Art & Wine Festival, Oct. 30 through Nov. 1. Organizer Vermillion Promotions lists more than 100 juried artists, along with wine and craft beer tastings and live music. Hours run 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., with tastings starting at 11 a.m. Entry is free and parking is easy. The festival listing has the details.
If you have a story about a building on the Local Landmarks map, or one you think belongs on it, Wendy Ortiz at Wendy O Real Estate would like to hear it. Let's Connect.
