More than 100 happy residents gathered at the Scenic Drive northern drive entry sign in front of Terravita Marketplace at 7:30 AM on Saturday morning. They were there to celebrate Home Depot’s decision not to build a big box outlet at Dove Valley and Scottsdale Roads and to also cleanup roadside litter.

Originally planned as a protest gathering by Friends of the Scenic Drive and the Coalition of Pinnacle Peak, the event was converted into a celebration when Home Depot notified the City of Scottsdale that it was dropping its plans for the outlet.

Les Conklin, president of Friends of the Scenic Drive, thanked those who fought Home Depot’s plans and for joining is the almost 40 years-old tradition of working to prevent "out-of-place" development on the Scenic Drive. He said that a key reason residents of Cave Creek created the Scenic Drive in 1962 was to prevent the construction of motels and gas stations in what was then open desert. Conklin announced the Friends plans to landscape the area around the northern drive entry sign to commemorate the victory.

Robert Viaro, president of the Coalition of Pinnacle Peak, congratulated residents and thanked them for their outstanding work. Vairo thanked the Scottsdale Mayor and City Council for their strong stand against Home Depot’s plans and stressed the need to prevent other big box-type stores from being developed at the same location. Viaro announced that COPP was donating $500 to the Scenic Drive landscaping project.

David Ortega, Scottsdale City Council member, praised residents for their efforts and urged them to participate in community service. Ortega indicated that he believes that development-related trucks are a major source of litter along Scottsdale’s roadsides and that he would take action to alleviate the problem.

Andrea Korff, a leader of the Stop the Big Box Committed, thanked residents for their hard work and read a poem, which she had written for the event, which reviewed the effort to "stop the Big Box."

Following the speakers, volunteers picked up litter along the Scenic Drive covering 6 miles of Scottsdale Road from Happy Valley Road to Carefree Highway. More than 100 bags of litter were collected. Rawhide, who supports the litter pickup efforts conducted on a regular basis by Friends of the Scenic Drive, donated coffee and donuts.