Happy Friday! On this day in 1906, Arizona voted against joint statehood with New Mexico.

🌤️ Today's weather: Sunny, high of 78.

🎂 Happy early birthday to our member Ric Spargo!

Today’s newsletter is 959 words — a 3.5-minute read.

Scottsdale is ready for its spectacular annual art and lights festival, which runs today through Nov. 15.

Driving the news: The Canal Convergence festival marks its 15th edition and Scottsdale's 75th anniversary with the theme "Western Nature."

The big picture: Tour the 11 installations — which stretch between Scottsdale Road and Goldwater Boulevard along the Arizona Canal — or attend the workshops and performances.

• Pro tip: Start at Marshall Way roundabout and grab maps at the information booth, Canal Convergence director Jennifer Gill tells Axios.
• She says to keep your eyes peeled for participating artists, who sometimes walk the event wearing artist badges and will talk about their work.

Here's a guide to Canal Convergence 2026.

Start with the art

• 🐴 Try an unusual slide: Climb inside the glowing horse "Dream Rider," scale its neck and zip down its mane.
• 🐺 Make the desert answer: Call into one of "Desert Choir's" microphones. Your voice creates trails of light and summons Southwestern animal calls across three screens suspended above the canal.
• 🃏 Wager something weird: Trade a paper clip, feather or other trinket in the cash-free blackjack game "The Way the West Was Sold," run by Old West snake oil salesmen.
• ✨ Bend the light: Move or make noise beneath the Marshall Way Bridge to alter Shaoyu Su's "Another Slice of Reality: An Evolving Nature," which blends visitor movements with Scottsdale-area environmental data.
• 🔥 Wake the fire horse: Push a button to make the 9-foot "Prairie Fire" shoot a controlled burst of flame. Nearby, "Western Fire Garden" stages shows nightly at 6:30, 7:30 and 8:30pm.

Pick your soundtrack and more

For nine months, central Phoenix has had a new Jamaican restaurant, although diners are just now catching on to its existence.

Dig in: Earlier this week, Axios stopped by for a pre-election night meal at Champagne Cafe + Lounge, located in an unassuming storefront at 15th Avenue and Camelback Road.

The latest: Champagne Cafe opened earlier this year, but business has been slow, owner Chris Martin tells Axios. That's too bad, because the food is pretty good.

• Martin is considering changing the name, although he says the recent addition of an "Authentic Jamaican Restaurant" banner out front has brought in more customers.
• "We still want to do some more stuff eventually, but the economy is kind of up and down," says Martin, who has been in Phoenix for 20 years.

The vibe: I dropped in at 4pm and was greeted with reggae music and a mural of a leopard.

• I ordered the jerk chicken plate with rice and fried plantains, pictured above. It came out hot and fast.
• The chicken was juicy and had plenty of kick from the jerk sauce. I could have eaten 10 more of the plantains.

The intrigue: Champagne Cafe is open late — till midnight most nights and until 2am on Fridays and Saturdays. That's when the "lounge" part of its name comes into play.

• "People come in, they chill, they eat," Martin says. "We just vibe."

If you go: You'll find the restaurant at 4835 N. 15th Ave.

• It opens at 11am Tuesdays-Saturdays and at 1pm on Sundays. It's closed Mondays.

Grab a bite

🗳️ Amish Shah locked up his victory over Republican Jay Feely in the race for the open 1st Congressional District seat, per the Associated Press. (Axios)

• The AP also called the race in southern Arizona's 6th Congressional District for Democrat JoAnna Mendoza, who unseated Republican incumbent Juan Ciscomani.

🫏 Nick Mansour defeated Elijah Norton in the race for state treasurer, making him the first Democrat to win the office since 1964. (Arizona Mirror)

⚖️ 19-year-old Democrat Sebastian Matta won his race to be the next Maricopa County clerk of the Superior Court. (AZCentral)

🍽️ Restaurateur Sam Fox left Fox Restaurant Concepts at the end of October after nearly 30 years. (Phoenix New Times)

👀 Arizona Department of Agriculture confirmed two new cases of New World screwworm in the state, this time in Greenlee County. (KJZZ)

Halloween is over and Thanksgiving is on deck, but one piece of Christmas has already arrived in north Phoenix.

The latest: Axios watched as the 70-foot, natural Christmas tree was hoisted into place early yesterday at Outlets North Phoenix.

Zoom in: This is the 25th year that Outlets North Phoenix has displayed a massive, real tree, according to general manager JoAnn Truax.

• "In Arizona, you don't get to see very many trees like this, right?" Truax tells Axios. "And so, if we're gonna do it, we're gonna do the biggest and the best."

How it works: Over the course of a couple hours, a team of workers used a crane to raise the tree in the air, orient it vertically and deposit it in a 6-foot well installed just for holding it.

• It will take two weeks for the tree to be fully decorated with more than 5,000 ornaments and 1.5 miles of LED string lights.

Watch it go up

It's that time again! See how well you absorbed this week's news with our quiz.

Congratulations to last week's perfect scorers: Brent S., Jordan E. and Craig F.

Hit reply or email us at [email protected] with a screenshot of your perfect score for a shoutout next week!

Jeremy got to know Kevin DeMenna when he started covering the Capitol in 2008 and is saddened to hear of Kevin's death.

🎄 Zach will have to go back up in a few weeks to see that tree all lit up and decorated.

This newsletter was edited by Jodie Lau.