The city of Sun City West, Arizona is a self-contained, self-government 55+ walled community near Phoenix, Arizona. Within the city’s walls, are four recreation centers, shopping, places of worship, and a nationally ranked hospital. But that’s not all–Sun City West has almost 25,000 residents and over 100 active clubs.

The larger city of Sun City was born first, about ten miles away (roughly), in 1960, and is probably the most famous of all the Sun Cities in the U.S. It was the child of developer Del Webb.

Sun City West is, I guess, the sister city of that original city, and it was born forty years ago. Today, Sun City West celebrated its anniversary with various activities, the main one being a parade. My husband and I parked out folding chairs on a street corner, and I snapped almost 200 photos. I wanted to share some of them with you.

Um, the fire truck wasn’t part of the parade. It cut across the parade’s path near the end, going to a call, I suspect.