Summerlin promotes summertime fun

The Summerlin Council is giving new meaning to summer fun with a calendar packed with community events, including "dive-in" movies, camp outs and outdoor evening concerts.

This summer's first dive-in movie at The Willows Pool brought residents of the master-planned community together to view a movie from floats in the pool or poolside lounges. More than two dozen families gathered at sundown for the event, planned exclusively for residents.

A recent camp out transformed The Crossing Park into a "Survivor"-themed campground. More than 200 residents pitched tents, enjoyed a barbecue, roasted marshmallows, played games, and told ghost stories around a campfire.

"Friday Night Live" is a free concert series at The Trails Park in which residents can picnic and enjoy music under the stars. Common Sense, whose music has been featured in motion picture soundtracks, kicked off the series in mid-June, and two more concerts are planned this summer.

"Historically, developers have not been involved in the development of the social infrastructure for the communities they build. From the beginning, we knew this method of development was no longer acceptable if a community was going to thrive and prosper," said Stew Gibbons, executive vice president of The Howard Hughes Corp., the community's developer.

"As the nation's top-selling master-planned community eight of the past nine years, Summerlin is perhaps the country's best example of a community in which social infrastructure is considered as important as its physical attributes. Today's home buyers are seeking a lifestyle as much as they're looking for a home, and that's why we've made quality of life the cornerstone of community in Summerlin."

Residents may participate in more than 15 special interest clubs; enroll in educational and fitness classes; participate in youth and adult sport leagues; and attend as many as 30 resident-only events during 2001.

"From the beginning, Summerlin was being developed as a community where something would always be happening," Leslie Barnson-DeNardin, director of community relations for The Summerlin Council, said.

"The first resident events were held when there were only a few hundred families living in the community. Events that once attracted 100 families now attract thousands. And as the community has grown, so has the number and diversity of programs offered ..."

Summerlin is home to two Tournament Players Club golf courses, a Jack Nicklaus Bear's Best course and five others; nearly 100 parks; more than 90 completed miles of trails; 16 public and private schools; shopping and medical centers; business parks; and nearly 130 model homes.

Houses, townhomes and condominiums are priced from under $100,000 to more than $700,000. Custom lots measuring from one-quarter acre to three-quarters of an acre are priced from the mid-$100,000s to more than $1 million, and predesigned custom homes are priced from $500,000 to more than $1 million. Apartments offer monthly rents starting from the $700s.

To visit the community's home finding center, travel west on Sahara Avenue, past Hualapai Way, to Town Center Drive, or take Interstate 215 to Sahara. Hours are from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. daily.

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