Sundial Globe migrates west
by Brian DiTullio

CAREFREE – It’s been a few years, but no one seems to have really noticed the Sundial no longer has a globe dangling beneath it.

“When we refurbished the Sundial (in 2005), we noticed the globe was in pretty bad shape,” said Carefree Town Manager Jon Pearson. “We decided at that time to give it to the Cave Creek Museum.”

“We have it on our outside exhibit. It’s been there since October,” said Evelyn Johnson,  executive director of the museum. “We did some minor refurbishing. Basically it  was given some (tender loving care).”

Johnson said the globe is pretty much intact with only two small pieces missing. She believes those pieces were lost at some point due to storms as they were held to the main globe by wire.

“Everything we got was reattached,” she said.

Pearson added the town looked into putting a new globe on the Sundial, but that none of the designs were found very appealing.

Mayor Ed Morgan agreed.

“Some artists came in and suggested ideas,” he said, though nothing came to fruition.

“The funny thing is nobody really noticed,” said Pearson. “There hasn’t been a whole lot inquiry.”

“We think it looks okay without it,” added Morgan.

Pearson said the town never ruled out placing another globe underneath the Sundial, but that once some time passed and no one said anything, it was decided to just let things be.

“If the town changes its mind, I guess that’s something we’d look into,” said Pearson.

“Since it was such an important part of our early days, we felt (the Cave Creek Museum) was the right place for it to be,” said Morgan.

The Sundial, conceived of as a way to attract people to the area, was built in 1959 and is considered the largest sundial in the Western Hemisphere. The  gnomon, the part of the sundial that casts the shadow, is 72 feet long, four feet wide and rises 35 feet above the plaza. The surface is copper Tube‑in‑Strip coated with paint.

The largest sundial in the world resides in Jaipur, India, and was constructed more than 250 years ago. Made of brick, it rises more than 150 feet off  the ground.