Last Months News

Halloween 2025

Trunk or Treat in Topock/Golden Shores is more than just trick-or-treating—it’s a community celebration. Local residents, businesses, and organizations decorate their tables or car trunks with spooky and creative themes, from haunted castles to friendly pumpkin pet patches. These decorated vehicles line up in a designated parking lot, forming a festive path for children to walk through and collect treats in a safe, welcoming environment.

What makes Trunk or Treat so special in our town is the sense of togetherness. Neighbors share hot chocolate and cider, families catch up, and local groups bring games to entertain the children. It’s a chance for everyone to enjoy a night out, celebrate autumn, and make lasting memories in a safe, family-friendly setting.

As the evening winds down, children leave clutching bags brimming with treats and hearts filled with joy. Trunk or Treat has become a cherished tradition in Topock/Golden Shores, marking Halloween as a time not only for sweets and scares but also for warmth, friendship, and community spirit.

SOMEONE STOLE OUR TOWN WEBSITE SIGN FROM THE POST OFFICE FENCE!

The reason why we conclude that the sign was stolen is because if it was the wind, the other signs would be missing too, besides, our sign was very well secured with wire.

It is very disturbing to find out that anyone would do that against our town website. We have been working as volunteers for the community since February to bring us all together. Besides our residents and neighbors, we dedicate our work to snowbirds and weekenders who cannot be here so often. The TopockAZ page was created with all the community in mind, so they can read about our town from anywhere in the world when they are not physically here.

Our website still doesn’t charge for local ads even though we have expenses every month; our volunteers are students and residents who enjoy giving back to our beautiful community of Golden Shores/Topock like our dear Denise McGlinchey, Kayly Anderson and Tom Blair.

To the person who stole our sign: We forgive you and we hope God bless you with a beautiful life so you will not have to steal anymore.

Charlie Kirk Vigil:

The death of Charlie Kirk left many of us in disbelief, but what was interesting was that many people did not know who he was. After the news about his death on September 10th was spreading quickly, people like me, sat in front of YouTube to learn more about the guy who was making so many Americans cry. I had seen many of his videos before, but I thought he was just another YouTuber holding questions and answers sessions for fun or for more followers on his monetized channel.

It turns out, Charlie was a powerful speaker! He had a simple way of saying that he was Christian and he was not shy about it. I admit being a little careful every time I talked about my faith, especially during the years 2012 to 2016 when people were not saying “Merry Christmas” or “Happy Easter” anymore. After binge-watching several videos of Charlie’s Q&A at Universities I understood his message. I know I’m not the only one who felt that way, he brought that courage to the surface for many. It is estimated that more than 90,000 people attended his memorial service at the State Farm Stadium in Glendale Arizona and more than 20 million viewers watched live online and on TV.

Our community was also one of the hundred places in the world to celebrate Charlie’s life. In Lake Havasu, with only three days to make all the arrangements, the vigil under the London bridge brought a large number of people together to pray for his family and honor his life. It was an amazing event with a few pastors speaking, including someone who was part of Turning Point USA, the non-profit organization founded by Charlie Kirk.

Topock/Golden Shores gathered several residents at the Veterans Memorial Park for a vigil to remember and show respect to Charlie. We heard some very nice words from pastors and residents who either met him in person or were admirers of his work. Watching our neighbors sitting on the benches or their chairs, holding candles, singing God Bless The USA, brought me back to the times when neighbors used to be closer to each other and communities were about helping neighbors, not about being so divided.

Watching many vigils, commentaries, events and debates, it looked like a miracle had happened. I have never seen so many people becoming Christians in such a short period of time and the churches receiving more parishioners who had not been in church for years. The events also brought back that patriotic feeling from 2001, even though there are still a minority who dislike our beautiful country and disagree with Charlie’s faith, the vibe feels so different now, and I pray it stays.

Topock School Board Meeting

For the past few months, the residents of Golden Shores/Topock have been talking about the proposal to raise property taxes to cover the school expenses that did not have a budget increase in many years. On September 17th at 4pm, the Governing School Board had a meeting opened to the public to bring the decisions to everyone’s attention.

Most people in the audience thought they were there to vote yes or no on the increase of taxes to pay for the new budget, but the meeting was to bring to everyone’s attention that such increase was already decided, and the gathering was just a formality. Only three people were allowed to speak, and it was a good example of misunderstanding, assuming that the public should know all the formalities and requirements for each public meeting, IE: completing a form before the meeting started.

It was visible that the majority of the people who attended that event was dissatisfied with the decision, but at this point there is nothing anyone can do, Topock has already increased the taxes to pay for the new budget of the Topock Elementary School with a student body of 67 children.

Catfish Paradise 2014

One of the places I loved going and spending some peaceful time was Catfish Paradise. In 2014, the area was still clean and rarely did I see anyone there. I remember one time seeing someone fishing and another time a lady taking videos with a drone, but most of the time it was deserted. The sunset pictures I took there were stunning and being so close to nature in an environment like that was worth all the mosquito bites I got.

Recently, I wanted to revisit the place and maybe take some pictures for this website, since it was always the beautiful place of Topock where I always took friends who came from out of town to vacation at my house. Unfortunately, I was very surprised to see that the pier was all covered with weeds, and it looks like our Catfish paradise is abandoned. I wanted nature, so I got nature.

While driving around looking for the water that once attracted kayaks, fishers, and boats, it was disappointing to see how the North Dike and 5 Mile Landing look like now.