Word: winterizer
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...Quartzsite is subject to the same forces that control the vast flocks of migratory birds that traverse the continent twice a year. In winter the town swells to absorb 200,000 people. They are refugees from the frozen North, most of them retirees making their seasonal escape in RVs. Then, usually in April, when the temperature begins to rise and the lure of the North is greater, the huge encampment with its bustling activity rolls away, evaporating like runoff from a desert cloudburst...
...species of snowbirds: "boondockers," like Bloomquist and her husband Len, 75, a retired farm-equipment dealer, park their mobile homes and set up housekeeping; "tailgaters," who use their vehicles as shops on wheels, selling all manner of goods; and "tourists," who just drive around. Quartzsite is not the only winter oasis that attracts such migrants. According to the Recreation Vehicle Industry Association, some half a million Americans go south each winter in motor homes, most to established cities in Florida, Texas and Arizona. Quartzsite is for those who prefer to rough...
Cheap rent, warm sun and clean air are just some of Quartzsite's attractions. Winter residents also enjoy an easy and active social life: evening bonfires, potluck dinners, dirt biking, rock hounding, panning for gold (and finding it), plus more dances than you'd find in a teenager's calendar. In February Quartzsite plays host to the largest gem and mineral exhibition in the country. And there's an abundance of flea markets, where a person can buy, among other things, crocheted cowboy hats, petrified dinosaur manure, pet ID tags, Whitt's "hillbilly" billfold and racoon-penis earrings...
...from the ballroom is a pile of rocks, a grave with a planted cross that reads OLD MAN WINTER. By mid-May the grave and a whole lot of tire tracks will be all that remains of the flock of snowbirds that have migrated north to follow the seasons. Traffic on I-10 will be down to a trickle, and the swamp coolers in Dolly's Restaurant will be cranked up, working overtime to beat the heat...
...holding annual balls that featured the dance style. Voguers from clubs like the House of Dupree practiced their steps in downtown discos, spreading the craze. Myra Christopher, a salesclerk in designer Patricia Field's New York City boutique, helped vogueing flourish after she went to a ball in the winter of 1987. Says she: "Here were these kids getting prizes and trophies for things they get made fun of for in the real world." She persuaded her boss to start a vogueing group called the House of Field...