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The Phoenix Country Club, one of Arizona's most venerable institutions, had a birthday party over the weekend.  It turned 100 years old. And in a state where a house built in the 1980s is considered old, that's a notable fete.

To this day the club retains its status as a hangout for the Valley's corporate elite, a prime place to cut deals, be it over lunch or on the golf course.  A crowd estimated at anywhere from 1,200 to 2,400, depending on who you talk to and perhaps how much fun they imbibed, showed up to say happy anniversary.

The list of attendees included members from such well-known Arizona families as Brophy, Goldwater, Calihan, Luhrs, Tait.

Not surprising. Consider: It was a club before Arizona was a state.

There on the A List

Speaking of cutting deals, I'll bet the seeds of one or two were planted during our Book of Lists networking event last week.  A crowd of about 600 turned up, and the versatile mix made for some terrific networking opportunities.

They were among the 3,600 people who were named on any of our Lists, so there was a fair share of power brokers on hand.

Like: Jackie Vieh, Department of Commerce; Fulton Brock, Maricopa County supervisor; Kax Herberger, with son Judd (but without stage sidekick Chelsea), Clay Wells who never has seen a stadium he couldn't build with Huber, Hunt & Nichols; Ann Harris, who throws a pretty fair party at her steakhouse; Dan Harkins, movie king; and Jordan Rich, who just took a job as a partner at Jorden & Bischoff overseeing zoning and government relations issues.

Favorite job title:  E-Business Evagelist.  That belonged to Kelly Blasher of Ephibian, an e-business strategies firm.

Favorite look-alike: When a rumor surfaced that Carol Burnett showed up it didn't take long to figure out it was Cheryl Walsh of Growth Strategies. Spitting image. Sort of.

Scouts honors

It's Girl Scout cookie season, so get ready to pay up for all those boxes you ordered from your co-worker's daughter a few weeks back.

Meantime, the scouts' Arizona Cactus-Pine Council will be paying tribute to six women at a luncheon March 24. (602-253-6359 for more.)

They will receive World Awards to mark their achievements and adherence to scout values. They are:

Margaret Hatcher of Northern Arizona University; Ellen Kirschbaum of the Department of Corrections; Jeanne Herberger of the Frank Lloyd Wright Society; Barbara Barrett, president of Triple Creek Guest Ranch; Carolyn O'Malley of the Desert Botanical Garden; and Lela Alston of Metro Tech High School.

I'm assuming they sold a lot of cookies in their time, too.

Don Henninger can be reached at 602-230-8400, Ext. 113, or at dhenninger@amcity.com via e-mail.