A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE OAK CREEK APPLES

The Oak Creek Apples of Sedona started as a special interest group of the Verde Valley Computer Club in 1984. At that time the Apple IIe was the flagship computer of Apple. It was soon to be replaced with the original Macintosh which was introduced by the famous Apple TV commercial during the 1984 Superbowl game (click on the thumbnail below to view it):

The popularity of the “Mac” grew rapidly and along with it the size of the Apple special interest group.

By 1986 the Apple special interest group was meeting separately from the main club at the old Sedona Library on Jordan Road and had grown to 40 or 50 participants, more than were attending the main club meeting. The Verde Valley Computer Club had essentially split into two interest groups, the IBM Compatible PC owners who attended the monthly main meeting and the Macintosh owners who primarily attended the monthly Apple special interest group meetings.

Negotiations to somehow remerge or reunite the two groups failed and the Apple/Macintosh group split off and became the independent Oak Creek Apples Computer Club. The Verde Valley Computer Club continued for a while before becoming inactive. It was resurrected several years later in Cottonwood.

Early on the Oak Creek Apples had a mix of Apple II owners and Macintosh owners but, within a few years the number of Apple II owners became a small minority of the membership. There were suggestions to change the Club name to Sedona Mac User Group but SMUG as an acronym did not go over with many and the original name remains.

The Oak Creek Apples has been continuously active since its beginning with paid membership fluctuating approximately with the fortunes of Apple Computer. Our membership has varied from 60 to over 200 with current membership at 110 as of November 2004.

Special interest groups (SIGs) are a significant part of the Oak Creek Apple organization. We currently have a Photoshop SIG and a Mac Basics & Beyond (SIG) which meet separately from the time of the Club Main Meetings. SIGs arise as the membership perceives the need. In the past we have had investment groups, internet groups, an OS X group, and others.

In August 2001, OCAMUG received it's EIN #86-1037812 from the IRS to begin our process of incorporating under Arizona law. Our Articles of Incorporation of a Tax-Exempt Corporation were approved by the AZ Corporation Commission on July 23, 2003.

We then applied to the IRS for a 501.c.3 as an organization established exclusively for education on Apple computers, including maintenance, security and software applications and the IRS granted us that status on April 8, 2004. As a result, donations to OCAMUG are tax deductible.