ARIZONA'S YAVAPAI COUNTY

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Yavapai's Centerpiece

Today, Prescott, Yavapai's county seat and largest urban area, spreads out beneath soaring Thumb Butte and multifaceted Granite Mountain. Bordered by over 1 million acres of national forests, it sits strategically 96 miles northwest of Phoenix and 90 miles southwest of Flagstaff at an altitude of 5,389 feet. Busy Interstate Highway 17 from Phoenix to Flagstaff bypasses the town, and the residents I talked to were pleased to be off the beaten track. "It keeps transients and the crime rate down," one local told me.

With around 25,000 citizens and a growing influx of tourists, retirees, and summer people, Prescott is changing. For example, many of the old bars on Montezuma Street (also known as Whiskey Row) are now arts and crafts shops.

Even so, Prescott takes pride in its past and works to preserve it. Many of the 100-yearold buildings, including a number of lovely Victorian homes, have been restored. Large, elm-shaded Courthouse Square is still the city's meeting place. Families picnic, workers brownbag their lunches, old men play chess, top artists participate in public shows, and dances enliven summer evenings.

Prescott claims it sponsored the first rodeo in 1888, and the event has been held every Fourth of July since. The annual, and popular, Prescott Bluegrass Festival adds a country crescendo to July. The town also considers itself—with a great deal of justification—"the softball capital of the world." Some 100 teams—made up of young and old, men and women—fill the city's 15 softball/baseball fields every summer night, and local tournaments sometimes draw national and international contenders.

The old Elks Opera House now accommodates the Yavapai College Community Theater, a performing arts center with four large auditoriums for plays, concerts, and symphonies. Local theater productions always sell out, and Prescott was the first town in Arizona to sponsor a full symphony season under the aegis of the Phoenix Symphony Orchestra, even though the cultural attractions of Phoenix are only two hours away.

Wildlife still abounds arou nd the city, and hunting is a popular pastime. A number of fishing lakes are also close at hand.

Economics, Education, and Health

Manufacturing is Prescott's fastest-growing economic activity; over 500 acres in and around town have been zoned for light industry. A 150-room Sheraton Hotel and Convention Center is going up at the Sundog Industrial Park (owned by the Yavapai Indian Tribe, whose smell reservation adjoins Prescott). Local firms make ladies' blouses, motors, windows and doors, electronic navigation systems, plastic molds and dies, and such cement products as septic tanks and manhole covers. To preserve the clean atmosphere for which it is famous, Prescott discourages heavy industry.

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