Sunset Magazine has put Bisbee on the list of the best communities in the West:

The main approach to Bisbee, southeastern Arizona’s mining town turned arts colony, is through a tunnel in a mountain. Once you pop out on the other side, you’ve entered a funky Shangri-la, a free-spirited community marked by a tangle of narrow streets streaming down the canyon and 19th-century cottages clinging precar­iously to the hills, along with a historic Main Street bristling with galleries.

Prospectors discovered copper, then gold, in the surrounding Mule Mountains, and by the 1880s a boomtown developed. When the mines played out in the 1970s, counterculturalists, artists, musicians, poets, and writers moved in, drawn by the scenic canyon setting, cheap rents, and preserved-in-amber historic architecture.

That’s when Bisbee coalesced into a proudly weird (to use a favorite local adjective) and quirky community—an outpost of liberalism in an otherwise conservative state. Local theater, community radio, yoga classes, reiki therapy, and vegan eateries took root. At the same time, Bisbee also evolved into a popular tourist destination. Galleries, pubs, boutiques, inns, and restaurants popped up. A monthly art walk, as well as annual craft beer, blues, and Americana music festivals now fill the calendar.

Newcomers today are largely drawn by not only the boho vibe, but also by affordable housing. Bisbee’s sense of community is also a big magnet for those considering relocating here.

This article appears in Jan 28 – Feb 3, 2016.

Getting hassled by The Man Mild-mannered reporter

2 replies on “Sunset Mag: Bisbee Among the Best Communities in the West”

  1. Even though the writers didn’t get past the traffic circle and focused primarily on Old Bisbee (which has only 1/3 of the town’s population, by the way) it is a welcome distinction. Lowell, featured in the Sunset piece,, is just a business street, the sole surviving piece of a once-thriving community consumed by the pit and has no population.
    Bisbee’s attractiveness boils down to, IMHO, 1.) Relatively inexpensive, attractive real estate stock located in a beautiful setting 2.) A sense of community AND great accessibility to cultural resources not usually found a a town of 5,500. 3.) The vibes, which come from the convergence of a large number of interesting, creative and somewhat quirky people in a small place.
    Not all of Bisbee’s population consists of aging hippies, artists, writers, stand-up comics and such. Most are normal folks who were born here or who moved here because the place attracts like a great magnet. It has a high school with a very competitive athletic program and one helluva tradition (the “Bear Down” story of John “Button” Salmon started in Bisbee, where he starred on high school teams and in an “outlaw” baseball league that included several of the Black Sox players who fixed the 1919 World Series.) The Bisbee-Douglas H.S. football rivalry extends back to 1906 and draws SRO crowds in both towns. Warren Ballpark, where the Pumas play, is the oldest continuously used multi-sport facility in the U.S. (Football fans – this is real “Friday Night Lights” country and would make the perfect weekend venue during the fall.
    What this place needs is more jobs and newcomers of breeding age. And more visitors.
    Button Salmon and Hal Case, the “Black Prince of baseball” will be honored at the 7th Annual Copper City Classic Vintage Base Ball Tournament, a fund-raising event organized by the Friends of Warren Ballpark that’s scheduled for April 16 and 17.

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