Arizona’s Colorful Communities

Arizona has more than its share of colorful towns, places and characters. Up near Wikieup is a place called Nothing. It used to have a saloon called the “Ain’t Much Bar,” a population of four and a sign proclaiming the citizens had “Hope for Nothing, Faith in Nothing, Believed in Nothing, Worked at Nothing and the town motto was “All for Nothing.” Speaking of hope, out in the deserts of western Arizona is a town named Hope and there’s a sign on the outskirts that says, “If you can read this sign you’re beyond Hope.” The citizens of another desert town grew tired of tourists asking why anybody would choose to live there so they named the place, “Why.” Now you know Why! South of Prescott is a place called “No Where.” Biggest issue facing the inhabitants is whether to spell it Nowhere or No Where. Back around 1900 the largest family living in Strawberry was named Peach. The annual “Corn Festival” isn’t held at Cornville but down the road a few miles at Camp Verde.

The other day as I was driving into Gila Bend I saw an old billboard that said, “Welcome to Gila Bend: Home of 1700 Friendly Folks and Five Old Crabs.” I stopped off at the Space Age Restaurant and asked the waitress if any of the old crabs were still around. “We’ll always have five old crabs,” she said, “because we elect five new ones every year.” Turns out it’s an honor and she went on to say that a couple of years a teenage girl was chosen as one of the old crabs. Down in Bisbee Walter Swan wrote a book titled, “Me and Henry,” a story about he and his best friend growing up in the old mining town. He couldn’t find a publisher so he self-published. He couldn’t find a store to carry it so he rented a building on Brewery Gulch and opened his own bookstore. He called it the “One Book Bookstore” and carried only his own book. Word got out and people came from everywhere to purchase a copy of “Me and Henry.” I have one on my bookshelf. He would up selling thousands of copies. Now, that’s what I call an entrepreneur.

Located between the towns of Snowflake and Taylor is “Bellybutton, Arizona.” It’s the home of the Naval Cattle Company. The late state senator Jake Flake explained to me that since the ranch was midway between the two towns his dad dubbed it Bellybutton and proclaimed himself mayor. Hard as we Arizonans try though we can’t quite match Texas, which hosts the town of Buck Naked. Folks there posted a sign that reads, “Next Time You Come Through Buck Naked, Stop and Say Howdy.”

When Hollywood decided to make a movie of the hit Broadway play “Oklahoma” they couldn’t find a location in the Sooner State that resembled Oklahoma in 1907. Someone suggested southern Arizona so the cast and crew headed for Santa Cruz County. Oklahomans were outraged, There was a small problem or two creating Oklahoma in Arizona too. Corn wouldn’t grow “high as an elephant’s eye,” so, the University of Arizona’s College of Agriculture developed some hybrid corn to fill the bill. Peach trees had to be imported from California along with fake peaches made of wax. Scenes had to be shot early in the morning before the fruit melted on the trees. Since the cast and crew were lodging in Nogales, the generous citizens of the border town agreed to let the state of Oklahoma annex them until the filming was done. Thus for a time, Nogales was officially in Oklahoma.