Flagstaff: Recreation
Sightseeing
Flagstaff, originally a railroad town, now houses its visitors center in the Tudor revival-style Santa Fe Station, where one can pick up maps for walking tours of the city. The Lowell Observatory, possibly the city's most famous structure, presents visitors with hands-on exhibits, historic displays, and a scenic campus located near downtown. Tours, sky shows, demonstrations, and lectures are offered throughout the
The Arboretum at Flagstaff, with the highest elevation of a botanical research garden in the nation, displays a fascinating variety of plant life native to the region, and features a Threatened and Endangered Plant Conservation Program. Its 10 gardens include an Herb Garden of 250 specimens, a Constructed Wetland wherein native plants purify water, a butterfly garden, organic vegetable garden, and other gardens spread over 200 acres with scenic trails. Visitors to Coconino National Forest may spot American bald eagles and black bear in the world's largest ponderosa pine forest, which ranges in elevation from 2,600 to 12,633 feet. The Eldon Pueblo Archaeological Project at the National Forest informs visitors about archaeological concepts, values, laws, and practices through personal experience. Programs for children are also available.
Guides escort tourists through the Riordan Mansion State Historic Park, a mansion with forty rooms and more than 13,000 square feet of living area. This 1904 duplex contains original artifacts, handcrafted furniture, and personal mementos of the Riordan family, who lived there early in the twentieth century. The park also offers a visitor center, a self-guided tour of the grounds, and picnic tables. Reservations are recommended for tours.
Three national monuments in the area draw visitors for their history and breathtaking beauty. The pristine, stream-cut gorge at Walnut Canyon National Monument offers walking trails that reveal the ancient cliff dwellings built into the steep canyon walls where the Sinagua people lived nearly a thousand years ago. The on-site museum displays artifacts that paint a picture of what life was like for these early inhabitants of the area. Located in the shadow of the San Francisco peaks, the Wupatki National Monument was once home to the farmers and traders of the Anasazi and Sinagua tribes at this monument can be seen four pueblos offering a glimpse into the past. (Wupatki is Hopi for "big house.")
Fifty thousand years ago an enormous iron-nickel meteorite, falling through space at about 30,000 to 40,000 miles per hour, struck a rocky plain of northern Arizona with an explosive force greater than 20 million tons of TNT. It left behind a crater, called the meteor Crater, which today is 550 feet deep and 2.4 miles in circumference. The adjacent Museum of Astrogeology offers exhibits, movies and lectures that vividly describe the impact and the awesome results.
The Grand Canyon is about 80 miles northwest of Flagstaff. There one can view one of the most spectacular examples of arid land erosion in the world. The park covers 1,904 square miles, including 277 miles of the Colorado River. South Rim facilities are open year-round, and North Rim facilities are open mid-May through mid-October. The Grand Canyon Railway lets one travel in grand style on a vintage train from Williams, Arizona to the South Rim, across 65 miles of beautiful Arizona countryside.
Arts and Culture
The Coconino Center for the Arts, a modern glass-front building, is the site of many cultural activities in Flagstaff, including symphonic, orchestral, and choral performances. It is also home to the 10-day Festival of Native American Arts in August. Visual arts and literary and educational programs edify both locals and visitors. The center's 4,000 square foot gallery presents the work of a variety of artists throughout the year. Annual exhibits of note held at the center include the Youth Art Exhibit held in March or April, which features the works of students throughout Coconino County; and the Trappings of the American West exhibit in May and June, which highlights contemporary cowboy arts and crafts by artists throughout the Southwest and Canada, and also offers cowboy poetry readings and musical performances.
The Flagstaff Symphony Orchestra (FSO) has been bringing enjoyment to local audiences since its founding in 1950. The FSO performs in the 1,500-seat Ardery Auditorium, giving eight concerts during its September through April season as well as Youth Concerts, a Lollipop concert in December for very young children, and pops series in nearby ShowLow and Sedona. The Museum of Northern Arizona also plays host to many entertainment events throughout the year. Theatrikos, a popular local theatre group, performs five mainstage productions per year; is involved in project P.E.A.C.E (Prevention, Education, and Creative Expression) which helps to prevent teen violence through theatre and peer interaction; and offers classes on acting, scene building, lighting design, voice, and the like. Theatrikos's home, the Flagstaff Playhouse, was renamed the Doris Harper-White Community Playhouse after one of its founders and longest member. It is an intimate black box theatre with 99 seats.
Flagstaff's premier museum is the Museum of Northern Arizona, which introduces museum-goers to the native peoples and natural sciences of the Colorado Plateau region. Permanent galleries and changing exhibits explore anthropology, biology, geology, and fine art. Native American art is for sale at the museum shop and there is a nature trail on the grounds.
The history of Flagstaff from the time of cowboys to the lumberjacks and railroaders to the astronomers is presented at the Arizona Historical Society Pioneer Museum. Exhibits include early medical equipment, saddles, household and livestock items, and a 1929 Baldwin locomotive.
Festivals and Holidays
Summer events in Flagstaff center around the rodeo and ethnic cuisine. Fans of the rodeo enjoy the Arizona High School Rodeo finals, which take place the first weekend of every June at the Coconino county Fair Grounds. High school students compete in such events as barrel racing, bareback riding, saddle bronco riding, bull riding, team roping, calf roping, and goat tying. The annual Chili Cook-off held during that same weekend features live music and contests for both adults and children. On the second Saturday in June, the Great Fiesta Del Barrio & Fajita Cook-off celebrates the customs and culture of the local Hispanic community. The third weekend in June brings the Pine Country Pro Rodeo, which draws contenders to the Coconino County Fairgrounds. The Arizona Highland Celtic Festival offers music, Irish dancing, and whiskey tastings. The Festival of Native American Arts, held during July and August, includes an exhibit, outdoor market, dances, workshops and demonstrations celebrating the arts, crafts, culture, and traditions of Native Americans throughout the Southwest. August's Flagstaff Summerfest Festival in the Pines tops off the summer season with the finest in arts and crafts, food, and entertainment.
Every Labor Day Weekend the Coconino County Fair takes places at the fairgrounds in Fort Tuthill Park. Highlights of the fair include exhibits, livestock, entertainment, a demolition derby, and carnival. The Flagstaff Festival of Science, a 10-day event held annually at the end of September, promotes science awareness through hands-on exhibits, interactive displays, field trips, and world-class scientist participants.
Flagstaff kicks off the winter season as children young and old delight in the Playthings of the Past exhibit, which runs from November through January and features dolls, trains, cars, and castles from the 1880s through the 1960s. During December, Riordan Mansion offers holiday tours of its festively decorated turn-of-the-century rooms. February's Flagstaff Winterfest features nearly 100 events: sled dog races, skiing competitions, and other snow events, llama play days, sleigh rides, concerts, cultural events, and historic walking tours are all on schedule. The Arizona Special Olympics is a competition for mentally and physically challenged athletes that is held during the last weekend in February.
Sports for the Spectator
The Arizona Cardinals of the National Football league and the Phoenix Suns, affiliates of the National Basketball Association, hold preseason training camps in Flagstaff. A variety of NCAA-sanctioned events are hosted at Northern Arizona University, including football, men's and women's basketball, volleyball, track and swimming. NAU's Sky-dome, where many athletic events are held, is one of the largest wood-domed structures in the world; the university's Wall Aquatic Center is a high-altitude training site for U.S. and international Olympic swimmers and divers.
The Coconino County Horse Races—a tradition for more than 50 years—features thoroughbreds and quarter horses and is held annually over the Fourth of July weekend at Fort Tuthill Downs.
Sports for the Participant
Flagstaff has 29 parks with 2 swimming pools, 1 public 18-hole golf course and 5 private ones, an ice-skating rink, 16 tennis courts, 2 bowling alleys, a skeet-and-trap facility, and a ski resort. FUTS, the Flagstaff Urban Trails System, runs through the city and provides several multi-use trails varying in length from one to five miles. Northern Arizona University's Wall Aquatic Center has an Olympic size pool that is open to the public. The city's transportation network of interstate highways makes it easy to explore the national forests surrounding the city. Popular forest-based activities include hiking, mountain biking, and horseback riding. Coconino National Forest offers more than 320 miles of hiking trails. In town, trailheads access Mount Elden from the east and west. The Arizona Snowbowl atop the San Francisco Peaks, with a base elevation of 9,000 feet, is higher in elevation than most resorts in Utah, Colorado, and California. It offers skiers a vertical drop of 2,300 feet, four chairlifts and more than 30 slopes, the longest of which stretches more than a mile. Its chairlift becomes a 6,450-foot-long "Scenic Skyride" during the summer. Flagstaff Nordic Center, 16 miles north of the city, offers 25 miles of groomed trails for every level of skier.
Shopping and Dining
Flagstaff is the primary commercial center in northern Arizona. The city boasts many fine art galleries, antique shops and specialty shops, as well as 13 major shopping centers. Flagstaff's proximity to a number of Indian reservations provides shoppers with a variety of Native American arts and crafts. The historic downtown shopping area has nearly 200 gift shops, boutiques, and clothing stores. Import stores downtown specialize in South American and Mexican goods. The Flagstaff Mall, an enclosed shopping center with more than 60 stores, recently went through a 500,000 square foot expansion project. The Gallery Shop at Coconino Center for the Arts specializes in hand-made arts and crafts by area artists.
Flagstaff's more than 200 restaurants range from casual southwestern to European-style with food served in the historic atmosphere of turn-of-the-century buildings. Ethnic cuisine ranges from Italian, Mexican, and Asian, to Middle Eastern and Bohemian. Music fans enjoy visiting the Museum Club, a Depression-era Route 66 road house and the Southwest's largest log cabin, which continues to present popular country musicians.
Visitor Information: The Flagstaff Visitor Center, (520)774-9541