“Wow!  Globe is actually more than just Mexican restaurants.” This innocuous statement by a friend was the final push I needed to launch this column exploring the wonders, activities, and resources of the Globe-Miami-San Carlos area.  With almost no effort, I came up with 123 key attributes, local places, events, holiday celebrations, and outdoor activities worthy of an article.  If you need help explaining why you love this community, this column will assist by listing some of what is special about our region.  This week, I am highlighting the Globe historic downtown.

One of my friends worked as the Economic Development Coordinator for the town of Springerville and once told me that all the rural communities in the state envy Globe’s historic downtown.  While many communities have lost their downtown buildings to fires and their historic charm to modernization, others struggle with almost entirely empty downtown businesses that are more a hindrance than a help to economic development.  By comparison, our downtown is vibrant, historically intact, and remains the heart of this community. 

This is a true working downtown where people say “hello”, do business, live above businesses, gather for parades and festivals, and families walk at night to look in shop windows. Volunteers plant flowers, paint older buildings, and fix street benches. Our historic downtown lends much to the enchantment and spirit of this community.

Our historic downtown offers tourist destinations like the Cobre Valley Center for the Arts, the old jail and sheriff’s office, restaurants, historic bed-and-breakfasts, bars and taverns, antique stores, clothing boutiques, and the regional movie theater. It also bustles during business hours with banks, lawyers’ offices, automotive repair, the local dance studio, heating and a/c servicing, beauty salons, the florist, flooring and furniture businesses, and our local coffee shop (to name a few). 

When people hear that I’m from Globe, most state, “Oh, I’ve driven through Globe,” meaning along Highway 60.  I quickly let them know that “driving through Globe” means that they have missed our community’s true charm because they’ve bypassed our historic downtown.  I challenge them to add 3 minutes to their next drive through the area to explore the downtown district as Globe’s downtown is one of the things I love most about our community.

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