Unless you're enjoying unseasonably warm weather along the Eastern Seaboard right now, you're probably wallowing in gloomy weather, hankering for a few rays of sunshine. Look no further than Arizona's Valley of the Sun. If budgetary constraints prevent you from hopping on the next plane out of town, hop on Alice Held's Web site instead, and enjoy the next-best thing to being there. The Valley of the Sun has earned its name, with an average of 211 days of sunshine and 85 partly cloudy days per year.

The first settlers in the Valley of the Sun were the Hohokam Indians, whose lifestyle, while seeped in tradition, included a great love of sports. This tribe is, in fact, credited with holding the first basketball-style games, which included matches with neighboring teams. The Hohokams were also meticulous planners. They developed an irrigation system mimicked by the developers of modern-day Phoenix. So while these early settlers were mindful of tradition, they kept a watchful eye on the future. That philosophy still holds true today in the Valley.

The Valley of the Sun comprises not only Phoenix, but also a slew of surrounding cities and towns of varying size and character: Scottsdale, Tempe, Paradise Valley, Sun City, Mesa, Glendale, Fountain Hills, Cave Creek, Carefree, Chandler, and Gilbert. While it's tempting to lose sight of these smaller suburbs in the shadow of Phoenix, Tempe, and Scottsdale, all of them have their own unique histories, which they take great efforts to preserve. And the rest of the country is beginning to take note. As the regional economy continues to thrive, corporate relocations are proliferating in record numbers, and these smaller towns are growing in size.

Here's a brief run-down of Valley city highlights:

Phoenix tied with Christchurch, New Zealand, as the best-managed city in the world for 1993, an international award bestowed by one of the world's largest media conglomerates, Bertelsmann AG. In 1995 the city ranked as the largest new-home market in the United States, with sales reaching $3.2 billion.

Tempe, home to Arizona State University, is a lively college town where many of today's most successful musicians reside.

Scottsdale was described in a New York Times article as the "Beverly Hills of Arizona, with palm trees, wide, pristine boulevards, and estates with neatly manicured lawns watered by automatic sprinklers. The best hotels, nightclubs, stores, and restaurants are situated there."

Paradise Valley, otherwise known as Arizona's "Garden of Eden," sits nestled in the surrounding landscape of Camelback Mountain and Praying Monk.

Mesa, the state's third-largest city, sits on a plateau southeast of Phoenix -- thus its name, which means "table" in Spanish.

Glendale, the state's fourth-largest city, is located in the northwest region of Phoenix. The city was founded in 1892 and is a haven for antique-shoppers.

Fountain Hills, located northeast of the Valley in the McDowell Mountains, is just minutes away from Scottsdale and is known for its large craft festivals and beautiful park, which contains a gushing fountain in its center.

Cave Creek and Carefree, located slightly north of Phoenix, are both newly and rapidly developing areas that contain sprawling ranches and beautiful adobe homes. Rolling hills abound here and are covered with boulders, a landscape which inspired the towns' much-loved resort, The Boulders. Nearby El Pedregal is an inspirational outdoor shopping experience reminiscent of an artist colony.

Gilbert, just southeast of metropolitan Phoenix, is one of the fastest-growing cities in the country. Modern and development and history have learned to coexist peacefully in Gilbert. Overflowing with "Old West charm," community activities include frequent country auctions and barbecues.

Chandler, now the seventh-largest city in Arizona, is home to many high-tech firms, making the city a magnet for young families. Chandler, as one of the nation's first master-planned communities, inspired a trend that has taken off particularly in Arizona.

Seventy-four percent of all new homes purchased in the Valley are within master-planned communities. Corporate entities, in cooperative efforts with financial, construction, and real estate companies as well as municipal planning departments and other state agencies, are in large part responsible for the master-planned community phenomenon because many of them have control over sizeable parcels of land. The Valley has in recent years has been a hotbed of business activity, a haven for start-ups and a magnet for corporate relocations, so it should come as no surprise that master-planned communities have thrived, as well. Entrepreneur magazine ranked Phoenix has the fifth-best city in the United States to start a business, and the Southwest's number-one city for entrepreneurs. The region's hottest fields, according to Entrepreneur, are software development, construction, and tourism-related enterprises. Add to the equation Arizona's easy access to the bordering states of New Mexico, Utah, Colorado, and Nevada, as well as California and Mexico, and you've got prolonged prosperity. The Greater Phoenix Economic Council names not only location as a factor for the region's economic growth (the state's job creation, in fact, has run at two and a half times the national average), but also competitive wages and an extremely favorable cost-of-living index.

While young families, driven by corporate relocations, are headed to the Valley in droves, a growing number of retirees are looking for homes in the region. Sun City, a Phoenix suburb catered specifically to retired homebuyers, is a response to the needs of this growing segment of the Valley's population. Although touted as a retirement community, life in Sun City is anything but sleepy. Residents are active, and community involvement is central to Sun City's lifestyle.

Arizona's varied geography and climate might surprise the uninitiated; its terrain ranges from 70 feet above sea level near Yuma to 12,633 feet at Humphries Peak near Flagstaff. Only 40 percent of the state is covered by desert, and six National Forests sit within Arizona borders, covering 11.2 million acres. The world's largest municipal park, South Mountain Park, is in Phoenix and comprises more than 20,000 acres. Geographical and climatic variety, in turn, afford near limitless outdoor activities: water sports at many different lakes around the state, major skiing facilities just hours away from metropolitan Phoenix, hiking and camping at the spectacular Grand Canyon, and biking through scenic Sedona and Oak Creek Canyon. 

Although it's undeniably blessed with the sunshine many of us now crave in the midst of another gloomy January, the Valley of the Sun has something for every taste. More than just a barren desert, it's a window to a myriad of recreational, economic, housing, and even climatic options.

Published: January 19, 1998

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