When a new business opens in an urban or suburban community, locals are pleased, but no one makes a big deal out of it.
Not so in a small rural community like Clarkdale.
If just one business hangs out a “We’re open for business” sign, locals are delighted.
And if seven new firms hang out signs in just the past six months, residents and town officials celebrate.
New people come to town, more jobs are created, and tax revenues are up.
That is what is happening in quiet little Clarkdale. Located at the western end of what is commonly known as the “Verde Valley,” the 4,100-person community is immediately adjacent to the Verde River. Others along the river are Cottonwood, Cornville and Camp Verde.
Nearby communities such as Jerome, Rimrock and Lake Montezuma – and certainly, just to the north, the Red Rock country of Sedona and the Village of Oak Creek — also are impacted by what is happening economically in Clarkdale.
Other cities that likely benefit from increased visitation to the area are Flagstaff to the north and the Quad Cities to the south.
The seven new businesses are diverse. They range from multi-faceted river-running adventures linked to other adventure opportunities, a contemporary hair salon, gift shops, a winemakers’ cooperative and the only museum in Arizona dedicated totally to copper.
None of this new economic development happened by accident. Rather, it is the result of concerted, intense and focused planning and community leadership, according to Jodie Filardo, community and economic development director for the Town of Clarkdale.
On the job since October of 2010, Filardo is emphatic that town officials and community leaders vowed not to let the economic setbacks following the Great Recession of 2008 and subsequent years shut the town down.
“It’s true – Clarkdale got hammered severely during that grim period. But town leaders were determined. Over time, they developed a community vision and plan. Interestingly, their vision is ‘A Plan That Makes Sense,’” Filardo explained.
Worth noting is that the Stanford-educated Filardo had several years of experience as an economic developer. She worked not only in the United States but also Asia and other foreign lands, where she and her husband, Al Filardo (a university professor and administrator and most recently, a Yavapai College district governing board member), gained valuable international economic leadership experience.
She said Clarkdale leaders focused upon sustainable development and economic growth that would be stable and durable with a focus upon stewardship of the town’s resources. They also wanted such development to reach beyond immediate community boundaries.
In short, economic development should be positive for the entire region.
In June 2013, the innovative plan was a year old and in place – and it is working.
Consider the impact just three of the new businesses have had:
Wanting Diverse Adventures?
The newest business to set sail – literally and figuratively – is Verde Adventures. Owner Richard Lynch, with 13 years of professional river-running experience throughout the Inter-mountain West, started Verde Adventures with “…seven boats, a beat-up Jeep, a cellphone, a laptop, me, and a hell of a lot of love for river-running and the Verde River.”
Lynch earlier had launched his kayaks and other watercraft in the Camp Verde area but found that “RAPs” (River Access Points) were more accessible upstream on the Verde River from Clarkdale.
In January, The Adventure Center office moved to Clarkdale. It is on Tenth Street, next to the quaint Verde River Yacht Club (also owned by Lynch), where clients can order beverages or food before or after trips.
The Missouri native currently has 90 boats, 100 float tubes, five vans, five boat-hauling trailers and a crew that runs as high as 20 during busy season – March through November.
“Our clients come from all over the world,” said Tracey Johnson, the outfit’s operation manager. “But our really big market is in the greater Phoenix area. We appeal to thousands of people who want to get away from urban chaos into peaceful and comfortable natural environments.”
Lynch said the average is about 90 people a day for the kayak trips. “But when tubing starts in June, we’ll have more than 200 of them a day.”
That translates into a lot of visitors and money coming into the community.
Verde Adventures links closely with other local and regional businesses in offering cooperative packages. All begin with a two-hour river trip. Clients then have options such as visiting a Clarkdale wine cooperative or a regional vineyard, or a ride on the Verde Canyon Railroad, or visiting Out of Africa Wildlife Park near Camp Verde. Yet other options include a visit to R.I.O.T. in Cottonwood (a beer garden), horseback riding “…or whatever direction your imagination takes you,“ Lynch said.
Copper is Still an Arizona Treasure
Where else but Clarkdale should a major copper art museum be located? Clarkdale was founded in 1912 by Sen. W.A. Clark, then known as “America’s Copper King.” The company town was the home for employees and their families who worked for the smelter. It processed copper ore brought down from Jerome, then the site of the richest copper deposit ever discovered in the world.
The Copper Art Museum is the dream of Drake Meinke, who for nine years labored to acquire a site and artifacts for the museum that would glorify the role that cooper had not just in Arizona but also in civilization.
Only open since this past December, the museum is in what once was Clarkdale High School from 1928 until 1960 at the corner of Ninth and Main Street. Meinke worked for years with the contractor to renovate the structure into what is now a 9,000-square-foot museum. It features seven distinct galleries with truly creative cooper artworks, ranging from full-size wall and ceiling panels to military armament, kitchenware, to religious and fine art and jewelry.
Only six months in operation, the museum already has been attracting 400 to 500 visitors a month.
The Copper Art Museum is one of only three in the world that focus singularly upon copper. Another is in Canada; the other in Europe.
Monica Meinke, daughter of the owner, serves as the office manager. She personally has created dozens of colorful illustrated panels that take visitors from the early uses of copper by cave dwellers to its most contemporary uses as a valued metal in the computer, high tech and space exploration industries.
One family of visitors from Portland, Ore., told Meinke they made a special trip to Clarkdale “…because we heard what a wonderful museum this was.”
The museum houses more than 5,000 individual copper artifacts, collectively valued in the hundreds of thousands.
Made In Clarkdale
On March 1, a genuinely eye-catching structure – The Clarkdale Caboose Gift Shop – opened. Located diagonally across the street from the Copper Art Museum, the shop provides a convenient market for more than 40 local artisans who put their creations on consignment.
For years, handicrafts, paintings, jewelry, pottery, stained glass, wood carvings and other original handmade items have been marketed under the logo of “Made in Clarkdale.”
The gift shop fulfills the vision of former Mesa residents and husband and wife team Pat and Laura Ladeaux. They moved to Clarkdale just a little more than a year ago.
The vivid red caboose was resurrected from a junk pile of former functioning railroad cars and converted into a striking attraction almost smack in the middle of town. For a while, it served as the site for the Chamber of Commerce visitor center.
But now, it pulls visitors in from off the street to shop for “…original artwork and handicrafts, not ‘Made in China’ trinkets,” said Laura Ladeau. “We’re getting dozens of people shopping every day.”
A Joliet, Ill., couple, Jim and Joyce Traina, told Ladeau, “It’s refreshing to see homemade arts and crafts instead of mass produced junk that’s sold in so many big stores.”
What’s Ahead?
“We’re not naïve. We know we’re not going to turn into a Scottsdale or a Santa Fe. We don’t want to,” Filardo said.
“But we’re determined to continue working together in the greater community. We want the people who live in this multigenerational community to know they are part of something special. We’ve got visionary community leadership, and we’re finding out that a lot of people want to live in a smaller, friendly community where they know their next-door neighbor and the folks across the street. And they want true quality of life.
“That’s what we’re giving them in Clarkdale.” FBN
By Ray Newton