Sabrina and Shannon Harwell live on an idyllic 20 acres in Elgin. High school sweethearts, they married young. Even then, they thought the area would be where they’d land.
In 2020 that aspiration became reality – followed by the manifestation of yet another dream.
“Let’s find something we can do until we’re dead,” Shannon said to his wife.
That’s how FireSky Farms came to be. It initially was a lavender farm, but the Harwells have worked diligently to develop their property into a destination venue that includes fruit and olive trees, grapes and a county store selling products made on the farm. An annual Lavender Festival is the operation’s big attraction, with some 2,000 people from around the state expected for this year’s event on June 27.
FireSky Farms is one example of “agritainment,” a concept by which agricultural producers incorporate small-scale, visitor-oriented experiences and activities into existing operations. The benefits to farm owners are twofold: diversification of income while maintaining a primary agricultural function.
The Harwells are out in front of one of several strategies – creation of an agritainment zoning designation – put forth in the “Cattle, Cabernet and Cuisine” plan created by Worthy Communications of Gilbert at the behest of Santa Cruz County. The 125-page report outlines a “phased approach to support the Sonoita-Elgin region by encouraging thoughtfully managed multi-day visitor experiences that reinforce local businesses, working lands and rural character. The strategy is aligned with the region’s infrastructure limitations, conservation priorities and agricultural heritage, and is designed to support residents and local businesses first.”
Pulling the trigger on any or all of the plan must come from the community. Chris Young, deputy county manager, made that clear when the plan was presented in a meeting held April 28 at the county annex in Sonoita.
“Unless you guys come to us and want to do something with this, it’s completely up to you,” Young said.
Doing nothing is also an option. Which, it seems, has been modus operandi in the past.
We all moved here for the same reasons. We love the rural community. We love the agriculture. We love the cattle. Some of us love the wine. It’s all here. But how do we strike a balance between all of it?”
Josh Mentesana, Real estate broker, Member of District 3 Supervisor John Fanning’s Community Advisory Committee, Sonoita
Preservation of the area’s rural lifestyle is something Bob Bowman talked to Wag and Marie Schorr about in 1998. Bowman, a prominent rancher and community member, was interviewing the Schorrs, who also had deep roots here, as part of the Northeast Santa Cruz County Oral History Project.
Wag died in 2001 and Marie in 2010.
“Are you involved or interested in the Crossroads Forum, that group that’s meeting today and trying to control growth?” Bowman asked.
Marie answered: “We’ve gone to a few of the meetings and we’ve not actually voting members, but we pay dues as a friend of the Forum. I think people are trying to make the Sonoita area and the business area, they’re trying to keep it so that it’s not just a strung-out development like a lot of old Western towns.”
“But if you had your druthers, would you rather see it stay as it was or as it is or ….” Bowman didn’t get to finish his question.
Marie: “Of course we’d like to say, ‘That is it! We’d like it to stop right now before it gets too overcrowded.’ But there are a lot of nice families (coming in) .… So we have to live with it and enjoy it.”
The Schorrs, it would seem, recognized one fact 28 year ago: As long as there’s property for sale, newcomers are going to buy it, with the term “newcomer” seeming to apply to anyone who came after you.
Yes, change is constant. Proactively trying to manage that change, as opposed to letting it just happen, is what the county-commissioned report attempts to address. One change suggested in the plan is a crossroads overlay district, the boundaries of which would have to be determined. Change, yes, but one directed toward preservation.
The concept of an overlay prompted widespread concern when it was first floated at a public meeting a couple years back. But Colin Bishop, Santa Cruz County Community Development director, believes much of that is due to misunderstanding: “Sometimes it (an overlay district) is more restrictive, sometimes it is less restrictive. There are multiple different ways it could apply.”
Back to Mentesana.
“I think it would be a brilliant idea,” he said of an overlay. The groundwork, he noted, has already been done. Twice before, dating back to the 1990s, community members developed plans for the crossroads and a scenic highway corridor, but much was never implemented, for reasons unknown.
An overlay district could be an important step in creating a commercial hub with a “look” people want. Its intention would be to design and preserve identity.
“If the community decides ‘Sonoita Inn, Sonoita Mercantile, we like that look for our downtown, our crossroads area,’ you can dictate that,” said Marnie Schubert of Worthy Communications. “The goal, here, is to help protect the community you have.”
It’s up to the community to determine if they want this, she said: “Because, again, ‘no’ is always a choice.”
“There will be people who will always be convinced that any change is not good. And they’ll also acknowledge that growth is going to continue to happen. You cannot stop it; the best we can do is to try to shape it and put some protections in place.”
Kati Spencer, Managing partner, Twisted Union winery, Elgin
The overarching concept in the CCC report is one of “intentional tourism.”
“Tourism is not the primary industry, but a supporting mechanism that helps maintain what already defines the region,” according to the report.
The report’s short-term recommendations center on establishment of a Destination Management Organization, or DMO, which would be a linchpin in promoting area businesses, expanding awareness and creating a stronger regional identity.
Efforts are currently ongoing to resurrect the Sonoita-Elgin Chamber of Commerce. But while the chamber’s focus is more locally oriented, the DMO would concentrate on promoting the local network to potential visitors in Tucson, Phoenix and beyond.
Establishing a professionally managed DMO is a necessary first step to be eligible for cooperative funding from the state and county. One such funding source recommended in the report is dedicating a portion of the existing 1.1% county lodging tax collected from hotels and short-term rentals in support of tourism initiatives.
Bishop, the county’s Community Development director, said it would be premature to estimate how much a lodging tax would generate and how it might be implemented. “I wouldn’t have answers for how it would take place, but there’s a way to make it happen, and we would definitely be supportive if that’s what the community wanted,” he said.
The report further recommends designating the volunteer-operated Sky Islands Tourism Association – which maintains the Welcome Center in the caboose in downtown Patagonia – as the area’s DMO and transitioning it to a professionally managed organization.
The association is a dues-funded operation, with an annual membership fee of $75 and a membership roll of about 40 – barely enough to cover utilities and the cost of a website. A small staff of volunteers updates the website and tries to keep the doors open at the caboose when someone is available.
Linda Shore, SITA board president, said she would welcome the opportunity to meet with like-minded business owners to discuss a collaborative venture. “We’re always scrambling; it’s a lot of work,” she said. “I can speak on behalf of the board of the tourism group. We’re all volunteers. We’re all involved just because we’re business owners. I would not be threatened by the idea of a professional group coming in if somehow somebody could figure out how to pay for it, and then we could go back to being a board again.”
In addition to a lodging tax, a DMO could receive funding from multiple other sources, such as grants, sponsorships and membership dues.
Spencer noted that the Verde Valley has two DMOs promoting its wineries and tourism-related businesses. But she also makes it clear that a DMO would not just be about promoting wineries. The area’s unique blend of high-desert grasslands, prime riparian corridors and exceptionally dark skies supporting birding, equestrian, astronomy and nature-based travel would all be championed.
And for local residents that could translate to additional jobs.
“The people aren’t coming here solely for the wines,” Spencer said. “They are coming here for views, to escape from the city, for the rural, pastoral experience. They’re coming here for all of those qualities that we offer.”
While this may sound like more people coming in, Schubert set that record straight back in April. “The idea is to create overnight stays” instead of people coming in and leaving that afternoon.
“Your inn is not full,” she said of local accommodations. Why? There is no centralized site offering information on where to stay, where to eat and what to do. That’s something a DMO and chamber could work together on.
The once-forgotten Mountain View Cemetery overlooks Elgin. One resident is Victor P. Hanson who moved to the area in 1912. He built a store, hay warehouse and 14-room hotel, now the site of the Elgin Winery and Distillery. Thanks to the “History Ladies” of the Bowman-Stradling History Center in Sonoita, the cemetery, on private land, has been cleaned up and fenced. Signage would be nice.
Between Sonoita and Patagonia stands a small monument regaling the history of Fort Crittenden, a U.S. government outpost built in 1867. Members of the military were sent there to protect settlers from Apache raids.
Travel to Patagonia and you can learn – from signage – about City Hall, originally a 1900 train depot built for the New Mexico and Arizona Railroad and relocated to its current site.
Travel to Elgin and you’d never know the community once boasted a market, library, post office, gas station and school. Or that the iconic dance scene for the movie “Oklahoma,” choreographed by Agnes de Mille, was shot at the hamlet’s railroad platform. (Some say certain step sequences were provided by local cowboys.)
Historic signage anchors a community’s identity, prevents erasure of local narratives and provides vital educational context for residents and visitors alike. The importance of signage and the preservation of local sites is something Schubert learned after interviews with local residents.
Gay Moss of Elgin wasn’t interviewed by Worthy Communications, but she agrees that signage would be a good thing. Her family put down roots here in the early 1900s.
“I’d like to see it,” Moss said. She’s also in favor of a small park around the 1922 Elgin Bridge, whose fate has yet to be determined. A new crossing over Babocomari Creek is in the works. But a park – a place for historical signage – would be a nice enhancement. Other signage suggestions Moss offered up included Black Oak Cemetery, Fruitland Cemetery and Victor P. Hanson’s final resting place, Mountain View Cemetery. Though few structures of historical significance can be found in Sonoita, a few miles down State Route 83 is Vaughn. Many folks don’t even know it existed. But, in its heyday it was situated along the New Mexico and Arizona Railroad line, with trains running from Benson through Elgin, Sonoita, Patagonia and down to Nogales. The town was never incorporated but boasted a school, church, post office and cabins. By 1947, the community was dead, a result of the railroad’s shifting footprint. Only two graves and the remnants of a church foundation can be found there now.
“Change is coming – a community either grows and embraces the opportunity for business, grants, new revenue streams or you can find little towns all across America that had the opportunity to grow and sustain themselves and they didn’t.”
Shannon Austin, Co-Owner, Hops and Vines, Sonoita
Back at FireSky Farms, the conversation turns to zoning. Would the Harwells like to see some sort of agritainment zoning? “Heck yeah,” Shannon said. Conditional-use permits, which he obtains for the Lavender Festival, are for specific events, a one-and-done.
“You always want to have options,” he said. “And we want to grow.
“Most of the folks that visit the farm are day people. They don’t know where to stay and they don’t know where to eat. So, they drive home.” Change. Growth. Shannon echoes a sentiment many expressed that addresses both.
“Either we have some say, or we don’t.”