Leslie Prest, Owner, Assoc. Broker, ePro Prest Realty, Payson, AZ

All good things must end SOMETIME; and so the days are numbered for the Payson, AZ Farmers Market for 2011. This has been our third season, and it is bigger and better than ever. Not familiar with Payson? Payson is a nice little town, about an hour's drive North of the Phoenix area. It is 5,000 ft. elevation, with cooler temps, pine trees, and clear air.

There are TWO MORE Market days left- Sept. 24th and Oct. 1st. We invite you to come and enjoy it while you can! The produce is still abundant, and there are also tamales, Italian food, bread and bakery goods, honey, salsa, canned items, jellies, goat cheese, and much more! Everything comes from within a 100 mile radius of Payson.

If you are from out of town, come for the beautiful weather. Payson right now is just about perfect! Cool nights, crisp, fresh mornings, and warm afternoons. Skies are clear and blue, and life is good! Come and enjoy the small town friendliness and the change of the seasons!

The Market is at the south end of Payson, behind Chili's restaurant, Saturday morning 8am to noon.

"When I die, just bury me in the woods, so my husband will hunt for me."

My husband (my business partner, and our Designated Broker) goes for a yearly hunting trip. I've posted other blog entries in the past about these trips. Often, it seems, disasters happen when he leaves town. I have had him leave me his Jeep, which promptly stopped working. Once a Tenant tried to shoot his girlfriend with a shotgun blast through a manufactured home wall. It gets interesting.

This year two things are different.

1) Our youngest son, who also hunts, bought a bow. Bow hunting season seems to be pretty well ongoing, and earlier than gun hunting. So they've been out once, and are going again. And again.

But 2) our older son, who has been licensed since he turned 18, is taking a much bigger role in the office. So possibly (so far, so good) this year there won't be any disasters.

Well, last weekend there were very heavy rains, and a few roof leaks. My son had the phone forwarded to him, and he handled things just fine. Gotta love it.

Here is what the Hunters saw (thankfully, they didn't shoot it).

Payson schools start much earlier than many. Our schools actually started at the end of July, and are now in full swing. Since we deal with rentals, we see families moving to town who are surprised to find out the schools have started. Here is a link to the Payson School Calendar -looking at it you will see more/longer breaks than many schools.

The Payson School District has a good website, with much information. There are links to each of the individual schools from the District site. Payson has two Elementary Schools (there were three, but they have closed Frontier Elementary), one Middle School, a High School and an alternative High School. They also have started offering classes through a "Virtual Academy".

If you are considering a move to Payson, and have school age children, check out the web site. Our children are now grown, but they (2 sons) went through the Payson school system from Kindergarten through High School, and I can tell you that there ARE some real advantages to being a small district in a small town. I still run into some of my kids' former teachers, and they still remember me and my kids.

If you are moving to Payso please call us. We love to promote our town, and will be happy to answer any questions we can. We deal with both rentals and sales, and can help you with any real estate needs.

Graphics from hellasmultimedia.com

Where in the heck is Payson, AZ you might ask? Half the people in Arizona don't know where Payson is, even though its only about an hour's drive North of Phoenix. We're one of Arizona's best kept secrets- a small town in a great location. Payson is also about 5,000 ft UP in elevation from Phoenix, so we are very different climate.

This Summer, we are really wonderful weather. warm enough to use cooling, certainly, but not oppresive. Warm enough to make my garden grow (you should see my tomatoes!), but at night we cool down into the 60s. And on the days when the humidity goes down the nights get into the 50s. After the sun gets over the breezes cool and it is wonderful sit-on-the-deck weather. During the monsoon, storms roll in from the Rim and bring showers that cool things off nicely.

If you want warm weather, but not desert, check out Payson. We get cold in the Winter, but not nearly as cold as "back east". We have a little snow now and then, but also LOTS of sunshine all Winter. We are basically the best of both Winter and Summer. And we are in more or less the center of Arizona, close to both the Phoenix area and to the higher mountains.

Come check us out!

This is the third season for the Payson (AZ) Farmers Market, and it looks to be bigger and better than ever. Look for it in the same location as last year- Sawmill Crossing shopping center, at the South end of Payson, behind Chili's restaurant, 8am till noon, this Saturday (May 28th, 2011) thru September.

There has been a produce truck parked sometimes in the center of town, with banners saying Farmers market- and I have heard at least one person say that is where the market will be this year. Don't be fooled, that's not the real market, and it will NOT be there. It is the same location as last year.

Produce may be a little scarce to start- the Spring weather has been even more uncooperativve than usual this year, but it will get better. Schnepf Farms will have peaches on opening day (probably a one-time thing); there are new Vendors as well as returning Favorite with canned items, jams and jellies. tamales, Italian food, and other prepared foods, a massage booth, seedlings for sale, and more.

Check out the Payson Farmers Market web page for info on Vendors and music.

And if you are skipping the holiday weekend traffic, the Market will be open every Saturday till the end of September, 8 am till noon. Come any time.