Town of Peach Springs inviting tourists to visit for Route 66’s centennial

PEACH SPRINGS, AZ (AZFamily) — Many northern Arizona towns along Route 66 are expecting an increase in tourism with the centennial of the Mother Road this year.

However, one town on the Hualapai Indian Reservation is inviting visitors to stop in and is urging them not to pass it up.

Tucked in the hills of the Hualapai Indian Reservation and roughly 40 miles from Interstate 40 is the charming town of Peach Springs. The town is often overlooked by larger Route 66 towns like Seligman and Kingman.

Sashay Alvirez grew up in the area and works in marketing for Peach Springs. Alvirez says the town has been struggling to get Route 66 tourists.

To attract visitors, the town hosted its biggest event on Saturday, inviting nontribal members to partake in the city’s history and culture.

Community members hope tourism will help boost the town’s revenue.

“To help our elderly, to build the parks here, to provide opportunities for our Hualapai people,” she explained.

Peach Springs serves as a museum of tribal and Route 66 history. Some buildings have been renovated, while others sit abandoned from the Mother Road’s fall.

Kevin Davidson is the tribe’s planning director and hosts historic tours of Route 66. He says Peach Springs was the furthest town bypassed by Interstate 40, which gravely hurt the community’s tourism.

“We had a hard time crossing the street. That’s how much traffic was going through Peach Springs in the 60s and the 70s. We had 15,000 trips a day on this highway. Now, it’s down to like 2 to 3,000 a day,” he explained.

However, Davidson says there’s no other town quite like Peach Springs.

“We have some people who have been here for all their lives. They can tell you the value of the Hualapai tribe to Route 66,” he said.

Both Alvirez and Davidson hope that tourism will pick up just in time for the centennial of Route 66.

“People forget about us. So, now that people know that we are here and having this event and inviting the public, hopefully we will see a lot more coming through,” Alvirez said.

See a spelling or grammatical error in our story? Please click here to report it.

Do you have a photo or video of a breaking news story? Send it to us here with a brief description.