Is Fredonia forgotten?

The confusion was obviously enough to prompt the local natural foods store to put a sign above its clock, clarifying that its hands reflect Arizona time.

In this Coconino County town of 1,300 just three miles south of the Utah state line and a few hundred yards from Mohave County, the clocks reflect a broader sense of being in between. In between states and in between counties, not belonging to either and forgotten by many.

“We don’t belong to Utah, but Arizona doesn’t want us,” said Eric McCormick a lifelong resident whose family has deep ties to the area.

Duke Reidhead, a longtime logger in the area, had a similar perspective.

"If you're above the Grand Canyon you don't exist,” Reidhead said. “We're like the red-headed stepchild.”

With an economy limping along after the near-shutdown of local timber and mining industries more than two decades ago, Fredonia is struggling to find its future. Perhaps the most obvious path forward lies seven miles north, in Kanab, Utah where about 20 hotels and an abundance of restaurants cater to a growing flow of tourists exploring the region's natural wonders.

But making Fredonia into a tourism community comes with its own set of barriers, from a growing drug problem to water infrastructure challenges.

What’s clear is the town needs to do something.

“It’s on the verge of being a dying town,” McCormick said.

INDUSTRY LOST

Until the early 1990s, Fredonia’s economy was largely based on uranium mining, a booming sawmill, and an oil refinery, residents said. Then, a combination of economics and environmental regulatory changes caused those businesses to scale back operations or close their doors entirely, putting a major hurt on the community.

Mayor Randy Griffiths, who grew up in Fredonia, estimated that at least three quarters of Fredonia’s residents were employed by those industries. Now, job opportunities are limited and many people have to commute to Kanab for work.

Just a few businesses line Fredonia’s main street — a dollar store, a natural foods store, a restaurant, a motel, a few gas stations and a service station-turned-pottery studio where Olin Powers makes clay mugs and bowls and sells rocks collected from across the area.

Enrollment in the local school district has dropped from nearly 400 in 2001 to 215 this year. About 20 percent of individuals live below the poverty level.

“Basically if you work around Fredonia you pay for it and that's by not getting paid,” said McCormick, who makes a living working for Energy Fuels at its Canyon uranium mine four hours away on the Grand Canyon’s South Rim. He and his wife also recently bought and revamped a mobile home and trailer park in hopes of capitalizing on the traffic from RV-ers passing through the area.

The one logging company that still exists in Fredonia is Canyon Country Mill and Resource, but hanging on has taken a lot of creativity, said Duke Reidhead, the plant manager. The company was once a contractor for Kaibab Industries, which ran the major sawmill in town before it shut down in 1995, laying off 200 workers according to news reports.

Since then, Canyon Country has survived by diversifying its operation to use everything from dead trees cleared from fire scars to smaller trees from forest thinning projects, Reidhead said. With about 34 employees, the family-owned company makes cabinets, lumber, log home components, playground chips and more. His family is building the business year after year, but it’s slow going, Reidhead said.

Hindrances to growth

There is “absolutely potential” to build up a tourism economy in Fredonia, said Colette Cox, a Fredonia resident who is the vice president of the Kanab Area Chamber of Commerce. The town is at a prime crossroads for tourists heading to the Grand Canyon’s North Rim or Bryce and Zion national parks, Cox said.

But at this point Fredonia seems far from Kanab’s tourism successes, she said.

“If you have traveled to Kanab and Fredonia there's an invisible line as soon as you go over the border into Arizona,” she said. “Fredonia is missing the boat, we're seeing success all the way around us.”

According to residents, there are many reasons why.

Fredonia doesn’t see the same support from the state of Arizona and Coconino County that helped elevate Kanab’s tourism industry, Cox said. With a declining tax base, Fredonia doesn’t have the type of money that Kane County and Kanab have put into marketing efforts and a tourism office to increase visitation, she said. That and the town’s staff sees such high turnover that it’s hard to organize any coordinated efforts, she said.

Some residents are also lukewarm about what a tourism economy could mean for Fredonia. Jobs like hotel maids or restaurant servers don’t pay well and tend to be seasonal, McCormick said.

Then there is the town’s water supply, which has a "weird" taste and smell from storage ponds that could be a turnoff to businesses, Mayor Griffiths said. Water supply is another struggle, even forcing water restrictions during some summers, Griffiths said.

A limited supply of available land is also a barrier to growth and development, and has made it difficult for even town employees to find a home, Griffiths said. Though there is undeveloped or underdeveloped land, in many cases people don’t want to give it up because it has been in their family for generations, he said. At the same time, they don’t have the money to build on it, or fix up whatever buildings are on the property, said Traci Heaton, who manages the Fredonia Short Stop convenience store and gas station. Another issue is vacant homes owned by landlords in Kanab who don’t have time to fix them up and rent them, so they have just locked the doors, Griffiths said.

Griffiths is also concerned that Arizona’s new minimum wage, which increased to $10 an hour in January, will force Fredonia businesses to move across the state line or cause new businesses considering Fredonia to switch their sights to Kanab instead.

Ask residents about the biggest issues in town and illegal drug use is high on the list.

Heaton said the drug problem was one of the reasons her oldest daughter left town for Texas. In a small community, everyone knows who is using, Heaton said, and the problem has gotten worse.

Town Marshal Bayden Grover confirmed that methamphetamine, marijuana, heroin and prescription medication use is on the rise, but he said that for Fredonia’s population, drug abuse doesn’t seem to be any higher or lower than places like Flagstaff or Kanab.

With two police officers, though, the town doesn’t have the resources to organize undercover operations or other strategies that could better address illegal drug use and dealing, Grover said. Over the past year, search warrants have forced 10 major players to leave the area, but Grover said he knows others have moved in to take their place because the demand still exists.

The town works with Kane County’s sheriff and drug task force but those entities don’t have enforcement powers in Arizona. Grover has also requested help from Coconino County’s drug task force, but Steve Van Ooteghem, a task force memeber said it hasn’t been able to provide assistance, in part because Fredonia is so far away.

STILL HERE

Despite the challenges, Fredonia residents ticked off a variety of reasons for what has kept them rooted in the farthest reaches of northern Arizona. For some it is family ties, for others affordability. Heaton said she has been able to support herself as a single mother much better in Fredonia than in a city.

Duke Reidhead had his own assessment, saying people are here “because they’re stubborn, not because it makes sense.”

With the number of jobs that were lost in Fredonia when major industries pulled out, it’s surprising the town is still here, Reidhead said. The community needs more attention from the state, he said.

“There are some good people up here but they have been set aside,” he said.

Recently though, residents report some positive changes, however small. Family Dollar opened a new store, the Fredonia Short Stop has seen sales climb thanks to tourism traffic and the school district has a new superintendent the community seems to be rallying behind.

“I see pride starting to creep back into this town, maybe a light at the end of the tunnel,” Reidhead said.