IFEA Award Kudos to Tucson, AZ

Tony Ray Baker
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IFEA Award Kudos to Tucson, AZ

IFEA Award Kudos to Tucson, AZ!

IFEA Award Luncheon in Tucson, AZ
IFEA Award Luncheon in Tucson, AZ Photo: Dawn Vandaveer www.Prototypes-v3.com

Congratulations are in order, once again, for Tucson, Arizona! Winning the IFEA Award (International Festivals & Events Association) for 2017.

Recently, FEATSAZ (Festival & Events Association of Tucson & Southern Arizona) submitted the video (above) to the IFEA for review.

After reviewing the video, beautiful Tucson, Arizona has met the IFEA’s most highest standards. And in doing so, on Thursday, September 14th, at 1:30 PM the IFEA officially designated Tucson as a World Festival & Event City!

This event took place at the 62nd Annual IFEA Convention, Expo & Retreat at the prestigious J.W. Marriott Starr Pass. This is the third year in a row Tucson has been host to the IFEA Convention and most likely the last in the region for some time to come.

Nevertheless, on top of Tucson becoming the first city in the United States to be recognized as a UNESCO World City of Gastronomy, winning the IFEA Award, for 2017, is a great honor and another huge success for our city! We love you, Tucson!

More about the IFEA:

The main focus of the IFEA is to identify and provide services for those organizations that put on festivals.   More specifically, organizations that create and run quality festivals and events that support their communities in a positive way.

In Tucson, that organization is FEATSAZ (Festival & Events Association of Tucson & Southern Arizona).  FEATSAZ deserves a big kudos for their ongoing work for our community.  They should get an even bigger high five for their video and pdf submission to the IFEA that helped Tucson win the renowned award.

Great job to everyone at FEATSAZ and thank you.

Have a great day,
Tony Ray

P.S. Shout out to my ghost-writer “Gonzo” for writing up this piece.
Also, Please check out these other great Tucson Accolades.

Download the PDF of the 2017 IFEA Award Winners

Tucson Rated 20th Best City to Live In America

Tony Ray Baker
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Tucson Rated 20th Best City to Live In America

Well, look what we have here! Yet another accolade and feather in Tucson’s cap. According to Resonance Consultancy Tucson is the 20th best city to live in America! That’s no small feat, there are a lot of other cities from sea to shining sea in the USA. And just so you know, that’s up 21 spots from where we ranked last year. Let’s take a look at what made Tucson 20th best city to live in.

Tucson Was Rated Using These Categories
Tucson Was Rated Using These Categories

The 20th Best City

Resonance Consultancy used 6 major categories to grade upon: People, Place, Product, Programming, Promotion, and Prosperity. 

Notably, we ranked #14 in Place,

“Fast-growing Tucson is buoyed by its sense of place, ranking #10 in both our Weather and our Parks & Outdoors subcategories. The city is poised to ascend up future national rankings, due to a torrent of new investment in all manner of green and common space,” said Resonance.

The company also rightfully credits the University of Arizona for our cities “youthful bounce” considering that almost 25% of our fair city are between the ages of 20-35 years old. We’ve all seen the construction blowing up around the UA and downtown. Growth is coming ready or not. And honestly, we think Tucson is ready for it. You can’t stop the march of progress.

We also ranked #10 nationally on Prosperity if you can believe it. We can. Housing prices are steadily climbing as more and more people take notice of our little jewel in the desert. And, despite the pandemics brutal economic impact on Tucson, we still ranked an impressive #17 in shopping!

What’s Next?

We have no doubt that by 2022 Tucson will continue to scale the Best City list from the 20th best city until we break into the top 10! Where do you think we will rank next year? What about 5 years from now? Well, no matter where we land, we here at See Tucson Homes are ready and excited for it.

Best City for Young Creatives

Tony Ray Baker
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Best City for Young Creatives
Tucson Voted Best City for Young Creatives
Tucson Voted Best City for Young Creatives

Tucson ranked #1 Best City for Young Creatives by CreativeLive.com.

Could the Southwest be the new Silicon Valley?

Organizations like Startup Tucson and the McGuire Center for Entrepreneurship seem to think so.

With collaborative co-working spaces like Connect Co-Working, The RailYard, Spoke6, GangPlankHQ, and Co+Hoots plus entrepreneurial, art and tech meet-ups springing up across the sunny city, Tucson is wooing young entrepreneurs like crazy, and was even named one of the top tech hubs of last year.

Top it off with really cheap rent, one of the lowest housing markets in the country and a happening downtown, Arizona starts to looking like a delicious place for young creatives with an idea and a dream.

The affordable housing market really does set Tucson apart from big cities.

Young creatives thriving in these cities are obviously pulling in a chunky paycheck, but when you factor in how much of that money is going towards housing, the big city appeal starts to dwindle. Not to mention many of these rentals are tiny, and crowded and lack privacy.

Home ownership still is a great way to build wealth and invest in the future. The peace of mind that comes with having this kind of stability and not having to move every year or every few years is also incredible.

Another thing to consider when you’re looking for a place to live and deciding where to buy a house, is would the property and location also make a good rental? Because you never know, with your more settled and thriving life, maybe you’ll be in a place to buy another home and rent out the first, or possibly you’d want to travel and rent out your house to a long term tenant or even AirBnB. There are many options and benefits of home ownership.

With the way things are booming in Tucson, self-starters, smarty-pants and other hard workers could even pull in those fat, big city paychecks. Mix that with a low cost of living and you’re on track to build actual wealth.

Another cool thing about Tucson is we have one the best music scene’s in the country and a huge population of young people… around 30% which is the same as Austin, Seattle, San Francisco, Portland and other young people melting pots.

I’d love to talk to you more about this!

Download the PDF of CreativeLive’s article: What Are the Best Cities for Young Creatives

Best City for Creatives, Writers and Artists

Tony Ray Baker
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Best City for Creatives, Writers and Artists
Tucson Voted Best City for Artists and Creatives
Tucson Voted Best City for Artists and Creatives

10 Cities That Creatives Should Move to That Are Not NYC or L.A.

With lush areas, that cater to rich people and a happening downtown attracting young adults in groves,  you’d never imagine it, but Tucson, Ariz. is becoming a great place for up-and-coming creatives to live.

Home to one of the country’s most fun party schools, that is paradoxically studious– The University of Arizona has been attracting the best and the brightest creatives to Tucson for years. Artists of all types who are catering to younger crowds are flourishing. But the city is also slick with wild wild west, cowboy, gunslingin’ desert history perfect for the budding mystery novelist. While the sun is down and the co-eds are at play, the thriving downtown music scene wherein artists like Calexico were born offers cheap amenities to up-and-coming bands plus primo weather for open-air shows and lugging gear back-and-forth as you please.

Located so close to L.A., San Diego, Las Vegas and Phoenix, Tucson has become a must-stop destination for all the big name musicians traveling through. Imagine seeing your favorite artist or DJ in an intimate venue with your closest friends? A luxury, a small, big city like Tucson can afford.

Tucson is quickly establishing itself in the technology world

Collaborative work spaces, trendy internet cafes, hole in the wall gems decorate the thriving, growing downtown area where you’ll find artist studios, galleries and performance venues. The magic of building community is a blossoming value to be discovered. There’s a reason they say Tucson is a small town in a big city.

Ramshackle mid-century hotels line the downtown streets and create an air of playful adventure. The historic, local favorite, Hotel Congress comes packaged with a story about being John Dillinger’s hide-out, a venue, and diner vibes near the trendy 4th Avenue.

Just imagine that Phoenix is like Dallas and Tucson is like Austin, only in a much cooler area, because, hello? Road trip to SoCal, and Las Vegas!

Complex.com’s list of the 10 Cities That Creatives Should Move to that aren’t LA or NYC:

  1. San Juan, Puerto Rico
  2. New Bedford, Mass.
  3. Providence, R.I.
  4. Tucson, Ariz.
  5. Athens, GA
  6. Hartford, Conn.
  7. Santa Cruz, Calif.
  8. Santa Fe, New Mex.
  9. Louisville, KY
  10. Big Sur, Calif.

Download Complex.com's List of the Top 10 Cities Creatives Should Move To
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