Historic Downtown Buena Vista

We stopped in at the Buena Vista Chamber of Commerce/Tourist office and picked up a town/area map and some other information. We met a lady who moved here from Wichita KS five years ago. Kay and her husband were visiting and liked BV so much that they moved here and opened up a small business - an arts gallery. Kay said she much prefers winters here to those in Wichita; she said BV does not get the ice storms, and the snow is not bad. She gave us her recommendations on restaurants and we ate lunch at the Evergreen Cafe -- a funky cute place. I had the grilled tofu scramble with salsa which was pretty good; Doug had Alpine eggs - eggs, potatoes, cheese, covered with sausage gravy. I won't tell his doctor.

We went for a walk in the historic downtown part of "Buenie" (pronounced 'Byoonie'; rhymes with 'you'). There are three blocks of old restored buildings. I love the triangular shape building - it now contains an attorney's office. This part of town has a touristy vibe to it. We did go into one gallery and found some nice overpriced paintings. I did find a great handmade gift for a relative. Living full time in an RV makes it easier to refrain from buying impulse items. There is also a kayak shop, of course. We were going to walk to the new whitewater park on the east end of town but it was farther than we thought, so will save that for another day.

There are 2,000 residents inside the city limits, and slightly over 2,000 in surrounding unincorporated Chaffee county. Buena Vista has only one traffic light. Most of the directions we get use the traffic light as a starting point.
Buena Vista was founded in 1864, in the mining heyday. The newspaper, the Chaffee County Times, was founded in 1880 and is still going strong. Buena Vista's economy was historically based on mining and agriculture, and to a lesser extent on ranching. There has been a prison here since 1889 which has provided jobs to the community -- it has changed over the years but is still here.
In the early 1980's the Climax molybdenum mine finally closed and the people of BV needed to turn to another industry to survive. Tourism became the answer to bolster the struggling economy. Whitewater rafting is big business in the summer - the Arkansas headwaters offers the best in the nation. Other recreation like fishing, snowmobiling, mountain biking and hunting is also important to the community.
The scenery and year-round mild climate, plus recreation, bring visitors to the area.

There are no chain fast food restaurants in town - we do have a burger place and a good pizza joint in addition to several other restaurants which are locally owned. We have a Central Market grocery in town, health food store, a hardware store, auto parts store, and an Alco (think early K-Mart). Any major shopping can be done in Salida, 30 miles to the south. Although we do believe in buying local when possible, we are making a list for the Wal-Mart!