Tubac, Arizona

Sixty miles south of Tucson, and close to the Arizona-Mexico border is the small artsy town of Tubac. Established in 1752 as a Spanish Presidio, or fort, Tubac now hosts working artists whose studios surround the former parade grounds. The name itself is a Spanish corruption of an O'odham phrase "s-cuk ba'a", or perhaps "cu wa", meaning "black water" or "low place", respectively, and probably a reference to its location on the Santa Cruz River. Tubac was one of the stops on the Camino Real (Royal Road) from Mexico to the Spanish settlements in California. Tubac’s most famous Spanish resident was Juan Bautista de Anza, who built the chapel of Santa Gertrudis, the foundations of which lie beneath today’s St. Ann’s Church.

In the 1930’s – 1960’s Tubac developed into an art colony, with an art school opening in this small desert village in 1948 which resulted in the restoration of some of Tubac’s historic buildings.  The Festival of the Arts was founded in 1964 and is still an annual event held in February of each year. I think most of the town’s 1100 residents must be artists because the town is filled with shops selling mostly Mexican themed painting, sculpture, ceramics, photography, crafts, antiques, and jewelry.

We made two visits to Tubac while staying in Tucson this season, once in December 2016, and once for the Festival of the Arts in February. A fun and colorful place for sightseeing and shopping, here are some of our pictures of the area.