Big day in Ash Fork

Ashfork is classic small town Arizona -- hanging in there despite a life of boom and bust. The railroad -- big and then rerouted. Its main street fabled US Highway 66 -- bypassed by the interstate. And, currently, a possible slow-down in its current employment mainstay, flagstone, thanks to Arizona's real estate bust. Nonetheless, a local development association has a few plans up its sleeves.

However, today was a big day in this small town just north of I40. A local boy who made good as Arizona's official historian was in town to sign copies of his just published Images of America: Ash Fork. The sponsor, the local historical society, was overwhelmed with the number of people who turned out for the event at the local museum.

Here's a first look at the line of folks waiting to get their copies of the book autographed.

And here's the author, Marshall Trimble, who lived in Ash Fork from 1947 to 1955. Those were my formative years, and many of the stories in this work are gathered from a youngster's personal experiences and observations, he writes in the introduction. He arrived early to begin signing books at 1 p.m.; the original schedule included a talk by Trimble after the signing.

A splendid array of homemade goodies awaited people who finally got through the long line.

Later: the line is still long.

It was thanks to Georgene that I was able to photograph this event; here she talks politics with local residents. Note line in the background.

Since the author was still busy signing books, local talent entertained the audience in the small seating area.

With a long drive ahead, at 4;30 we gave up waiting for the program. Though the line was beginning to dwindle, Trimble was still signing books! BTW, this small town museum holds many fascinating relics of the Arizona past -- coming soon, a sampling.