1. You can actually go to college in Scottsdale to earn a degree in being a cowboy. It’s called the Arizona Cowboy College. Send your transcripts there and get your spurs and chaps on.
2. Scottsdale holds the record for the most fans in attendance for the prestigious PGA Golf Tour at the Stadium Course. In February 2013 a whopping 179,022 people crowded in.
3. Scottsdale fire trucks are just a little bit different. Rather than the usual boring red, the city went with a more original color: Chartreuse.
4. You just might run into Bigfoot’s sibling, the Mogollon Monster, rumored to roam the rocky terrain of the Arizona desert around Scottsdale.
5. Waste management crews all over America are more than thankful for those robotic arms on garbage trucks that make their job so much less...messy. Those lifesavers? Invented right here.
6. Founder Winfield Scott and brother George originally gave the town the name “Orangedale,” due to the large citrus groves they were so great at planting and harvesting. The city didn’t get its current name until 1894.
7. Believe it or not, Scottsdale is only four hours from the ocean. Seriously.
8. You might know that Frank Lloyd Wright had a home in Scottsdale called Taliesin West. However, not many know that Wright was responsible for the architecture of a lot of the city’s houses and buildings over the years—which is why you’ll find a street downtown named after him.
9. You have to love chili in this city. It’s been the official food since 1994.
10. Ice cream made of prickly pears (a type of edible cactus) is a staple dessert cuisine in Scottsdale.
11. Montezuma Castle National Monument never actually belonged to infamous Aztec emperor Montezuma—the monument was abandoned 40 years before the emperor was even born. The monument’s also not technically a castle, but a prehistoric cliff dwelling.
12. The Ziegler Fiesta Bowl Museum features an impressive collection of 120 football bowl subdivision team helmets, plus some of college football’s highly regarded trophies, like the Heisman, Eddie Robinson, and the National Championship Coaches’ Trophy.
13. Scottsdale holds the record for the largest number of destination spas per capita in the entire nation.
14. The “western town” of Rawhide is not actually a town, but an amusement park featuring gun shows, dancing, and rides.
15. Scottsdale’s mayor from 1980 to 1996 had probably one of the more unusual names for a politician: Drinkwater. Herb Drinkwater had a tremendous run as mayor, with a groundbreaking approval rating of 96 percent in 1987.
16. Scottsdale’s upscale restaurant Roaring Forks only cooks food with wood fires in the kitchen.
17. Scottsdale was notorious back in the day for having problems with signs and billboards. Authorities said it presented a massive safety problem and caused many traffic accidents. The city even faced the Supreme Court for deliberation over the matter back in the early 1970s.
18. Speaking of supernatural Scottsdale residents, if you head far enough north on route 17 you might see the infamous Anthem Hitchhiker, the ghost of a man who was reportedly killed on his way to Phoenix. Cue the scary music.
19. Some Apache Indians believe that a hole leading downward in the Superstition Mountains near Scottsdale isn’t just a hole, but a passageway to Hell.
20. The Phoenix Street Railway Company and the Salt River Valley Electric Railway Company both proposed designing streetcar lines in 1912—which would have been the very first interconnected railway system to replace regular streets and automobiles. Due to the economic downturn, the project never happened.
21. The Jokake Inn, the second inn built in Scottsdale, still stands on the grounds of one of the city’s more recognizable hotels: The Phoenician Resort.
22. Believe it or not, Scottsdale has more than 125 art galleries and studios right in the city. Who knew you could get so artsy in the desert.
23. Move over, New York and Paris: Scottsdale is a pretty energetic fashion capital all on its own, especially during the Phoenix Fashion week, when fashion designers from all over the world flock to see the latest trends.
24. Scottsdale’s Papago Park was a German POW camp during World War II.
25. Remember pagers? Scottsdale sure does. Motorola set up shop in 1950 and again in 1956, the first technology corporation in town.
26. Everyone knows Arizona is hot, but turns out Scottsdale is located in the hottest desert in the entire country, the Sonoran Desert.
27. Be sure to stock up on sunscreen in this city—Scottsdale gets an astounding 314 days of sun a year.
28. At one point Scottsdale was split in half north to south by floods on a floodplain called the Indian Bend Wash. It got so bad that the Maricopa County Flood Control District had to remedy the problem with canals and levees to prevent additional flooding.
29. The McDowell Sonoran Preserve is the country’s biggest urban wilderness.
30. The Scottsdale Civic Center Mall doesn't just have restaurants and shops—it has fountains, sculptures and even a lagoon. It’s also the home of the city’s Civic Center, Scottsdale Center For the Performing Arts and the Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art.
31. Many of the trees around the city (except for the cacti) may have fruit ripe for the picking. Probably due to all that sunshine. And bonus: Most establishments will just let you pick it for free.
32. Partiers, rejoice: the cult classic “Wayne’s World” was filmed right here.
33. The Sonoran Preserve, believe it or not, is actually larger than the city of Tempe, AZ. Beat that, Tempe folks.
What’s your favorite fun Scottsdale fact? Tell us in the comments below!
