Why Payson is the perfect home for an outdoor education hub (opens in new tab)

Tom Fraker nodded in the direction of the busiest street corner in Payson, the intersection of State Routes 87 and 260.“More than 6 million people drive through that corner every year,” said Fraker, a part-time resident of Payson for eight years.What they don’t do, Fraker added, is stay a while. Instead, he said, they get gas or hit the McDonald’s on the corner and then head out to Flagstaff, Sedona, Pinetop or someplace else in northern Arizona.“Payson is not really a destination,” he said.