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Have Fun in The Valley of the SunThings to Do and SeeWest Valley RestaurantsCactus League Baseball Get To Know the AreaMore About SurpriseSurprise Arizona Officel Web SiteFind a Hotel Near Surprise, AZ Things To Do In Surprise, ArizonaAnd Many of Them Are Free!Surprise was little more than a gas station and few small houses in 1938 when founder, Homer Charles Ludden, a Glendale real estate developer and state legislator, subdivided the rural square mile parcel into low-cost home sites for the area's agricultural workers, naming it after his southeast Nebraska hometown. Today, it's a 74-square-mile city on the move.
Flanked by one of Arizona's largest mountain preserves, and situated in the stunning Saguaro-dotted Sonoran desert on the northwestern edge of the thriving Valley of the Sun, it's no "surprise" that Surprise has been named Arizona's fastest growing city four years out of the past five. From 10,187 in 1995, the population has more than quadrupled to an estimated 54,000 today. Even the Kansas City Royals and Texas Rangers decided to take up residence here. The once-sleepy square mile farming community surprised just about everyone when it successfully courted the two teams away from their Florida training homes, and snagged $32 million in funding from the Maricopa County Tourism and Sports Authority. The $48.3 million Cactus League Spring Training facility and stadium along with a regional library, aquatic center, recreation center, and 57-acre passive park open in 2002 as the centerpiece of a new square-mile-plus downtown development, putting Surprise well on it's way to becoming the playground of the West Valley.
Enjoy your visit to Surprise, Arizona! Have Fun in The Valley of the SunThings to Do and SeeWest Valley RestaurantsCactus League Baseball Get To Know the AreaMore About SurpriseSurprise Arizona Officel Web SiteFind a Hotel Near Surprise, AZ |
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