Best Of Tucson®

Best Mural

"Windows to the Past, Gateway to the Future" (by Steve Farley)

Steve Farley has been a state rep in the Arizona Legislature for Tucson's District 28 for almost two years, and he's running unopposed in November. Not bad for any politician, but his annual landslide in the Best Mural faceoff is an even bigger victory. Tucsonans adore his black-and-white tile mural at the entrance to downtown--partially because they star in it. Farley dug up old photos shot of Tucsonans getting their exercise the old-fashioned way--power-walking on Congress Street--and converted them into tile squares that he attached to Broadway's urban canyons. The pictures were shot between 1937 and 1963, back when everybody walked everywhere, before all of this gym membership stuff. Each and every one honors a Tucsonan striding happily along the street.

Runners up:

2. Stone Curves, North Stone Avenue

3. Tucson Museum of Art, 140 N. Main Ave., 624-2333, tucsonmuseumofart.org

Vote of Note: "UA Phoenix missions"