What is living in Kanab Utah like? (St. George: houses, restaurants)

[shadyladymiami]

I am also looking to retire in Kanab and work at Best Friends if they will accept my application. I am from a very large city.. Miami, Florida.. and it does sound like a big adjustment! If I can get accepted for any kind of job at Best Friends, next question will be how to find and buy a house that I will have room for my dogs to come with me (2 car garage, barn?). I have too many dogs but in Miami they are roaming the streets because of the limitless over breeding and lack of spaying/neutering.

Any ideas?

[Katzpur]

Have you ever been to Kanab? I love visiting Best Friends and I contribute to it financially from time to time. But to be perfectly honest, I can't even imagine living in Kanab. If you have been there before, that's one thing, but if you haven't, you might want to visit first. I can't even manage the culture shock of a move from Miami to Salt Lake City, but Miami to Kanab?

[rjlowe]

I've often thought of moving there myself, and have driven through many, many times on Hwy 89. I live in AZ but most of my family lives in S. Utah, so I pass through at least 4 times a year, sometimes more often. And I used to live up near Richfield UT and make day-trips to Fredonia AZ (just over the border from Kanab) to get "real" beer and Powerball tickets, LOL.

The best part about living there is the access to some of the best outdoor country in the U.S. Zion's, Bryce, Grand Canyon, Grand Staircase, Lake Powell, Monument Valley, etc. etc. The worst part is probably its isolation. 3+ hours round-trip to the nearest Walmart, and I'm guessing the nearest airport of any size is Las Vegas...

If you can deal with isolation, small town living (where everyone knows your business), and love the outdoors, you'll probably do OK. If you like the convenience, anonymity, and night-life of the big city, probably not such a good idea...

[CGW]

I live in Kanab--or more accurately, east of Kanab in Kane County, and have lived here for 5+ years. I am not LDS. Kanab has an LDS foundation, but there are plenty of folks who are not LDS and there is a good community of environmentalists and progressives so one who leans that way doesn't feel alone. The two grocery stores are well stocked, and there are a few good restaurants. Some of them aren't open all year, but some are. There are two hardware/building stores, not just one as mentioned before by someone. There are two theatres, not just one, both showing first-run features. I think what you want to really know is, will you be comfortable here? If you are progressive in your approach to things, as I am, you'll find folks to hang with. If you are a big-city guy who likes lots of action going on, you should perhaps try living here a month or two before deciding on a permanent move. But we like the quiet, the beautiful red rock scenery, hiking and touring, and good friends who are here if you seek them out. Winter is much quieter here than spring/summer, when the tourists arrive and all is buzzing. Winter is pretty much the locals hunkering down, especially when it snows. It's pretty here, and that's what drew us. And since you mention Best Friends, you'll find a good community there as well. (I am not BF.) Most of what you need is right here in town, including a state liquor store; the occasional trip to St. George or Page, AZ will take you to Wal Mart, Home Depot, and other big box stores.

[shadyladymiami]

Thank you for the information on Kanab. It seems (I talked to a local real estate agent about my house here in Miami) that not only is the value of my property down here (as it probably is everywhere just about) but NOTHING is selling. So I will have to continue working and sit down here in horrible Dade County Florida.. until the housing market turns around. It would be bad enough to take the lower price.. but to put it on the market and deal with all the hassle that implies with little chance of even getting the lower asking price.. well.. I am 60 and can wait a few years, hopefully, if I have to.

As far as the small town combined with a liberal and progressive atmosphere at and around Best Friends.... It would suit me perfectly!

Again, thanks for the info. I will continue to send what I can to Best Friends in admiration for the incredible force for good in service to our companion animals that they have become. If you can get a DVD of their 25th Anniversary... it tells their story in video and pictures. How far they have come in 25 years is absolutely astounding. There had to have been many Angels watching over those who came with pure hearts and good minds to Angel Canyon just 25 years ago.

[kanab1]

Originally Posted by shadyladymiami

I am also looking to retire in Kanab and work at Best Friends if they will accept my application. I am from a very large city.. Miami, Florida.. and it does sound like a big adjustment! If I can get accepted for any kind of job at Best Friends, next question will be how to find and buy a house that I will have room for my dogs to come with me (2 car garage, barn?). I have too many dogs but in Miami they are roaming the streets because of the limitless over breeding and lack of spaying/neutering.

Any ideas?

Don't do it . We moved here because my wife gained employment at best friends. There are no rentals that you can afford working at best friends 500-900 per month and all best friends pays is 10-12 an hr. And what houses are available are extremely over priced or just junk. And shopping forget it, they know they got you so everything in kanab is way over priced, the nearest wal-mart is 1hr 30m away same with any other conveniences There are limited resturants and gas stations and a family dollar with limited inventory. The only reason we are still here is because we found a spot to park our fifthwheel pretty reasonable, if we had to pay rent here we'd be gone already. I'm nopt trying to be negative just realistic. Also if your coming for the Dog Town show, national geographic isn't doing the show any more this was the last season. So if you can live on 10-12 bucks an hour and pay 900 a month rent and don't mind driving an hour and a half to fo shopping then this is the place for you. Good luck , we'll probably be leaving soon so there will be a job for ya.

[DXChandler]

Wow, a lot of negativity here. You can do a lot of research yourself on Kanab by just going there and talking to people and getting a feel for it.
(not allowed)
Whether or not you would like it depends on you. I personally hate big cities, traffic and all that goes with it. I do not shop at Walmart so people need to get over that. If you must have a big box store, make a monthly or quarterly trip and stock up. There are only 2 red lights, so traffic is not an issue. There is virtually no crime and it is very quiet. If you like a lot of noise and night life this is not the place for you. There are enough restaurants for me, and you can drive through Zion's to Springdale where there are some more good ones. As for shopping, I do most of that online anyway so that is not a problem.

Yes there are a lot of Mormons (mod keyboard actingup but this was a personal attack on a lot of people) This town is too beautiful and has too much potential to let them influence it negatively and try to impede progress. I don't want the town to grow too much more, because I like a small town (and I certainly don't ever want to see a Walmart in Kanab) but I would like to see less antiquated ideas and religion trying to control things.

As far as schools go, I don't know but I can't imagine anyone with school age children moving here. I don't think kids would like it much. It seems like a lot of the people who grew up here and have not had the initiative to move are miserable. They don't like the tourists, seem lazy and downright rude to outsiders. The locals who are friendly always seem to have re-located to Kanab from somewhere else. Maybe it's like that in a lot of small towns though. I say if you're miserable, pack it up and move on.

Aside from all that, I don't let other people influence me and ruin my experience of living someplace that I want to be. Everyone is not a Mormon. There are a lot of forward thinking people here and I would like to see some more small business move in with some original and cool ideas.

Kanab is not a cheap place to live. You need to have an income and that's why a lot of retirees come or people who are going to work for Best Friends. There are some low cost rentals, don't let what someone else said about that deter you. The low cost ones will usually be townhouses or apartments or mobiles, just check with the realtors or the local newspaper.

My advice is to visit for a while and talk to a lot of different people and have a realtor show you some available places to live.

[bentstrider]

Scenery and outdoor activity-wise, this place seemed pretty appealing for a small-town.
I made a self-imposed lay-over here last September while taking a load of soap from SLC to Flagstaff along the 89(one of the best, non-freeway routes a truck can take as far I'm concerned).
Parked the rig at the truckstop with the Wendys and pulled the bicycle out for a little exploration of the area.
Folks seemed pretty decent regardless of leaning, streets were rather bike-friendly, and the air was easy to breathe.
Night-life, well this was a Friday night and the local HS was having their homecoming game so I decided to roll over there and watch that.
It felt like "Friday Night Lights", but with canyon walls in the back-drop.

All-in-all, I wouldn't mind spending a little more time here if I could find a trucking job that went through here weekly, or a good-enough paying non-truck job.

When it comes to small-towns, I seem to always be more concerned about the surrounding landscape more than anything.

[eldoradolost]

It depends on who you wish to be in contact with. The Mormons are alright if you don't expect them to really like you, unless they think they can convert you. If you do ANYTHING that goes against their beliefs, religious or political, you WILL be targeted. You WILL be either driven out of town or made so miserable you will want to leave.

If you have kids, home school them, they will be treated like garbage by the other students, unless they can convert them and they WILL try.

If you are gay, a single mom or anything like that, see above. If you are liberal or pro-environment same thing. If you try to walk the road in between the right and left then NO ONE will trust you because you didn't pick a side.

Best Frienders didn't like us much because we hunted, Off Road/anti-monument people didn't like us because we didn't believe everything they did.

We saw many friends and neighbors, some of them Mormon driven out of town in the '90s and early 2000s and from what I've heard it hasn't changed. Several people we know were harassed by the police in several areas, wrongfully terminated from jobs you name it. If you keep quiet, don't talk to anyone, pay your taxes etc you might be able to live there.


Personally when dealing with Kanab a good attitude to quote the great Fox Mulder is "TRUST NO ONE!"

[KanabResident]

Lived in Oviedo FL, NE side of Orlando in Seminole County. Worked at Kennedy Space Center. Visited Kanab on vaction, revisited each year for a few years. Prepurchased a home and couldn't wait to retire to Kanab. Came in fall 2008 and have never regretted it since. Wild horses or whatever could not ever get me to move away from this interesting, beautiful town where we have 4 beautiful and moderate seasons (weather better here than any other place in the US) and the vistas are stunning. I had a list of 75 things I wouldn't miss from FL - altho I loved my years there sure didn't want to be retired there (weather and rat race too much to deal with). My sister came too (formerly resident of Miami) but she got ill and had to move in with me, so I have a lovely townhome to sell. This is a lively town, people are pleasant and although the area is high desert, this town is lots of trees, flowering trees, flower and vegetable gardens, beautiful city park, library, hospital (good doctors and care) and if you have a hankering to get to big city now and then, then you go out of town for a day. There are all kinds of events to attend here, and it is a place where tourists come to see what we offer here and of course for all the surrounding national and state parks/forests/lakes... plenty to do. If you own a payed-off place to live here, I find it a LOT less expensive than if I had continuted living in FL.