For shoppers in the Four Corners area, Farmington offers the best of both worlds. On its 10 mile plus Main Street you find to the east, a wide range of big box shopping, a regional mall with department stores and restaurants - fast food to casual gourmet. Then to the west is old downtown Farmington which remains remarkably vital; flourishing with locally-owned retail stores, hometown restaurants, an award-winning brewery and a very happening bookstore/coffee house.
Trading Posts with wares from some of the finest Navajo artisans have long been a part of downtown Farmington’s retail mix. Now they have been joined by several art galleries among them Artifacts and Wall-Art Galleries. The downtown also provides a regular schedule of concerts and other events at the Totah Theater and at the Civic Center a couple of blocks away.
The emerging arts and cultural scene downtown has been spurred on by an active Main Street and Downtown Association as well as support from the City of Farmington. All year long the area buzzes with events large and small - Safe Trick or Treating in October, TGIF in the summer, and a popular quarterly Art Walk, when many downtown stores hold open houses, exhibiting the work of local and regional artists and providing music. Art Walk is an eclectic affair, like Farmington itself, sporting Scottish music, Indian drums and chanting, teenage garage bands, and some country western dancing in the street.
