SUMMERHAVEN, Ariz. (KGUN) — People across Tucson take the winding road up to Mt. Lemmon for the views, the hikes and the snow.
Soon they’ll have another place for a pick-me-up on top of the mountain.
After living there for more than a decade, Deborah Weatherly plans to open the Mt. Lemmon Coffee Bean in Summerhaven, near the Mt. Lemmon Community Center, in early spring of 2022.
Weatherly also runs a cabin maintenance business on the mountain, but wanted to contribute even more.
“I want to support my locals up here, the people that support me. And the visitors that come up on the mountain,” she said. “It’s an amazing thing on a weekend to see the village full and thriving. And I want to be a part of that more so than what I am now.”
Weatherly says the shop will offer those people an early morning or late night option for coffee, tea, pastries and more when the other businesses are closed.
Planning for the Coffee Bean has been going on for nearly two years. The pandemic, supply chain issues and the Bighorn Fire ruined several opening day plans.
“It’s just been hurry up and stop, hurry up and stop, hurry up and stop,” Weatherly said. “Everybody who’s ever been in a ‘yo-yo situation’ knows what that feels like. That excitement, that frustration. That excitement, that frustration. And that wears on a person.”
Once again, the plan is back on. The Coffee Bean is one of three new retail locations set to open on the same Summerhaven block in 2022.
It’s part of a gradual transformation that Weatherly has been watching.
Older folks that have been here for years, they’re kind of selling off and new blood’s coming in,” she said. “We’ve got a bunch of kids coming up to the mountain, which gives the mountain new life. And I just, I want to be a part of it.”
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