Best Cultural Phenomenon
Invasion of the Bachelorettes
Head to Old Town Scottsdale any night of the week, and you can’t miss them: roving packs of young women, often identifiable as a bride-to-be and her friends by matching sashes, themed T-shirts, and/or coordinating cowboy hats. The uptick in bachelorette getaways held in Scottsdale was noticed by no less than the New York Times, which published an article in June about the phenomenon. As of 2021, Scottsdale was the second-most-popular destination for brides and their bridesmaids (just behind Nashville), sparking a cottage industry of people who decorate the incoming women’s Airbnbs with wedding-themed decor and bachelorette-specific events companies. Though we’ve heard some longtime Old Town barflies complain about the bachelorettes, we don’t mind when we see a group walk through the door of our watering hole du jour: They pump money into the local economy, they bring good energy to even the emptiest bars, and if nothing else, the people-watching is epic.