Desert Bar nears summer shutdown, marking end of Parker-area season

The last weekends of the season at the Desert Bar are now counting down. The solar-powered, Old West-style saloon in the Buckskin Mountains near Parker will close for summer on April 28, leaving just two weekends for spring visitors to make the trip before the heat shuts the place down.

That matters because getting there is part of the draw and part of the test. The Desert Bar, also known as Nellie E. Saloon, sits about a 5-mile drive down an unpaved road, and a high-clearance vehicle is recommended. The bar is typically open from October through April, Saturdays and Sundays from noon to sundown, with select holiday openings. For first-timers, the mistake is often treating it like a quick stop off State Route 95. It is not. The last stretch is rough desert road, and the route is part of the experience.

The business has been part of the Parker area for more than 40 years. Ken Coughlin bought the land sight unseen in 1975, according to earlier reporting, then opened the bar in the early 1980s and kept building it into a destination that started as a five-stool operation and grew into a tourist draw known for weekend live music, food and drinks. On busy weekends, that popularity has been enough to create traffic jams in a place many visitors expect to feel remote.

That seasonal rhythm has real consequences for La Paz County. Spring crowds heading to the Desert Bar spill over into Parker Strip traffic and send more people to nearby gas stations, restaurants and lodging before the shutdown cuts off one of the area’s most recognizable weekend draws. The venue is listed locally by the Parker Area Chamber of Commerce as Desert Bar, or Nellie E. Saloon, at PO Box 3363, Parker, AZ 85344, with the chamber listing the phone number as (928) 667-2871.

For Parker-area businesses, the April 28 closure marks more than the end of a popular outing. It is the point when one of the county’s most distinctive seasonal attractions goes quiet, and the spring visitor surge that comes with it starts to fade until fall.