Selma

Selma calls itself the Raisin Capital of the World, a title it adopted in 1963 after roughly 90 percent of the country's raisins came to be produced within eight miles of town. The city's earlier identity, the Home of the Peach, gave way to this once vineyards took over from the orchards that first replaced Selma's original wheat fields.

Downtown Selma keeps a genuine small-town feel, with Lincoln Park's band stand and plaza, a modern Selma Arts Center, and a scattering of historical murals including the town's own Tree of Life. The Selma Pioneer Village preserves the area's early settler history as an outdoor museum, and the giant raisin box near the Sun-Maid Market is a genuine local landmark.

Selma sits along Highway 99 between Fresno and Fowler, making it an easy stop on a Central Valley drive as well as a base for exploring the surrounding raisin and vineyard country, especially during the late-summer harvest season when grapes are laid out to dry along the rural roads outside town.