Williams eyed for 'Bearizona'

By PATRICK WHITEHURST
Associate Grand Canyon News Editor
Tuesday, July 28, 2009

Bear park could become a reality in Williams by May of 2010

Developers have their eyes on Williams when it comes to a proposed wildlife park in the city limits that would feature bears as one of the primary attractions. Called "Bearizona," the proposed Williams park would be located near the Highway 64 and Interstate 40 interchange on a little over 150 acres owned by the Keethler family. Bill Keethler Jr. and developer Sean Casey presented Williams City Council members with the concept for the park during their recent regular meeting July 23.

City officials reviewed the concept during a departmental review team meeting July 17. The park will open in phases and feature a limited number of animals as construction continues on the park. Animals will include bears, bighorn sheep and more, Casey said, adding that a walking area, similar to a zoo, will take roughly a year to complete.

Council members approved signage for the park to help draw people into the Bearizona attraction during the July 23 meeting. Casey said he would use some of the signs, which offer changing LCD displays, to promote city functions, such as the gunfights downtown and other events. Council members also agreed to allocate water for the property, estimated at four million gallons, and approved the preliminary concept plan for the proposed park during the meeting.

Mayor John Moore told council members during the July 23 meeting that the project started being discussed nearly two months ago.

"It's moving pretty fast through the system," Moore said. "We're down to the point now where we have to make a decision tonight to move forward with this and do some little things, variances, maybe some impact fees and things that they are requesting. They want to try and have this facility open in May, I think that's correct, of this coming year."

Keethler, who is negotiating with Bearizona officials for his property, said he recently traveled to South Dakota and fell in love with the bear park concept. Casey and other members of his family operate Bear Country U.S.A. in South Dakota, online at www.bearcountryusa.com. The South Dakota park is one of the top four attractions in the area, Casey said.

"This is something that would really, really work for northern Arizona and the city of Williams," Keethler said. "The services seemed like it would be low impact for the city - what it would take for the facility to run, the numbers of people that were going through there, the excitement of (seeing) the bears as you drove."

While Casey said the proposed park is not affiliated with Bear Country U.S.A., the park would be similar in a number of ways.

"My dad started Bear Country in Rapid City South Dakota in 1972. We're about 10 miles away from Mount Rushmore and that's our draw," Casey said.

"There are a lot of similarities between Mount Rushmore and the Grand Canyon, except the Grand Canyon draws more people, about 1.7 times more to the South Rim. We've always known this area was good."

The Bear Country U.S.A. facility rates as one of the top four attractions in the Black Hills area of South Dakota.

"We have Mount Rushmore, Crazy Horse Memorial, which is actually going to be bigger than Rushmore someday, and then Custer State Park. We're the fourth in attendance and we get about 300,000 people a year up there. We're hoping to do at least that down here. We're shooting for 500,000 when we're done," Casey said.

He hopes to keep the park open 10 months a year and offer special Christmas promotions that might tie in with the Grand Canyon Railway's® Christmas events.

"Here I'm hoping we can go maybe 10 months and then maybe weekends on the shoulders and then maybe just shut down January and February, I'm not sure, because Christmas I know is big here with the Grand Canyon Railway. We have reindeer, too. I can see a lot of cooperative things with them. December is probably in play for us," Casey said.

Bearizona engineers said they plan to tap into the water line from Dogtown and use it to fill some of the lakes on site, as well as for fire suppression and water tanks at the location. Potable water would come from the nearby ADOT yard. Future plans for the bear park would include a hotel near the facility, according to Casey, who said that those plans are currently years away.