Tag Archives: Bearizona

Williams dresses up for Mountain Village Holiday

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Grand Canyon Railway spiffed up for the Polar Express.

Grand Canyon Railway spiffed up for the Polar Express.

20131105 005WILLIAMS—The City of Williams and the Grand Canyon Railway are dressed up for the Mountain Village Holiday. This is the time when the City and local businesses dress up in lights for the Polar Express which starts its run today. Bearizona Wildlife drive-through park will also be open through the Mountain Village Holiday which ends early January.

The Zipline will also be running, weather permitting.

This event really kicks off after Thanksgiving. The annual Parade of Lights and lighting of the City Christmas Tree on historic route 66 takes place on the 30th starting at 6:30. A Fine Art Show, live entertainment, hot chocolate and other holiday activities, including shopping for unique gifts, are added to the venue.

Western Outfitters is offering denim stockings by Wrangler for the holidays.

Western Outfitters is offering denim stockings by Wrangler for the holidays.

Come early to shop at the 10th annual SAVE-Meant to Rescue Craft Show which benefits animal rescue efforts in Williams and the surrounding area. Their show starts at 10 am and runs until 5 pm. The show will be at the World Famous Sultana Theatre and you can contact Nadine for more information at 928-897-8710.

Bearizona will be hosting its annual Wild Wonderland event for annual pass holders only. This event will be held on the 30th from 4 to 6 pm in Fort Bearizona. Santa Claus will be making a special appearance at the event. Of course you will be able to stroll through the animal exhibits, as well. A reservation is not required, but they request an RSVP with the number of people attending by November 22nd. You can RSVP to Jocelyn(at)bearizona.com or by calling 928-635-2289.

There is a lighting contest which encourages residents to decorate their homes. So plan a tour of the City as homes and more businesses decorate for the holiday.

You can find more information at the Williams Visitor Center on Railroad Avenue across the street from Circle-K.
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Renaissance Dinner a success

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We apologize for the delay in our reports. Computer casualties and vacation time interfered with our timely reporting.


WILLIAMS—The dinner by the Grand Canyon Renaissance Experience group at the Sultana theater catered by Anna of the Grand Canyon Coffee and Cafe seems to have been a success.

Crowds shuffled in to dining, music, magic, and song all with a Renaissance flavor.

Mark Worden explained that the original intent was to have a regular renaissance festival, but had a stroke in February. They have had regular renaissance festivals in Flagstaff over the past few years.

This and other fundraising efforts is to build a castle on five-acres provided by Sean Casey of the Bearizona drive through wildlife park for future renaissance affairs.

Memorial Day recap

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WILLIAMS—A parade, the Kiwanis Swap Meet, and a free swim were the order of the day for the Williams Memorial. The members of the American Legion Cordova Post #13 lined route 66 with the American flag on Saturday and Monday.

The Grand Marshal for the parade was Carla Lugo of Williams. Carla is an Army as a logistics readiness officer set to deploy to Afghanistan in July. Leading the Grand Marshal was the American Legion Cordova Post #13 color guard.

The Bearizona shuttle made its debut this week also participating in the parade. The bus makes a run throughout the City of Williams to pick up passengers destined for the park. The bus picks up starting at Denny’s Restaurant at ten-minutes after the hour. At twenty-minutes after the hour the shuttle picks up at the Williams Visitor Center with a pick-up at the Wild West Junction at the half-hour. The shuttle bus allows you to visit the park and take the open-air bus, take in the raptor show and stroll through the walk-through area. The normal park entry fees apply.

Two new businesses opened just in time for the holiday weekend. Glenn and Linda opened Treats N Treasures candy store next to the Sultana for their mother. The store features candy, ice cream, sodas and other great treats and souvenirs you won’t find in other stores. Ivo, with wife Christine, have opened up their beautifully decorated restaurant next to Addicted to Deals.

The free swim signaled the opening of the Williams Aquatic Center for the summer season. The Kiwanis Swap meet brings deals into Williams that cannot be found elsewhere. The swap meet attracts visitors—including a lot foreign tourist. The swap meet also causes less of a blight on the landscape of Williams than the smokers allowed on the sidewalk outside of the bars.

Bearizona celebrates 3rd anniversay Wednesday

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WILLIAMS—The Bearizona drive-through wildlife theme park in Williams celebrates its third year in operation this Wednesday, May 22nd. From its humble beginning, the park grew to include raptor show run by the High Country Raptors. Now they even include an open-air bus tour.

The open windows of the bus allow you to take photographs without interference from the car windows. The cost is $4 for adults, $3 for children 4 to 12 and children under three ride for free.

On the tour you will see goats, donkeys, Bighorn sheep, wolves and the star attraction. In the walk-through area you can take in the free raptor show or some of the smaller animals and juvenile bears.

Bearizona needs your dandelions

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bearizona-dandelionsWILLIAMS—Are you out doing your spring yard work preparing to plant your garden? Do you have to dig out all of those pesky dandelions? Bearizona will take them off your hands.

They are requesting the weeds on their Facebook page.

Got Dandelion weeds? Our bears love dandelions!
Instead of throwing the weeds out, feel free to drop
off your freshly pulled dandelion weeds at the front
gate when you come.

The bears will thank you!

We have invited them to bring one or two of the bears for lunch in our yard sometime. No response yet.

K-Mart sign change in Bullhead City will not happen until owls are gone.

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BULLHEAD CITY, ARIZONA—A pair of Great Horned owls have apparently built a nest in the Big K-Mart sign at 2250 Arizona 95 in Bullhead City. Some residents expressed concern because of a proposed sign change that might impact the owls nest. Beverley Craig of the K-Mart location, however, said emphatically that the sign will not be changed until the owls are gone. “Even the sign guy says they won’t touch it while they’re there,” she said.

bhc-owl-20130409-02“There is a plan to change the sign, but it’s like a month or so away,” Craig said. She added, “They won’t touch it with the owls up there anyway.”

Beverley verified that there is a male and female owl and they believe that there are babies. “There’s a mommy and daddy and we believe there’s a couple of babies up there. They’re up there every night. And, of course, momma sits out every afternoon on the sign.”

Beverley also pointed out that there is a benefit to having the owls move in. “We were happy to see them arrive because we used to be infested with pigeons. Now the pigeons are all gone. I want to put an owl box in my backyard,” she laughed.

The High Country Raptors program is a non-profit organization that does educational programs about birds of prey at Bearizona in Williams. They have three shows a day at the wild life drive-through park.

Susan Ruble of the High Country Raptors program said that seeing owls in store signs is not a rare sight. “It’s not uncommon. It just depends on if there is game in that area. They’ve got one nesting down at the Home Depot in Prescott. Great Horns don’t seem to be real picky.”

She explained that owls, like other predatory birds, maintain a population equilibrium of rodents and other small animals. The babies should start leaving the nest at about eight-weeks, but generally stay near the nest for sometime. “They should keep the sign up as long as possible,” Susan advised.

K-Mart is a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Sears company. The Sears Holding Company received recognition in March from the EPA for being an ENERGY STAR partner for 2013. Their press release reads:

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has recognized Sears Holdings with a 2013 ENERGY STAR Partner of the Year – Sustained Excellence Award for its continued leadership in protecting the environment through superior energy efficiency. This year, Sears Holdings is being awarded for both its role as a retailer of ENERGY STAR certified products and for energy management in its stores. Sears Holdings’ accomplishments will be recognized at an awards ceremony in Washington, D.C., on March 26, 2013.

Zip Line ride proposed for Williams

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WILLIAMS—At the City Council meeting March 28th, Mike Brown of Western Destinations proposed the instillation of a ride called Zip Line perhaps in the area of Cureton Park. The proposed cost of rides would be approximately $39 with a re-ride costing half of that. Williams residents would get a discounted price.

The ride, Mr. Brown indicated, could provide as many as forty jobs in Williams. Local residents would be trained to conduct the ride safely and the ride would be insured for $5 million.

Councilman Don Dent considered what affect such a ride would have on the Route 66 image that Williams has built up. Joplin Missouri and Branson Missouri have theme parks along, or in the area of, Route 66 both trading off on the Route 66 name. Knight’s Action Park operates in Springfield, Illinois along the Mother Road.

Blog BatesLine by Michael Bates of Tulsa Okalahoma asked: Wouldn’t it be cool to restore Crystal City on Historic Route 66 as an amusement park, right next to a restored Red Fork Main Street?

Dwayne the canoe guy commented:

This is great news. There is a small amusement ‘park’ on Route 66 in Joplin but it would be great to have a good sized park like Bell’s rockin & rollin on the Mother Road. Especially with a minigolf with 66 icons (wigwam motel, round barn, gemini giant, cadillac ranch)

Right here in Williams, Napolitano approved a special taxing district for a theme park in Williams that never developed. That action even caused the County Board of Supervisors to raise property taxes for a short time. So you now know what a “special taxing district” is.

Flagstaff operates a smaller version of the Zip Line ride at their Extreme Adventure Course near the fairgrounds as seen in the following video.

There are currently Zip Line rides in Indianapolis, Las Vegas and Hawaii. For the longest and fastest Zip Line in the world, you will need a ticket to South Africa.

Mr. Brown indicated that the ride would be “low impact” meaning that it could be easily removed leaving no marks if it did not do well. However, the engineering in the videos presented does not appear to bear that out. It appears that Williams would have to build a large tower to make the ride. It is also unclear how the project would impact softball and little league games at the park.

While the project does not seem appropriate in the indicated area, it could be an interesting compliment to the Bearizona drive through wildlife park. Another area of possible interest might be the Williams snow play area.

White Christmas, but sunny today.

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Last Advent concert at St John's Episcopal-Luthern Church

Last Advent concert at St John’s Episcopal-Luthern Church

The last of the Advent musical presentations ended last Sunday at the St John’s Episcopal-Lutheran Church. Of course they invite visitors and new members to the 100-year old Church anytime.

The predicted snow of last night was less than spectacular leaving less than one-inch to add to the snow of the previous storms. Still there is plenty of snow left to construct that snowman as visitors to the Polar Express will attest to.

Light snow and rain is forecast for Wednesday during the day raising to a 50% chance on Thursday to deliver up to two-inches of fresh powder. Friday follows with a slight chance of light snow before 11 a.m. clearing to give us a sunny Saturday with a chance of snow the following two days.

Visitors to the Polar Express are reminded that they should stop at one of the local stores to purchase gloves for their kids.

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This is, also, the last week in which you can visit Bearizona Drive-Thru animal park during the weekdays. During January and February they will only be open on Saturday and Sunday during their normal hours of 8 a.m. with the last car being admitted at 4 p.m. They have a GPS system which gives you a personalized tour of the park. After driving through the main attraction you can relax and take a stroll among the animals and take in the Raptor Show in the walk-through area.

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We experienced hunters don’t need the GPS, but it might be useful for you tourists

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Renaissance group presents a Knight of fun fundraiser

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A Knight to Remember fundraiser December 1

WILLIAMS—The Grand Canyon Renaissance Experience is presenting a fundraiser on December 1. The fundraiser will be held from 7-10 p.m. at the Sultana Theater on Route 66 in downtown Williams.

Tickets for the fundraiser are $25 for couples or $12.95 per person, which includes dinner and the show. Tickets are limited and are available at the City of Williams Forest Service Visitor Center. Attendees can come dressed in renaissance, Christmas or western costume or come as you are.

Mark Worden, Managing Director of the group, said in a recent Williams News interview, “We hope to make ‘A Knight to Remember’ an annual event for our town.”

Working with Bearizona, the Grand Canyon Renaissance Experience is working on a project that would include a castle on 12-acres south of I-40 near Garland Prairie Road. The event includes a brief about the project. Local artists will present drawings and color renderings of the proposed project.

The “faire” for the event includes a Beef bread bowl, salad, baked potato and desert. Entertainment includes various styles of dance and music.

The Day I Shot an Arctic Wolf.

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Williams, December 15—It was cold outside. With almost a foot-and-a-half of snow on the ground the wind made it nearly intolerable. That is what made our hunt from within the confines of the Jeep Cherokee so desirable. Our desire was to find whatever animals we could and shoot them. We even had the blessings of the authorities in charge.

We entered into the wilderness on the dirt road provided. The snow had been plowed away, so almost any car would have sufficed. They even provided us with a GPS device that told us the exact spot where we would find the animals on our hunting extravaganza. We passed right by the American burros without incident. We did not need a ride and who wants to shoot a burro? I have on previous hunts, but that is not what I was after this time.

It was not long before we spotted our prey. An Arctic Wolf right in the middle of the road. It was almost too easy. My dog ran frantically throughout the vehicle from one window to the next to point out the animal. They were all around us. It could be, also, that he just wanted to play with them. I took careful aim and shot right through the windshield. Another approached to stand beside the first, and I shot them both. I did not even have to roll down the window. In fact, the authority in charge asks that you do not roll down your window. That day I had a chance to shoot a white buffalo, some ravens and squirrels, and even a couple of bears.

Of course this is all easy when you are shooting with a camera and the “authority in charge” is Bearizona in Williams Arizona.
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