Williams theme park update coming tonight

The Arizona Daily Sun in Flagstaff reports that the Williams City Council will provide an update Thursday evening about a proposed theme park.

The council will hold a behind-closed-doors executive session at 6 p.m. regarding the “purchase, sale or lease of real property” for Grand Canyon Northland Amusements & Entertainment.

During the council’s regular meeting at 7 p.m., City Manager Dennis Wells will provide a progress report on the project.

According to the Williams-Grand Canyon News, Mayor Ken Edes said:

“What they would like to do is have a work session before the council meeting so they can present what they’re talking about and if you remember on the theme park ­ it’s actually a work in progress ­ where we (are) actually dictating to them some of the things we’re requiring and this is that moment where they’re going to come with their ideas and we’re going to try and hammer some things out.”

Edes said the meeting would offer a chance for some discussion on where Williams may be headed in the future.

“Because it’s dealing with real estate and the real estate issues that they can’t make public, they have asked me if we can do an executive session before our regular meeting and then we’ll present their plan at the regular meeting,” said Edes. “We can talk about what we’d like to see, where we’d like to go and grow and things like that and then they’ll present their findings to the public after the executive session.”

The theme-park project has been bandied about since 2005, with few details except for these from the Daily Sun:

The proposed park is slated to have a combination of attractions featuring Route 66 themes, a Fab ’50s town, a Western town, a Navajo Learning Center and Asian Gardens.

It wouldn’t surprise me if there’s an announcement Thursday that the theme park will finally break ground. If nothing else, it sounds like the theme park is closer to reality.

We’ll see.