Williams News Logo
Grand Canyon News Logo

Trusted local news leader for Williams AZ and the Grand Canyon

Zipline located in downtown Williams ready for customers Saturday

People enjoy a Soaring Eagle Zipline. Photo/Soaring Eagle Zipline

People enjoy a Soaring Eagle Zipline. Photo/Soaring Eagle Zipline

Officials with Soaring Eagle Ziplines anticipate the Williams zipline attraction will be up and running Saturday.

Logan Checketts, owner and manager of Soaring Eagle, expected the company to ship the ride from Logan, Utah on Monday. He hoped to start the initial layout yesterday and "have all the kinks worked out" by the end of the week.

The company will install the zipline at the Grand Canyon Boulevard and Railroad Avenue intersection. The high tower will go in the parking lot by the Recreation Center and the low tower will be in the east visitor parking lot. The zipline will cross Grand Canyon Boulevard, with about 30 feet of space between the ride and the street.

"It's going to offer a really fun way for people to see Route 66 and Williams from the air," Checketts said. "It's going to provide a whole new perspective on Williams. People are going to love it."

The Williams City Council approved Soaring Eagle's proposal for the zipline at the April 25 meeting by a vote of 4-3. The term of the contract goes through December 31, 2013, and the city may renew it for two additional one-year periods.

The city had two payment options from Soaring Eagle: receive a one-time payment of $35,000 or a one-time payment of $25,000, plus 18 percent of gross revenue after the $25,000 share is reached.

City Manager Brandon Buchanan said the city chose the second option.

While officials had originally hoped to have the ride up and running by Memorial Day weekend, the custom modifications to the ride and the engineering took some extra time. Checketts explained that Soaring Eagle ziplines are normally not located in parking lots and engineers must design the rides for the specific site.

Workers moved an overhead power line underground in the east parking lot to prepare for the ride.

Soaring Eagle custom built the ride for Williams. The ride's carts usually have an eagle on top, but for this ride one will have a 1964 Corvette and the other will have a 1957 Chevy on top. Rather than paint the ride's poles bright colors as the company normally does, for the Williams zipline they sprayed the poles with a solution to rust them, so the ride will fit in better with the downtown area.

Soaring Eagle decorated the ticket booth as an old-time diner. Checketts plans to hire nine people to operate the zipline.

Soaring Eagle will also put up a display booth containing a 1957 Chevrolet Bel Air and antiques from the 1950s and 1960s. The 28-foot semi box trailer will go in the east end of the east parking lot.

"I think it's a good representation of Williams and Route 66 right there," Checketts said. "Our hopes are that that little display box will help the zipline fit in to the historic area downtown as best as possible."

People will be able to admire the display box as they wait in line for the ride.

"We're really excited for everybody to see what we've done," Checketts said.


Donate Report a Typo Contact