A small town success.

As I mentioned in another blog entry, I can’t say enough good things about Williams, AZ, my summer “home town.”

Williams was once a thriving Route 66 community, offering motels, restaurants, and service stations to folks driving between the eastern and western states. Then I-40 came along. East/west traffic sped by and the businesses that catered to the slower, Route 66 traffic folded one after another. But rather than dry up and blow away, Williams cashed in on its location at the junction of I-40 and State Route 64, approximately 60 miles south of the Grand Canyon’s South Rim. It reinvented itself as the “Gateway to the Grand Canyon,” and managed to attract many Grand Canyon visitors.

Williams’ success is due primarily to its strong Chamber of Commerce, which has worked hard to make Williams a destination in itself. While it’s true that Williams doesn’t have anything that can compete with the majestic beauty of the Grand Canyon, it does have many things that the Grand Canyon doesn’t: affordable motel rooms and restaurants, shopping, and a couple of features you can’t find anywhere else: the Grand Canyon Railroad and nightly shootouts.

During the summer months, the Grand Canyon Railroad runs an authentic steam engine from Williams to Grand Canyon Village. If you’re a train buff, this is a train that you simply must see. You can walk around it at the Williams train depot each morning before 10 AM (when it departs for the Grand Canyon) or at the Grand Canyon train depot each afternoon from about noon until 4 PM (when it departs for Williams). The train ride takes just under 2 hours each way and I’ve been told that the train is often robbed by bandits on horseback. I’ve seen the train from the air many times — both at its arrival at the Grand Canyon when I flew for Papillon last summer and enroute between Williams and Howard Mesa on one of my many flights in the area this summer. (As a matter of fact, I saw it again just today.) The Grand Canyon Railroad runs year-round, but in the other three seasons of the year, they run a diesel engine. The ride is just as much fun.

Back in Williams, there’s trouble brewing every night. You can expect a shootout on the street, and fortunately, the local Chamber of Commerce seems to know exactly when and where each shootout will be. You can pick up a list of upcoming shootouts in many of the local businesses, so you can find a good spot for the action. Bring your camera! The town of Williams just doesn’t say it’s a “western town.” It proves it with tourist attractions that have a definite western flair.

Afternoons and evenings in Williams are fun for everyone. There are horse-drawn carriage rides up and down old Route 66. There are shops and restaurants. And you won’t find a “For Rent” or “Not a Retail Outlet” sign anywhere along the main drag.

If you’re looking for a strip mall or a big box store, you won’t find one. And fortunately, Williams keeps its fast food restaurants where they belong: on the I-40 exits. In town, there are locally owned and operated restaurants featuring Mexican, Italian, and American food.

If day-to-day activities in Williams aren’t enough, the town goes the next step by playing host to a number of events that help the local businesses thrive. For example, a few weekends ago, there was a big Harley Davidson rally in town. Every hotel room was booked, every restaurant was filled. A few streets and parking areas were blocked off with event vendors. The event was a big success. Oddly enough, I overheard an attendee talk about it on the last day of the event. She was telling a friend that next year, she’s coming to Williams a week before the event so she can enjoy the town without the crowds.

If you’re planning a trip to the Grand Canyon area and find yourself in Williams, make a stop at the Chamber of Commerce office. It’s full of knowledgeable people who can tell you about all the events and activities. But it’s also a museum, with exhibits about the area — a good place to get acquainted with the town.

I think Wickenburg can learn a lot from Williams. Sadly, Wickenburg seems satisfied to be a pit stop on the road from Phoenix to Las Vegas — rather than a destination worth stopping and staying at.

We spend our fifth consecutive July 4th in Williams.

Williams, AZ is a great little town. I mean, I really can’t say enough good things about it. But I’ll save some of those good things for another entry. This entry deals with our fifth July 4th in the town.

We started going to Williams for July 4th celebrations not long after we bought our place at Howard Mesa. Mike likes fireworks and Williams has ’em. It’s also 20° cooler than Wickenburg in July, which really counts when Wickenburg is 105°F. And let’s face it: Wickenburg probably has the worst July 4th fireworks in the entire country.

Williams has a July 4th Parade. But unlike most parades, the parade at Williams is held in the evening. In fact, it was still going on when Mike, Matt, Liz, and I drove into town at 6:15 PM for dinner at the Italian restaurant. Why in the evening? Well, Williams lives and breathes for the Grand Canyon, 60 miles to the north. Its tourist activities are in the morning, before folks leave their hotels for the GC or other destinations, or in the evening, when folks return from their day at the GC or arrive from other locations. It’s kind of a stopping point for lots of GC tourists. Williams is also home of the Grand Canyon Railroad, which runs a real steam engine to the GC and back every day. There are lots of hotels and restaurants and gift shops. And unlike other towns, the downtown area of Williams is not a showcase of empty storefronts and “not a retail outlet” offices. There’s plenty to see and do and buy, just strolling through town.

The parade was good for us — at least, that’s what we thought. Everyone would be watching the parade, so we could easily get a table in the restaurant. It appeared at first that we were right; there were plenty of tables. But when those tables never filled, we were a bit baffled. I mean, the food was good — I’d certainly go there again. The price was okay — not cheap but not outrageous. (After all, it is a tourist town.) But then Mike figured it out. The restaurant was on the west end of town, a bit beyond walking distance of the nightly shootout and other activities. Tourists like things in their faces. This wasn’t. Their loss.

Our waitress was Asian. That was really weird for me. After all, we were in an Italian restaurant. She spoke perfect English, with a very heavy Asian — Korean? Chinese? — accent. She was sharp as a tack and joked around with us. It was so refreshing to have a waitress who was fun.

I really need to get out more.

Afterward, we walked back to the car, which was conveniently parked in an area where we could watch the fireworks. We took folding chairs out and set them up in a grassy area across the street where other people were already set up. It was about 8:20 and the sun had gone down about 40 minutes before. The sky in the northwest, which we faced, was dark blue fading to redish violet at the horizon. Venus and whatever star that is that’s hanging around with it these days dipped toward the hills as we chatted, finally disappearing. Then it was 9:20 and the fireworks began.

At Williams, they shoot off fireworks in an empty field beside a manmade lake, just north of I-40. It’s a great spot because there’s little chance of the fireworks starting a fire with all that water so close by. Most of the observation areas are on the south side of I-40, so you look past the highway to see the fireworks. Not a big deal, because the highway is on the ground and the fireworks are in the air. Our observation point was farther south, on the south side of the railroad tracks. We had a perfect, unobstructed view, but we were a bit far away for my taste. I like to hear the explosions when the fireworks burst open — not 3 seconds later. I like to feel those explosions in my gut. I like my ears to ring when it’s all over.

Williams must have a considerable budget for fireworks because they sure shoot off a lot of them. And they don’t do them one at a time, like other small towns do. They light off a bunch at once, so there’s a lot to see. This year, the pauses between segments seemed a bit longer than usual. That could have something to do with one of the fireworks exploding on or near the ground. (There was a really long pause after that one.) But the whole show lasted about 30 minutes and the finale was five minutes of nonstop explosions of color that began right after the train went by. (I wonder if they knew the train was coming and waited until it was past?)

During the show, the wind shifted and began blowing from the north. The temperature dropped down to about 70°F; which left us thin-blooded low desert dwellers shivering in our seats. But I’ll take a cool breeze over a sweaty summer night any day.

We drove back to Howard Mesa, watching the cars and trucks in front of us on route 64 peel away to other communities along the way. The road to our place was dark and the sky was full of stars. It was a nice end to a great evening out with friends.