Main | Kartchner Caverns virtual tour

Underground economy could lift whole area

By RuthAnn Hogue and Ignacio Ibarra
The Arizona Daily Star

K.L. Day & Arizona Conservation Projects The Big Room won't be open to the public right away, but businesses are banking on the caverns' other attractions to bring in lots of tourists quickly.

The long-awaited opening of Kartchner Caverns State Park will soon give tourists - and their pocketbooks - a gargantuan reason to visit Southern Arizona.

It's one business opportunity that has left restaurant and hotel owners from Tucson to Sierra Vista salivating since 1988, when the story about the caves broke.

Cochise County officials say anticipation of the park's tourism benefits has already spurred tourism-related development, including construction of six hotels in Benson, Willcox and Sierra Vista. In addition, two new RV resorts will add more than 500 RV hook-up spaces in Sierra Vista and Benson.

The increased fuel sales, hotel/motel bookings and food sales mean more tax revenues for the county and more jobs for county residents, said Cochise County Economic Development Director Linda M. Small.

For most players in the tourism industry, any anticipated benefit is yet to come.

But in Benson, home of the caverns, the majestic hole in the ground has been paying off for years.

Development of the caverns, the widening of Arizona 90 and other improvements in preparation for the opening of the state park have kept Benson's hoteliers particularly busy.

"The little motels are doing well," said Larry Kreps, the city's community development director. "Contractors are staying in the little motels. Before that it was the San Pedro Rail company upgrading its tracks. The little motels stay booked all the time with construction people."

Benson's boon will come to fruition Friday, when Kartchner Caverns opens to the public. Arizona State Parks' own estimates put the number at about 150,000 people a year, but local tourism planners are expecting 250,000 to 350,000 visitors to the park per year.

David Sanders, The Arizona Daily Star The caverns' discovery was the greatest stroke of luck for Lorene Whaley and her husband, Bill, owners of the Horseshoe Cafe in Benson. Find was stroke of luck for the Horseshoe Cafe The Horseshoe Cafe has been banking on Kartchner Caverns for more than a decade. The Benson eatery owned and operated by Lorene and Bill Whaley has been in her family since her grandparents bought it in 1936, except for the period between 1981 and 1986. Lorene Whaley said she and her husband bought the restaurant in 1986 with the intention of fixing it up and unloading it soon after. "In 1988, we decided to maybe hold on to it for a while," she said, recalling the first news reports of the caverns. "The discovery brought attention to a community that sits in a beautiful valley that has a lot of amenities as far as nature, but that's easy enough to get to and is an easy drive to Tucson with shopping and medical facilities that we need," she said. The Whaleys have been preparing for the grand opening of the Kartchner Caverns State Park ever since. "We definitely do expect an impact, and we have been preparing - not just this community, but the whole county has been preparing for years for the opening of Kartchner Caverns," she said. The Horseshoe Cafe specializes in Southwestern dishes and traditional plates such as liver and onions, chicken fried steak and prime rib. Preparing for the big event has meant removing aluminum siding from the front of the store, refurbishing a horseshoe-shaped neon sign that dates to the 1940s, renovating restrooms and more. "When we removed the siding, there were some pictures painted by a famous cowboy artist (Vern Parker) in the 1950s of two very distinct horses," Whaley said. Whaley said the delays that kept the park from opening for the past four years have been a blessing. "We weren't ready" for the tourists, she said. "I don't think people were ready. Those of us who have been invested in the development of the cave somewhat have been actually thrilled they have taken the time to preserve what is actually a natural wonder." As a member of the Friends of Kartchner Caverns, Whaley heads up the food and beverage committee for a half-million-dollar opening gala that will last several days before the public opening of the park. She has arranged for vendors to sell barbecued beef, roasted ears of corn and other foods. Whaley said she's hoping many visitors will take the 15-minute drive from the state park to visit her restaurant and the rest of downtown Benson. "We worry about the McDonald's and Kentucky Fried Chicken and what have you out on Highway 90, but I really feel like when people are going out for a day, they are looking to dine at something original," she said. "You can eat any day at KFC or McDonald's, not that those places aren't important. But I think when you go out for an outing, there is interest in independently owned restaurants because they are always a surprise." While the impending opening has created interest in the area, it has also created a temporary slowdown for some. "My restaurant was pretty much the mainstay of the town," Whaley said of the days before anyone heard of the caves. "And now, a lot of competition is coming in. It's been difficult because you take a piece of pie and you keep cutting the slices of the pie, and the slices keep getting smaller and smaller. "However, I believe when Kartchner opens, the fact that we have a lot of good restaurants in Benson is going to benefit all of us because the word will get out." Whaley said several of Benson's 27 restaurants are, like hers, independently owned. She and two of her competitors went together to purchase a billboard on Interstate 10 to attract visitors to their places instead of one of the chains. - RuthAnn Hogue

Benson, built in the late 1800s around the Butterfield Stage Line and Southern Pacific Railroad, was not prepared to host an attraction that some say might bring in nearly 100 visitors annually for each of its 3,824 residents.

Thanks in part to increased sales and bed taxes related to area construction, the city has spent the past decade catching up. Most everything from rundown storefronts to overgrown baseball diamonds has been given a fresh look.

The number of hotel rooms has more than doubled, from 148 to 398.

The city's main shopping center is now at 100 percent capacity, and an older shopping center is once again beginning to flourish.

The discovery of the cave has also sparked interest among developers who seek to build luxury homes and at least two resorts in the Whetstone Mountains.

"This won't be like anything we saw downtown," Kreps said. "They will not be 1,200-square-foot homes. They will be more akin to homes in the foothills."

One of the resorts, being planned for an 800-acre site by a Swiss developer, is expected to be of the same caliber as Tucson's world-renowned Canyon Ranch Resort.

If any of those big-spending visitors care to arrive by private Cessna or a small commercial tour company plane, Benson will be ready for them. The state park has driven the city built by the railroad to build a 4,000-foot-long runway, which opens next month.

That's just one of several city projects made possible in part by increased revenues connected to the cave. Last month the city awarded a contract to rebuild a historic railroad depot and gift center.

A new sewage treatment plant is in the works, as is a senior center. And the city's baseball diamonds are being better maintained.

"We have a tremendous investment in downtown," Kreps said. "We have added miles and miles of water pipe, sewer pipe," he said. "At city hall, we are interested in revitalizing downtown."

While the added sewage lines are intended to keep up with anticipated growth related to the caverns, some improvements are intended strictly for the benefit of residents.

"Taking care of the baseball diamonds, that is for our own people to make them proud of their city, something they have cried for for a long time," Kreps said. "Before, we didn't have the money to do it or to operate a senior center. We have the money now to do things for our own people."

Loretta Fenn, manager of the 89-room Best Western Quail Hollow Inn in Benson, said she believes the best is yet to come.

"From the indications, it looks like it is going to be really good," she said. "We're not sure exactly what the impact will be, but we are hoping for the best."

Lee Matson of San Pedro Territory Mobile Home and RV Park has booked 30 reservations from a travel club that intends to visit the park in January.

"I don't know if we will get the impact as much as the restaurants or the motels, but we'll see. We hope so," Matson said.

Matson said she uses Kartchner Caverns in her advertisements for the park's 176 RV spots. She's been sending out copies of news articles about the caverns and putting information on the opening date and how to make reservations in her monthly newsletter.

"I'm trying to promote it," she said.

Most Benson business owners seem to share the same sentiment, but there are those who disagree.

Mike Wyant, who operates Benson Hotel with his wife, Mary, said he believes the community will benefit from the state park, but not as much as others seem to believe.

"Sierra Vista has got us by the shorts right now," he said.

That's because Sierra Vista has more hotel rooms and more services than Benson, including Cochise County's only full-service shopping mall.

"Sierra Vista is so much further ahead of us," he said. "Benson will be left in the rain because they are not ready."

Indeed, although Benson may be the community most transformed by Kartchner Caverns, Sierra Vista is likely to get the lion's share of the anticipated benefits.

That's not only because it's the largest Cochise County community with the most to offer in tourist-related services, but also because it's close to other tourism destinations like Ramsey Canyon, Fort Huachuca, and the San Pedro River,

That's certainly what Philip Crapo, general manager of the Windemere Hotel and Convention Center in Sierra Vista, is counting on.

"The end result will certainly be a positive return and will make Sierra Vista more of a tourism destination by giving people more to do. We're already starting to feel the effects, but we won't know the full impact until it after it opens," said Crapo, noting that one tour bus operator who will be bringing visitors to Kartchner Caverns has booked rooms at the hotel.

Cochise County's best-known tourist attraction, Tombstone, may have to shoot it out with Kartchner Caverns to hold on to that distinction.

But Doug Clay, the manager of the OK Corral, says he's not too worried about the Town Too Tough to Die facing increased competition. In fact, he's betting it's going to make for better business for everyone.

"I don't really think it's going to hurt us," Clay said. "I think people who come down to visit Kartchner Caverns are going to take the time to come and see us here in Tombstone as well. The caverns are a good tour, but it's only a few hours out of the trip.

"We're here, and we're still a piece of Western Americana and people are going to come."