In November 2018, the Camp Verde Town Council approved an $80,000 grant to the Camp Verde Arena Association to build a rodeo arena on the land owned by the town past the wastewater treatment plant and near the upcoming Camp Verde Sports Complex.
In May 2019, council approved an additional $50,000 for the project, followed by another $250,000 at the end of August, with the hope that the arena could be opened and operational by January of 2020.
The month of January is reaching its close, and the arena is not yet open as the CVAA had planned. However, the arena association spent the past weekend trying to get the land set aside for the arena into usable condition to be opened sometime in the coming weeks, at least for the first phase of construction.
On Saturday and Sunday, a team of volunteers joined the CVAA to assemble the panels that make up the arena part of the complex. They intend to return to the site next weekend, Friday Jan. 31 and Saturday, Feb. 1, from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., in the hopes of finishing the first phase, with Sunday as an additional day to complete any work that was not finished those days. CVAA president Mary Phelps said that based on the work completed by Sunday night, the paneling should be finished by the end of next Saturday.
“We were hoping that the panels would have been up, because originally we were planning that in December,” Phelps said. “But because of the wet month and that dirt that’s out there, there was just no way.”
Phelps said that the delay ended up being somewhat helpful for the CVAA, not only in that the project no longer felt rushed for those working on it, but also in allowing for an expanded drainage system for the arena grounds, and in allowing them to purchase a second arena’s worth of paneling, which Phelps argued would be necessary for competitions where a large group of contestants compete and need the use of an extra arena to allow events to move more quickly.
If the CVAA finishes what they hope to complete next weekend, they will have the paneling for the arena itself completed, but some notable additional features, including seating and bathrooms, will not be. According to Phelps, the CVAA does not expect to have the arena used for events full-time this year, but hopes to make use of the arena for events on a near-weekly basis next year.
The CVAA is working with the Yavapai-Apache Nation and Cliff Castle Casino to potentially sponsor bleachers, but does not have an expected date for when they would be able to finalize that portion of the project. Phelps said that they hope to find a way to hold a grand opening event in the early spring, such as a live concert that will allow people to take advantage of the space without full seating, either by standing or bringing their own seating.
One of the goals of the CVAA is to be able to have the Fort Verde Days rodeo at a fully operational and completed arena with the necessary seating, in partnership with Cliff Castle.
Much of the work on the arena, including the construction of drainage and much of the dirt for the arena grounds, were provided by donors throughout Camp Verde. Phelps expressed deep thanks to those in Camp Verde who had helped out.
Camp Verde Town Manager Russ Martin said that despite the delay, the town remains happy with the CVAA’s progress.
“They’ve got a lot done out there but there’s a lot of work,” Martin said. “I thought it was an aggressive schedule to begin with. You try to set your goals high, which was what I think their goal was, to get everybody motivated. They did a good job to get it to this point. They’re close to being able to do it, and that’s a really good thing.”
CORRECTION: A previous version of this story falsely stated that the CVAA was hoping to make use of bleachers already owned by the Yavapai-Apache Nation and Cliff Castle Casino. The CVAA and YAN are seeking to work together on purchasing new bleachers, not using exisiting ones.
