Grand Canyon Caverns & Inn near Peach Springs, Arizona, is set to hold a ribbon-cutting and grand reopening on Saturday.
According to a Facebook post by the Route 66 Association of Arizona, the ribbon-cutting will be at 10 a.m., followed by presentations by the caverns’ representatives.
Tours to the caverns then begin at 1 p.m.
The grand reopening originally had been scheduled for Feb. 1, but that was delayed a few days before the event.
Cavern tours had been closed for more than two years due to the breakdown of its only elevator. In 2022, five tourists were rescued after being stranded deep underground in the caverns due to an elevator malfunction. A few were stuck for 30 hours.
Grand Canyon Caverns was later fined $6,250 and given three citations from the Arizona Division of Occupational Safety and Health for the mishap.
“Safety of our guests is top priority when traveling 210 feet below the earth to explore the caverns,” Scott West, the caverns’ general manager, said earlier this year. “Our focus continues with lighted, paved paths and handrails throughout the caverns.”
Under new ownership and management, Grand Canyon Caverns & Inn has made updates throughout the property. The caverns were acquired by the Tathil Oyaa’ Corporation, which in 2023 received a $10,000 grant from the Historic Route 66 Association of Arizona to help rehabilitate and renovate the site.
Grand Canyon Caverns is at mile marker 115 of Historic Route 66, northwest of Seligman.
Grand Canyon Caverns is the world’s third-largest dry cavern and largest in the United States. Huge caverns, some large enough to hold a football field, display mineral formations, a sloth, a mummified bobcat and other features.
Walter Peck discovered the caverns in 1927 after falling into the natural entrance. He made money from tours by lowering paying tourists into a hole in the ground on a rope (once called “dope on a rope” with a candle).
The Works Progress Administration and Civilian Conservation Corps built a new entrance to the caverns in 1935.
After the elevator was installed in 1962, the natural entrance was sealed at the request of the Hualapai Tribe because it was considered a sacred burial place.
(Image of the interior of Grand Canyon Caverns near Peach Springs, Arizona, by Thomas Hart via Flickr)