COLORADO CITY, Ariz. — Every year, millions of visitors from Arizona and across the U.S. make Zion National Park in Utah part of their vacation.
The number of tourists has ballooned over the years from about two million in the late 90s to now close to five million every year.
Starting in mid-2026, a reroute of the Zion-Mt. Caramel Highway will potentially send thousands of visitors right through Colorado City, Arizona — a small town that for decades was been known for polygamy and controversial church leaders.
But Colorado City is changing, and residents both new and old are looking to show the world how their town can shine. Residents like Jared Williams, who fled the town when he was a teenager.
"When I was 16, I earned $1,100 bucks and bought me a little Dodge pick-up and left town. Gonzo."
Williams, like most of the town, was under the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints for decades. The controversial church leaders owned all the property and operated both Colorado City, Arizona and Hildale, Utah - two small towns connected to each other.
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The church leaders called the shots on everything from the police department, and education, to where the men and their wives and children would live.
There was one belief system, and that system is what kept the towns secluded and cut off from society.
"We were taught when we were young that everybody that wasn’t in here was wicked, gentiles," said Williams. "That means going to hell except for us."
But Williams, now 48, is back. He sees a better future for his hometown on the horizon. It doesn't take long when you're talking to him to realize he is passionate about working and proud of his latest business venture, Lifted Spirits.
He's outfitted massive rigs to take visitors off-roading in hard-to-reach places tucked away along the Arizona-Utah border. Now, he has the possibility of getting even more tourists from an already packed Zion National Park, not far from town.
A lot has changed since Williams was last here.
There are small signs that the church is still functioning in some way, but in large part, the towns have moved on after the church's leader was sentenced to life in prison for sexual assault and after the federal government seized all the FLDS property to auction it off. Those proceeds are now going back into building a new — and very different — community.
For instance, Colorado City is now home to the Edge of the World Brewery — the first establishment in Colorado City to ever serve alcohol. Ray Hammon, the co-owner, doesn't see the town's past as a hindrance, but as potential room to grow.
Right now, around 60% of Hammon's business comes from tourism. He's hoping the number climbs as more visitors pass through as the town's reputation changes.
"My perspective of that is that it just happens naturally," said Hammon. "I don’t think that that was, from my perspective, that was a blip. That’s not the story. The story is a long one, and that was just kind of an ugly chapter."
Howard Ream, the mayor of Colorado City, is a lot like Williams and Hammon. He's helping lead the area's transformation and brace for what could be a potential boom in development and tourism.
"You look at the overall size of the community and the number of homes we have in Colorado City, we’re looking to, within five to seven years, looking to almost double in size," said Ream.
To make sure that rapid growth is strategic, Ream said the town is looking at shifting how it zones areas for residential, commercial and industrial.
"We don’t want to be that bedroom community. We want to be a community that people want to come to, bring their business to and raise a family in a safe manner," said Ream.
For the people that live there and the people that came back, Colorado City is worth showing to the world. And they can't wait.
"I don’t know if it’s necessarily trying to attract," said Williams. "I think that they’re coming here regardless. And I think that I would like the opportunity to open people's eyes to what's special about the place."
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