By Mark Hansel
NKyTribune managing editor
The July 7 opening date for the Ark Encounter in Williamstown, Kentucky is less than a week away and developers are eager to finally unveil the attraction to the public.
“It’s hard to believe that this time is coming up, but we’ve got an incredible amount of interest, not just in America, but all over the world,” Answers in Genesis (AiG) president Ken Ham said.
Williamstown, in Grant County, is about 40 miles south of Cincinnati
What visitors can expect to see
A 4,000 space parking lot, which is equal to the resident population of Williamstown, is the first stop for visitors to the park. Guests will board themed buses that will allow them to emerge through a forested valley to a view of the
Ark and the lake that fronts the attraction.
The view upon exiting the buses provides an opportunity to photograph the 510-foot long vessel, built to Biblical proportions, in one camera frame.
Ham said there have been plenty of anxious moments as crews worked around the clock to meet the July 7 deadline. The date was chosen because Genesis 7:7 is the Biblical passage that describes the boarding of the Ark by Noah and his family.
“Nobody has ever built anything like this, other than Noah and even he didn’t build this because it’s designed as a ship, but built as a building,” Ham said. “There’s challenges as you go along, whether it’s funding, or the electrical or, figuring out how to interpret codes; but they have worked through them and we will be ready to go.”
AiG also built the Creation Museum in Petersburg, which has been visited by more than 2.5 million guests since opening in 2007. The attractions will be marketed together and visitors will be offered incentives to visit both sites.
The Ark can accommodate up to 16,000 people per day, but research shows that, at least initially, attendance could surpass that number.
“We’ve sold thousands of tickets in advance, but we really don’t know when people are going to use them,” Ham said. “I really believe it will be very well attended initially, but that will even out and make it just a little easier to accommodate the visitors. A lot of the hotels and campgrounds are pretty well booked out, so I think it’s an indication that there are going to be some large crowds.”
Answers in Genesis came up with a “40 Days and 40 Nights” promotion to help accommodate the expected throng.
During the first 40 days of operation, there will be separate daytime (9 a.m. – 4 p.m.) and nighttime (5 p.m. – midnight) entry tickets. The day and evening times will also offer some differing experiences, including panoramic sunsets on the property.
The visitor’s queue line is under the Ark, as the ship was built 15 feet off the ground, much as Noah would have constructed it above ground level to accommodate the shape of the hull. This provides guests protection from the elements as they line up to enter the structure. Over the years, additional plants and trees will be placed near the entrance and will grow into a beautiful garden to make for an enjoyable experience on busy days as guests wait to enter the Ark.
Click here for an Inside Northern Kentucky episode that includes a segment on the construction of the Ark Encounter and its exhibits .
Inside, wooden decks, ramps, and handrails line the ship, with large bays filled with several dozen world-class exhibits inside the 125,000-square-foot structure.
Figures representing Noah and his family are clothed in ancient style, with pottery and tools among the items displayed to resemble what they might have had on the Ark with them.
“Most people that are coming to the Ark have not seen the exhibits inside,” Ham said. “When people come and see it, they’ll see it’s something Kentucky can be proud of that will draw people from all over the world.”
Lighting in the Ark is designed to resemble oil-burning lamps or torches. In addition, many of the animal displays will feature the ancestors of modern-day animals, representing the “kinds” mentioned in the Bible. To AiG’s knowledge, the sculptures of these extinct animals are the first of their kind.
Ham aid the “high-quality educational exhibits will explain the science behind animal adaptations, and show how they are not evolutionary. The stunning displays will illustrate how Noah would only have had to fit representative animal kinds on board the Ark.”
In addition to the huge Ark structure and Ararat Ridge Zoo, the first phase of the Ark Encounter includes a 1,500-seat restaurant, a queue-line garden next to the Ark, and a gift store under the Ark.
The first phase of the attraction will cost around $100 million. That includes the purchase of 800 acres and installation of infrastructure, all of which has been raised through donations, memberships, and private financing.
The park is envisioned to eventually include a number of other features, including a Walled City, which will operate like a Main Street with entertainment and retail options.
Despite court ruling, confusion over source of tax incentives lingers
Ham is disappointed that some still characterize the incentives the Ark Encounter project will potentially receive from the state as taxpayer dollars. If certain performance benchmarks are met, AiG can receive a maximum of $18.25 million, in the form of sales tax rebates.
“Here’s what I tell people, ‘If you don’t want any of your money going to the Ark as a taxpayer, don’t come and buy a ticket,” Ham said. “If you don’t come and buy a ticket, zero of your money will be used on the Ark. The only taxpayer money used on the Ark is from our donors who pay taxes and have donated to us.”
Jerry Henry and Associates, an independent consulting firm hired by AiG, projects the Ark and the Creation Museum would bring, $4 billion to the state of Kentucky over 10 years. The firm also projects the Ark to be responsible for the creation of 20,000 jobs, the majority of them outside the Ark.
“They make it sound like we automatically get the $18 million and that’s just not true, it’s performance-based,” Ham said. “Even if we get that $18 million compared to $4 billion, the state comes out on top in a big way. They get a net of $3.82 billion and that’s pretty good business.”
A dispute over whether the Ark Encounter project was entitled to the incentives has been settled in favor of AiG in the courts. It was the position of the state Tourism Cabinet, and opponents of the project, that because AiG is a Christian organization with questionable hiring practices, it was not entitled to the incentives.
“They would rather the state lose out on billions of dollars than to have us build here,” Ham said. “I hold my hands out wide and say the Ark is going to bring this much money in and I hold two fingers with a tiny space between them and say they are going to give us this, a tiny fraction of income generated, like they would any other tourist attraction.”
Judge Greg Van Tatenhove of the US District Court for the Eastern District of Kentucky ruled in January that denying AIG the right to participate in the Kentucky Tourism Development Program would be discriminatory.
The city of Williamstown also established a tax-increment financing (TIF) district to provide local incentives to Ark Encounter and other projects in the 898-acre area that includes the Ark. The incentive will allow developers within the TIF district to recoup 75 percent of the increased value in real estate taxes, the increment, for 30 years. The remaining increment and 100 percent of the pre-development tax value for the land go to the taxing bodies.
As a guiding principle, supporters of TIF contend that real estate value would not increase without new development, so the incentive is a justifiable tool to encourage growth. Since the taxing bodies keep the original tax revenue and reap the ancillary development benefits, supporters see TIF as a win-win, when used properly.
AiG says Ark will provide a boost to other regional attractions
Ham said AIG is not marketing the Ark Encounter and the Creation Museum in a vacuum.
“With our website and the flyers were producing, we’re promoting all of the regional attractions,” Ham said. “We even came out with a seven-day unlimited ticket for $99 that lets people go between the Ark and the Creation Museum as much as they want, and that includes parking, which is $10 at the Ark. We want to encourage people to come here and have their vacation in Northern Kentucky.”
On its website, AIG promotes the Kentucky Horse Park, the Newport Aquarium, the Cincinnati Zoo, Kings Island, the Cincinnati Reds, and other attractions and encourage people to visit them.
“We have something that is Disney and Universal quality, and we compete with the big guys like that to bring tourism to Northern Kentucky and I think the whole region will be really benefit,” Ham said.
Ark Encounter tickets are $40 for adults, $28 for children and $31 for seniors. Parking is $10.
For more information about AiG, click here . For the Ark website, which includes drone video, photos and other ticketing options, click here.
Contact Mark Hansel at mark.hansel@nkytrib.com
I continue to be horrified that our tax dollars are being used in this way. The convoluted statement made by AiG makes no sense and does not relate to the issue. If you want to build a discriminatory amusement park, fine, do it without my tax dollars
“Here’s what I tell people, ‘If you don’t want any of your money going to the Ark as a taxpayer, don’t come and buy a ticket,” Ham said. “If you don’t come and buy a ticket, zero of your money will be used on the Ark. The only taxpayer money used on the Ark is from our donors who pay taxes and have donated to us.
This is just not the issue and creates a false impression. And remember folks, any revenue made by this private venture generates no taxes on the income, because of, you know, church.