Colorado City is changing, and residents both new and old are looking to show the world how their town can shine.
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 bette …
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