BULLHEAD CITY – Bullhead City will be officially opening Gary Keith Civic Park on Friday, April 11 at 3 p.m. The grand opening will also feature a dedication and ribbon-cutting ceremony for the John and Olivia McCormick Performing Arts Pavilion. The event marks a significant milestone for the city and its residents, celebrating the completion of a community-driven project 10 years in the making.
The ceremony on Friday will be led by Community Pride Advocates, a major Bullhead City partner, as well as dignitaries and community members that made the pavilion possible. The conclusion of the formal ceremony will mark the start of the City’s Pavilion Pallooza weekend arts and music festival, celebrating the occasion.
Pavilion Palooza will officially begin at 5 p.m. following the ribbon-cutting ceremony, and will continue through the evening until 10 p.m. The event will feature a beer garden, carnival rides, food trucks, vendors, a mechanical bull, and face painting.
Festivities will resume on Saturday, April 12, starting at noon with a Bullhead’s Got Talent competition from 12 p.m. to 5 p.m. The competition has a $2,000 grand prize for the first-place winner, as well as a second-place prize of $1,000 and a third-place prize of $500.
After the contest, there will be several bands performing, with the 80’s tribute band The Spazmatics headlining the evening. The stage of the new pavilion will feature a variety of performances, competitions with cash prizes, and activities designed to bring the community together.
Gary Keith Civic Park sits on a 22-acre community space across from Mohave High School, near City Hall. The park was named after Gary Keith, who was a charter member of Los Matadores de Bullhead City, which purchased the flagstone sign marking the park as Gary Keith Civic Center Park in 1997.
The park includes a civic walkway, landscaped picnic ramadas, and walking paths. The 170,000 sq. ft. Open Event Center is expected to serve as a premier location for civic and cultural events. The John and Olivia McCormick Performing Arts Pavilion is the heart of the park. It is designed to accommodate concerts, outdoor performances, and community entertainment.
The pavilion features professional stage sound and lighting, climate-controlled storage and dressing rooms, and front-of-house controls—all of which is fully electric.
Because the stage faces the west, sunshades were added to shield performers from the sun as it sets. The ramadas are designed to suit a variety of functions, such as a farmers’ market. City officials believe that the pavilion is set to become a cultural hub for Bullhead City and surrounding areas.
“This is a momentous occasion for Bullhead City,” said Bullhead City Manager Toby Cotter. “The completion of Gary Keith Civic Park and the Performing Arts Pavilion represents years of dedication and collaboration. With an exciting weekend of festivities ahead, we look forward to seeing this new space come to life as a gathering place for residents, performers, and visitors alike. We are excited to welcome the community to celebrate this achievement and to enjoy everything this new space has to offer.”
Plans for Gary Keith Civic Park have changed many times throughout its history. The final plan of creating a pavilion was first discussed in 2015. That is when plans were first discussed to offer residents and visitors a place to gather, celebrate, and enjoy the outdoors. The biggest obstacle to its creation was funding.
The pandemic drove up building costs, leading to the need for additional funding. Initial cost projections were just over $600,000, but the final cost for the stage and ramada was around $2.7 million. Some of this funding came from Community Pride Advocates’ annual fundraiser, White Nights in the Park. The project also received additional funding from Legacy Foundation, and from various small donors in the community.
Some of the work was provided in-kind as well. Up to $300,000 worth of work was paid for in-kind, including grading and landscaping work by Turnquist Excavating.
Gary Keith Civic Park is located at 2295 Hoppas Dr. For more info about the Pavillion Palooza, contact 928-763-9400. Anyone interested in Bullhead’s Got Talent contest can call Dave Heath at 928-715-0479.
