NOTE 12/15/18: We originally posted this article in the fall of 2017, right after our 2-week trip to the southwest U.S. It was our first visit to Bedrock City and, apparently, our last, as I recently read on Trip Advisor that the property had been sold and is slated to close in early 2019:
So if you want to take a trip to see Bedrock City before it’s smashed to pebbles, you only have a very short window of time left. Just sayin’.
YABBA-DABBA-DOO!
If you’re of a certain age (or if you had the good taste to watch the right reruns or movies), you know that’s the catchphrase of Fred Flintstone, the main character of The Flintstones. The Hanna-Barbera production was the very first animated series to run in prime time, which it did on ABC from 1960 to 1966. The Flintstones remained relatively popular even after the show went off the air, so much so that in 1966, Linda and Joe Speckels, along with 4 others, got the licensing from Hanna-Barbera to make Bedrock City, a kitschy Flintstone-themed amusement park and campground, in Custer, South Dakota. The attraction was popular enough to spawn a secondary Bedrock City in Williams, Arizona, which opened in 1972.
The South Dakota Bedrock City remained open for just about 50 years, closing in 2015. The Arizona location has been for sale since 2015 but since there have been no buyers yet, the attraction remains open 364 days a year (it’s closed on Christmas Day), allowing people to see the open-air homage to Fred Flintstone, his wife, Wilma, Barney Rubble, his wife Betty, and the rest of Bedrock. As a lifelong Flintstones fan, and with a 3-day visit to the south rim of the Grand Canyon as part of our vacation to the American southwest (Bedrock City is only about 30 minutes away), there was no way I was NOT going to visit!
