A little over five years ago, in November 2017, 13-year-old Riley Hilbert discovered the Sedona Cultural Park and was immediately captivated.

“My grandparents’ house is actually right across the street from the Cultural Park, and we were just kind of exploring and driving around over there, and I saw it in the distance,” said Hilbert, who grew up in Huntington Beach, Calif. “And I was like, ‘What’s that?’ And my parents told me about it, and I asked my grandparents about it, and they knew about it. And then I went back and looked it up online … And I just couldn’t help but think, ‘Wow, imagine seeing a show there’ … This is amazing, and this is right here, and no one’s using it. How is no one using it?”

Hilbert wanted to do something, so she went to Change.org and started an online petition to save the Cultural Park.

“I believe I started the petition five years ago, that night, when I saw it,” Hilbert recalled. “Someone’s got to do something. Someone’s got to play there.”

“This petition is the first step in trying to recommission the Sedona Cultural Park into a breathtaking music venue with incredible views,” Hilbert wrote in the petition. “Please sign, and share in hopes that a potential investor will see the want for a music venue with these views in Sedona.”

By the time Hilbert was interviewed in the Sedona Red Rock News on Dec. 8, 2017, her petition had accumulated over 500 signatures. That number had climbed to more than 1,000 by Dec. 13. As of Feb. 1, 2022, the petition had 4,835 signatures.

“It was just one night, and my parents were like, ‘Oh, that’s sweet,’” Hilbert remembered. “My friends sent it to their friends, and then I had 50, and I remember 50 signatures being the biggest thing in the world. Oh my gosh, I have 50 people who want to see a show here, too! Now here were are, five years later, and there’s almost 5,000, and the Cultural Park is sold.”

‘They Could Be Viable’

Continuing to explore the park’s history, Hilbert contacted city of Sedona staff to find out more about it and expand her petition.

“They were very nice and sent me a lot of information,” Hilbert said at the time. “They provided me with everything they had. I didn’t think they’d give me all the information that they did.”

She also reached out to the park’s owner, Mike Tennyson of Custer, S.D., who eventually responded to her as well. “He was very kind to me with providing all this information, especially being how young I was,” Hilbert said. “He did say — I actually have the email in front of me — he said that he believed that the Cultural Park was doomed to financial failure from the onset for several reasons, and a few of those was because of the city’s restrictions, and then how the neighbor property owners were opposed to the use, and then sufficient parking and things like that. But when I heard that, I was like, these are all things that we could fight for, we could get fixed. Even though he called the business model of the Cultural Park unrealistic.”

Tennyson’s remarks to Hilbert about the park being “doomed to financial failure” contrast with the statement he made to the Sedona City Council on Dec. 9, 2003, when testifying in support of an application to modify the master plan for the Cultural Park to include 150 lodging units.

“If they didn’t have debt service to deal with, if that wasn’t one of their line items on their budget, and what I found through that is three out of the four years, they would have been in the black, had they not had the debt service hanging over them,” Tennyson told the council. “The fourth year, which was this year, they were in the red; they did show a loss before debt service, but that is the bad news, I guess. The good news is over that four years accumulatively they would have had a positive cash flow of $669,000 through that four-year period.”

“So in looking at that, I came to the conclusion that with proper management and growth of their venue and acts and so forth, yes, they could be viable if they didn’t have the debt to deal with,” Tennyson concluded.

Tennyson also told the council that his purchase contract for the Cultural Park property included a provision to lease the amphitheater back to the Sedona Cultural Park, Inc., the previous owner and operating nonprofit organization, for 10 years for the continued use of the venue. The first three years of that lease were to be free.

Gone but Not Forgotten

Hilbert’s interest in the park continued as she grew up.

“I remember when I saw it for sale, a few years ago now,” Hilbert thought back. “I remember talking to my family about, ‘How can I find that amount of money?’ I was probably 16 at the time.”

After finishing high school, Hilbert moved on to Colorado State University in Fort Collins, Co., where she is majoring in business — with a minor in music business. She plays guitar and previously participated in the School of Rock music education program.

“Now I just write music and play with friends here in Colorado,” Hilbert said. “I’ve been in a couple different bands just for fun.”

Hilbert still visits her family in Sedona on a regular basis and was in town last November when the Sedona city council voted to purchase the Cultural Park. She watched the meeting live.

“I do think it’s good that they purchased it,” Hilbert commented. “I understand the community’s concerns … but I do think the fact that the city has it over a private owner, hopefully … they’ll listen to the people and the people of Sedona will get more of a say in what happens.” She expressed confidence that any disputes over possible future uses “can be resolved if the city handles it correctly, which I hope that they do.”

Rockin’ in the Red Rocks

As for the future of the Cultural Park, Hilbert continues to hope that it will be restored to its former glory as an event venue.

“Just imagine seeing a show there at sunset,” Hilbert suggested. “Just the idea of that is crazy. It seems such a shame for a place like that to go to waste … Sedona should take advantage of all the artists that would love to play there.”

“I love that the structural integrity is still there, which is great,” Hilbert continued. “If it’s here, why not use it? … The original investors put so much money into it, and it is truly still there … Of course it’s going to take money to fix up. It’s going to take a lot of money to fix up … but it’s worth it for how much is there. It’s like that land was made for an amphitheater like the Cultural Park.”

According to Tennyson’s 2003 council testimony, the total investment in the park and its operations was about $14 million. Approximately $3 million of that was spent on the initial construction costs for the amphitheater. Cultural Park architects Dan Jensvold and Stephen Thompson stated that constructing a similar facility today would cost between $30 million and $40 million.

“I always kind of tie it back to Red Rocks, and that was kind of my initial thing,” Hilbert said, referring to the Red Rocks Amphitheatre outside Denver. “It’s about 30 minutes from a big city, and it’s crazy seeing a place like the Cultural Park — it’s in the city of Sedona. If a place like Red Rocks can do that — you park far and you hike up to Red Rocks — I’m sure that there’s a way that Sedona could do this.”

The Denver Gazette reported that Red Rocks was the most-attended concert venue in the world in 2021, hosting 177 concerts, 36 movies and 20 exercise activities that drew a record 1.32 million attendees and generated $48 million in revenue. It is located in a city park designated as a National Historic Landmark that is over 300 miles farther north and 2,000 feet higher above sea level than Sedona.

Hilbert also pointed out that both concert ticket prices and demand for tickets have increased substantially in the last few years.

“As long as the focus is a place for the people of Sedona and visitors to enjoy music and a beautiful atmosphere … the rest of the land can be put to use how the citizens want it to be put to use,” Hilbert said of the other proposals that have been made for the park’s redevelopment. She said it would be necessary to find a “bridge between what everyone wants.”

If the Sedona Cultural Park makes a comeback, Hilbert will be there, not just in the audience, but behind the scenes as well if possible.

“I would love to be involved,” Hilbert said. “I was already talking to my parents and grandparents and said if there’s a show, the opening night, I’m flying out. I will be there. I would love to get more involved with it however I can.”

Who would she like to see perform there? “I’d have to say Billy Strings,” Hilbert decided. “I saw him at Red Rocks about a year ago and that was the most amazing experience. It’s just music like that where you’re in tune with nature … I think he’d do that area justice. He’s an amazing musician.”

Hilbert’s original petition can still be read and signed at change.org/p/save-the-sedona-arizona-cultural-park.