Candidates for the Surprise City Council answer questions each week leading up to the Aug. 2 primary election. There are three candidates in District 1 and two incumbents running unopposed in Districts 5 and 6.

THIS WEEK: How will Surprise become a tourist spot beside spring training?

DISTRICT 1

Raymond Grim

Surprise is already a huge destination spot for youth baseball tournaments. In fact, I’ve volunteered to keep score for some of these tournaments over the years. I’ve met parents of kids from all over the state, Hawaii, California, and Utah. If we made the investment in a soccer complex, pickleball complex, or another youth baseball complex, we could attract more national tournaments. This will be a big opportunity if we decide to be aggressive with our parks.  

What if we built a riverwalk in City Center? A river walk would not only make us a destination for out-of-town guests, but would attract a lot of people from around the valley to come and do something unique on a night out, company event, or group activity

With the beautiful White Tank Mountain park close by, I believe there is a huge opportunity for a golf resort located close to the park. The West Valley doesn’t have very many resorts. Surprise would be a beautiful destination for one. 

Lew Guyn

The tourism office is looking into various events to provide for tourism to the city. The city has hosted tennis tournaments, and there are various other events being considered - a Rib Cookoff/Concert, consideration of swimming tournaments, looking for a way to have pickle ball tournaments, etc. have all been publicly discussed. Our outstanding weather lends itself to a variety of activities that can be considered in addition to spring training. Which ones to host will need to be reviewed; for example, a swimming tournament will require a competition sized pool facility, for pickle ball, we don’t currently have enough courts to host a tournament at this time, etc. We need to consider multiple and various events for tourism to “fill in” the times outside of Spring Training, and I’ll support appropriate efforts to improve our tourism capability.

Nick Haney

It is important first and foremost that our city is a place where current and future residents want to live, work, and play. One of the major issues our city has experienced over the years is that our residents continue to leave the city limits for family friendly entertainment elsewhere. We must ensure that we have proper development of our city center with a variety of quality entertainment options for people of all ages. Spring training is an important economic and entertainment driver, but we cannot “put all our eggs in one basket.” We must provide places for recreational activities year-round. Ultimately this will make our city a place where people want to work, live, and play.

DISTRICT 5

Jack Hastings

Spring training is a huge draw, but it needs to be accompanied with unique restaurants, stores and family friendly entertainment. One way we are doing this is the Village at Prasada. There we have seen places like Costco and Hobby Lobby planned. We need to continue to add to this to put Surprise on the map. City Center is another way we can draw people to our side of town so they are not forced to leave so often.

DISTRICT 6

Chris Judd

Tourism opportunities in Surprise are going to benefit from our proximity to the White Tank Mountains. We need to continue protecting the mountain by partnering with White Tank Mountain Conservancy. We need to eventually attract a resort to build near the base of the White Tanks. Sports tourism will continue to be a great source of tourism with baseball, tennis, and pickleball leading the way. We eventually need to add a soccer complex to the McMicken Recreation area.

Community festivals and events are my favorite types of tourism. I am working to have a St. Patrick’s Day festival happen in one of our city parks by next year – this would involve the Rotary Club of Surprise and take the place of Taste of Surprise as an annual event. I am also working to establish a Veterans Day festival take place after the parade each year – if not this year, then next year. Christmas in the park and Fiesta Grande are great city events that can attract people to visit our community.