Photo: Todd Gill, Fayetteville Flyer / Click to enlarge
A sign advertising a future “Six Flags over Jesus” theme park was discovered Friday morning in west Fayetteville.
Considering today’s date (April 1), it appears to be an April Fool’s Day prank, similar to last year’s “Marijuana Dispensary” sign that was placed at an abandoned EZ Mart location on North College Avenue.
The sign appears to be in protest of Cross Church’s plans to build a new Fayetteville campus on the 13-acre site at the southeast corner of Wedington Drive and Interstate 49.
A 2015 land purchase helped Cross Church acquire property for a new campus at the southeast corner of Wedington Drive and Interstate 49 in Fayetteville. See our original story for details.
Map: Todd Gill
We received a tip about the sign early Friday morning and took the above photo. Subsequent tips indicate the sign has since been removed from the property.
News of Cross Church’s plans was released in January 2015 by senior pastor Ronnie Floyd in a video posted by church officials.
Floyd said two Cross Church members bought the land as part of a plan to help the church expand from its overcrowded current Fayetteville location on West Wedington Drive.
According to Washington County property records, a company registered to Travis Ruff, co-founder of Milestone Construction Co., paid $3.15 million for nine acres of land near the I-49 interchange in November 2014. A reported second partner is Tyson Foods Inc. president and CEO Donnie Smith.
As a condition of Ruff and Smith’s purchase, property owners James Family Properties LLLP agreed to donate an additional 13 acres of adjoining parcels to Cross Church.
Cross Church operates five locations in Northwest Arkansas and southwest Missouri, including two campuses in Fayetteville.
