A 510-foot-long, $100 million Noah's ark attraction built by Christians who say the biblical story really happened has opened in Kentucky.
People lined up as much as an hour before the Ark Encounter opened near Williamstown at 9 a.m.
Since its announcement in 2010, the ark project has rankled opponents who say the attraction will be detrimental to science education and shouldn't have won state tax incentives.
"I believe this is going to be one of the greatest Christian outreaches of this era in history," said Ken Ham, president of Answers in Genesis, the ministry that built the ark.
Ham said the massive ark, based on the tale of a man who got an end-of-the-world warning from God about a massive flood, stands as proof that the stories of the Bible are true. The group invited media and thousands of supporters for a preview Tuesday, the first glimpse inside the giant, mostly wood structure.
"People are going to come from all over the world," Ham said to thousands of people in front of the ark during a Tuesday preview.
Ham's group has estimated it will draw 2 million visitors in its first year, putting it on par with some of the big-ticket attractions in nearby Cincinnati.
I'm thinking Ham is overestimating that number by an order of magnitude or so, which means this place is probably going to go belly up before too long. Frankly, I hope the drainage at the park is so bad the place floods and the ark sinks, but I'm nowhere near that lucky.
Still, it'll bring a couple hundred jobs (for good Christians only, mind you) in Grant County, which does badly need them. Sure, those jobs are coming at a cost of a quarter-million in tax breaks each, but what would I know about math, I live in Kentucky, right?
Bevinstan needs some attractions to pull the rubes in. We can't be the nation's laughing stock 100% due solely to Matt Bevin, after all.
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