EUREKA SPRINGS REOPENS

When looking for a fun activity, Eureka Springs, Arkansas, quickly comes to mind as an area destination. According to the Eureka Springs Chamber of Commerce, as many as 1 million people annually visit the northwest Arkansas community which holds around 2,500 residents.

The COVID pandemic hit that community especially hard.

“When it first hit in March of 2020, we were very concerned, as most people were, because our economy is 95 percent tourism,” said Mike Fields, executive director of the Eureka Springs Chamber. “If the shutdowns lasted too long, all of our businesses would be out of business.”

Tourist destination weathers pandemic, gains patrons

Basin Spring Park at the heart of downtown Eureka Springs is a hub of activity for the the city year round.

Around 1,000 identifiable public activities, from rallies and parades to Pride Weekends and music events, make up the menu of entertainment in Eureka Springs. Fields noted that the natural attraction of the Ozark mountains brings with it a wide range of outdoor activities, from hiking and fishing to boating and even walking the streets of the picturesque community. Those offerings provided options other tourist towns did not have as fall-back options.

“Early on we began to promote through social media all of the outdoor options available in our tourist town for travelers who were ready to get out,” Fields said. “All of our businesses were taking every precaution needed to keep people safe. We began to look at some of the traditional events that we would normally have, which were not possible because of restrictions, and tried to determine if there was another way to do them.”

The Christmas parade in 2020, for example, held in the first week of December, would have involved crowds and much close contact downtown, which the mayor and city council would not allow at the time. The chamber and organizers came up with a stationary Christmas parade. People put up floats on their property, stores turned on their lights, the chamber distributed a map with a route, and a drive-by event took place, instead of canceling everything.

“We began to see really strong tourism come back at the end of 2020,” Fields recalled. “In 2021, attendance for lodging and tourism actually exceeded 2019. We were the benefactor of people looking for safe alternatives to a cruise or the beach. We let everyone know we were open for business.”

Much of the tourism crowd visiting Eureka Springs comes from a 300-to400-mile range, from Oklahoma, Texas, Louisiana, Missouri and Arkansas. Fields lives in downtown Eureka Springs, and personally got to see and meet many of the returning visitors.

“We had more first-timers from farther away than what we had experienced previously, especially with schools shut down and people working remotely,” he said. “We had more weekday visitors when before we had a predominantly weekend crowd.

“In 2022, most people have gone back to doing things like they were previously. We’re recognizing what we learned through this, and applying and adapting what we can to combine what we used to do to make things even better in the future.”

Fields extended most of the credit for toughing through the hard time to the Eureka Springs businesses.

“We’ve got a ton of small business owners who are creative and agile,” he said. “They survived and thrived during difficult times.”

A visit now to Eureka Springs will again find diversity and a bustle within the community. Activities extend across town, taking advantage of the scenic locale, the spacious parks and the myriad of shopping opportunities geared to serve walk-in traffic. The city’s winding roadways require a slower pace, enough time to take in the sights, spy unusual stores and inviting eateries. Fields said the welcome sign is out, for Eureka Springs is indeed again open for business. n