(Editor’s Note: Each year, Arkansas Business partners with the Arkansas Municipal League to present the Trendsetter City awards, which recognize exceptional initiatives underway in municipalities across the state. Large, medium and small-sized cities were honored in six categories: Diversity and Inclusion; Education/Workforce Development; Infrastructure and Water; Public Works/Environmental and Green Management; Technology and Security; and Tourism Development/Creative Culture. Below is one winner’s story. For more, click here.)
Tourism Development/Creative Culture
Honorable Mention • Under 5,000
Population: 2,200 | Mayor: Robert “Butch” Berry | County: Carroll | Region: Northwest
The Challenge
Eureka Springs is one of Arkansas’ top tourist destinations, welcoming over 1.5 million visitors annually. Since its record-breaking year in 2015, the city has continued to top the previous year’s tourism tax collections — with the exception of COVID’s impact in 2020 — through its artistic culture, abundant natural resources and outdoor adventures. However, the city’s challenge lies in its most popular industry and is constantly looking to stay competitive in a marketplace with growing popularity.
Opera of the Ozarks was founded 73 years ago and has distinguished alumni who have performed on international stages in Vienna, Paris, Milan and more.
The Solution
The city has implemented five new ventures to keep tourism growing and to reach wider audiences, two of which surround the city’s most popular attractions and industries: the arts and outdoor recreation. With a grant of $34 million from the Walton Family Foundation, Opera in the Ozarks has broken ground on a new theater and campus. A $6.5 million expansion of Turpentine Creek Wildlife Refuge is expected to add 100,000 visitors annually.
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