Eureka

Tourism town seeks solutions

Even with a seven-story statue of Jesus watching over them, the people of Eureka Springs just can’t seem to get a break.

For the past seven years, residents of this Victorian hamlet have been pointing fingers.

It all started in 1993, the first year in two decades that the amount of money brought in by the city’s tourism tax decreased.

Since then, the tourism director of 17 years was fired, two high-powered Little Rock advertising agencies were canned and a new mayor was elected in a swing to the left.

And the tourism? Well, it’s up — but not by much.

In the meantime, bankruptcies are up, foreclosures are up, there are 20 vacant business buildings in the city, and attendance at the Great Passion Play (billed as “America’s No. 1 attended outdoor drama”) is down by 50 percent from an all-time high of 289,212 visitors in 1992.

The new Zar

Beau Zar Satori, local jeweler and gallery owner, was elected mayor of Eureka Springs in November 1998 and took over that position in January 1999. He inherited 108 employees and an annual budget of $5.5 million — 10 times the budget of other towns of similar size.

With a pony tail longer than that of an Appaloosa, Satori fits in here.

Built into the sides of cliffs, Eureka Springs is one of the most unusual towns in America. With a population of about 2,000, Eureka Springs has 230 streets (no two of which cross at a right angle), the only church in North America you enter through the bell tower, and a hotel with five ground floors.

Eureka Springs was incorporated on Valentine’s Day in 1880. The town sprouted quickly around natural hot springs that were known to Native American tribes as far away as Canada.

James DeVito, a candidate for city council here, thinks the springs may have been the fabled fountain of youth that Ponce de Leon sought but never found.

City fathers have dubbed Eureka Springs with a series of nicknames to try to lure tourists: “The Magic City,” “The Stairstep Town,” “The Gem of the Ozarks,” “America’s Little Switzerland” and “The City that Water Built.” Now, Satori likes the slogan “Escape the 21st Century.”

So what draws the tourists here? Scenery, spas, architecture, history, shopping, dining and a variety of outdoor activities, including hiking, bicycling and trout fishing on the White River near Beaver Dam.

With 1,600 acres, Satori said Eureka’s Lake Leatherwood is the largest city park in America. And the Passion Play is still one of the main attractions in town. The Eureka Springs Blues Festival, held every year the weekend after Memorial Day, is also a major draw (featuring Keb’ Mo’ this year). And some 4,000 couples came to Eureka Springs annually to get married. A total of 127 marriage licenses were issued on last Valentine’s Day alone.

But not everybody is a tourist here.

Eureka’s population can be divided primarily between a conservative old guard and a younger, left-wing artistic community. Both sides appear disgruntled much of the time, blaming the other for the ills of the community.

But both sides know what makes this town run: tourism. It’s Eureka Springs’ only industry. And both sides know they must work together to see the town prosper.

“The thing about Eureka Springs is everyone has a passion for the city,” Satori said.

Satori brags that Eureka Springs had a record year for tourism in 1999, his first year in office. That year, for the first time, the town collected more than $1 million from its 2-percent sales tax on hotels, motels, restaurants and gift shops (indicating sales that year topped $50 million at those businesses).

The amount is impressive when considering the fact that the then 1-percent tourism tax brought in only $23,590 in 1973, the first full year it was in place. The tax is considered a good barometer of tourism in Eureka.

Satori said the increase came the year after the City Advertising and Promotion Commission jerked its $500,000 per year advertising contract away from Kirkpatrick Williams & Associates of Little Rock and took the advertising chores in house.

The mayor is part of the seven-member CAPC. And the move appears to have fatally crippled Kirkpatrick Williams, which has since dissolved. In 1995, two years after the first sign of trouble, the city took the advertising account from the Little Rock firm of Cranford Johnson Robinson Woods, which had the account for 17 years, and gave it to Kirkpatrick Williams.

Satori himself has been designing some of the city’s ads, and local photographers are shooting the pictures. He said the move is saving the city between $50,000 and $100,000 per year, and “at the same time, we’re getting a much better product.” The city now has a $400,000 advertising budget.

In addition, Satori hired Barbara King Dozier, a former executive with CJRW, as the city’s media executive. She’s paid on commission to place ads for the city.

“I haven’t been happy with an advertising agency’s approach to Eureka Springs,” Satori said. “They’ve all been so generic. … Now, we’re not paying the advertising bureaucracy to handle all of it.”

Cross ways

But John Cross, president of the Bank of Eureka Springs, said the 1999 increase was only 4 percent over the previous year. If inflation is factored in, it’s barely an increase at all, he said. Some years, like 1981 and 1985 saw increases of more than 32 percent over the previous years.

“It’s flat,” Cross said of tourism. “We need to reinvent ourselves. … We need a plan.”

Cross said the worst thing they could do is turn Eureka Springs into Disneyland.

“We’ve got a great product,” he said. “We just have to get those first-time customers in here.”

The CEO of Florsheim shoe company once said that, every time a hearse went by, he thought, “There goes another Florsheim customer.”

Cross said Eureka Springs is in a similar situation. The city needs to attract younger tourists who will be repeat visitors throughout their lives.

“We’ve turned into a weekend town,” Cross said. “We’ve got to find a way to get some more mid-week business in here. There’s nothing wrong with this town that another half million visitors wouldn’t cure.”

From his office in the Bank of Eureka Springs, Cross sits behind his desk surrounded by four antique horse saddles on wooden stands. Underneath the saddles are horse blankets festooned with what appear to be swastikas.

“They’re whirling logs,” Cross said of the symbols. “It’s an Indian good luck sign. It has nothing to do with Nazi Germany. If you see it on a blanket, you can bet it’s older than 1930.”

Cross’ grandfather ran the bank and served as mayor in the early part of the century.

Other than a conviction involving a hunting incident, Cross has been a model citizen. In 1990, he pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor related to killing big game in Wyoming and illegally bringing it back across state lines. Cross paid a $40,000 fine and left the bank for two years in the aftermath of the incident.

Cross said he and other town fathers led the effort to restore Eureka Springs that began in 1979.

“We restored this town in two years,” Cross said. “I mean the whole thing, brick by brick.”

Cross said the restoration included that of the Stafford Building, which was gutted by fire in 1958 and stood empty downtown for the next 20 years.

The problems Eureka is facing aren’t unique to that town, Cross said. He notes that Vail, Jackson Hole and Branson are experiencing similar problems.

“This is not a Eureka Springs thing,” he said. “It’s happening all over the country. It’s happening in Branson. Branson is overbuilt. Eureka Springs is overbuilt. But Christmas bails them out.”

Cross said he wants CJRW back as the city’s advertising agency. He said hiring Kirkpatrick Williams was a mistake.

“We hired an advertising agency that had never had a tourism client,” he said. “We need our advertising agency [CJRW] back. … I think they bring a great deal of organization to a town that doesn’t have a lot of advertising experts. ‘A man who represents himself has a fool for a client.’ That’s an old lawyer term. If I was voting, I’d hire Cranford Johnson tomorrow.”

For his part, Cross said the bank, after foreclosing on the property, is renovating the 250-acre Eureka Springs Gardens, formerly known as Blue Spring resort, and is building a $918,000 financial center on U.S. Highway 62.

Terry Cook, the fourth tourism director Eureka has had in the past four years, thinks the answer is to diversify. Next to tourism, the second biggest draw to Eureka Springs is retirement. Cook said Eurkea Springs needs to attract “snow bird” retirees who are travelling through the area in recreational vehicles.

Cook also hopes to bring information technology companies to the area, using the scenic beauty and outdoor activities as a lure. Cook, a native of Waldron, came to Eureka as tourism director in December from a similar position at South Padre Island, Texas.

Working with a net

James DeVito, the city council candidate, is owner of DeVito’s restaurant in downtown Eureka Springs. DeVito, who grew up in Newton County, is the third generation of a tourism family. His grandfather, Albert H. Raney, started a business that was purchased and converted into Dogpatch U.S.A.

DeVito said it’s too early to tell if Satori’s changes have helped the city’s tourism business. DeVito, who has been putting in long hours to help Satori, said 2000 will be the year that tells the tale of Satori’s changes.

DeVito thinks the Internet is the answer to Eureka’s problems. There are several web sites pertaining to Eureka Springs, but the official city site is www.eurekasprings.org.

“Internet, Internet, Internet is the most effective way of getting the word out,” he said.

DeVito said more tourism destinations mean Eureka now has a smaller portion of the pie. Arkansas is surrounded by popular vacation spots: Tunica, Miss., to the east, Branson to the north and Texas to the west. Eureka Springs has limited resources compared to those places, he said.

Eureka Springs, which once had a tourism budget larger than that of the state of Arkansas, has 117 bed and breakfast inns, more than the number in either San Francisco or New Orleans, DeVito said. And the town’s spas can cater to an aging, health-conscious baby-boomer generation.

“We’ve got the product to bring them here,” DeVito said. “We need to sell this town like they did 100 years ago: rest, relaxation and rejuvenation.”

DeVito said the Northwest Arkansas Regional Airport, which opened in 1998, and Interstate 540 from Alma to Fayetteville, which opened early last year, have made it easier for tourists to get to Eureka Springs.

A trout hatchery, which the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission plans to open in two years near Beaver Dam, will also boost tourism in the area, he said.

“If we can get through the next two years,” DeVito said, “I see unlimited possibilities for the area.”

DeVito said the city needs to diversify and “not put all our eggs in the traditional, summertime, family market.”

Possible areas to concentrate on in this diversification, DeVito suggested, are the springs as possible fountain of youth, the Cherokee Trail of Tears passing through the area and outlaw Jesse James’ hangout in nearby Clifty.

DeVito noted that Presidents Day weekend (Feb. 19-21) was good for business in Eureka Springs even though tourism for December was down 6.1 percent from the previous year.

DeVito said he couldn’t help thinking the Y2K scare affected sales during the last Christmas season.

DeVito was chairman of the CAPC for one year, leaving that position on Jan. 1.

He ran for mayor in 1993 and lost by 14 votes to Louise Berry, who later ran for city council and won by a single vote even though she had unexpectedly died a month before the election was held. (Arkansas law permits an otherwise qualified dead person to run for office).

Hoping to oust the incumbent, Bill Earngey, from office, Berry’s supporters continued with the campaign.

Some of Earngey’s supporters had campaign buttons printed that said “Berry Louise,” but she won anyway.

DeVito said politics is one of the biggest problems facing progress in Eureka Springs.

Every four years, the pendulum here swings back and forth, wiping from office the remnants of the old regime and installing a new mayor who usually sets out to undo the “harm” that had been done by the previous mayor.

The result, he said, is a lack of continuity. Before a mayor can really get any programs on track, he’s voted out of office. Elections in this town of 2,000 are frequently won by only a handful of votes. A 50 vote difference is considered a landslide here.