Wakarusa, area tourism officials to make connections

Tasha Riggins is eager to develop relationships with Fort Smith regional tourism and other officials in an effort to improve the chances of success for the Wakarusa Music Festival.

The festival debuts June 4-7 this summer at its new location at the Mulberry Mountain ranch north of Ozark. The festival, began in 2004, was previously based in the Lawrence, Kan., area, and attracts up to 10,000 attendees. The 2007 and 2008 events featured more than 100 artists and drew attendees from all 50 U.S. States and several countries. (Editor’s note: The City Wire’s Peter Lewis will attend Wakarusa and provide updates about the event.)

Although some attendees camp or RV at the site, thousands will book hotel rooms. Where they book those rooms has come into question. Recent comments on The City Wire noted that Wakarusa’s Web site directed hotel info to the Fayetteville Convention & Visitors Bureau.

“The info link for hotel accommodations lists the FAYETTEVILLE Visitors Bureau. Ft. Smith is 40 miles from Ozark. Fayetteville is 72 miles. Why wasn’t the Ft. Smith Visitors Bureau all over this?” noted Fat Kittie in a comment on The City Wire.

MAKING CONNECTIONS
Riggins, the public relations/media coordinator for Wakarusa, said the organization has had a relationship with Fayetteville officials from the days the event was in Kansas.

“The folks from Fayetteville offered the (Web link) service and we accepted,” Riggins explained. “But when we get inquiries, and we get many, about the festival, we send them information about the hotels in Ozark and Van Buren and there in Fort Smith. We’re spreading the word about all hotels and all availability.”

Riggins and Claude Legris, director of the Fort Smith Convention & Visitors Bureau, admitted that neither party attempted to contact the other. Legris and Maryl Koeth, director of the Van Buren Advertising and Promotion Commission, told The City Wire they planned to contact Wakarusa officials.

BUSY WEEKEND
With more than 7,000 expected in the area as part of a series of Jehovah’s Witness conventions at the Fort Smith Convention Center, Legris said hotels and restaurants in the Fort Smith and Van Buren areas will be at near capacity the same weekend of the Wakarusa festival.

The Christian Congregation of Jehovah’s Witness happens the last weekend in May and the first three weekends in June. Each weekend brings a different segment of the Jehovah’s Witness church, with almost 7,000 people attending each weekend, or around 28,000 for the four weekends.

“I don’t want to say it’s a wonderful problem to have, but it is,” Legris said of the thousands of people who will be in the region the first weekend in June. “(Wakarusa attendees) will be lucky, unless they’ve already booked them, to find rooms in Fort Smith and Van Buren.”

THE WAKARUSA ELEMENT
Also, there are no regional box office locations for Wakarusa ticket sales in Fort Smith or Van Buren. There is a box office at the Mulberry Mountain Lodge north of Ozark, at George’s Majestic Lounge in Fayetteville and at Sticky Fingerz Chicken Shack in Little Rock. There are several outlets in Kansas, Missouri and Oklahoma.

Riggins said they hope to soon open an office in the Fort Smith/Van Buren area.

“If not this year, then hopefully next year,” she said.

And while they plan to reach out to Fort Smith regional officials, she said Wakarusa officials would welcome contact from tourism, business and other civic officials.

“Getting in touch with us would help. This is our first year out there and we are trying to get to know everybody,” she said. “We really like Fort Smith and the area. It has a lot to offer and we need to build those relationships.”

Legris said Wakarusa is another element in a regional tourism area that will “continue to grow” the regional tourism industry.

“I hope they have a great year at the festival,” Legris said. “This venue (Wakarusa) is in part of the Western Arkansas Mountain Frontier, so it gets people in our region and the more people here the more money that is spent in this region.”