Cedar Crest Lodge Part of Group Effort

Deep in Newton County’s Boxley Valley, best known for its elk herds and outdoor adventure opportunities, stands the luxurious Cedar Crest Lodge.

Located in the tiny community of Ponca on Highway 43, the lodge is on about four acres near the Buffalo National River. Although it feels remote, the site is little more than an hour’s drive from Fayetteville, Springdale or Rogers.

Designed by Fayetteville architect Cal Canfield and built by Scott and Andrea Arend of Rogers, the 6,000-SF lodge opened for business in 2002.

Fayetteville residents Den and Sheilah Roenfeldt and their four children had been frequent visitors there since 2005.

“When we come out here, we just feel like we’re really getting away from everything,” Sheilah Roenfeldt said.

In fact, they liked the lodge so much that they bought it in April 2010 as Rivercrest Ventures LLC.

It’s since been the site of a number of weddings, corporate retreats and even single-day events for businesses and nonprofits.

Visitors who stop by expecting to rent a room are often surprised to learn that, unlike traditional lodges that rent single rooms, this one is rented as a unit. Although it has four separate master suites, its split-level, open floorplan and many common areas invite camaraderie.

Those features also make it ideal for corporate retreats, Roenfeldt said. Small groups can gather in the various seating areas indoors and out for breakout sessions, then come back together in the great room or on the covered deck.

Michael Dougherty, president of the Buffalo River Regional Chamber, said owners of lodges, river outfitters and other area businesses are recognizing the benefit of banding together to promote the region.

Roenfeldt said she’s heard from some of the other local business owners that since the lodge’s business has increased, theirs has picked up also.

 

Rustic Luxury

While the Roenfeldts declined to say how much they paid for the lodge, Canfield told the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette in 2002 that the “target price” for building it was just less than $1 million.

Situated along Adds Creek, the lodge offers a long list of amenities, including a gourmet kitchen, wireless Internet access, whirlpool tubs in each suite’s bathroom and an outdoor pavilion with two fireplaces.

Cedar Crest can accommodate up to 22 guests overnight, and up to 60 for single-day events like weddings.

All this opulence doesn’t come cheap. Rates range from $450 for day use to $650 a night during the week and $850 a night on Friday and Saturday night. At least two nights’ stay is required on weekends, and three nights on a holiday weekend, but discounts are available for multiple-night stays.

The Roenfeldts also refurbished a cozy “honeymoon” cabin on the property, and it’s booked nearly every weekend. The cabin goes for $140 a night, with a minimum of two nights’ stay on weekends.

And of course, everything is subject to state and local taxes.

Roenfeldt, who handles reservations and day-to-day operations, said the lodge stays “pretty busy” much of the year, with fall being the peak season.

Visitors come to Boxley Valley to see the elk in rut from mid-September through October, and the cooler temperatures and fall colors draw those who enjoy hiking the trails or floating on the river.

Carmen Newberry, who with her husband, Tom, helps the Roenfeldts run the place, said the winter months are slower for business, but actually are the best time to see the elk because the trees are bare.

Comments from one group of visitors, Fayetteville High School’s Science Club, are posted on the lodge’s website.

“Thanks for a great weekend at your lodge. This was a wonderful central location for our outdoor activities and we loved seeing the elk,” the FHS students wrote.

Businesses that have met there for planning sessions or team-building retreats include Procter & Gamble, Unilever, the University of Arkansas, State Farm Insurance, Texas A&M’s engineering department and a nonprofit called Healthy Kids Healthy Ozarks.

“Some of the business people will come out here and like it so much, they’ll come back and bring their families,” Newberry said.

 

Group Effort

Cedar Crest Lodge and businesses all along the 150-mile Buffalo National River have started pulling together to boost tourism.

The year-old Buffalo River Regional Chamber has about 40 members and commitments from “a number of others” to join, Dougherty said.

He’s also the chamber’s webmaster, and besides building its website at www.buffaloriverchamber.com, he trains owners of member businesses to market themselves through their own websites, email newsletters and social media.

“We’re quite certain that as our members get more savvy on the Internet, it will grow our Internet footprint,” he said. “And that will benefit this whole area.”

Although Newton County has only 8,330 residents, according to the 2010 census, owners of tourism-related businesses there market themselves heavily in surrounding states, particularly Texas, Dougherty said. But the Northwest Arkansas metro area remains its core market, he said.

“It’s huge for us,” Dougherty said. “It would be a real hardship for us if the bottom fell out of that.”

The Fayetteville-Springdale-Rogers Metropolitan Statistical Area, which comprises Benton, Washington and Madison counties in Arkansas and McDonald Co., Mo., has a population of 463,204, according to the 2010 census.

The Arkansas Department of Parks and Tourism’s annual report for 2011, with preliminary figures for 2010, showed the number of visitors to Newton County rose from 47,346 in 2006 to 48,361 last year.

Those tourists also brought in more money, spending $11.23 million last year, up from $10.08 million in 2006.

While the county only gained one travel-related job in that period, from 137 to 138, travel-generated payroll grew from $1.88 million to $2.09 million.

Statewide, tourists also spent more money in 2010 than in 2006, though fewer came. In 2006, 59,088 visitors to Arkansas spent nearly $5.11 million, while last year, 58,336 visitors spent $5.45 million.

To help people plan their trips to the Buffalo River region, Dougherty has created an itinerary builder on the chamber website.

He’s also created a version of the website for mobile phones, at buffaloriverchamber.mobi.

The Buffalo National River covers roughly 150,000 acres from its source south of Ponca to its confluence with the White River at Buffalo City, in north-central Arkansas near Mountain Home.

The Buffalo was designated the country’s first national river in 1972.

Because the river conditions vary with the seasons and from one section to another, Dougherty would like to see businesses along the river coordinate efforts to draw tourists.

This already happens informally, he said.

For instance, many visitors come to the lower section of the river for its world-class fishing. Dougherty said business owners there have told him about one-third of those visitors also want to see the elk, and make the drive up to Ponca.

Dougherty calls the river one of America’s best-loved – but least-known, National Parks

“We’re a small destination with huge markets that are untapped,” Dougherty said.

Even in a tough national economy, “we’ll get a shrinking portion of a much larger pie.”