Build It, They Will Come (Editorial)

Northwest Arkansas’ storied entrepreneurs and developers seem to have thought of everything — except for a major tourist attraction.

We’re not expecting Disney World or even Dollywood to relocate to where college football and craft fairs are king.

This is, after all, poor old Arkansas. We’re just the home of the world’s largest company, numerous industry pioneers and possibly two American presidents this decade. Why should any of us dream big? Bugdust.

Dogpatch is defunct. The Walton 5&10 Museum is fine once. Hot Springs is fun, but you can’t get there from here, and Eureka Springs — although a great weekend getaway — dangles little more than shopping and loafing to make us neighbors sojourn more often.

Why should we concede to Springfield’s American National Fish & Wildlife Museum and Bass Pro Shops, Branson’s traffic jams and Silver Dollar City, Tulsa’s Zoo and Oklahoma Aquarium or even Kansas City’s Worlds of Fun?

We need a draw of our own. The proposed water park will eventually be a nice place for foam and flumes. Local kids don’t have many choices when it comes to something to do: Springdale’s Jones Center for Families and Fun City, Fayetteville’s Lokomotion and the Northwest Arkansas Mall, and Rogers’ Little Theater and the Frisco Station Mall. Benton County in general is hurting for choices.

But people aren’t going to drive 10 hours to tread water here, especially when places such as Springfield, Mo., boast their own white-water attractions.

We need something that will make our neighbors pack their cars for the day and drop off their entertainment dollars. What about a NASCAR venue? A national museum for entrepreneurs? A giant statue of Billy Bob Thornton? Something, anything, to sustain the kind of impact we enjoy when the quilt hunters and Hog lovers slip in and out of town.

Since we’re the Natural State, what about an outdoor theme park that could be anchored by the Arkansas Whitewater Course that Fayetteville’s Bill “Fish” Herring is moving forward (www.ozarkpages.com/ar_course_info.html)? The manmade park for kayakers and canoers could be the centerpiece for a woodsy getaway that includes rock climbing, repelling, ropes courses and more. Wal-Mart’s FLW Fishing Tournament is another good start.

All we know is nowhere else are there more visionaries who could turn something speculated into something special.