Hot Springs This Week

Part of what makes Hot Springs both special and unusual is the downtown portion of the city is surrounded by Hot Springs National Park. If you've never visited, the main street through downtown is Central Avenue. One side of the street is the city, the other side is the iconic "Bath House Row". In this episode, we visit with the HSNP Superintendent, Laura Miller.  From the famous thermal water, to the rehabilitation of the bath houses into privately owned businesses to hiking and camping, you'll hear it all from her.

Plus, we'll run down a variety of seasonal things you can enjoy in Hot Springs.

#HSNP #VisitHotSprings #Thermalwater #tourism #bathhouse

One of the oldest and still operating attractions in Hot Springs features alligators, turtles, goats, wolves, peacocks and rabbits. And the list of animals there is longer than that. It's the Arkansas Alligator Farm and Petting Zoo. In this episode, meet Jamie Bridges. He is the General Manager and one of the owners of this family based business. It's history dates back to 1902. It's been a Bridges family operation since 1947. How many alligators do they have? And what about the wolves? And how about the turtle that's over 100 years old? And, has an alligator ever escaped? 

To get the answers, you'll have to listen.

Plus, Jennifer and I run down things to do in November.

#alligators #visithotsprings #tourism #pettingzoo 

While many would say downtown Hot Springs is stronger now than it's been in decades, the growth came in the wake of difficult challenges. The Hot Springs National Park was almost down graded to a "historic site"; floods roared through the downtown business district in the early 90's sweeping cars down Central Avenue as though they were toys; and then came the fire at the once iconic Majestic Hotel. Downtown business leader Mark Fleischner was there for all of it. Now, the one time owner of Lauray's recalls those years and what it took for downtown to get to it's current state.  

#Hot Springs #majesticfire #HSNP #Visit Hot Springs #History

The Hot Springs Documentary Film Festival is the longest continuing running festival in North America. The festival this year is October 18-26th, with over 60 features films and at least that many shorts. The festival also includes workshops, panels and educational opportunities for young people. Jen Gerber is the Executive Director, a former college professor and a film maker herself. We visit with Jen in this episode.

And, we visit with another Jen, Jennifer Bailey in our regular calendar round up of things to do in future weeks.

#HSDFF #Documentary #visithotsprings

His real name is Wally Marshall, but he goes by "Mr. Crappie", the the weekend of October 4-6, he's bringing what he calls the biggest Crappie Tournament and Expo to Hot Springs. Taught to fish by his Grandmother, Wally is an angler, sportsman and a promoter. The Expo will feature a giant free crappie fry. On the heels of the FLW Bass Tournament in Hot Springs earlier this year, Lake Hamilton will again play host to anglers. This time, 100 two-man teams will take to the water in search of $100,000 in prize money.

#fishing #HotSprings #Crappie #MrCrappie #Tourism #Visit Hot Springs

For many years, the buildings that made up Bath House Row in Hot Springs were closed and shuttered. Years ago, the National Park Service entered into public-private partnerships, leasing the historic structures to people who wanted to house a business in one of those buildings. Bath House Row is a robust part of the Hot Springs Tourism business. The most recent to open is Hotel Hale, a boutique hotel with two separate dining rooms. Located in the former Hale Bath House, Hotel Hale is operated by Ellen and Pat McCabe. This conversation is with Pat McCabe, and as you'll hear, Hotel Hale was years in the making.

#Visit Hot Springs #HotelHale #tourism #Hot Springs  #National Park Service 

The 4th Annual SpaCon Convention is the topic for this episode. SpaCon is a three day celebration of everything from animation to Cosplay, from Cult movies to laser tag. And that doesn't even cover it all.  My guest is Bill Solleder, Director of Marketing for Visit Hot Springs. When he joined the organization in 2016, planning for SpaCon was already underway. So as you'll hear, he had a lot of learning to do. We'll discuss how SpaCon has grown and what you can expect if you attend the annual convention.

I also talk with Jennifer Bailey from KLAZ about things to do in the coming weeks, and with Kimberly Bogart about levels on Lakes Hamilton and Catherine, plus the Ouachita River.

#VisitHotSprings #SpaCon #Rockyhorrorpictureshow #tourism #HotSprings

In this episode, you'll meet Verna Cook Garvan, the woman who donated the land that became Garvan Woodland Gardens. She died in 1993, so you'll hear from her by way of Susan Harper. Susan has been with Garvan Gardens since its' start. Over the years, she researched the life of Mrs. Garvan, and now speaks as Mrs. Garvan in public appearances, complete with wardrobe from that era.

By any measure of that time. Mrs. Garvan was an amazing woman, elevated to the CEO position of her father's empire upon his death in 1934. Women CEO's were rare in that time period. And as you'll hear, many years of her life were personally difficult. The land donation to the University of Arkansas' Fay Jones School of Architecture + Design came with legal stipulations and you'll hear about them in this episode.

Plus, Jennifer Bailey joins me to run down things you can do in Hot Springs in the weeks ahead, and we visit with Kimberly Bogart of Entergy Arkansas Hydro operations about the lakes and rivers controlled by the utility.

#GarvanGardens #UniversityofArkansas #VisitHotSprings #gardens #flowers 

Another popular place in Hot Springs is the Mid America Science Museum. You'll see dinosaurs when you walk in. During the summer, they had a series of programs related to the 50th anniversary of the Moon landing. And there are a lot of static exhibits. MASM is on a natural setting over several acres. Voters in Hot Springs support the museum, and passed a measure allowing for construction of a new building to allow Mid-America to display larger traveling exhibits just months ago. The Museum started 40 years ago, and in this episode, we visit with Executive Director Diane LaFollette.

We'll also look at the things to do in Hot Springs over the next few weeks with Jennifer Bailey from KLAZ, and a look ahead to lake and river conditions.

#Science #MidAmericaScienceMuseum #HotSprings #VisitHotSprings #Smithsonian #Dinosaurs 

The story of Mountain Harbor Resort starts with a man taking his son fishing in a newly formed lake. Mountain Harbor Resort remains a very popular destination for everything from families to anglers to business conferences. Bill Barnes owns and operates the resort, and tells the story of how it started, the struggle to keep it going, and even disagreements with his Father years ago on the direction of the Resort. Like many of the conversations in this podcast series, we find out its really a story of being an entrepreneur. 

Plus, Jennifer Bailey returns and we'll run down events you can enjoy from this posting through Labor Day.

#Lake Ouachita #Mountain Harbor #Bill Barnes #Hot Springs #Vacation #Visit Hot Springs  #Arkansas Tourism #Resort

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