HOT SPRINGS, Ark. — Tourism officials in Hot Springs are counting on a downtown holiday light display to lure COVID-concerned visitors to the Spa City and be a bridge from what have been relatively successful months into a slow period amid surging cases.
"We need some distractions right now," said Visit Hot Springs CEO Steve Arrison. "It's really been a good thing for Hot Springs and really good for us now that we're into December and the Christmas months."
The display that spans the length of Bathhouse Row now rules the night after the decision by Garvan Woodland Gardens to switch to a daylight winter festival instead of its traditional displays throughout the botanical garden.
Arrison said September and October returns were better than expected. Holiday crowds arrive just in time because other facets of the city's tourism economy are still struggling, especially meetings and conferences.
"The meeting business is terrible," he said. "I think it will probably be June before it really comes back. We're seeing cancellations now into January, February, March. I even had a cancellation this morning for October."
Help may be on the way as Gov. Asa Hutchinson's CARES Act Steering Committee plans to send $10-million to convention centers like Bank OZK Arena, which Arrison manages, and Simmons Bank Arena in North Little Rock. But the bureaucracy is still grinding out the details of doling out the cash.
While they wait, there's hope leaving the lights on will bring some spirit to town.
"It's a much needed boost to what we've got going on, and add that to the National Park and downtown," Arrison said. "Thank goodness we have it."
The display features a giant gingerbread house inside the Arlington Hotel. Across the street on the Arlington Lawn is a forest of electric trees. Along Bathhouse Row are two alleys featuring several photo opportunities, building to a large Christmas tree in Hill Wheatley Plaza at the end of a blue-lit walkway with the water from one of the city's famous natural fountains replaced by streaming lights.