The Eureka Springs City Advertising and Promotion Commission continues to have a vacant seat.
At the commission’s regular monthly meeting on Wednesday, Oct. 29, commissioner Robert Schmid nominated former commissioner Bradley Tate-Greene to fill a seat left vacant with the recent resignation of Kolin Paulk. The nomination did not receive a second, however.
Tate-Greene and Brian Knapp have active applications. They were also applicants in July, when the commission selected Coltan Scrivner for the only open seat on the commission at that time.
“I understand [CAPC director] Mike [Maloney] and the staff have opened this back up for people to apply, and I put the word out as much as I could, but we have not gotten any more new applicants,” commission chair Steve Holifield said before the failed vote. “We still have two people that are still interested. … I don’t feel like it’s fair to these folks to leave them hanging as we look for more people. That kind of sends a negative message to me. I think we should be up front with them in saying: ‘Are these valuable candidates? Is anybody interested in nominating either one of these folks for the commission?’ And then we get a second, and four votes. …” Schmid then made the nomination for Tate-Greene, asked for a second, and after about 10 seconds of silence, Holifield moved on.
“I guess we’re done,” Holifield said. “So, we’ll leave it open for any more applications and see what happens in the future. Hopefully, everybody else [on the commission] stays.”
PARTNERSHIP WITH ESHS
CAPC administrative manager Danyelle Harris said that a partnership is being developed with Eureka Springs High School to help get students involved in activities while earning required community service hours.
“I love working with teenagers … and that is a demographic that is near and dear to our hearts,” Harris said. “Knowing we have a great pool of FBLA and Rotary Interact, those clubs at our Eureka Springs High School, that are looking for opportunities to be trained, to be mentored, to learn a little bit more about the business professional field. So, we met with the principal, the counselor and superintendent and proposed to them we have activities coming up here in the holiday time where we could really use some volunteers to be greeters and the hospitality, the face of Eureka Springs at certain activities.
“Our staff can’t do it all, and so we would really love if we could help the teenagers out who are mandated to have a set amount of community service hours in order to graduate. This would be an opportunity for them to do so.”
Internship opportunities could also be available for students who are interested in learning the hospitality field, Harris said.
“What does it take in the tourist industry?” she said. “This is the industry of Eureka Springs.
“So, if we can train and inspire, hopefully they will learn a little bit more about what makes their town tick, what are some of the goings on, the behind the scenes. That’s what we want to be able to feed into.”
Commissioners liked the idea.
“There’s the whole tourism, hospitality, career track now,” Holifield said. “I know some of the hotels in town have kind of tapped into that on internships and stuff. What a great way to keep our young people in town is to say: ‘Well, we’re going to start training you early to have a career here. You don’t have to go somewhere else.’ ”
EVENT COORDINATION It’s important for events throughout the year — particularly those annual, long-running events — to have better coordination when it comes to when they happen.
That was the opinion of Schmid, who brought up the agenda item after learning that the annual Jeep Jam was scheduled for the same date in 2026 as the annual antique car show.
“What I’ve noticed … is Jeep Jam announced their event for 2026 on the weekend which is traditionally for the antique car show,” Schmid said. “It’s the weekend after Labor Day, and I was just a little bit appalled about seeing that. … No coordination or I don’t know how that happened. It was just announced: ‘This is our date,’ period. Everybody else has to fall in line …” Schmid said there should be better organization so two popular events aren’t held on the same weekend, while other weekends have nothing scheduled.
“The weekend … in the middle of September, which let’s say traditionally would be the Jeep Jam, all the sudden is an empty weekend,” Schmid said.
Harris explained that events that need a city permit are on a first-come policy.
“We are at the mercy of the permits that are issued,” Harris said.
CAPC commissioners and staff, agreed, however, that when funding support is granted it would be good to have a better understanding of when events will be held to try to not have two big events on the same weekend.
Commissioner David Avanzino, also a member of city council, said he felt it would be a good idea to get the CAPC a “sign-off” line on forms approving events like public works, police and fire have, so that specifics about the timing of events will be known before something is approved.
NYE EVENT GRANT AWARDED
Maloney told commissioners that the CAPC has been awarded a $19,000 grant from the state for the second New Year’s Eve celebration event downtown.
“I found out that we were granted $19,000 from the state of Arkansas to go ahead and buy television and some other activities that we had requested,” Maloney said. “They were very enthusiastically supportive of our program and our proposal.”
Plans are underway for this year’s event, which will include a live-stream broadcast of festivities, commissioners were told.
The CAPC will also be asking for an expanded temporary entertainment district for the event, stretching downtown from Pendergrass Corner to Benton Street, including a portion of Main Street.
Businesses along the district will serve as warming stations and those with the proper licenses will be selling alcohol, Maloney said.
The CAPC has also partnered with iHeart Media, who will be doing live remotes from the event.
FINANCE REPORT
The CAPC had a cash balance of $1,583,000 at the end of September, equaling assets, finance director Ty Reed told commissioners.
“Income for September was $195,000 with a budget of $192,000,” Reed said. “Year to date, as of the end of September, $1,480,000 with a budget $1,502,000.”
Net income for September was negative-$ 50,000 with a budget of negative-$ 75,000, Reed said, adding that year-to-date was negative-$ 425,000 with a budget of negative-$ 384,000.
“So, we’re about $40,000 shy of the budget right now,” Reed said.
NEXT MEETING
The CAPC will hold its next workshop at 5 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 12, and its next monthly meeting will be Thursday, Nov. 20, a week earlier than normal because of the Thanksgiving holiday.
