‘Another busy month’ for parks department

The heart of warm weather is still weeks away, but you wouldn’t know that by the flurry of activity at Lake Leatherwood Park.

“The numbers keep blowing my mind,” Eureka Springs Parks and Recreation Director Sam Dudley told members of the parks commission at the group’s monthly meeting held Tuesday, May 19.

“I always feel kind of monotonous saying it, but once again, another busy and productive month,” Dudley said about his department overall. “It always is. It’s never not. It’s good.”

While Dudley said “things are ready to go” for the busy spring and summer season at Lake Leatherwood, numbers so far have been impressive for rentals. 

“We’re at about $90,000 in lodging already this year and another $25,000 in boat rentals and just general merchandise sales,” Dudley said. “It’s well over $100,000, which is great, and way above what we budgeted.”

The parks department has been busy in other areas of the city as well, commissioners were told.

“In town we completed the signage portion, or almost completed, the signage portion of the Banks Family grant, so we got the new kiosk installed there at Basin Park and got new signs put in them,” he said. “And then we got new plaques ordered, which will be installed soon.”

Thanks to support from the Eureka Springs City Advertising and Promotion Commission, Dudley said his staff recently had new handrails installed on the upper part of Basin Spring Park.

“On the upper block,” he said. “We took down the chains that were there, which worked, but didn’t look very formal. The new handrails look really, really nice.”

In addition, a new pump and other components have been installed in the park’s fountain, and a cleanup of the area’s hillside will soon be completed.

“It’s gonna look awesome when they’re done,” Dudley said.

Other activity over the past month included memorializing  the Spring Garden Bridge at Harmon Park for longtime parks commissioner Bill Featherstone, who recently passed away, Dudley said, adding that it was made possible thanks to a donation from Gotahold Brewing.

“We were given a pretty good-sized donation from Bill Featherstone’s memorial service,” Dudley told commissioners. “[Gotahold] had a keg there and they were accepting tips, and then all the tips they gave to parks. I didn’t know that was happening, but that’s what happened. So, I decided to take that money and put it towards something that would honor Bill.

“So, we restored the bridge there. We sanded it, power washed it, stained it and then put a plaque on it.

“So, thank you to Bill, once again, for 22 years of being the [parks] chair, to his family for allowing us to do that, and to Gotahold for giving us the donation. They certainly didn’t have to do that.”

Dudley also announced that the Fat Tire Festival event will return to Lake Leatherwood Park on September 25-27, and a new adult kickball league will start at 5 p.m. on June 7.

SOCCER CLUB IDEAS

Representatives of the Eureka Springs Soccer Club attended the May 19 meeting and want to have a workshop with commissioners to discuss a pair of projects on their wish list.

The program, which had 65 kids participate in the spring 2026 season, is in need of extra storage space and wants to add a small deck that would allow for two picnic tables for individuals to use after purchasing food and beverages from the park’s concession stand.

In addition, the club wants to discuss with the commission creating a memorial wall at a corner of a field to honor those former players, coaches and board members who have passed away.

All the projects would be paid for by funds raised by the soccer club, commissioners were told.

“Let’s figure out how to make it efficient, and how we can make it work,” Dudley said of the club’s ideas.