Arkansas and its neighboring states are relaxing COVID-19 restrictions as virus numbers decrease and vaccine amounts increase, and the excitement was felt among local businesses in a crowded Downtown Association meeting Tuesday.
Some local business owners are finding excitement in Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson's Feb. 26 announcement all public health directives issued in response to the COVID-19 pandemic will revert to guidelines. The hope is business will soon boom with March being "spring break season," historically resulting in an increase of business for Hot Springs' tourism economy.
Downtown Association President Alan Spraggins said he doesn't know of any other town besides Hot Springs that would be more pleased by the governor's decision.
"I don't remember what restaurant it was, but they said over the weekend it was just packed like nothing had ever happened. ... It was Rocky's -- said they walked in and Rocky's was just slammed packed," Spraggins said. "Oaklawn is opening the infield this weekend ... on Saturdays. That's positive news if we're kind of getting back to old school regular stuff."
In addition to pandemic restrictions being relaxed and spring break season upon the city, today also marks Hot Springs National Park's 100th anniversary and there is a yearlong schedule serving as an added tourist draw.
Even during the year of the pandemic, Hot Springs National Park Ranger Ashley Weymouth told the Downtown Association on Tuesday that the park saw 1.3 million visitors in 2020.
Weymouth, also the park's centennial coordinator, said with 1.3 million visitors not being a large drop compared to non-pandemic years, she expects the events they plan for the centennial will generate tourism, as well.
"Things do seem to be winding down with the pandemic, so hopefully we can host all of these events to the fullness that we want to, but of course things are subject to change."
Current centennial events and their possible changes can be found at https://www.nps.gov/hosp.
Visit Hot Springs Marketing Director Bill Solleder was also in attendance at the meeting to discuss a few things coming up that will help draw more people to downtown businesses.
While there will be no World's Shortest St. Patrick's Day Parade this year due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Solleder said in an effort to "paint the town green" and still celebrate the holiday, downtown fountains will be dyed green and businesses are encouraged to decorate their storefronts this month.
With the spirit of the holiday continuing on without the parade, which would have been held March 17, Hot Springs is still expected to see an influx of visitors March 18-20 from the AAA State Basketball Championships.
"Next weekend are the basketball championships," Solleder said. "Because of the governor changing the restrictions to guidelines, the Arkansas Activities Association has upped the capacity to 50%. So that goes from, I think, having 1,700 per game up to having like 2,500 per game, so we should see a nice little influx in visitors not this weekend, but next weekend."
Looking ahead to summertime, Solleder said Bridge Street LIVE! is still on, and looking for vendors.
The "block party-type" event will be held in downtown's entertainment district every Thursday in June with four live music shows.
"We have a call for vendors out right now," he said. "It's really affordable, if you'd like to be a vendor -- this is not a food vendor, just if you're selling things or promoting things -- it's only $50 per event, which you have to buy all four, so it's $200. The food will be supplied by the restaurateurs in the district. ... It's going to be great. A lot of great music, there's funk and soul and bluegrass and reggae all lined up. It should be a great way to get out of this dang pandemic."
With local businesses brimming with excitement over a year packed full of events that are thought to bring in tourists, mixed with the pandemic looking up -- or down, rather -- County Health Officer Dr. Gene Shelby warns "the guidelines still exist and we're still in a pandemic."
"Our numbers are definitely better, but as of Monday we had almost 200 active cases in the county. I'm concerned that we would either get on a plateau with our numbers or have a spike if we don't continue to follow these guidelines," Shelby said.
"The social distancing is still very important," he said. "Masks are still very important. Limiting the number of people in an enclosed space is still very important. ... We have guidelines in place. They're not directives and they're not going to be enforced by the government, but I would encourage people to follow these guidelines to kind of protect themselves."
