Dardanelle AR
Has many positives and unfortunately many negatives.On the Positive side it has lots of lakes and rivers nearby, parks abound, Mt. Nebo is close and a little further is Mt. Magazine and Mt. Petit Jean. It has camping, hunting, fishing and the Dardanelle Dam is almost in the city limits.
Along with sitting on the Arkansas River it also sits on Hwy 7, one of the top scenic drives in the country and is located near Russellville AR and is in the middle between Harrison AR and Hot Springs AR
Dardanelle is situated midway between Little Rock and Ft. Smith and being on the Arkansas River is a very old town and in the rough and tumble days past nearly every building downtown was either a Saloon or a Brothel, so it has a long and rich history.
So the question is: WHY isn't Dardanelle a tourist attraction like Hot Springs, Eureka Springs etc. If it has so much going for it, why is it still a small back water run down dilapidated town?
I have a plan to make Dardanelle a tourist town, someplace people will want to take their family, stop and see, eat, buy novelties and stay a night or two. Dardanelle can easily handle from 2000 to 5000 sight seers a day and in the winter months it can still generate from 500 to 1000 tourist per day. Enough tourism to impact the economy in the town but not so much that Dardanelle loses it's small town values and appeal. The current roadways will easily handle this daily volume of traffic without to many problems.
The pictures below will show the problems we have in Dardanelle now. These photos of businesses are only on Front St. Try as they might are you surprised why no one wants to go down their? But we CAN change that with your help.
And here are some of the yards and homes in Dardanelle AR
We have far to few homes that look like this. A beautiful turn of the century style home that people love to look at. The grounds and the home are well maintained.
The problem is how do we get from the photos above to the photo here at the bottom.
Dardanelle has a lot going for it, to much to ignore. Dardanelle is in a unique position, it has the assets needed locally to build on and to make Dardanelle a tourist town, not the size of Hot Springs or Eureka Springs but it is in a unique position to build Dardanelle into a midsize tourist town/attraction and I have an idea how to do it. ARE YOU INTERESTED???
My plan involves all of the Dardanelle residents, first comes the clean up of Dardanelle which must involve the residents. Then comes the Army Corp. of Engineers to ask them how best to build a dock that could hold a large passenger vessel at a Dardanelle River Dock. This may be a floating dock or a high water dock this will be best left up to the corp. of Engineers.
I purpose Dardanelle build a dock on the Arkansas river in keeping with Dardanelle's heritage this will be a substantial undertaking that must involve investors and investors must be shown that they can make a return on their investment and that Dardanelle is more than willing to do it's part.
This dock does NOT have to extend out into the river only be built at the rivers edge, so when you look down from the dock you will see water. But for a big river boat to be docked their accommodations will have to be made for that.
I see the dock as being a massive structure that can accommodate 10 to 15 small shops plus a seating area that is covered (in the shade) so people waiting to board the river boat can sit comfortably while waiting for the boat to board.
While waiting to board the boat these people will be enticed to browse and buy from the shops on the dock. Plus I purpose about 10 to 15 small shops off the dock for people to browse also.
The river boat will be best if it's a paddle wheeler in keeping with the old river tradition. (My wife and I recently rode a paddle wheeler boat in Frankenmuth Mich. and I ironically enough that very boat had come from the Arkansas River several years ago.) IF the boat is big enough and had the amenities to serve a lunch or dinner that would be so much the better.
Along with the Dock I purpose that a fire tower be built nearby so tourist can climb it to get a better view of the river, dam, Dardanelle, Mt. Nebo and Mt. Petit Jean
I firmly believe that doing these things will induce investors in the Front St. improvement to the old river theme to build sandwich shops, ice cream parlors, coffee shops as they have to drive into downtown via Front St. and these Front St. shops would be within easy walking distance of the dock area. I believe we will have a spill over effect back onto Front St. from the Dardanelle Dock area. This is my plan to save downtown Dardanelle.
Plan purposed publicly on 11/7/2014 by Tony lamb
If you have any ideas to help improve Dardanelle Please let me know. I welcome your comments and suggestions.
I can be reached at: POB 41, Dardanelle AR 72834
ph. 479-365-3027
email at: drbuzzsaw@yahoo.com
