Glamping time
Ah, to be out under the stars. Listening to the stream gurgle down its worn path. Watching the moon set. Watching the NCAA tournament on a big-screen TV. Getting a nice frappuccino at sun-up. Turning the A/C to “tundra” at noon.
Who says you can’t have a few amenities while camping out?
It’s called “glamping”—a portmanteau of glamour and camping. And tell you what: If we’re going camping, we’re not sleeping on the ground, y’all. Nor are we especially fond of being eaten alive by Arkansas’ state bird, the mosquito. Camping is supposed to be fun, right? (For those who want a more stripped-down version of “real” camping the way your grandfather did it, we can give you the number for the nearest U.S. Army recruiting station.)
Glamping is nothing new. Remember the Field of the Cloth of Gold, circa 1520: a diplomatic summit featuring thousands of people from France and England. Henry VIII and Francis I wanted to show off how they camped out. They had tents woven with silk and gold threads. The kings brought their choirs. Two fountains flowed with red wine. They did it right.
You don’t need a choir or gold-threaded tents to glamp these days. But we wouldn’t be surprised by anything.
Northwest Arkansas might be getting in on the glamping action.
Last week, the Benton County Planning Commission voted unanimously (7-0) to approve a new plan for a glamping resort on 209 acres along the shore of Beaver Lake.
“Contentment on Beaver Lake” (we can’t imagine a better name) will include 40 glamping tents, 12 covered wagons, a lodge, pavilion and spa, according to Thomas Saccente’s reporting in the Democrat-Gazette. The campsite/resort also includes equipment rental space, a maintenance building/well house, a bathhouse, and private systems for water distribution, sewer collection and storm drainage.
“The project will also include a sanitary sewer lift station and septic system,” according to a report prepared by Engineering Services Inc.
In September 2022, the same plan was rejected by the board over concerns that wastewater could negatively impact Beaver Lake, too many other “unknowns,” and public opposition, which continues.
It appears that reasonable people can disagree over the same set of circumstances.
Attorneys Robert Rhoads of Fayetteville and Richard Mays of Little Rock, who represent people and entities owning land adjoining the acreage and directly across the lake from the project, wrote to the board, “We and our clients are extremely concerned about the project in general, as it will completely change the character of the area from a quiet, pristine, natural setting to one with non-compatible carnival-like tents, covered wagons and other structures and novelties that will generate traffic, crowds, lighting, noise and pollution of Beaver Lake and the groundwater in the area.”
Rogers attorney Brent Johnson pushed back, saying, “It’s not an amusement park. It’s supposed to be a peaceful, tranquil place where you can go out and enjoy nature a little bit, camp, glamp, for people who don’t necessarily like sitting in a tent.”
Which just goes to prove that this wouldn’t be Arkansas without an argument.
But if the new plan can keep the Beaver Lake from pollution and groundwater safe, it seems a little glamping, or a lot, isn’t going to interfere with star-gazing among the locals.
We await the next step/argument/ court brief. And if we ever have to go visit “Contentment on Beaver Lake,” we’ll still want a TV.