Eureka Springs sets July 4th fireworks

For the first time since 2006, Eureka Springs will have a fireworks show to celebrate America’s independence.

It will be held at Lake Leatherwood City Park on July 2, the Sunday before Independence Day. Eureka Springs was founded on July 4, 1879.

“We wanted to do something to celebrate because it’s not only the United States’ birthday but it’s Eureka Springs’ birthday,” said Mayor Robert “Butch” Berry.

Concessions will be available beginning at 5 p.m., and the fireworks display will start 9:30 p.m., according to eurekasprings.org. Parking at the lake will cost $5 per car.

Justin Huss, the parks director in Eureka Springs, said he believes the city stopped having fireworks shows at least in part for financial reasons.

Then Holiday Island, 9 miles to the north, started having 4th of July fireworks displays, but they stopped last year, said Huss.

Huss said about $8,000 will be spent for the fireworks, and the cost is being split between the parks department and the City Advertising and Promotion Commission.

The display will take place over the ball fields. Lake Leatherwood City Park has one baseball field and two soccer fields. The park has 1,610 acres and an 85-acre lake. Huss said it’s the second largest city park in Arkansas, next to Burns Park in North Little Rock.

Last week, Eureka Springs voters removed the sunset clause, extending a oneeighth percent sales tax for perpetuity. The temporary tax has been in place for four years for improvements to Lake Leatherwood City Park.

The vote was 107 for and 56 against, said Sherry Cochrane, the Carroll County election coordinator.

Huss said the tax generates about $120,000 a year for the park. He said the money will be used to repair the Lake Leatherwood dam, dredge the lake and improve infrastructure.

“It’s a transformative thing for our parks service,” said Huss. “This will allow us to do long-term planning. It keeps us from just having to fix things as it goes.”

Huss went to work for the parks department in March 2016. At that time, the department was running an annual deficit of about $60,000, he said.

Last year, he was able to cut that in half, and this year he hopes to have the department operating in the black.

With help from the tax revenue, Huss said the parks department built three new cabins at Lake Leatherwood and renovated five cabins that were built in the 1950s.

“Everything needed a little polish, a little stabilization,” he said.

The department also constructed a $174,000 playground in the park. Huss said the mountain biking crazy has also lured more visitors to Lake Leatherwood City Park.