Oysters and optimism

Optimism can be hard to find in the Arkansas Delta these days, but there was plenty to go around on the first Friday night of this month at the annual McGehee Men’s Club oyster supper. It was the 26th year for the event, and a record crowd turned out to consume the 170 gallons of oysters (served both raw and fried) that members of the club brought back from Gulfport, Miss.

Almost 1,500 people from southeast Arkansas, west Mississippi and north Louisiana showed up and paid $30 each for the meal and the fellowship. For a 10th consecutive year, the dinner was held in a former beer distributorship that the club has transformed into a community center. The money raised supports not only the community center but also the McGehee Boys & Girls Club and area baseball and softball programs.

“I sure hope we brought back enough oysters,” said club president Johnny McGaha as he watched the line grow. “It would be terrible to have an oyster supper and run out of oysters.”

For the record, there was enough food for everyone. While club members supplied the food, the optimism was supplied in part by the recent announcement that the Walton Family Foundation of Bentonville has committed $20 million to complete the Delta Heritage Trail, an 84.5-mile hiking and biking route from Lexa to the nearby Desha County seat of Arkansas City. The $20 million foundation gift will be matched (mostly with federal funds) by the Arkansas Department of Parks, Heritage & Tourism. The $40 million investment is expected to spur Delta tourism.

As one might guess, the two lead stories in the Feb. 5 edition of The Times-News, the weekly newspaper that covers McGehee and Dermott, were a preview of the oyster supper and an article on the $20 million grant. But even longtime residents of this area might not realize how much already has been spent to set the stage for such tourism.

Robert Moore Jr., a former speaker of the Arkansas House of Representatives and now one of five members of the powerful Arkansas Highway Commission, has been relentless through the years in tapping every pot he can find for funds. His goal is to transform the area around the southern trailhead into an attraction not only for hikers and bikers but also for birdwatchers, heritage tourists, hunters and fishermen. Moore and other southeast Arkansas leaders have obtained:

• $20 million for improvements to Arkansas 4 from its intersection with U.S. 65 in McGehee to Arkansas City.

• Another $7.8 million for improvements to Arkansas 4 from Arkansas City to where it runs into Arkansas 1 south of Rohwer.

• $1 million from the state for restrooms and interpretive exhibits at the trailhead in Arkansas City.

• $150,000 from the Arkansas Rural Services Commission for parking and a fishing pier along Kate Adams Lake at Arkansas City.

• $500,000 from the Delta Regional Authority for access ramps to the Mississippi River levee and spur trails off the levee.

• $3 million for water-system improvements in Arkansas City.

• $3.5 million for restoration of the historic Desha County Courthouse at Arkansas City.

• $7 million for the purchase of and improvements to Choctaw Island by the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission.

• $3 million from the Arkansas Department of Transportation for the purchase of right-of-way-property for future roads.

• $10 million already spent by the state on the Delta Heritage Trail.

• $1.2 million from the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission for an overlook and boat ramp on the Mississippi River north of Arkansas City.

That’s about $58 million in infrastructure. Add in the $40 million that will be spent during the next five years to finish the Delta Heritage Trail, and the total reaches almost $100 million in improvements to a part of the Delta where most

Arkansans think nothing is happening. The thing that’s needed now is private capital to complement the government and foundation funds.

Rick Hales, the mayor of tiny Arkansas City, is doing his part. Hales once helped operate the Delta Resort & Spa near McGehee for high-flying investor Gary Gibbs, whose real estate empire later collapsed. Gibbs defaulted on almost $120 million in loans for Delta Resort and his Hotel Hot Springs & Spa.

Sensing the potential of the Delta Heritage Trail, Hales set his sights on Arkansas City. Across the street from the levee, Hales has opened the Furr House Bed & Breakfast. I’ve stayed in bed-and-breakfast inns across the South and can attest to the fact that this is among the nicer inns I’ve visited. The house was constructed in 1910 by timber baron Hubert Furr and his wife Ionia in the Dutch Colonial Revival style. It’s the only residence in Arkansas City that features ornamental concrete blocks.

Hales has five bedrooms for rent. Moore, whose father was the longtime Desha County sheriff, hopes to convert his family home into another bed-and-breakfast inn that will offer five bedrooms. Meanwhile, Hales is looking for a business partner to help convert an old commercial structure along the levee (and just steps from the trailhead) into a facility that will have a restaurant on one side, a coffee shop and bakery on the other side, and six overnight rooms upstairs. If this project and Moore’s inn are completed, there will be 16 rooms in Arkansas City for overnight visitors.

Given the size of the Walton Family Foundation’s investment in the Delta, I would think that Ropeswing Hospitality Group, a company created by Walton family members, might have an interest in partnering with Hales.