Park plans more tiny cabins

BELLA VISTA — Joan Glubczynski gleams with pride when talking about the tiny cabin at Blowing Springs Park.“It’s my baby,” she said. “I’ll be honest.”

Glubczynski, the Bella Vista Property Owner’s Association’s director of recreation and wellness, manages the popular Blowing Springs Park, which features 64 full-service RV sites, 11 primitive tent campsites and one cozy cabin, which is less than 150-square feet big.

For now.

Three more tiny cabins will be added this year because of the popularity of camping at Blowing Springs, and the success the tiny cabin has seen since it debuted three years ago, Glubczynski said.

“We are going to create a tiny cabin village not far from the primitive camping area,” she said. “The tiny cabin we have there now has done wonderful and has increased in occupancy more and more. This month we are booked back-toback. We barely have time to clean it before the next guest comes in.

“It’s a money-maker for the park, which helps offset the cost of other things.”

Glubczynski said some people were a bit skeptical when she first brought up the idea of putting some sort of cabin structure in the park.

“When I found this design and what I could do in a small footprint, it just worked. We installed it in late 2018 and by October, with very little advertising, it was booked all through the winter months. I was thrilled.”

The original tiny cabin, manufactured in Noel, Mo., cost $18,500 and, after being installed and furnished, cost the association a total of $22,000.

“There are always doubters, but one of the things that people were most surprised at is how economic it was to build,” Glubczynski said. “Yurts or tiny houses can run in the 40-, 50-, 60-grand range, but this is much less and helped me sell it.”

Blowing Springs will soon be the location of four tiny cabins by the end of the year, one with a bunkhouse feel to it, she said.

The cabins are furnished with a double bed, a kitchenette with a microwave, coffee maker and refrigerator, a small deck and a fire ring and picnic table. They are rented through Airbnb for approximately $100 a night, plus fees and taxes.

“It’s glamping,” Glubczynski said. “Some people love the outdoors, but they don’t want to be 100% without some comforts.”

The popularity of Blowing Springs has grown since renovations and additions were made to the RV and tent camping areas in 2018, especially during covid-19 restrictions in 2020. Many campsites are booked for the spring and summer weekends this year.

The renovations in 2018 included restroom facilities.

“We have people tell us they’ve stayed and camped at places all over, but have never seen a bathroom as nice as the one we have there,” she said.

(Special to NWA Media/Rick Harvey) The tiny cabin, currently located near the RV area of Blowing Springs Park in Bella Vista, stays rented most days this time of year.