Bank of the Ozarks Arena

The doors to Summit Arena, now known as Bank of the Ozarks Arena, opened in December 2003, two and a half years after city voters approved a bond issue to finance its construction.

The success of the arena project can be credited to a number of people in the community, but the vision for the arena is credited nearly single-handedly to late city director Robert “Bob” Wheeler.

Wheeler told the newspaper in December 2003 that he was watching television one night and saw something about Verizon Arena in North Little Rock and thought, “Jiminy Christmas, we can do that!” In an exchange later witnessed by a reporter from the newspaper, Wheeler said he went to see Steve Arrison, the CEO of Visit Hot Springs and told him, “We need to build an arena.” According to Wheeler’s account, Arrison replied, “What? In Hot Springs?” Wheeler said he told Arrison, “‘You don’t understand what I’m telling you. We’re going to build an arena.’ And he said, ‘OK.’ And it’s there.”

The arena was an addition at the east end of the Hot Springs Convention Center, which itself was an expansion of the former Hot Springs Convention Auditorium. The convention center had opened in 1998, just five years prior to the arena’s opening.

The arena’s construction budget stood at $20 million, with an overall project budget of around $27 million.

The arena’s namesake, Summit Bank, originally purchased the naming rights to the arena. When Bank of the Ozarks acquired Summit Bank in 2014, it acquired the naming rights to the arena.

The opening event in December 2003 was a concert by legendary singer Tony Bennett.

The first standingroom-only crowd is credited to best-selling author Garrison Keillor, who brought his hit public radio show, “A Prairie Home Companion,” to the arena for a live broadcast on Saturday, Feb. 7, 2004. The show was a mix of live music, radio theater and Keillor’s stories from his fictional hometown of Lake Wobegone, Minn., where “all the women are strong, all the men are good-looking and all the children are above average.” Other acts over the years have included MercyMe, Willie Nelson, Vince Gill and Harry Connick Jr.

Earlier this year, the arena set new attendance records by hosting the state high-school basketball finals, which returned to the Spa City in 2014.

Over the years, the Miss Arkansas Pageant, FLW fishing tournament weigh-ins, high school graduations, and dozens of other events and conventions hosted at the arena have drawn thousands of conventioneers and visitors to Hot Springs.