‘Vintage Retreat’ Opens Near Prairie Grove

Trailer Park Serves As A ‘Boutique Hotel’ Near Prairie Grove

PRAIRIE GROVE — It opened a year later than expected but the Flamingo Springs Trailer Resort near Prairie Grove is now accepting reservations for business.

The resort is a park with vintage trailers from the 1950s, ’60s and ’70s that offers visitors the opportunity to step back in time, get away from a busy life and relax with friends, family and strangers.

Flamingo Springs is owed by Zack and Laura Kraus and located at 15475 Greasy Valley Road, about five miles from U.S. Highway 62 or Heritage Parkway.

Zack and Laura started work in June 2016 and hoped to have the resort ready for guests in August 2017.

Zack said the project has been a lot of back and forth with the Washington County Planning Department to figure out what type of business the resort was and how to categorize it.

“Even I didn’t know what to call it at first,” Zack said.

The county finally decided to call it an RV park but Zack and Laura see it as a vintage travel trailer boutique hotel.

It’s closer to cabins, as compared to an RV park, except the cabins have wheels, Zack said.

Laura said the couple didn’t expect all the red tape and didn’t expect to have a child in the middle of the project. Their son, Gray, is now 1 year old.

Some of the issues that delayed the facility included a driveway, septic system, landscaping and the bathroom/shower facility.

“If we’d known then what we know now, I don’t think we would have started this. So I’m glad we didn’t know,” Zack said.

Essentially, the vintage trailer resort looks like the couple envisioned, with some compromises because of financing and requirements by the county planning department.

The resort is permitted for eight trailers and has six that have been completely renovated and decorated for guests to reserve for a night or two or longer. Each trailer is decorated based on a specific theme.

One is modeled after the television show, “Friends.” Another has a Christmas theme, Candy Cane Lane. A third one is old west chic and a fourth one is called the Pink Fuzzy Unicorn and is decorated in the style of what a teenage girl would want in the 1990s.

If guests want to experience the glitz and glamour of a ’90s hairband, they can reserve Pour Some Shasta on Me. The Haight-Ashbury is decorated with green shag carpeting on the ceiling and has psychedelic textures.

Along with the trailers, Flamingo Springs has a Quonset hut. Half of the hut is the Kraus’ home and the rest provides a front desk area and a community room for resort guests. The community area has a jukebox, pool table, ping-pong table, small library, games and a kitchen for guests to use.

The resort has separate showers and bathrooms for guests, a refreshing pool, grills for cooking and a fire pit.

“You bring your own food, charcoal and firewood and we have everything else,” Zack said.

Laura said the couple is most excited about creating a space where strangers come together and form new friendships.

“That’s why we put the trailers close together and why there are shared bathrooms and a shared kitchen,” Laura said. “We want to force an intimacy that people so often try to avoid.”

She’s already seen their vision come to fruition.

During one recent weekend, three couples reserved trailers.

“They didn’t know each other and were all different and by the end of the night, they are all sitting around a campfire together and sharing their food,” Laura said.

The couple also has made an effort to use local artists to help with their business. They’ve used local people in Northwest Arkansas for artwork, their logo, landscaping, photographs and T-shirt designs.

“Northwest Arkansas is really putting a lot of effort toward the arts and we’re so grateful to be a part of that. So many people are paving the way for the arts,” Laura said.

Zack said the two are glad that they can share their resort with Prairie Grove and surrounding communities.

“We want to give the people of Northwest Arkansas a place to go, a getaway,” he said.

This trailer is called “The One With the Trailer” and it is modeled after the hit television show, “Friends.”

Prairie Grove Area Chamber of Commerce has a ribbon cutting ceremony for Flamingo Springs Trailer Resort. The resort offers six vintage trailers that can be rented for the night, weekend or longer. The resort recently held an open house to allow guests to look through and explore the trailers and community center.

PHOTOS BY LYNN KUTTER ENTERPRISE-LEADER Flamingo Springs on Greasy Valley Road near Prairie Grove offers guests the experience to stay in vintage trailers, enjoy the pool, a campfire and a community game room.

The Quonset hut at Flamingo Springs Trailer Resort serves as the home for owners Zack and Laura Kraus and their 1-year-old son, Gray. The resort’s office is also in the building, along with a community room that provides a kitchen and a game room for resort guests.

Zack and Laura Kraus and their 1-year-old son, Gray, are ready to welcome new guests to their venture, Flamingo Springs Trailer Resort. The resort offers vintage trailers and is designed as a getaway and a place for people to connect with each other in a unique setting.