Tourists from 41 countries have made their way to the Historic Dyess Colony in east Arkansas.
Set up in 1934 as an agricultural resettlement community, the colony is more widely recognized as the boyhood home of Johnny Cash. Music buffs -- regardless of genres -- tend to have an appreciation for Cash, and the opportunity to see the environment that helped shape his music is appealing to many.
Dr. Ruth Hawkins, executive director of Arkansas State University Heritage Sites, estimates the Cash house will bring in $10 million in tourism-related income annually, with a potential to create 100 jobs. Hawkins has been responsible for developing and directing the Hemingway-Pfeiffer Museum and Educational Center at Piggott, the Southern Tenant Farmers Museum at Tyronza, the Lakeport Plantation near Lake Village, and the Cash property. She serves as director of Arkansas Delta Byways Inc., an organization that exists to promote tourism in 15 eastern Arkansas counties.
Using Arkansas Department of Parks and Tourism figures on how much is spent by visitors to particular parts of the state helped Hawkins come up with the economic impact figure. She isn't including admission (ranging between $5 and $10 per person), with a projected 50,000 to 80,000 visitors a year.
Hawkins also talked with directors at the Elvis Presley Birthplace & Museum in Tupelo, Miss., and the B.B. King Museum and Delta Interpretive Center in Indianola, Miss., to get a feel for how many visitors per year those museums attract.
"Some of that $10 million, most of that, could go to Memphis if we're not careful," Hawkins said following a recent appearance at the Rotary Club of Little Rock. "If a tourist is spending the night in Memphis and they're getting breakfast at the hotel and then running up to Dyess and touring and then going back to Memphis in time for lunch, we haven't accomplished a thing."
Lodging options already exist in Blytheville, Osceola, Marion and West Memphis. There are unique dining options in the towns near Dyess. Someone needs to be willing to spend the money to promote, and in some cases, improve them.
Hawkins, of course, would like to see more attractions pop up in the town where the museum and a newly restored theater are located. She envisions other colony houses being restored to provide lodging, as at the Shack Up Inn in Clarksdale, Miss. An abandoned cannery nearby, if restored properly, might offer lessons on canning and preserving produce, appealing to the farm-to-table crowd.
Currently the museum has no operating budget and is staffed by one full-time employee, two part-time workers -- with two more scheduled this summer -- and two graduate students assisting. Hawkins helps there often, as do directors of the Pfeiffer house and tenant farmers museum.
"These little Delta towns have a very rich heritage," Hawkins said. "What they don't have is the infrastructure to attract any major industries. The key is going to be developing unique bed and breakfasts, hotels, lodging and more places to eat. We have to develop that infrastructure."
Hawkins is hardly alone in seeing the value that heritage tourism could bring to towns around Arkansas, particularly the Delta. A group is exploring the possibility of developing a similar site devoted to native son Levon Helm, drummer for The Band, near Marvell.
A two-page ad placed by the Department of Parks and Tourism and the Arkansas Economic Development Commission in the recent issue of Delta Air Line's Sky Magazine touts Cash's ties to the state and encourages visitors.
"All songs start somewhere. His started in the Arkansas Delta."
Tours of the Cash home are available from 9 a.m.-3 p.m. Monday through Saturday.
If you have a tip, call Chris Bahn at (501) 378-3518 or email him at
cbahn@
SundayMonday Business on 06/12/2016