SEARCY — A fundraising campaign to make Pioneer Village a destination for visitors was kicked off last month during an unveiling of a sign asking for donations.
Dewey Spencer, chairman of the Pioneer Village Museum and Visitor Center Annex, said the idea of a visitor center and museum has been in the works for several years.
“Pioneer Village has been in business for 51 years,” Spencer said. “It started in 1968 at the White County Fairgrounds. In 2002, [the Village] moved over to Higginson Road. The city gave us permission to use the property that is now the city dog park. It’s adjacent to our village front gate.”
Spencer said former Searcy Mayor David Morris told the Village group in the fall of 2016 that they could use the property for expansion when they were ready.
“In 2017, I started drawing floor plans for a building to be built there,” Spencer said. “We went through some modifications, then went through a period of getting approvals from this committee and that committee, this group and that group and, finally, the City Council.
“They approved my plan in 2017. In 2018, we got some money started and hired an architect to take my plans and make some really nice drawings so we could make some presentations.”
Spencer said that later in 2018, the White County Quorum Court gave the Village Committee some grant money.
“We used that as seed money to start getting our organization together, a sign, office equipment and brochures,” he said. “Then, April 25, we had a kickoff fundraiser campaign by unveiling the sign at the dog park.”
Spencer said about $2 million will be needed to make the dream of the 10,000-square-foot building come true.
“It will have a visitor center, a big meeting room, an exhibit room, a conference room, storage, a functional museum, a static display museum, a theater and an archive research library,” he said. “It’s a one-stop shop. It’s not just for the city of Searcy but for all of White County.”
Pioneer Village is a restoration project of the White County Historical Society.
“We’re going to challenge the other societies in White County for them to come up with something that would make someone want to come see their town,” Spencer said, referring to brochures about other towns being available at the visitor center.
“We like to say preserving history and promoting tourism,” Spencer said. “It’s just something for everybody. It will be our anchor for the Village because it will be manned, where as now, the village is open, and you can walk through it. The buildings are closed until we have open houses, where we have volunteers who dress up in period dresses. We recently had our Spring Fest.
“If we had this building, people could be seeing a museum every day of the week, hopefully.”
Spencer said he would love to see a sign up on the future Interstate 57 that says Pioneer Village Museum and Visitor Center, exit now.
“People would get off as they do in other states and see the museum and walk through the village,” Spencer said. “They would get maps at the visitor center and visit the gift shop and decide that Searcy is pretty nice and spend some time here.”
Pioneer Village is under the auspices of the White County Historical Society, which has nonprofit status.
“Under them, we have the Friends of the Pioneer Village, which is a group of volunteers that keep the village operating,” Spencer said. “Donations are tax-deductible. It’s a city, county, community and White County Historical Society project.”
To make donations, send them to Pioneer Museum Annex, P.O. Box 2244, Searcy, AR 72145.
“Since our kickoff, we have had some pledges,” Spencer said. “We haven’t had that many donations yet, but we’re just getting started. We’re on the circuit now.”
Spencer said he and others are visiting civic groups and chambers of commerce in White County to drum up support for the fundraising efforts.
“We’re going to reach as many civic groups and try to talk to as many people as we can,” he said. “We’ll talk to anybody at this point. The idea is to spread the word, and the kickoff was the unveiling of the sign. We had been in business for a couple of months, but the weather held us back with so much rain.”
Searcy Mayor Kyle Osborne, who took office Jan. 1, said he would do anything to help with the project.
“I support Pioneer Village and always will,” he said. “I try to go out as much as I can. As far as the fundraising efforts, I support that 100 percent, and anything I can do to help them, I’d be willing to step in and see what I can do.
“It would definitely bring in visitors to our city.”
Spencer said the Village has visitors from all over, not just White County.
“We get people from all over the state of Arkansas and even out of state,” he said. “We have a lot of history and activity to show. We entertained more than 7,000 people last year.”
The Village is open for self-guided tours and can be open for guided tours and school field trips by calling (501) 580-6633.
Staff writer Mark Buffalo can be reached at (501) 399-3676 or mbuffalo@arkansasonline.com.