Eureka Springs City Council, Ballot Measures Outcome Mixed

A majority of voters living in Holiday Island, established in the 1970s as an unincorporated resort community in northern Carroll County with a population of around 2,300, decided to incorporate as a town, elect their first mayor and city council. We speak with Mayor-elect Dan Kees about the incorporation process.

Since March, the City of Eureka Springs has been negotiating how to operate its tourist economy after a global pandemic was declared – a core issue of this year’s tightly contested City Council race.

Eureka Springs Parks and Recreation Director Justin Huss was recently terminated by Parks Commission Chair Ruth Goodwin-Hager for absenteeism. But Huss, hired four years ago, has also faced criticism from concerned locals about a lack of financial accountability, master planning and public transparency in managing the town's popular and historic parks and trails system.

A large collection of Confederate flags, permanently installed over the past several years on certain graves in Eureka Springs historic cemetery by a neo-Confederacy group, will remain in place after the town cemetery commission ruled the flags are a form of free speech.

Eureka Cooks, a newly licensed community commercial kitchen in downtown Eureka Springs, is open to cooks and bakers seeking professional space to prepare foods for sale. Proprietor and long-time restauranteur, Bill King — co-owner of Brews Coffee & Beer House— provides a tour of the kitchen.