Traildog Award

This week is a special week for all of the Traildogs who have dedicated themselves to the development of the Lake Ouachita Vista Trail (LOViT). We were recently notified that the Traildogs are a finalist for one of the eight annual Governor’s Awards for Tourism. Each year the Arkansas Parks and Tourism Commission hosts the Annual Governor’s Conference on Tourism at which the winner’s of the Governor’s awards are announced.
The Eight awards are:
The Natural State Award
The Tourism Special Achievement Award
The Media Support Award
The Bootstrap Award
The Arkansas Heritage Award
The Grand Old Classic Special Event Award
The Outstand Volunteer Service Award
The Community Tourism Development Award

It is an honor to be nominated for one of these awards and to be a finalist is special. The Traildogs have been nominated for the Bootstrap Award, which is presented to an individual, organization or community that has achieved significant success “on a shoestring” having limited means to work with either in resources or finances. The four finalists for this award are:
Paragould for their renovation of the historic Collins Theater
LOViT Traildogs for the development of the Lake Ouachita Vista Trail.
Texarkana for their “Sparks in the Park” light project.
The Town of Calico Rock for their downtown renovation project.

These are worthy finalist in which each has found the support and means to develop a tourist worthy project in their community. Six of the Traildogs are going to the Banquet Tuesday March 17th in Fort Smith to represent our community to accept this award should we be chosen the winner. Whether we win or not being a finalist will help bring attention the tourism opportunities in our community and hopefully new tourism dollars.

We are planning the dedication of the fourth section of the LOViT for Friday April 3rd at 1:00 pm at the top of Hickory Nut Mountain at the picnic area. We will be celebrating the new section and the completion of half or twenty miles of the planned forty miles of trail that will terminate at the Blakely Mountain Dam at the east end of Lake Ouachita. The brief ceremony will be followed by a group ride for bikers and group walk by hikers down the new 3.2-mile section. So put that date on your calendar, pull on those walking shoes and come join the fun. The trail should be dressed in its best spring colors, Hickory Creek should be bubbling with the spring rains and as always the views from the summit are breathtaking.