Clarendon AR: Where We're Going: Task Forces

Hunter's Paradise

Birder's Haven

Dining and
Accommodations

Fast Facts

Tourism Development
Clarendon is surrounded by a unique and beautiful ecosystem made up of bottomland hardwood wetlands along the White and Cache Rivers. This environment provides a multitude of tourism opportunities for Clarendon. In 2002, Visions for Clarendon, in partnership with other communities in Arkansas, Lee, Monroe, and Phillips Counties, commissioned a tourism feasibility study. The consultants were impressed by the White River and associated swamps and enthusiastically encouraged local residents to begin a swamp tour guide business. Other recommendations were made regarding development of natural and cultural areas that would have tourist appeal. The report can be reviewed online at www.kalahari-online.com/arkansas-feasibility-study.pdf.

From this study, the Delta Rivers Regional Tourism Council (DRRTC) was founded. This nonprofit organization is made up of representatives from communities and businesses in Arkansas, Lee, Monroe, and Phillips counties in eastern Arkansas. The DRRTC was established to coordinate the tourism efforts of these four counties. The mission is to provide assistance to counties, communities, agencies, companies, and individuals as they try to develop tourism enterprises in the area.

White River Bridge

Visions for Clarendon is helping to support the DRRTC and local tourism efforts by acquiring funding from the McKnight Foundation, National Park Service, and the Winthrop Rockefeller Foundation to hire a regional tourism coordinator. Paula Oliver was hired in January 2003 to fill this role. If you are interested in becoming a member of DRRTC, establishing or expanding a tourism business in the area, or for more information about tourism activities, please contact Paula at (870) 338-0628 or phickey@cox-internet.com. The DRRTC is developing a regional tourism website. More information will be included here when available.

Photo top: Canoeing on nearby Bayou DeView. Photo by Leslee Spraggins.

Photo bottom: Tourists enjoy the historical bridge over the White River. Photo by D & C Carruth.

Where We're Going: Visions for Clarendon | Tourism | Funding
Activities | Future Plans | Louisiana Purchase Bicentennial