This week, Eureka Springs Parks and Recreation announced they were selected by the Arkansas Department of Parks, Heritage, & Tourism (ADPHT) for a matching grant in 2026 that will be used for the construction of a new bathhouse facility at Lake Leatherwood City Park.
Parks Director Sam Dudley has acquired some grants from private organizations in the past, but this was his first state grant achievement. At that level, as Dudley described, there are a few more hoops to jump through – a process that can be a slow and unpredictable.
Dudley first had to request permission from city council to even begin the application, which council approved back in August. From there he began the intensive process of putting the many pieces together – in collaboration with staff, commissioners, and essentially, “the whole city.” He held public hearings and community events to try and draw support for the project, “which you know, is hard, because it’s a bathroom.”
Sometime after submitting the application, Dudley recalled receiving the first phone call from ADPHT. It was in October, at the same moment they were working to dislodge the truck carrying all the trees for Parks’ Fall Tree Giveaway that became stuck on White Street. It was then that ADPHT invited him to Little Rock to give a presentation of the bathhouse proposal. He was given a week or so to compile his presentation, and after all the buildup, he said the presentation was over in the blink of an eye – eight minutes to be exact – to illustrate the plan in detailed clarity and leave room for Q&A.
Another month gone by, on Monday morning, Dudley received the call awarding our Parks Department the matching grant of $200,000. His wife, Katie Zerr wrote, “Earlier this year I asked Sam to tell me about his goals in different areas of his life (when I ask him any questions which require personal reflection, he refers to them as “Dr. Phil questions”), and when I asked him to tell me one professional goal he had for the year, he said he wanted to learn to navigate the world of applying for grants, and start working on getting grants to work on projects for Parks.”
The Parks Department will match the amount and intends to supplement some of that cost by doing as much labor as possible themselves. The bathhouse will be placed in the lower field of Lake Leatherwood, hopefully to be completed by the end of next year. The final designs for the bathhouse are still underway, with plans of individual shower stalls, washer and dryer facilities, and ADA access. Once the new facility is completed, they will begin the project of renovating the old historical bathhouse.