Visitors Center rolls out the red carpet

Visitors Center rolls out the red carpet

‘ I hope people leave here with a good impression of Arkansas,’ says manager

news@theeveningtimes.com

Cherell Duncan has the best job in the world.

She gets to tell people where to go.

And they don’t even get mad at her.

Duncan, who is a travel associate and manager of the Arkansas Welcome Center in West Memphis, said she loves steering visitors to places to see and things to do in Arkansas.

“I love Arkansas,” Duncan said. “I was born and raised here. I hope people leave here with a good impression of Arkansas.”

Duncan greeted visitors to the Welcome Center this week and talked up the state as part of Tourism Week.

Visitors were treated to free BBQ, pizza, sandwiches, chips, fried pies, soft drinks and water, some freebies from Marion Chamber of Commerce and other goodies, and plenty of information about local attractions.

Duncan said a lot of the visitors who stop don’t know a lot about Arkansas.

“Most people are passing through,” Duncan said.

“They ask us if there is anything along I-40 or I-55 that they can stop and see.”

Duncan enthusiastically steers them to the Sultana Disaster Museum in Marion, Southland Park Gaming and Racing, or the Crittenden County Museum in Earle.

Or, if they are hungry, to the Shake Shack.

“We try to send them to all the different places to eat,” Duncan said. “We send a lot of them to the Shake Shack because it us a hometown place. Or, if they are heading up toward Blytheville we try to get them to stop in Oseola or Wilson to get them off the freeway.”

Mondays and Tuesdays are usually pretty steady with visitors dropping by. And Saturdays and Sundays can get so busy that the staff doesn’t even have a minute to sit down.

“Typical day we will fill a page (in the visitor log),” Duncan said. “It’s 50 per page. It’s not people. It’s cars. And busses too.

We’ve been doing close to two pages a day. On a really busy day we will do three to four pages a day.”

Sandra Chandler, a geologist and education outreach coordinator for the Arkansas Geological Survey, was there to talk rocks and to remind people that Arkansas is called the Natural State.

“We have very unique geology,” Chandler said. “ We don’t have a lot of gemstones — ruby’s, emeralds, topazes — things like that.

But we do have diamonds.

It’s the only place in the world where you can dig for diamonds. And we have some of the most beautiful quartz in this state that you will ever find anywhere.”

Chandler pointed out a number of minerals on display

which can be found in

Arkansas — dolomite, bauxite, galena, zinc, magnetite, synite, petrified wood from Crowley’s Ridge, gypsum, St. Joe’s limestone, chert, and novaculite, to name a few.

“All of this comes from Arkansas,” Chandler said.

“They used to say that we could build a fence around Arkansas and be pretty self sufficient because we have lots of water, agriculture, minerals, lots of building stones, oil and natural gas.” Jane Williamson of the Mississippi County Historical Museum pointed out that Osceola has the only direct access to the Mississippi River between Memphis and St. Louis.

“It’s called Plum Point,” Williamson said. “We have covered picnic tables and you can drive down there and be right on the river.”

Mississippi County also is rich in history.

“We’re an old county,” said Ann Moore, a volunteer at the museum. “It was claimed from the wilderness people came here for the timber. But we also have the richest soil in Arkansas. It is the largest cotton producing county in the country. And it is the largest steel producing county in the country.”

Willamson said the museum is definitely worth the visit.

“They’re driving right by it,” Williamson said. “So they can just exit from the freeway.”

And while you are at it, there’s pretty good eats at the Wilson Cafe or Hog Pen BBQ, too, she said.

Tamara Berry, director of the Crittenden County Museum, also had a table and kept busy showing off some of the artifacts they had on display, which included two WWII uniforms and several old irons.

The county museum also has several original Carroll Cloar paintings in its collection.

“We have a lot of history to show there,” Berry said.

“And out 1920s train depot where we are located is a historic showcase in itself.” Berry said she enjoyed coming to the Welcome Center and being able to tell people about the museum.

“It is a great chance to promote the museum and to share the county’s history and connect with people who might not know we are there,” Berry said. “It is well worth stopping.”

By Mark Randall