There’s a saying among the LGBTQ+ community in Eureka Springs, Arkansas: “Not even the streets are straight.”
It’s barely hyperbole: Over 30 percent of the 2,000 residents in this Ozark mountain town identify as LGBTQ+. The winding roads are narrow and dizzying, with zero traffic lights; it’s not uncommon to see a confused out-of-towner driving the wrong way up a hill, to the ire of residents and all those that know the Eureka rule: Just park and walk.
In 2012, Eureka Springs became the first city in the red state of Arkansas to endorse same-sex marriage. When marriage equality passed in May of 2014, Jay Wilks the director of LGBTQ+ organization Out in Eureka and his husband Keith were second in line to tie the knot. They became the fourth same-sex couple ever married in the South, thanks to logistics: The measure passed on Friday night, and Eureka’s license office was one of the few opened on Saturday, with people driving in from all over to make their relationship
Wednesday, February 10, 2021
Editors Note: This is the second in a series of reports about the Eureka Springs City Advertising and Promotion Commission. Emails quoted in this report have not been edited for punctuation or spelling.
The Eureka Springs City Advertising and Promotion Commission considered a motion to vacate the seat held by Greg Moon at its Jan. 27 meeting. Although then-commission chair Carol Wright declared the seat vacant after a roll call vote on the motion, she never actually voted yes or no. That left the vote count at 3-2-1 in favor of vacating the seat and left Moons status on the commission in question.
Thursday, February 4, 2021
The Eureka Springs City Advertising and Promotion Commission isnt currently hiring a special events coordinator.
At the commissions regular meeting on Wednesday, Jan. 27, a discussion about the 2021 budget ended with a motion to wait to hire a special events coordinator and to form a committee to address special events in the meantime. Commissioner Melissa Greene kicked off the discussion about the budget, saying the commission shouldnt have approved its 2021 budget in November 2020.
Tracy Johnson
I dont think anybody did it maliciously. I dont think presenting it was a bad thing, Greene said. It just should have waited to be approved.