Northwest Arkansas Summer Points of Interest - Eureka Springs, Gully Park, Beaver Lake and more!

There’s little reason to be bored during vacation season in Northwest Arkansas.

A sampling of places to go and fun things to do:

Eureka Springs

This quaint mountain village is a year-round destination where a stroll by beautiful Victorian-style buildings reveals art galleries, crafts, jewelry shops and restaurants offering an array of cuisine.

Attractions include the Great Passion Play and the unique Thorncrown Chapel designed by famed architect and Arkansas native Fay Jones.

Other fun events include the Scooting the Ozarks motorcycle rally in September.

Eureka Springs also is close to other recreation spots, such as Beaver, Bull Shoals and Table Rock lakes.

BEAVER LAKE

Close to several area cities, this 28,000-acre lake is easy to reach and offers plenty of room to play along its 487 miles of shoreline with 12 developed U.S. Army Corps of Engineer parks.

The lake boasts big numbers of tackle-busting striped bass, along with good populations of largemouth, smallmouth, spotted and white bass, crappie, bream, catfish and walleye.

In the tailwaters below Beaver Dam, anglers can enjoy world-class fishing for rainbow and brown trout.

Other recreational opportunities at the lake include boating, swimming, camping, picnicking, scuba diving, water skiing, spelunking and sightseeing.

BOTANICAL GARDENS OF THE OZARKS

The gardens, open since 2007 at 4703 N. Crossover Road in Fayetteville, offer a chance to wander through nine acres of nature’s glory. Special events also are held throughout the year.

Among summer activities are the Red White and Bloom free concert at the end of June. And guests at the Firefly Festival, held annually in mid-July, can listen to a series of local bands as they watch jugglers, fire spinners, belly dancers and puppets. Patrons are welcome to join the fun and wear their own costume.

NORTHWEST ARKANSAS NATURALS

The Class AA affiliate of the Kansas City Royals baseball team is in its second season at Arvest Ballpark, located at 56th Street and Watkins Avenue in Springdale.

The stadium offers 6,500 seats, from which fans can watch the Naturals play and share in the various promotions like family nights, special food-and-drink deals, free merchandise and guest entertainers.

And linger after the game for the twice-monthly fireworks displays.

Find tickets on Minor League Baseball.

RODEO OF THE OZARKS

This popular event, held annually in late June at Parsons Stadium in Springdale, provides a slice of the American frontier and performances by around 500 top cowboy athletes riding top rodeo stock. It is ranked among the top five large outdoor events by the Professional Rodeo Cowboy Association.

Pre-rodeo activities include a barbecue rib cook-off, street dance, parade, wagon train and stagecoach rides.

JOHNSON COUNTY PEACH FESTIVAL

The festival has been a source of summer fun on Clarksville’s downtown square since 1938. Attractions include a parade, arts and crafts, live music, street dance, frog-jumping contest, terrapin derby and Miss America preliminary scholarship pageant.

And, of course, there are peaches. Traditional activities include a peach-eating contest, peach pit-spitting contest, peach cobbler contest and a peach jam and jelly bake-off.

FORT SMITH NATIONAL HISTORIC SITE

A visit to this area of downtown Fort Smith is a step back into the 19th century, when U.S. District Judge Isaac C. Parker’s court administered the law for the Indian Territory. The 37-acre park at the confluence of the Arkansas and Poteau rivers includes the foundation of city’s namesake fort, built in 1817; portions of the second fort, including a visitors center that underwent a major renovation in 2000; and Parker’s court.

A surviving commissary building from the second fort and a replica of the court’s gallows, where 86 men were hanged during Parker’s tenure, also are on display.

Two other nearby historic sites merit visiting — the Fort Smith Museum of History and Miss Laura’s, the only stand-alone brothel on the National Register of Historic Places.

GULLEY PARK SUMMER CONCERT SERIES

Kick back and enjoy free live music during the Gulley Park Summer Concert Series in Fayetteville. This year marks the 14th season of shows put on by the city’s Parks and Recreation Department, all at 7 p.m. on Thursdays.

ALMA AQUATIC PARK

This park at 731 City Park Road has been a work in progress since 2006 that now offers a total of six slides and three pools. Two of the tall, curving slides empty into a swirling bowl, while two more added this year start with as twisting water slides and end with a 35-foot drop.

Pool manager Chrissy Inge said the park is very popular, drawing about 41,000 patrons last year.