LITTLE ROCK — Gates are locked to visitors at The Great Passion Play site in Eureka Springs, and the iconic 67-foot statue of Jesus is no longer lighted after dark.
By the end of the year, the play and a nearly 700-acre campus will belong to Cornerstone Bank, said Charlie Cross, president and chief executive director of the Eureka Springs bank.
“It is an economic impact to the town,” Cross said. “We will sell it as quickly as we can, hopefully to someone who can perpetuate it.”
The Elna M. Smith Foundation on Tuesday released a statement that the foundation is unable to continue producing The Great Passion Play and efforts to sell the play have been unsuccessful.
“Our hope and prayer is that The Great Passion Play will continue in some way to tell ‘The Greatest Story Ever Told,’” Keith Butler, chairman of the foundation’s board of directors, said in a prepared statement. “People need the good news of Jesus Christ to give them hope and life in these trying times, but it is really out of our hands at this point.”
Cross said the sale of the property will allow the bank to recoup money loaned to the foundation.
The outdoor drama depicting the last week of Jesus’ life endured for 45 seasons. The production began in 1968 through the efforts of Gerald L.K. Smith and his wife, Elna Smith. Gerald Smith was a political figure in the 1930s and 1940s who was considered to have anti-Semitic views and was affiliated with an anti-United Nations movement after World War II. He retired in the 1960s and bought a historic house in Eureka Springs, a property known as Penn Castle, according to The Encyclopedia of Arkansas History & Culture.
Smith raised more than $1 million to build the 67-foot-tall statue of Jesus atop Magnetic Mountain. The statue was dedicated in 1966. He then started work on an amphitheater and the outdoor drama. The play drew 7.67 million visitors over four decades, according to a news release from the foundation.
Smith and his wife are buried next to the statue, and Butler said he hopes their wishes to remain on the property will be honored.
The foundation also oversaw exhibits on the Bible and Christian art.
At its heyday in the early 1990s, the production drew 250,000 to 300,000 visitors a year, said Joe David Rice, director of the Arkansas Department of Parks and Tourism.
The loss of The Great Passion Play will be significant for Carroll County, he said. “It’s a serious step backward for the community.”
This year, the production drew 46,578 visitors, Butler said in an e-mail.
Mike Maloney, executive director for the Eureka Springs Advertising and Promotions Commission, said he could not predict what impact the absence of The Great Passion Play will have, but he expects some losses in revenue for hotels, motels and restaurants next year.
“When you lose an attraction of any sort, that’s not helping,” Maloney said. “We have to be creative to come back with other types of attractions.”
He said the area’s 2012 tourism season was more successful than 2011’s. In October, a 3 percent sales tax on lodging and restaurants generated $137,000, up from $120,000 in October 2011. The sales-tax receipts for the year are on track to hit $1.3 million, up from $1.2 million last year. The money goes toward promoting tourism in the city of about 2,000 people.
“We are probably in the best shape we’ve ever been for our growth,” he said.
For several years, the decline in visitors led to financial struggles for the foundation, Butler said. Closure of the play also means that the foundation cannot open the grounds to guests to see the statue. For years, the foundation had paid to light the Christ of the Ozarks statue, one of the largest statues of Jesus in the world.
“This year, we simply cannot,” Butler said.
In September, the foundation sought donations and received at least $18,000 by mid-October, which was enough for the organization to finish the 2012 season, Butler said. The foundation has tried to sell the property and had set a price of $5.5 million but is open to any offer, he said.
The foundation has not yet missed a loan payment to Cornerstone Bank, but it does not have the money to fulfill its obligations, a news release from the foundation states.
“The Elna M. Smith Foundation hopes that the play and the property will be used in the purpose and spirit for which it was built,” the news release states.
Activity at The Great Passion Play site subsided after the final performance of the season on Oct. 27, said John Cross, chairman of Cornerstone Bank in Eureka Springs. John Cross is Charlie Cross’ father. He said he is trying to find another organization interested in reviving The Great Passion Play.
The foundation’s resources are exhausted, and the board and bank agreed to transfer the property and all assets to the bank through an amicable process under a “deed in lieu of foreclosure,” Charlie Cross said.
Neither Charlie Cross nor Butler would discuss the debts to the bank. Butler said he did not immediately know how much money the foundation would need to maintain the property over the winter and prepare for a 2013 season.
Charlie Cross said the bank does not anticipate taking a loss on the property.
“Unless something drastic occurred, we were headed to this point,” he said. “Unfortunately we’ve reached it.”
Front Section, Pages 1 on 12/05/2012