HOT SPRINGS -- The Hot Springs Historic Baseball Trail has been nominated for a 2015 Henry Award.
Named for one of the first "Arkansas travelers," the Henry Awards are an homage to 17th-century explorer Henri de Tonti.
The awards will be presented at the 41st annual Governor's Conference on Tourism set for early March at the Arkansas Convention Center in Texarkana.
The trail is up for the Community Tourism Development Award, which is presented to individuals or organizations that have "achieved substantial success in the enhancement of its local resources through imaginative and innovative development efforts."
"This isn't the first time the efforts of our tourism community have been recognized by the Henry Awards," said Steve Arrison, chief executive officer of Visit Hot Springs. "It's always an honor to be nominated.
"It would be a great tribute to the tremendous efforts of our historians that worked on the project and the Garland County Historical Society."
Arrison, who is the first to say he knew very little about the spring baseball history of Hot Springs, said that since it first started, more than 10,000 visitors have interacted with the trail.
"Those are the people that have gone to the website and shown an interest, but those are just the people we're able to track," he said. "That doesn't count the people who have gone up and read the plaques on their own. But that alone is phenomenal."
The trail is up against the BPW Barn Sale in Camden and the city of Conway.
"Hopefully, we'll bring home that honor and shine a light further on the history that people knew was here but didn't realize the magnitude of," he said.
Hot Springs has been honored with the Community Development award in past years. During the ceremonies, inductees to the Arkansas Tourism Hall of Fame and Tourism Person of the Year will be announced. Arrison received the latter honor in 2003.
State Desk on 12/27/2014