The Eureka Springs City Advertising and Promotion Commission used its June 8 workshop as a brainstorming session about ways to better utilize basement space at The Aud.

The space, which is currently being renovated, gives the city a perfect opportunity to host a variety of expos throughout the year, according to Madison Dawson, the CAPC tourism director.

Expos for weddings and culinary, a mountain biking festival and related events, and a boutique trade show around the Christmas season were all ideas Dawson brought up to commissioners for discussion.

“When you think of expos in Eureka Springs, that space down there, what’s really the first thing that you think of?” Dawson asked. “In my opinion, it’s wedding. I think that we have quite a few obviously venues, caterers, photographers, you know, things like that. So, I’d like to have a wedding expo.

“Typically, wedding expos are in January or February. That’s because everybody gets engaged over the holidays, so they’re ready to go to those expos. I put down August because I think I think it’s something we could do twice a year. And I think that if we’ve researched a little bit and the other expos, wedding expos around the region, if they have a secondary one, it’s August.”

Dawson said once renovations are complete, she thinks the basement will hold approximately 20-25 booths measuring 10-feet by 10-feet.

“August needs a little juice,” said Jeff Carter, CAPC commission chair. “And so, this will be a great way to get people to come who are planning fall weddings.

“I just want to give them as much feedback, because whatever we determine, we think is the best use of taxpayer money, they can take this information and go put together budget so we can get started on this stuff right away.”

Another idea was hosting culinary expos, such as a “Taste of Eureka Springs,” according to Dawson.

“I see this as like a taste of Eureka, almost like a showcase of all of our culinary arts, all of our restaurants, caterers,” Dawson said. “If we did the wedding [expo] at end of January, mid-January, somewhere like that, we could market, we could advertise, ‘come back in two or three weeks to our culinary expo where you can taste all the food from the caterers’ or something like that.”

Another idea that could expand more than just having an expo would be a mountain biking/outdoor festival, Dawson said.

“Where we are highlighting our trails,” she said. “Maybe we get a promoter to help us do this.

“I think I would prefer us do it in mid-summer. And then our branding for the festival is for the mountain biking enthusiasts to come back in November and December because you can’t go to Colorado and do down trail [at that time of the year].

“That’s something that we’ve talked a lot about because the trails are great here and the trails in Northwest Arkansas are great, especially in the summer. But the real enthusiasts, they’re up there in Colorado and the surrounding areas and they can’t mountain bike up there in the winter months.”

Commissioner Carol Wright said having a trade show with mountain biking equipment could be something popular.

“My experience with mountain bikers is they definitely have money to spend because the bikes are very expensive and they’re always looking for a better bike or a better tire or a better way to do whatever,” Wright said.

“An outdoor expo would be great for us,” Carter said. “It would really highlight all the stuff we have.”

The last idea for the late part of the year would be a boutique-type trade show revolving around holiday events.

“Like Market Days in Dallas,” Dawson said. “What I actually think would work well is if we did it at the beginning of December and do a kind of like holiday shopping thing. And I think I think it would do really well.

“We would ask for local retailers to come in and have a booth up here. We do it, you know, two or three days over the weekend.”

The discussion regarding an expo-type event during December led commissioner Autumn Slane to bring up the need for more lights in downtown Eureka Springs during the Christmas season.

“I think we should really deck it out,” Slane said. “I know this has been a topic for many years.”

Slane said she feels the city, or CAPC, should hire a company to come in each year and decorate the downtown with lights. Currently, the Eureka Springs Parks and Recreation Department installs lights around some areas of downtown.

Commissioners discussed potentially reaching out to Fayetteville and Hot Springs to see how their city handles and funds Christmas lights exhibits.

“I just think this would be a great addition to what [we’re] already doing,” Slane said. “You’re going to have people in town, why not church up the pig and get it looking right?

“When you drive downtown and there is literally every other storefront done, we’ve just got to look more together, you know what I mean? You’re going to bring all these people here and then we’re not going to be decorated at all other than a few little things that our parks does, which is beautiful.

“I just think we could elevate it a little more. And if the season was extended, it would encourage people to be open more. And that’s our biggest problem, is that people want to die off in December because we’re all tired. But if the business was there, it would be worth it to stay open.” Dawson said if the commission ever vot

Dawson said if the commission ever voted to proceed with the lights subject, she would have to research the legality of decorating privately owned buildings.

“You’ve got to get permission from them,” Slane said.

Dawson said, however, since the CAPC spends taxpayer money, she’s not sure of the limitations.

“We should research this,” Slane said, “I mean this just a door to open the situation because this is something that I’ve already been talking about for years … people, they’re wanting this. But I get it. If we can’t do it and it’s above our limitations, then that’s that.”

If it’s not something the CAPC can do, Carter suggested possibly committing an amount to the budget next year to market Christmas lights.

“Which might give the private business owners incentive to want to work together to put Christmas lights on their own building,” Carter said. “Because then if we said, well, we’re going to spend $15,000 on marketing a Christmas wonderland, but you have to actually buy your own lights, put them up or whatever you want to do on your private property.

“We would be glad to market it so people could come and see them. It might be we might want to [have a] workshop that and bring some of the merchants and ask them if they think they could get that done.”

“That would be an amazing first step,” Slane said.