Blue Spring Heritage Center — Attraction in Eureka Springs

We visited the Blue Springs Heritage Center on a weekday in June, 2023. The normal entrance was blocked with the decking being replaced or something that required the decking to come off. We entered through the exit to the gift shop. I went to pay for entry for us. The women behind the counter may be the nicest person in the world, just not when we were there. She started to quickly run through her rehearsed speech on where to go. But I had to stop her because I needed my glasses. She said she may not restart in a not very friendly way. But I ignored the comment and we moved on. She strongly insisted that I pay with a credit card. So I obliged and handed her a card. I then noticed that there was a military discount that I qualified for. She responded by saying too late. I guess it would have been horrible to have to cancel the first sale and re-do it. So she appreciates veterans by not letting them have the discount. She gave me the slip to sign. I needed my glasses to see which copy to sign, but she took the copy before I could sign it. So trying to do the right thing, I let her know that I didn't sign it. While this is going on, my wife decided to use the restroom before we entered. Our friendly women, strongly voiced to her that she was going the wrong way. My wife explained to her that she only wanted to use the restroom. So I don't know if it was a bad day or not. But the nicer we tried to be, the meaner she seemed to get. So we cut off speaking with her and went in to the Heritage Center. Once we watched the little movie and got outside things were much nicer. You walk down a lot of stairs to get to the springs and gardens. It was really nice down there. Some of the decking and rails could use attention. But things were in fairly decent shape. They had a sign at the main gazebo suggesting folks feed the trout. But all of the fish food machines were empty. We walked around and enjoyed the sites. But the calm environment to enjoy the gardens or springs were nowhere to be heard. It was just the sound of power saws and commercial lawn mowers. I felt like I needed hearing protection for my quiet walk through the Heritage Center. The Spring and garden themselves were nice and I enjoyed them, even though I am not a flowery kind of guy. When we finished the lower section, we walked the long board walk back to the top. Without a doubt this might have been longer than the stairs. But it had to be so much easier. When we arrived back at the gift shop, we did look around a bit. They did have some nice things. I liked the wooded bears and such. Although we decided not to purchase anything. So we went on our way. While leaving, I could hear that voice from my recent past, giving the current victim a dose of her personality. The restrooms were somewhat clean. They were not filthy by any means. But they sure could have been cleaner. Looking close at things gave away the secrets. But again, it was not filthy. There was a pretty large spider in the urinal that hung out. I enjoyed our visit to the Blue Springs Heritage center. If I could bypass their company representative, It would have been much better. Well maybe mow the lawns when the people paying $17.75 per person are not trying to enjoy the gardens. Yes the cost in June 2023 was $17.75 per adult. $15.75 if you're 65 or older, or a veteran. But make sure you shout it out as you get to the counter. Otherwise, it may be too much trouble to acknowledge your service to this country, by your age or military service. But it is...

False advertising. These are not native gardens. I will say that this is a nice place to spend some time outdoors on accessible hikes, and the staff was friendly enough, but saying that these gardens are preserved and native is inaccurate. Native plants are those that originated in the area they are growing. This place is loaded with non-native annual plants, meaning each season, plants that didn't originate in Arkansas and aren't perennial here have to be replanted. Examples would be snapdragon cultivars, pansies, begonias, elephant ears, and banana trees, with some perennial daylilies, wild carrot, vinca vines, English ivy, and even a tunnel of euonymous. The primary native plants exhibited here are fleabane (seemingly unintentionally), and a decent amount of poison ivy. There are a few others thrown in here and there, but certainly not enough to call these "native gardens." There are a few garden designs inspired by Native American ideas, but calling these "native gardens" is not an accurate description.

I also found it disturbing that the literal Trail of Tears is surrounded by many plants native to Europe, and visitors are encouraged to get married near it. This doesn't seem like an appropriate place to charge for a celebration or to plant plants that originated in the countries of the people who forced the Cherokee out of their homeland. Sure, there is a plaque, but the land here is far from what the Native Americans would have enjoyed for 500 years before the white man came to mess it all up. To add insult to injury, visitors must pay in the ballpark of $18 per adult to tour this non-native garden that also showcases some known invasive plants. I asked if the proceeds from our entry fee benefit Native Americans in any way, and the answer was no -- the entry fee pays for upkeep of the grounds, like planting annual European plants around the Trail of Tears memorial plaque each year. The gift shop had lots of Native American themed trinkets. I did not have the stomach to flip anything over to see where it was made, but I would be surprised if the items were actually made by Native Americans or benefited indigenous people in any way. Hopefully I am wrong here, but it felt like capitalizing on the plight of Native Americans.

TL;DR: Not a native garden, does not celebrate Native American heritage or Arkansas' ecological heritage (I would actually venture to call it "insulting"), but a nice place to walk around outside for an hour for $18 and learn a bit about mills and see a spring that has been heavily modified over the last several...

Blue Springs is beautiful and may be great for a nice day's walk, but I do not recommend it as a wedding venue. It is not worth the stress of working with the staff. Everything was unorganized and the staff was completely unprofessional. The price for the venue was increased 3 times after we signed the contract, with the last price increase only a month before the wedding. We were promised certain amenities (including an air-conditioned room for myself, the bride, to get dressed in for our June wedding), only to be told the day before that those were not an option. Dealing with Blue Springs was the most stressful aspect of our wedding, even including postponing the event due to Covid. Had I known everything that would be involved with using this venue, I never would have booked it in the first place. Do Not Make The Same Mistake!

8/23/2021 - In response to owner:

Our plans never changed. When we originally signed the contract, the event was always going to be 4 hours, including after hours. Any miscalculation of cost you or your staff may have had over the initial contract would explain a single price increase. It does not explain three price increases, let alone one only one month before the wedding. I was told the final price increase was due to staffing employees after hours, only to find out no staff members would be there after hours…. The poor organization at your facility is astonishing!

Sadly, we did attempt to reach out to management (you), the day before the wedding when these changes were thrown on us. No air-conditioned facility was going to be provided despite what was promised. However, you refused to speak with us. After expressing concerns of heat stroke and possible liability on your end to your staff, you called my fiancé cursing on the outset. After discussing our concerns regarding the safety of the wedding party and the liability you would incur, you thankful relented and allowed us to use an air-conditioned facility. Which we were very thankful for, despite how rude you were during the entire process.

Lastly, regarding slander. Slander, by definition, is specifically a false statement. Nothing on this review is false or inflammatory. If you need witnesses or documentation, both via contract or email, we would happily provide it. Our recommendation for you with future customers would be to show as much inner beauty as your wonderful facility does.

P.S. I noticed that you deleted your initial response with the fake concern and typos. Did you realize how...