Botanical Garden of the Ozarks — Attraction in Fayetteville

It’s really sad how the BHO has just been left to fall apart since is pretty recent installation, so very obviously. We tried to attend a Winter Glow event, but we believed what the website and emails said about it before and after we bought our tickets, unfortunately, so it was pretty disappointing. Wood structures and art throughout the garden were never sealed properly and are not made of weatherproof materials, so are rapidly rotting away, creating unsafe areas. Plastic bags full of dead battery flickers and trees wrapped in twinkles lights aren’t exactly a light show, and the promised music and food trucks don’t actually exist, in case you thought they do. We had planned to eat at about 4:30 at Beavertails before our 5:30 event, simply to keep the trip streamlined with two young kids, but had no idea that neither the food truck NOR the visitor's center was even open BEFORE the event, at all. The ONE food truck literally pulled into the parking lot as WE did, and started SETTING UP. I guess the idea was that folks could eat during the event, instead of before, even though outside food and drinks aren’t allowed inside, according to the information we were sent. We got to stand in the cold, hungry, after proving we had paid our pile of money to…walk around a dilapidated garden, then past a few tables of overpriced holiday candy and yard sale knickknacks, with still hungry kids, after no direction or information or even introduction whatsoever offered by staff, and then randomly wander around what looked like a physically dangerous area with them as we looked at a smattering of white holiday lights thrown around. Apparently the only people available to even toss more dim battery candles in the plastic bags strewn around were actual children, given their behavior and the results of their half efforts. It seems the garden was a really great IDEA, and that it LOOKED great when it was installed, and then…that was it. It appears pretty much under/unstaffed and near abandoned, and deeply under/unfunded. Staff must just be unable to actually maintain or repair the place, for whatever reason. I have no idea who was playing what music in the visitors center by the time we finally gave up and left to find the food we had THOUGHT would be available to buy for our kids THERE. There were no announcements or introductions of any kind. I guess we were expected to already know, magically. This place seems like it could have been KEPT nice, but it clearly was not, and isn’t going to be, now. The lack of accurate info and total lack of help offered to first time visitors is unacceptable, given the ticket prices. The BGO seems like it was very expensive to put in, originally, even more sadly, despite the substandard material that was apparently purchased with that money. Someone’s beloved legacy is being deeply betrayed, here, like so many places in NWA, now. We won’t ever waste our money here again....

We had our wedding at this venue in Late October. For a wedding, they are very well priced compared to other options we looked at in the area of a similar quality. The offer several different package levels for wedding types and number of guests, which you can see on their webpage. We met with the staff in the summer to tour the venue, they were very nice, very thorough and were able to answer any questions we had. We'd been to the gardens previously as visitors but the tour pretty much cemented our choice to go with them. They were quite prompt to respond with any email correspondence and were very polite and professional. The venue itself is gorgeous. There are so many locations in the place to get great photos at. We originally planned to have our ceremony at the Arbor and then the reception in the event hall on site, however the weather took a turn for the worse, so we had to fall back to using tents on the terrace in front of the event hall. Even with the bad weather, the venue still put on a good show visually! The wedding infrastructure they have in place is quite good. The Terrace has several attachment points for tents (we rented per their suggestion with Intents) which can provide a good amount of covered space in the event you need a rain plan. There are also several power outlets tastefully hidden in the terrace area for lighting and sound systems that were easy to use. The Arbor appears to be well setup for things like drapes and additional lighting as well, also with outlets hidden but accessible. The event hall has large exposed wooden structure which provides great attachment points for things like drapes, greenery and other decorations. We hired Lightworks per the Garden's suggestion and they did a great job dressing the event hall up! Our guests frequently commented on the beauty of the venue and said that they really enjoyed how the wedding looked! I would certainly recommend the Garden for anyone who is looking for a good...

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𝕎𝕀𝕃𝔻 𝔽𝕆ℝ 𝕁𝕀ℕ𝔾𝕃𝔼 𝔹𝔼𝕃𝕃 𝕁𝕆𝔾 𝟝𝕂 𝔸𝕋 𝕋ℍ𝔼 𝔹𝕆𝕋𝔸ℕ𝕀ℂ𝔸𝕃 𝔾𝔸ℝ𝔻𝔼ℕ𝕊 𝕆𝔽 𝕋ℍ𝔼 𝕆ℤ𝔸ℝ𝕂𝕊

🎅🏼 This Christmas, we're going to need plenty of hand santa-tizer! Thanks again Rona.

🪴 Shout out to botanical Garden of the Ozarks for hosting their annual jingle Bell jog 5K run!!

❄️ It was a chilly winter morning when a coworker and I decided to put on our running shoes and kick off for the holiday season. Santa and Mrs. clause we’re ready to start the party too. We were able to snap a quick photo of them and they were saying hi to all the wonderful kids and families that also attended the event! And they were even some grinches there too ;)

🎄 All proceeds went to the botanical Garden of the Ozarks and the scenery was absolutely awesome. They had a giant wreath outside!!

🏃🏻‍♀️ All the runners warmed up a couple of times before the race started which was perfect. At the end we were all received medals and there was plenty of food to go around and enjoy the company of others.

⛄️ It was a great way to spread some holiday cheer! Support the Botanical Gardens by helping keep them beautiful, check out their events page for more! ✨

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