Arkansas Visionary: Steve Arrison

Let Me Entertain You — Visit Hot Springs CEO redefined tourism in Spa City

Photos courtesy of Visit Hot Springs

Even for a guy whose overarching purpose is to generate news — albeit for his adopted home city, not himself — Steve Arrison has had quite the run of publicity this year.

In February, Arrison set off a media frenzy when he announced he would be retiring as CEO of Visit Hot Springs after 27 successful years in the position. In April, he made news again, this time after the Hot Springs Advertising & Promotion Commission asked its star to stay on for two more years. Arrison said no to that but agreed to put in an additional year of service that pushes his retirement to Dec. 31, 2026.

With all of that attention, it is little wonder why, when Arkansas Money & Politics came calling, again, for “Arkansas Visionary,” he agreed only if the interview and article did not unduly dwell on the past.

Fitting, since Arrison’s career has always been more about where he can take something moving forward versus spending (he’d say “wasting”) an excessive amount of time looking back on where it has already been.

“You can’t play it safe your whole life,” he said. “As you look at it now, it’s like, gosh, we used to have all these open weekends. We don’t have open weekends anymore. That’s the unique thing about Hot Springs — about every weekend, there’s something special going on, and a lot of them are at no cost to the consumer. People support that, you know? That’s the reason people live in Hot Springs. That’s part of the reason why they came here, because we’ve got so much stuff going on all the time. It’s fun.”

Few people grow into a role so well suited for their personality and background, but Arrison, as Spa City’s tourism magnet and main cheerleader, is one of them. Born in Memphis, his earliest memories centered around hospitality, a byproduct of his father working for Kemmons Wilson, the entrepreneur who founded Holiday Inn. In fact, as Arrison famously likes to say, “I grew up in a hotel. First time I lived in a house, I was probably in kindergarten.”

“I went to school, played some college basketball, got out, went into the hotel business. That’s what I knew. That was my every summer, working in hotels. I’ve always worked in the hotel industry.”

Arrison ran hotels in Las Cruces, New Mexico, Lubbock, Texas, and Louisville, Kentucky, for several years before being intrigued by a job opening in Pine Bluff. Wanting to get closer to his folks, both lifelong natives of Memphis, Arrison moved to Arkansas in 1992. In 1994, he took over the Holiday Inn that was at that time connected to the Pine Bluff Convention Center. He did not know it then, but being at the crossroads of lodging and the events that came to the convention center was an apt classroom for his later endeavors.

“It was really interesting,” he said. “When I ran the hotel connected to the convention center in Pine Bluff, I could see the events, see what they were doing.”

One of the most talked-about events that would come to be indelibly linked to Arrison’s legacy were fishing tournaments.

“Back in 1984, Rick Clunn won the Bassmaster Classic that was held in Pine Bluff on the Arkansas River,” he said. “He got, like, 75 pounds of fish. It was incredible. When I first got there, it felt like everybody was talking about these great fishing tournaments, so when I got to town, we kind of made a commitment that we’d do a major fishing tournament a year.”

The events were a big hit, which Arrison credited more to the people of the city than himself — and small wonder, given his nonexistent fishing background.

“I’ve never fished. I’ve never even put a hook in the water. At the time, I had never been to a boat ramp before. I didn’t know any of that stuff,” he said. “It was really the people of Pine Bluff who understood the impact of fishing, and the people just loved it. We packed it out for these weigh-ins at the convention center, and it was just incredible to watch.

“We could see the economic impact plus the publicity that it gave to our fishery, which was the Arkansas River. I mean, it filled our hotels, and people were excited, and we were all over the news, so it was a really great thing for Pine Bluff.”

Arrison was so captivated by the spectacle of the event that when he got to Hot Springs, he helped spearhead the effort to bring a professional fishing event to Spa City in 2000, the All-American on Lake Hamilton. A tradition was born; Arrison said counting next year, the city will have hosted 27 major fishing tournaments, including the first-ever Mr. Crappie Classic and Crappie Expo in 2019, Pan American Bass Fishing Championships in 2023 and, next year, the 2026 Bass Fishing World Championship.

The irony of a devoted landlubber developing the city into a fishing mecca is not lost on Arrison, who, as is his custom, was very quick to give the lion’s share of credit to others.

“God just handed us the lakes, but we couldn’t have done it without the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission helping us,” he said. “We couldn’t do it without the local fishermen who, if you needed boat captains, if you needed anything, were all eager to volunteer to help. We couldn’t do it without the spectators who love live weigh-ins, who get excited when [the competitors] bring in these huge monsters that they’re catching.”

Such modesty cannot completely camouflage Arrison’s batting average when it comes to successful events of all shapes and sizes. On his watch came the annual Stueart Pennington’s World Championship Running of the Tubs bathtub races; Bridge Street Live concert series; Spa-Con entertainment and comic convention; Güdrun-Northwoods Mountain Bike Festival; and many others.

Arrison did not personally dream up all of them, as he was quick to point out, but as the man for whom the buck stops, his willingness to try new things seemed to know no limits. Even the few rare flops have done nothing to dampen his taste for finding the next big thing in entertainment and promotions.

“Not everything we’ve done has been successful,” he said. “I can’t remember the circumstances, but one year, some buffalo got loose in town. I lived down by the golf course, and I was out on my side porch, and four buffalo came running through my front yard. I thought it was cool. The next day, we said, ‘Let’s do Buffalo Days!’ Nobody showed up.

“We did Hot Springs Hat Days, where we were going to break the world record for the most hats in one spot. We thought it was a great event. It was miserable. Nobody came. God, it was awful.”

A pause and a smile.

“So not everything has worked,” he said, “but hey, we were lucky. We’ve only had two fails.”

One of the reasons many people do not remember the unsuccessful events is because the bulk of them have been warmly received, none more so than the massive World’s Shortest St. Patrick’s Day Parade, an event so patently absurd it has become one of the most beloved of Arkansas traditions. First held in 2004, the 98-foot parade and associated tomfoolery has attracted mammoth media attention to the community, especially in the years when other communities attempt to challenge Spa City for the title “World’s Shortest.”

In time, celebrities would be solicited as parade grand marshals and starters, including Kevin Bacon, Bo Derek, Cheech Marin, Emmitt Smith and Arkansas’ own Justin Moore. A Blarney Stone was added, as was the 299-foot World’s Shortest St. Patrick’s Zero K foot race, complete with a beer “hydration” station in the middle.

Arrison, center, with Emmitt Smith, right, and Forrie J. Smith at the 2024 World’s Shortest St. Patrick’s Day Parade.

Arrison said he was never surprised an event worked, per se, but he also could not ever have imagined the spectacle some would grow into.

“I never thought St. Patrick’s Day would get to be one of the top 10 parades in the United States. I never saw that,” he said. “I thought it would be a good local event, but I didn’t think it would be what it is today.”

With a year to go on the payroll, Arrison is looking forward to taking things in as a spectator in retirement, and when he does, he will probably smile, knowing the inside story of some of the city’s most beloved events. Truth be told, he does not know exactly what will fill the hours, but one thing is certain: Whatever lies ahead will unfold in the city and state he has served well and loves deeply.

“I love Arkansas. I loved my time in Pine Bluff, and I just love Hot Springs,” he said. “I’ve had opportunities elsewhere in my career, but gosh, you’ll never get me out of Arkansas. I’m in Arkansas for the rest of my life, for sure.”

Arrison, left, with Gary Busey

STEVE ARRISON ON TAKING RISKS

Don’t play it safe. To play it safe is not to play. If you try to play it safe all the time, you’re not going to try anything. Nothing is 100 percent safe, so you’ve just got to choose your risk, basically. If it’s a great idea and you think it’s going to work, you know, give it a go. You can’t win them all, so what do you lose by trying?

STEVE ARRISON ON OVERDELIVERING

If you’re going to do something, do it right. If we’re trying to do an event and all we have is a shoestring budget, we’re not going to do the event. We have to do it where it’s first class. For a business or an entrepreneur, my advice would be wait until you have the money, and do things correctly because you only get one shot. Don’t go in there and do it half-assed.

STEVE ARRISON ON THE VALUE OF PREPARATION

You have to keep up with [customers’] tastes and trends and, in our case, the types of events that have come into vogue, so to speak. It’s actually pretty simple to do if you read and study and find these things out. We just hired a company that deals in this using artificial intelligence, and they’ve come in to do some staff training and to provide some research reports for us. I mean, I know it sounds simple, but read the local paper, read Google news feeds. Read Arkansas Money & Politics. Just pay attention.

STEVE ARRISON ON EFFECTIVE SELLING

I think what people, especially young businesspeople, miss is they don’t ask for the order. You’ve got to ask for the order. You know, you can’t just sell, sell, sell. Sooner or later, you’ve got to close the deal. I think sometimes people forget that because they keep telling the client how great something is instead of knowing when to stop and say, ‘What can we do to make this happen?’ I have people call on me every day, trying to sell stuff, and they never really get around to it.

STEVE ARRISON ON KEYS TO SUCCESS

I have a top 10 list of my keys to success. I give it out to my employees every year, the new ones. It pretty much sums up what I’ve learned and what I know to be true:

1. Go for it. As Wayne Gretzky said, ‘You miss 100 percent of the shots you don’t take.’

2. Promote. P.T. Barnum once said ‘Without promotion something terrible happens — nothing!’

3. Read.

4. Say thank you. Nothing has a greater impact than a hand-written thank-you note.

5. Always ask for the order. Know when to stop selling and close the deal.

6. Keep an open mind. As John Wooden said, ‘It’s what you learn after you know it all that counts.’

7. Don’t confuse effort with results.

8. Don’t play it safe. To play it safe is not to play.

9. Ask questions. There is no such thing as a dumb question. If you don’t know, ask.

10. Believe in yourself. If you don’t, who will?