Texarkana, Arkansas A&P Commission awards $1.18 million for 2027 after six-hour funding marathon

TEXARKANA, Ark. – The Texarkana, Arkansas Advertising and Promotion Commission on Tuesday awarded $1,178,000 in tourism grants for 2027, closing a meeting of about six hours in which commissioners worked through what Brewer called 38 applications and pressed many of them on missing financial statements and how their events would fill Arkansas-side hotel rooms.

The city’s Parks and Recreation Department received the most, $257,000 across two requests. Intense Lineberry Productions was next with $211,500 for four concerts and a barbecue cook-off, followed by the Texarkana Arkansas Baseball Association at $136,500 for Ed Worrell Park. Channel 35 owner Wes Crenshaw, whose proposal for a city-run television station opened the meeting, got nothing.

Each commissioner wrote down an amount for every request. Staff averaged the six figures on a spreadsheet displayed in the room, and the commission rounded each average up to the next $500. Chairman Ulysses Brewer and Commissioners Meredith Mills, Dr. Ellen Holmes, Danny Jewell, George Dodson and Rachel Scott then approved the full slate 6-0 on a roll call vote. Scott was marked absent at the opening roll call but was present for the vote.

Commissioners were reminded before scoring that about $1.2 million was available to award. The averages added up to $1,171,666.67. After rounding, the total came to $1,178,000.

The A&P Commission is funded by the city’s tax on Arkansas-side hotels and restaurants. Its 2026 cycle was disrupted this spring, and in June the commission awarded $286,450 to 19 groups after reopening applications. In July, commissioners voted to hear every 2027 applicant and vote on all awards in a single October session.

2027 awards

Amounts as shown on the commission’s allocation spreadsheet at the end of the meeting:

Applicant – event	Awarded
Texarkana Parks & Rec – general operations	$213,500
Texarkana Arkansas Baseball Association (TABA)	$136,500
Arkansas Youth Expo	$77,000
Intense Lineberry Productions – BBQ cook-off and concert	$57,500
Intense Lineberry Productions – D. Ruggles Veterans Extravaganza	$57,000
Intense Lineberry Productions – Bandit Run concert	$51,000
Intense Lineberry Productions – rock concert	$46,000
Texarkana Parks & Rec – Terry Lee Rogers Recreation Center	$43,500
Four States Outdoor & Sportsman Expo LLC	$38,500
Texarkana Airshow	$37,500
Pickle Fest Texarkana	$31,000
Winner’s Circle 4 – Catfish & Mudbug Festival	$31,000
The Dancing Ranch Farm – Fall Festival	$23,500
Four States Auto Museum – Bandit Run	$23,500
Main Street Texarkana	$23,000
The Dancing Ranch Farm – Boggy Creek Festival	$19,000
City Beautiful Commission	$17,000
The Scholars – Juneteenth	$16,500
LNKTXK – Destination Downtown	$16,000
Winner’s Circle 4 – Mardi Gras	$15,500
Texarkana Arts & Historic District	$15,000
Winner’s Circle 4 – Wings & Blues Festival	$15,000
Rhythm & Blues Fool Festival	$15,000
P23 (Big Dam Water Park) – Drone Night	$14,500
The Scholars & Good Eats Catering Co. – Twin City Melon Fest	$14,000
Four States Fair – Ag Learning Center	$13,500
Texarkana Regional Airport	$12,500
P23 (Big Dam Water Park) – Memorial Day	$12,500
Runnin WJ Ranch – benefit barrel race	$11,000
The Dancing Ranch Farm – Armed Forces Celebration	$11,000
Winner’s Circle 4 – Downtown Fall Festival	$10,500
Winner’s Circle 4 – Santa’s Workshop	$9,500
Texarkana Regional Airport (second line)	$9,000
Texarkana Regional Chamber of Commerce	$8,500
P23 (Big Dam Water Park) – Adults Only Night	$7,500
P23 (Big Dam Water Park) – Movie Days	$7,500
TRAHC – Art for All Day	$6,500
Four States Auto Museum – Fall Show	$5,000
Partnership for the Pathway – Run the Line	$3,000
Gifts & Talents Career Fund	$3,000
Total	$1,178,000

KLFI Channel 35 received nothing. Universal Vibe Foundation, the Texarkana Symphony Orchestra and the Caddo Area Council of Scouting America had no one present when called and were not funded.

“How is this money going to put heads in beds?”

Dodson asked some version of that question of nearly every presenter. He put it most directly to Texarkana Regional Airport, which asked for money for social media advertising and for trips to the MRO Americas aviation maintenance convention. Airport representative Shannon Elliott said that convention is where the airport made the connection that brought Dean Baldwin Painting, the aircraft-painting company coming to the airport’s $66 million maintenance site.

“Our job, when we obligate these monies that are collected through the restaurants and the hotels, is to try to determine how it’s going to be used to create more money in hotels and restaurants,” Dodson said. Later he added, “Not in five years, but how is this going to benefit in 2027?”

Elliott said the airport’s Facebook views have grown more than 1,000% since July 1 and that parking revenue has “skyrocketed.” She said she had no figures on out-of-town passengers and that American Airlines may have them.

Commissioners leaned throughout the meeting on attendance estimates from the city’s Placer AI location data, which Finance Director Shena Washington read out for most returning events: total visitors, visitors from more than 50 and 100 miles away, and Arkansas-side hotel rooms.

The biggest figures came from the Arkansas Youth Expo, a youth livestock and agriculture show that moved to the Four States Fairgrounds this year. A representative read the commission a message from City Manager Tyler Richards saying the expo drew 5,600 people, 2,900 of them from more than 100 miles away, and sold 1,500 hotel rooms. That made it “by far the largest single event in Texarkana in terms of bringing in people from out of town,” Richards wrote. By comparison, the Placer numbers for this summer’s air show were 8,300 visitors, 901 from more than 100 miles away and 132 hotel rooms.

Expo organizers said Northwest Arkansas sponsors who backed the event in Fayetteville have been slow to sponsor a show in Texarkana. A commissioner who works for a hotel company said its six hotels in Texarkana were sold out that weekend. The expo received $77,000, up from $10,000 in June.

Some presenters questioned the Placer numbers. Pickle Fest founder Monica Beeman said the estimate of 7,400 for this month’s festival covered only Front Street Festival Plaza and missed the 5K and car show outside it; her count was about 16,000. The Dancing Ranch Farm said it counted about 1,700 visitors to its Boggy Creek festival, against a Placer figure of 690. A commissioner said the data is an estimate meant to give the commission something to go on.

Financial statements a running problem

The application asks for a financial statement for the applicant’s most recent year, and many applicants did not provide one.

Crenshaw, who first pitched the commission in July, asked for about $78,000 to cover tower leases and license fees. In return, he offered the city control of programming on a channel of the low-power station he and his wife bought from Beech Street First Baptist Church. Jewell asked why he had not submitted financial statements for 2023 and 2024.

“My financials are really kind of a personal issue, and I did not want to put out ten copies of my financial statements,” Crenshaw said, adding that he would provide them on request.

“They were requested as part of this application,” Jewell said. Another commissioner told Crenshaw his application was incomplete without them. Crenshaw said he had asked for a workshop with the commission months ago and was turned down. “I’m rather frustrated,” he said.

Pickle Fest, The Dancing Ranch Farm, Winner’s Circle 4 and the Gifts & Talents Career Fund were also questioned about financial statements. Several said they had submitted event budgets because they thought that was what the commission wanted. During The Dancing Ranch Farm’s presentation, one commissioner said the requirement needs to be clarified for future cycles.

“I think we’ve got problems across all of our applicants, and I’ve only seen one that’s really been what I was looking for,” the commissioner said.

The commission’s attorney was not at the meeting. Commissioners read from his written review of the applications. On the Texarkana Arts & Historic District request, the review said a $15,000 downtown enhancements line for street banners, public art and signage would violate state law as a general subsidy of a civic group and a capital improvement. The district’s representative said the items are not capital improvements. Commissioners talked about subtracting the line. The district had asked for $18,657 on top of a rollover of unspent 2026 money and was awarded $15,000.

The review also noted that Winner’s Circle 4’s applications for its five Front Street events lacked financial statements, total event costs and advertising timetables. The group runs Mardi Gras, the Catfish & Mudbug Festival, Wings & Blues, the Downtown Fall Festival and Santa’s Workshop under a contract with the city.

Dodson, who said he lives downtown, told the group the cleanup after one of its spring festivals “was disgusting” and offered to show photos. Group members said their city contract makes cleanup at those city-initiative events the city’s job, and that they added a cleanup line to each 2027 budget so they can hire their own crew. Winner’s Circle 4 received $81,500 across the five events.

Parks, ballfields and the water park

Parks and Recreation asked for about $385,000 for general operations. That request included Master Turf infield material at Pondexter Sports Complex, estimated at $175,000, a crew truck to replace a 2011 F-150 with 145,000 miles, and a new pavilion at Pondexter. The department received $213,500. The Terry Lee Rogers Recreation Center, which the department said the commission has historically funded at $60,000 a year, received $43,500.

TABA treasurer April Lane said the volunteer-run association maintains everything inside the fences at Ed Worrell Park under a 99-year lease with the city. She said a lawn company quoted close to $35,000 a year to do the mowing she and a few volunteers now handle. Her top request was new backstop netting on all seven fields; the current nets are “dry rotting” and patched with zip ties, she said.

“At TABA, every dollar must first answer a maintenance question,” Lane said. She cited Placer figures showing about 121,000 visits to Ed Worrell Park from September 2025 through September 2026, close to the 123,000 at Swanger Park on the Texas side.

Johnny Blevins, whose company P23 Consulting operates Big Dam Water Park, told commissioners he bought the park this year after the bank that held it called about two weeks before opening day to say it was closing. “I bought it to save it,” he said, adding that he has put about $2 million into it.

Blevins said the park used about $153,000 of the $181,000 the commission approved for five 2026 events. Under the revenue-sharing agreement, it also returned checks of $6,474.56 for Memorial Day and $5,412 for the combined movie days, both more than the agreement required, he said. He asked for $133,000 for 2027 and received $42,000 for four events: Memorial Day, an adults-only night, movie days and a second drone show.

New events and returning ones

Intense Lineberry Productions, which put on last year’s Tracy Lawrence veterans concert and has Gary Allan booked for this November, asked to roll four events into one presentation:

• a third Don Ruggles Memorial veterans concert, set for Nov. 13, 2027
• a rock concert
• a sanctioned barbecue cook-off in May or June with a concert. Organizers said a $50,000 prize purse is what draws top teams.
• a concert on June 11 during the Four States Auto Museum’s Bandit Run, which marks the 50th anniversary of “Smokey and the Bandit” and runs June 11-14

Monica and Doug Beeman, who founded Pickle Fest, pitched a new Four States Outdoor & Sportsman Expo for May 1-2 at the Four States Fairgrounds. They said the LLC that would run it was still being formed and so had no financial statements. They said they would hold the expo with or without A&P money; the grant would pay for nationally known outdoor personalities and billboards within a 200-mile radius. It received $38,500.

Pickle Fest, which the Beemans said they ran in 2025 and 2026 without A&P money, received $31,000 for a Friday-night concert to make the festival a two-day event next October. Monica Beeman said proceeds go to a walk-up food pantry in Atlanta, Texas, where the couple lives.

Air show director Brandon Sanders said the commission’s $37,500 would be spent in 2027 on deposits and advertising for the next show in July 2028. He said the Texas side has committed $100,000, and that the 2028 show is planned as a multi-day event with a night show, hot air balloons and a short-takeoff-and-landing competition.

Main Street Texarkana Director Ina McDowell asked for matching money toward up to $30,000 that Main Street Arkansas has offered for improvements to the city-owned Municipal Auditorium; the group received $23,000 overall. The Four States Fair’s Ag Learning Center asked for money to build exhibits and market the center to families attending fairgrounds events. TRAHC Education Director Megan Griffin asked for $18,000 for its Art for All Day family performances and received $6,500. The City Beautiful Commission asked for $34,000 to replace dead magnolias on Broad Street and maintain downtown planters and received $17,000.

The commission is also hiring its first full-time executive director. Applications are due Oct. 23, and the target start date is Jan. 4.