West Memphis leaders look to make better use of civic facilities

West Memphis leaders look to make better use of civic facilities

City's tourism chief sets his sights on meeting and convention business

www.westmemphis.org After running the West Memphis Office of Tourism since March of 2013, Jim Jackson is expanding his efforts to include marketing the city's auditorium and civic center. As executive director of the West Memphis Convention and Visitors Bureau, Jackson will oversee operations of the city's two civic buildings and work to attract meetings, conventions and arts performances to the city.

“The new job is not much different than what I've been doing-marketing West Memphis as a major Delta tourism stop,” Jackson says. “Now I'll also be promoting the city's civic complex as a venue for meetings and performances.”

Jackson essentially built the tourism office from scratch after he took the position in 2013. A native of Magnolia in southern Arkansas, he ran the Cleburne County economic development office in Heber Springs for 6 years before taking the West Memphis job. He learned all he could about the city and used his outsider's perspective to his advantage in marketing the West Memphis community.

From the start, a crucial goal was to design and plan a sustainable outdoor event to coincide with the completion of the planned bike trail across the Harahan Bridge from Memphis. The city hosted the first Arkansas Delta Flatlander-a 62-mile cycling event designed to introduce cycling enthusiasts to the idea of riding in the Arkansas Delta-in the fall of 2014. In the second year, an off-road ride on the St. Francis Levee was added. The third annual Flatlander was held two weeks before the Big River Crossing-the nearly milelong boardwalk across the Mississippi on the Harahan-opened to the public.

The West Memphis cycling events were successful, but not blockbusters. Still, they served their larger purpose, Jackson says.

“We started the Flatlander to help answer the question of what folks would do when they rolled off the Harahan and into West Memphis,” he said. “The riders who participated in those first three know the potential over here. And we're confident that they are spreading the word.”

Jackson will now turn some of his attention to promoting the Eugene Woods Civic Center and the West Memphis Civic Auditorium-the former as a facility for meetings, trade shows and conventions and the latter as a performing arts venue. He will be working closely with Facilities Director Kimberly Hamilton, Technical Director Joe Akers and a handful of full-time and part-time facility staff.

His role in the tourism office and his new one running the CVB are both funded by a 2-percent tax on prepared food, hotels and meeting and party facilities. Arkansas law permits any city to levy the tax for use in promoting the city as a destination.

Those funds are managed by the city's Advertising and Promotion Commission, a 7-member body comprised of elected officials and local business owners.

The commission spent $120,000 in 2016 upgrading the audio-visual and technical capacities of the Civic Center.

Jackson sees his new post as an additional investment in the civic facilities.

“The potential that's there is exciting and I'm looking forward to growing the civic center and auditorium,” he said.

The CVB will be a presenting sponsor for two big Memphis events this yearthe Bass Pro Shops Mississippi River Monsters Catfish Tournament and the Blues Foundation's International Blues Challenge. Jackson said the approval of the sponsorship plans is further proof that commissioners see the same tourism potential in West Memphis that he sees.

Jackson's efforts in those first three years will pay off in unexpected ways in the coming months. For its work promoting the Big River Crossing, his office is a finalist for a prestigious award to be handed out at this year's Arkansas Governor's Conference on Tourism in Little Rock.

And the 2018 Governor's Conference on Tourism will be held in West Memphis.

With that momentum-and with the solid backing of the A and P Commission, Jackson said his new challenges with the civic center and auditorium seem a little less daunting.

“There are still a lot of obstacles to overcome,” he said. “But I've proven myself a few times in the last three years. Now I have to do it again.”

From the City of West Memphis