The Morning After

Buffalo River News

Buffalo River Chamber of Commerce Announced

A group of tourism-related businesses have announced the formation of the Buffalo River Chamber of Commerce, which has been created to promote and protect the entire 150-mile Buffalo National River, the first national wild river park in America.

The chamber has launched an innovative and comprehensive website, http://buffaloriverchamber.com/ designed to elevate the Buffalo River's national prominence to a level equal to other famous American national parks like Grand Tetons, Yellowstone, and the Grand Canyon.

"The Buffalo River is the greatest tourism treasure in Arkansas," said Michael Dougherty, the president of the group. "Our website helps visitors plan their stay with "deep content" details, answering all their questions about where to go and what to do on this majestic Ozark river. Visitors can also sign up for the Buffalo River News, an email newsletter designed to provide up-to-date news on events and seasonal opportunities. Our new mobile site will be launched within days." Much more content is under development.

The website simplifies the important linking of recreational activities such a canoeing and hiking to scenic areas along the Buffalo River to businesses and government agencies that perform those services in that part of the river. The site will also link lodging and dining facilities to all the most popular tourist destinations on the upper, middle, and lower parts of the Buffalo National River.

"We are excited that the newly formed Buffalo River Chamber of Commerce will lead more people to this area," said Eileen and John Olwell, owners of the White Buffalo Resort. "The online tools will facilitate the planning for first time visitors, and for returning customers who want to venture out a little farther and explore all the area has to offer."

The Buffalo River Chamber, a bona fide member of the National Chambers of Commerce and is now accepting new members. Prospective members may apply by going to the membership page at http://buffaloriverchamber.com/membership_top.html.

BRC members receive exceptional benefits, including in-depth full page website coverage of their businesses and profit centers. As an added feature, member listings are integrated into attraction content so that customers can plan their stay with specifics on nearby locations, costs, times, distances and maps. Members also get the benefits of an email newsletter to complement the goals of the website and free members-only workshops to strengthen their websites and internet marketing strategies. An additional member benefit is inclusion in the website for mobile phones.

"We think we have created the "go-to" website for the Buffalo River National Park," said Joseph Morgan, co-owner of the historic Arkansas House Inn, Cabin and Cafe in Jasper. "We have given this great river, a true world-class national treasure, a website presence equal to its purity and pristine beauty." That's important because market studies show that 18% of the US population lives within two tanks of gas of the Buffalo National River.

"If we can get the word out,new visitors will come," said Mike McLaurin, co-owner of Newton County's famous Cliff House Inn. "Once they come and experience the river, they will be visitors for life."

The chamber's campaign to promote the Buffalo will be centered on the Internet, but it will also include partnering with other organizations on the local, state and national levels to insure that the river has a group dedicated to advocating for its water purity and scenic qualities, which make it one of America's best-loved, but least-known national parks.

"We regard it as a privilege to represent the commercial interests of the Buffalo River," said Dave Klenczar, owner of Leatherwood Cabins near Ponca. "That's because our commerce depends on the Buffalo's reputation as being America's last unspoiled, river from its birth in the highlands of the Ozark National Forest to its confluence with the White River. We intend to keep it that way so our great grandchildren will be able to experience the wonders of this natural river."

For additional information please contact:
Michael Dougherty, President
admin@buffaloriverchamber.com
(888) 788-6456 Voice/Fax

Room For Improvement

Here are a few things we've changed up this Summer at the Resort!

Two years after flooding damaged our property, we are finally remodeled and back in our permanent office.


Our dock, (which also suffered flood damage,) has undergone construction to replace and repair damaged wood.

A Light in Every Window

This weekend marks the (official) start of our season and we are happy to report that every one of our nine cabins are booked! What a sight to see all the windows lit up along the river as I drove down the road towards home last night after a busy (good) day of greeting old friends, and meeting new ones. We also have some hearty souls who are camping with us, and some of our Camper Cabins are also occupied. After an unusually cold and snowy winter it is comforting to have people here again- especially the nice folks who always make plans to spend their Spring Break with us fishing for trout on the White River. John has worked very hard to get us back into our "pre-flood" office, and we are just putting the final touches on that. We hope you'll make your plans soon to come back to the resort and see all we've done to make it even better than you remember.

Happy New Year 2010

This morning we are busy filing away paperwork from 2009 reservations, thinking about ordering a computerized reservation system, and gearing up for getting some long-dreamed-of projects accomplished during the winter "down time"...
We have plans for making White Buffalo Resort better than ever; so if you've visited us in the past we look forward to seeing you again in 2010. If you are contemplating a trip in the future for the first time, we hope you'll be sufficiently intrigued by our website, by what you read on our blog, or what you hear on the radio ads to call and make a reservation. For all of you who reserved your dates for 2010 as you departed in 2009- we will be calling you soon to confirm those reservations. We wish all of our White Buffalo Resort friends a very happy, healthy, and blessed New Year.

Happy New Year from the White Buffalo Resort

This past year has been our year of breaking out of the rut and doing all things new- moving from Southern California to north central Arkansas, switching careers from electrical contractor and stay-at-home mom to trout fishing resort owners.

We had several families here over the Holidays: Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Years. The fishing is wonderful- as usual. Several hunters that were here in November shot nice bucks (a nine year old hunter got a nine point buck.) The weather is sunny, cold, and crisp.