25 Aug 2016 Fairfield Bay: Thoughts on 50th anniversary
by Mayor Paul Wellenberger
In 1965, Jacobus Construction Company, consisting of Jake Jacobus and Neil Simonson, had completed their latest project in Fort Smith and were looking for a new project. The concept of retirement communities was in its infancy, and they decided to pursue this idea. They asked C.M. Owen, a salesman for their company, to travel to Arkansas in search of some property. He had traveled through Van Buren County in his earlier years and decided to investigate it again because he had heard a large lake had been built there. He found 4,200 acres that they purchased from the Army Corps of Engineers for $50 per acre, and the rest is history. The third partner to join them was a well-known attorney in Fort Smith, Randy Warner, and the dream began.
This year, we pay special tribute to those early pioneers and all those employees who believed in the dream and worked together to make it what it is today.
What an amazing 50 years! To think there was nothing here just 50 years ago. Three men started out with a new vision for a retirement resort community that helped to mold America’s thought process on what could be. A planned community started from scratch. What excitement there must have been and what a marketing challenge the founders had to overcome! Let’s somehow get people to leave where they have probably lived their whole life and move to rural Arkansas. Talk about innovation and out of the box thinking. They helped pioneer something that has been replicated all over the country. There were golf courses, a marina, tennis courts, pools, etc. built. Governors and senators regularly visited Fairfield Bay. Our population went from 0 to more than 2,000. We were boom city.
Then it all came crashing down as the founding company expanded too quickly, there was a financial market meltdown, their line of credit was gone and bankruptcy resulted. So the great citizens and landowners of Fairfield Bay faced a new challenge. Sometimes I think my job is pretty hard. I can only imagine what this time in Fairfield Bay’s life was like.
Somehow all the obstacles were overcome and an entirely new town management structure was put into place. Shortly thereafter, Fairfield Bay became a city. It is a great credit to all of our community leaders that they were able to hold our town together.
But we did suffer. The conference center closed, mall stores closed and home sales decreased. We were on a downward trajectory.
In 2011, the Fairfield Bay Community Club invested in a marketing program and a significant grant was received that allowed us to repair and reopen the Conference Center in 2013. Fairfield Bay is once again seeing improvements in economic indicators and enjoying positive momentum. Through all the changes, our citizens have remained dedicated to our city and willing to invest their talents and labor to make us successful. They are being recognized with awards for Quality of Life, Green Initiative, Volunteer Community of the Year, Safety and Tourism Development.
One recent perfect example of what great citizens we have is our 50/50/50/50 program that started May 9. The goal was to raise funds through donations to allow us to purchase 50 American Flags in 50 days at $50 each for our 50th anniversary by July 4. We far exceeded our goal of 50 flags; so far we have 110 purchased and citizens keep coming in every day to participate and honor a veteran. What a great site to see with the flags displayed all along Dave Creek Parkway! This program says a lot about what kind of special community we have in Fairfield Bay.
Personally, it has been an honor and a privilege to serve the great people that live and visit Fairfield Bay. We are stewards of a very special piece of earth on which we are blessed to live.
