It's an attraction that's been entertaining Hot Springs visitors for 105 years and Sunday the Arkansas Alligator Farm and Petting Zoo celebrated its birthday. But that's not all they're happy about. It's been a good season for tourism thanks in part to slightly lower gas prices.
"It's kind of a family atmosphere. We get people that came here when they were kids. Their granddads brought them here and now they're bringing their kids or grandkids," explains alligator handler Stacy McBay.
And one of the big attractions? Two hundred alligators of all shapes, sizes and ages. Two are 60 years old. They usually seem pretty relaxed, but around feeding time things get a lot scarier.
"When we're in here with the food they're totally different and they go into a feeding frenzy. And they come after us for the food," says McBay as he stands inside the cage.
You can see plenty of other animals at the attraction too, from mountain lions to goats to peacocks. And the man who owns it all says this summer, more and more people keep stopping by to visit. Gas prices, while they're still high, have dropped a bit.
Owner Jack Bridges thinks he may set a record for attendance this year. "So far, we're way ahead. The gasoline situation hasn't hurt us too bad," he said.
Tourists we talked to said if they were going to use the gas, they wanted to find a location that had a lot of attractions and the Spa City fits the bill. David Gammill who was visiting from Memphis said, "Hot Springs has had everything we've been looking for and then some. We found a lot of things we weren't expecting to be good and they were better than we expected."
Mr. Bridges works hard to make sure the Arkansas Alligator Farm and Petting Zoo is a quality attraction. And he says places like his stay in business for 105 years because of one unifying factor that convinces people to get away from it all. "Stress can only be relieved sometimes by getting away from what you're doing and forgetting it," Bridges said.
Incidentally, this alligator farm anniversary comes on the same weekend that the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission started issuing applications for alligator hunting permits. Mr. Bridges says the alligator population is increasing and now is a good time to start hunting.