HARDY, Ark. (KAIT) – A town along the Spring River is known for its busy tourist season, but this year has been a little bit different for businesses.

Ralph Lowe owns The Spring River Collective on Main Street. He said you can tell that it has been a slower summer than in years past.

“You can tell the traffic is down in town. People aren’t spending as much time in town or on the river as they would. They are still coming, it’s just not quite as crowded,” Lowe said.

Marc Herring owns Ozarks Classic Crafts Mall, and Ariel Housmann owns Chapo’s Tacos. They said after floods in April and weeks of clean-up and rebuilding, the summer started off slow.

“It is a little off this year. We’ve had tornadoes in March, floods in April, and that certainly affected the start of our tourist season, but it’s really picked up. Just like the heat, it’s gotten hot here in Hardy, Arkansas,” Herring said.

“It seemed like we just kept getting hit, but this summer has really taken off. It is awesome. The tourism has started to rise,” Housmann said. “We’ve got some new stores that are really great, and I think they are attracting some more tourism, but I think it’s coming up.”

One thing that has helped the businesses on Main Street in Hardy is coming together and supporting each other.

“We can lean on each other. If we’re having a bad moment, walk across the street, go see my friend John at the 3 Magi and just sit and defuse, decompress, and support each other, and we all do business amongst each other, too,” Herring said.

“There isn’t a single entity or organization in Hardy that is large enough to do it all by ourselves, so it’s really collaboration and working together is the way we all survive,” Lowe said.

The summer is quietly and quickly coming to a close, but the businesses in Hardy have talked about ways to make up for what they missed in the spring.

“I’m hoping that since we had that downtick in the spring, to maybe do some more in the fall when it cools down,” Housmann said. “I think the fall would be fantastic if we could kind of get busier during the fall time, cause that’s a great time of the year.”

“Hardy does have some awesome stuff coming. Mid-September, we have a Spring River Got Talent event, we have homesteader days coming up in September, and our Music on Main runs through October,” Lowe said.

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