On Tuesday, The Mountain View Chamber luncheon was held at the Mountain View Community Center with guest speaker Jason Lott, Superintendent of the Ozark National Scenic Riverways. Jason is a Native of Ball, Louisiana and has worked for the National Park Service for 20 years including stops in Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, and now Missouri where he plans to stay into retirement.
Lott talked about the plans to completely Rehab the Big Springs Lodge and Cabins that have been closed since 2014 to their original state as they looked when built in the 1930’s. Upon completion, targeted for January 2024, bids will be accepted for concessions, to operate the lodge and rent the cabins. Next, Lott spoke about rebuilding all of the pavilions along the ONSR that were lost during the flood in 2017, the pavilions should all be complete by the summer of 2022.
The Ozark Scenic Riverways are hoping to have an open forum discussion for comments and feedback about their plans for new horse and mountain bike trails throughout the riverways. The goal of the OSNR is to expand the timeframe of use for the area through offerings that promote hiking, mountain biking, and horseback riding.
Concessioners reported an 12% increase in revenues in 2020 over the previous year, with the National Park seeing an 8% increase in visitors. Lott said they believe the overall usage of the park had an even higher percentage of visitors in 2020 as they are unable to get a head count of those using the rivers and parks with their own vessels. They are already up 3 ½ percent above 2020 year to date in 2021.
The Chamber of Commerce Business of the Month is Little Bit Country Boutique on Fifth Street in Mountain View. The Next Mountain View Chamber Luncheon is scheduled for April 27th at The Angel Garden, speaker will be from Royal Manufacturing in Mountain View.
