“Christmas At The Crescent” Has Become Eureka Springs Tradition

Christmastime at this Historic Hotel of America has become one of The Ozarks region’s most popular winter holiday traditions.  Part of that tradition is the 1886 Crescent Hotel and Spa’s weeklong schedule of activities for visitors, residents and guests which is called “Christmas at the Crescent”.  This year’s yuletide celebration at this mountaintop spa resort runs from December 1 through December 7.

“When we first started this annual event 12 years ago it consisted of a live Nativity scene, Santa’s Brunch and free holiday movies for our guests,” said hotel Vice-President of Operations and Development Jack Moyer.  “The crowds were small that year but everyone who attended had a great time.  So much so, it encouraged us to build up this week not only for our hotel guests but to also impact the holiday season for the entire Greater Eureka Springs area.”

One such community-wide event is the Christmas Forest Tree Lighting on Saturday, December 1 at 6 p.m.  Twenty-five trees will adorn the hotel’s East Lawn this year allowing it to be seen both on-property and from across the valley from the East Mountain Rotary Overlook.  Each tree will be uniquely decorated one to the other since each tree represents a different local and area charity.

“Not only is our Christmas Forest a sparkling sight to behold, visitors to the forest can ‘vote’ for their favorite tree.  At the end of the ‘election’ on December 31, each tree’s ‘votes’ will be donated to that charity.  Additionally, the top three vote-getters also receive a nice cash prize donated from the hotel,” explained Moyer.

Santa arrives at the hotel on Sunday, December 2 when he is the star attraction at Santa’s Brunch. The two elements that guests are suggested to bring to this feast of holiday culinary delights are a large appetite and a camera.  While eating to their hearts’ content guests also getting a chance to sit on Ol’ Saint Nick’s lap for a chance to capture a photographic lifetime memory.  Santa has been known to balance an entire family on his red velvet knees for that just right shot.  Brunch is served from 9:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. while Santa will be poised for photo from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.

Each weekday -except Thursday- at noon during this special holiday week, the hotel’s Crystal Ballroom will swing its doors open for hungry patrons and school groups ready to perform for those enjoying a mid-day repast.  Bands and choirs from local area middle and high schools present medleys of festive tunes that always bring back happy holiday memories from years gone by.

Something new this year will be “Stories for The Most Wonderful Time of The Year” presented during dinner service in the Crescent’s 1886 Steakhouse.  Professional actors will festively portray seasonal stories -old and new- at 7:30pm for steakhouse guests each of the evenings of Sunday, Monday, and Wednesday during “Christmas at The Crescent” week.

For those who long to return to the 19th century and the days of Charles Dickens, the Holiday Readers Theater Troupe will present a rousing adaptation of “A Christmas Carol” following a delicious four-course Dickensian-themed feast.  This dinner theater production is a Tuesday night affair and is held in the hotel’s Crystal Ballroom.  Reservations are recommended since seating is limited.  Dinner is served at 6 p.m. followed by the performance at 8.  Some seating will be made available this year for performance-only patrons at a special admission price.

Thursday night will utilize that same hotel venue but this time it will be filled with the polished holiday musical stylings of The Ozarks Chorale.  A dinnertime concert entitled “Sounds of the Season” is planned at 6:30 p.m. during dinner and wine service in the Crystal Ballroom.  Reservations are not required.

For those who simply long to share a laugh or a happy tear with friends and family while watching classic holiday motion pictures, Dr. Baker’s Bistro and Sky bar is where guests will want to congregate on Tuesday, Thursday and Friday at 6:00p.m..  Each of these evenings this popular lounge and eatery transforms itself into a miniplex for enjoying Christmas cinematic classics.  As a holiday gift to Dr. Baker’s patrons, there is no admission for this nostalgic trip down memory lane.

Other events that have been included in this year’s weeklong menu of activities are Thursday’s “Silver Tea”, a fund-raiser to benefit Eureka Springs School of the Arts; Friday’s “Chef Of The Day: Building a Sunday Brunch”; and Friday evening’s performance of Intrigue Theater in the hotel’s satellite 1901 Gavioli Chapel at 8pm.

For more information and the complete “Christmas at The Crescent” schedule, one should go here.

Haunted Hotels by Playboy.com Staff

• October 17, 2012 : 12:10

There are only so many costume parties you can attend per season without looking like a crazy person (hint: one) but if you love Halloween, there’s no shaking that need to celebrate the holiday with an obsessive spirit that’s teetering on the brink of obsession. If you’re not one for shelling out a few bucks to be artificially frightened by stoned teenagers dressed up as ghosts and psychotic axe murderers, book a room in one of the most notoriously haunted hotels in America.

Roosevelt Hotel Hollywood, California

Courtesy of: Flickr
When you think of the Roosevelt Hotel, you don’t think of hauntings. You think of lush rooms, mixed drinks poolside and rubbing shoulders with big names from Hollywood. But what you may not know is the hotel is home to the ghosts of Marilyn Monroe, Montgomery Clift and other unknown names (some claim over 35) who have passed on. Monroe is said to appear in a mirror that was in the bungalow she’d frequent, and Montgomery Clift, who lived in the hotel while he was filming From Here to Eternity, has the most haunted room in the building. Many have checked out after experiencing television sets turning off and on, and mugs being thrown, as well as hearing a bugle played late at night, something Clift was known to do if he was had trouble sleeping.

The Queen Mary  Long Beach, C.A.

Courtesy of: Flickr

Making its last trip at sea, The Queen Mary docked in Long Beach, California in 1967 after 70 years of death, war and ghosts on the lonely ocean, transporting prisoners of war and soldiers to and from WWII. Hitler himself even had a bounty on the Queen Mary, promising thousands of dollars to whoever could sink the vessel. There are 55 recorded deaths, 16 crew members and 38 passengers, but no one knows how many soldiers, airmen or prisoners of war perished on its decks. Nowadays visitors both aware and not of its eerie history stay in the ship’s cabins that have been turned into a permanent hotel. Those who stay aboard the Queen Mary are welcome to explore the ship themselves, as many places that are known to be haunted are marked, or have a guided tour of the ship. But don’t think you’ll be able to book the room B3-40. It’s been stripped and the owners have deemed it unusable thanks to the strange disturbances that became so bad guests have fled in the middle of the night, insisting on being moved.

The Stanley Hotel Estes Park, C.O.

Courtesy of: Flickr
Many myths and hauntings of The Stanley Hotel have been busted by scientists, but there’s no denying its creep factor. Most famous for being the hotel behind Stephen King’s The Shining, this neo-Georgian hotel in Colorado is home to some of the greatest ghost stories in America. Kitchen and waitstaff have for years reported hearing full-on parties taking place in the ballroom only to find it empty, and guests relaxing in the lobby have been serenaded by an invisible pianist who some think could be the original architect’s wife. The Stanley Hotel does a good job giving interested patrons goose bumps: they have a channel that plays The Shining on loop 24/7, and also hold a masquerade ball during the Halloween season.

Crescent Hotel Eureka Springs, A.R.

Courtesy of: Flickr
Dubbed the most haunted hotel in America, the Crescent Hotel located in Eureka Springs was built in 1886 by a couple of tycoons hoping to cash in on a health craze. At the time, Eureka Springs was known for its healing water, which many believed cured ailments and even cancer. In 1937 a man named Norman Baker bought the hotel and opened a cancer hospital and resort, claiming that those who stayed there would walk away cancer free, despite the fact he had no medical training. It is unknown how many people flocked to the hotel, let alone how many left alive. Nowadays patrons experience unexplained phenomena and ghost sightings connected with the cancer hospital that the Crescent Hotel used to house. There are packages available for those who want to take a tour of the haunted grounds as well as conduct their own paranormal research.

Lizzie Borden Bed & Breakfast Museum Fall River, M.A.

Courtesy of: Flickr
Unlike the others on this list, the Lizzie Borden B&B came to fruition after a grisly murder took place in its rooms. On August fourth, 1892 Lizzie Borden’s father and stepmother were murdered; her father was chopped up on the couch and her stepmother lay in the guest room with a crushed skull. Lizzie was tried and acquitted of the murders of her parents at the age of 26 and was ostracised for the rest of her life. Now you’re able to spend a night in the same place where the murders took place, choosing among Lizzie and sister Emma’s bedrooms or the guest room where their mother was found. Guests are also treated to a breakfast similar to what the Bordens ate the morning of their gruesome deaths.

EUREKA SPRINGS, ARKANSAS — San Francisco (CA) may have Lombard Street but it has been said by visitors who travel to Eureka Springs (AR) on motorcycles that the streets here are “Lombard Street” street after street after street.  These curvy streets inside this Arkansas village of 2,000 and the winding Ozark highways that lead into this community offer the appeal that make motorcyclists want to literally “lean into” Eureka Springs.

The spiderweb of highways that blanket this pristine part of the United States’ Midwest region seems to have been made specifically for motorcycle travel, especially with a destination like Eureka Springs, one of America’s Dozen Distinctive Destinations according to the National Trust for Historic Preservation, at its center.  Supporting this is a factoid mentioned in a recent article by Ron Keys in Motorcycle Mojo magazine, “Eureka Springs is our springboard for riding the curvy, exciting byways of the Ozarks.”

Motorcyclists, whether they are on two wheels or three, will use this Swiss-like village as their hub for discovering and riding such provocatively named routes as The Pig Trail, Ozark Highlands and the equally as challenging connecting routes to stretches of roads as Arkansas Scenic 7 Byway with its awesome panoramas.  Along these routes are such notable mini-destinations as Buffalo River National Park, Branson (MO) and Bentonville (AR) with its newly opened, world-renowned Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art.  All are within a day’s round-trip ride from Eureka Springs.

Jack Moyer, general manager of two of Eureka Springs’ historic hotels, the 1886 Crescent Hotel & Spa and the 1905 Basin Park Hotel, explains, “It seems as though the riders of today like to have a nice ‘home-away-from-home’ to enjoy each evening of their motorcycling vacation.  They seem to want lodging in a comfortable, full-service hotel from which they can travel out, like spokes on a wheel, each morning to see new places, experience new adventures and all the while enjoying the curves of The Ozark.  They enjoy returning each evening to a cold beverage, a nice restaurant, some evening attractions and a comfortable bed all in a destination community and all at an affordable price.”

“And those curves I mentioned are best described in that same recent Motorcycle Mojo article, ‘With more corners, closer together, than anywhere I’ve been, these are some of the greatest motorcycling roads on the continent.’  This is a pretty good endorsement and invitation to motorcycle enthusiasts to come and ‘lean into’ the extraordinary destination known as Eureka Springs, Arkansas,” added Moyer.

Eureka Springs has grown to embrace motorcycling visitors.  Restaurants themed for “bikers”, retail shops carrying a full line of motorcycling accoutrements, hotels and motels with special features just for motorcyclists, and so on are now common place.

“At the Crescent for example, we have formulated special parking areas exclusively for motorcycles,” said Moyer.  “To accommodate motorcycles and their owners even further, we have added to our websites pages speaking directly to the motorcycling travelers, designated a special on-property bike wash area including wipe-down towels, and have put in place increased security for our guests’ two-wheeled investments.  And these type of accommodations are being or have already been added at many of Eureka Springs’ other hotels and motels.”

For more information on what Eureka Springs has to offer motorcyclists, one should go to eurekaspringsmotorcycleroutes.com.  Lodging information and special motorcycle packages can be found at eurekaspringsonline.com .

PARALLEL UNIVERSES:
Where Science Meets The Supernatural

An Investigation At the Crescent Hotel, Eureka Springs

August 24th-26th

Scientific investigation depends on proof-reliable data, repeatable experiments, accurate interpretation of results-in order to better understand the universe.

Paranormal experience is not about investigation-usually supernatural phenomena erupt into everyday life when least expected.

Today, paranormal investigators are employing the tools of science and the latest technological innovations to record experiences that science has traditionally regarded as unverifiable.

At the same time, science is developing new models of reality-multiple universes, entangled particles-that may one day explain the currently inexplicable.

Are paranormal investigators and particles physicists on the same track?

Larry Flaxman, a best selling author and paranormal researcher, will be the key note speaker in this 3 day conference.  Learn more about Larry Flaxman!

SCHEDULE OF EVENTS

FRIDAY AUGUST 24^th

12.00pm Check-in at the lobby

Packets/schedules

Reserve places for ghost tours/late night theatre/Psychomanteum

5.00 pm CONSERVATORY/bridge

Welcoming coffee and cocktail reception

Meet the speakers and each other

Session One: THE SEEN AND THE UNSEEN

6.00 – 6.45pm CONSERVATORY

Introductory talk and media presentation:  The interface today; knowledge and the unknown

Speaker: TBA

7.00- 8.00pm EAST LAWN

Interactive experience: The Development of Mind Substance from the Raw Material of Personal Experience

Speaker: MAHA VAJRA, founder: Quantum Buddhist Association

8.00 pm Refreshments in Conservatory

8.30 – 10.00pm CONSERVATORY

Multi-media presentation

The Grid: a new Theory of Everything

Speaker: LARRY FLAXMAN, Author/Screenwriter; founder: ARPAST

10.30- 11.30pm FACULTY LOUNGE

Late Night Live Theatre:

NOT REALLY A DOOR: Back from the dead – with baggage

A one-hour, jam-packed, keep-‘em-guessing supernatural comedy-murder-mystery thriller.

11.00-1.00       BAKERS LOUNGE

Finger food and opinion exchange.

SATURDAY 25^th

8.30am CRYSTAL DINING ROOM

Announcements at breakfast

9.00am GAZEBO

Coffee, Cellos and socializing

Session two:

THE VIEW FROM BEYOND: evidence of the irrational

9.30am FACULTY LOUNGE/SUNSET TERRACE OR Tent

Testimonials reporting near-death and out-of-body experiences, other inexplicable phenomena.

Speaker:  VARIOUS

10.15am Coffee

10.30am BODY, MIND, AND BRAIN ENTANGLEMENT:  Holistic Healing
Through Quantum Interconnectedness.
Speaker: DR. JIM WALDEN, Ed.D., R.Hy. Intuitive

wellness and well-being coach, holistic healing educator.

11.30am CONSERVATORY

A WORLD IN A GRAIN OF SAND; the imagination dimension.

Devised and presented by Keith Scales

12.30 – 3.45pm Lunch on own.  Options: full service in Crystal Dining Room or lunch buffet in Baker’s Bistro?

Documentaries in the FACULTY LOUNGE:

Psychomanteum available

Controlled experiments in telepathy

Explore Eureka with van tours or walking guide.

Session Three:

THE SCIENTIFIC VIEWPOINT

4.00pm CONSERVATORY

Vision and the Brain: Auras, Hallucinations, Optical Illusions and other Curiosities”

Speaker:  DR SARKIS NAZARIAN, Neuoro-opthalmologist, UofA for Medical Sciences

5.00pm CONSERVATORY

Brain, Mind and the Paranormal

Speaker: DR L. JOHN GREENFIELD, Chair, Department of Neurosciences, U.of A for Medical Sciences

6.00 – 7.30pm DINNER BREAK

Session Four:

IN SEARCH OF ANSWERS

7.30 – 10.00pm CONSERVATORY

PANEL DISCUSSION

All speakers

Q and A period

Moderator: Keith Scales

10.30-11.30pm FACULTY LOUNGE, 4^th floor

Late night Theatre: Not Really a Door

11.00 pm– 1.00am BAKER LOUNGE

Magical Mystery Music Videos and no-host bar

SUNDAY 26th

9.00am CRYSTAL DINING ROOM

Brunch available 9.00 – 2.00

9.30am BACK PORCH SOCIAL

Announcements

Cellos in the gazebo, mimosas on the lawn

Closing session

10.00am CONSERVATORY or Tent

Pirsig’s Paradox and the Reality of Ghosts

Speaker: DR. LESLIE D. HANNAH, Director of Cherokee Programs, Tallequa

11.00am Check-out

11.00am – 2.00pm CONSERVATORY

Open Forum for continuing discussion

Last chance for merchandise

Sign up for future conferences

For more details visit www.americasmosthauntedhotel.com or call 479-253-9766

Seminar Cost: $100 per person

Parallel Universe Lodging Package:

2 nights stay in a Premium Room

2 Seminar tickets

2 Ghost tour or Late Night Theatre Tickets

$379 plus tax

Check Availability