A funding stream most Arkansas restaurant owners haven't heard about could help drive foot traffic to your business through local festivals.
Most Arkansas restaurant owners don't realize that buried in SB15—a bill focused on state parks and tourism appropriations—is a direct funding mechanism that could put money toward the festivals and events that drive customers through their doors.
Here's what happened: The Arkansas legislature included a provision in SB15 (An Act For The Department Of Parks, Heritage, And Tourism - State Parks And Tourism Divisions Appropriation For The 2026-2027 Fiscal Year) that reserves $150,000 annually in tourism tax revenue specifically for small festivals in communities with populations under 10,500 people. The provision appears in Section 23 on Page 14 of the bill.
If your restaurant is located in an Arkansas town with fewer than 10,500 residents, this matters to you. The $150,000 annual pool is designated for grants, advertising, or marketing expenses related to small festivals—meaning festival organizers in your community now have a dedicated funding source they didn't have before.
That translates directly to your business. Well-funded local festivals draw visitors. Visitors eat at restaurants. More events and better-promoted events mean more potential customers walking through your door on days when foot traffic might otherwise be slow.
The provision doesn't hand money directly to restaurants. Instead, it creates a grant pool that festival organizers and event committees can apply to for their costs—staging, promotion, entertainment, logistics. When a festival in your town is better funded and better marketed, it typically draws larger crowds and runs more successfully, which benefits the local businesses that serve those crowds.
If you're involved in organizing or promoting a local festival, or if you sit on a chamber of commerce or economic development board, this is a funding avenue worth exploring with your community's tourism or parks department.
This funding is available for the fiscal year running July 1, 2026 through June 30, 2027. That gives communities time to plan how to apply for these grants and structure festival budgets accordingly. Festival organizers should begin conversations with their local tourism boards or parks departments now about accessing this pool.
If you're in a qualifying community, reach out to your local tourism board, chamber of commerce, or parks department and ask whether they're aware of this funding and how festival organizers can apply. If you're involved in event planning or promotion, flag this with your committee now so applications can be prepared well in advance of the July 2026 start date.
The provision is real, it's funded, and it's sitting there waiting to be used. The restaurants that benefit most will be those whose owners stay connected to the community groups actually applying for the money.
Source: SB15, Section 23, Page 14; Arkansas Legislature