Marble Falls

Jess Odom, who ran the Dogpatch USA theme park on Highway 7 between Harrison and Jasper, built Marble Falls in 1972 on the hill above the park, hoping to keep business going through the winter. It had snowmade ski slopes, a toboggan run, an ice rink, an inn, condominiums and chalets. It was ready for the 1972 holidays, but a winter storm held the opening until after Christmas. Wikipedia counts it as the only lift-served skiing Arkansas ever had.^1,2,3,4,5

Warm winters through the mid-1970s left the slopes idle much of the time, and the snow machines Odom bought would not work above about 28 degrees. He put the losses at $50,000 to $100,000 a year, and in September 1977 he said the slopes would close for good. Grass skiing, a water slide and a disco were promoted there afterward. Sources differ on the end: Wikipedia's Marble Falls article says lift skiing lasted into the 1980s, and Talk Business says the resort itself closed in the mid-1980s.^1,2,5,6

In 2005 new owners reopened the hotel and convention center as The Hub, a stop for motorcyclists, with the old ice rink as an exhibition hall.⁶