Since the closing of the original Lake Fort Smith State Park was the cover story for this magazine’s very first issue in August 2000, I was hoping to attend the formal opening of the $22 million new and relocated park last month.

My husband, Frank, wanted to go, too, but it just didn’t work out for us to make it to the June 19 festivities. Everyone I talked to the next day who had been there, described the speeches and the event as “wonderful” – especially when they got to the part about the overlook with the gorgeous view in back of the park’s new Visitor’s Center being named in honor of the late, beloved, Polly Crews.

During a State Parks, Recreation and Travel Commission meeting at the park the morning of the re-opening celebration, commissioner Jim Gaston moved that “it would be an honor on behalf of the entire commission” to honor former commissioner Crews by naming the scenic handicap accessible site the “Polly Crews Overlook.” Gaston’s motion also requested the installment of an interpretive plaque at the site in memory of Polly. The motion was unanimously approved.

Two days later, Frank and I drove up to see the park, which was abuzz with swimmers, boaters, campers and visitors. At the visitor’s center, people on foot and with walkers and wheelchairs were steadily traveling the 200-yard paved path to the overlook.

We immediately wished we had brought along the wheelchair Frank never uses anymore. A 400-yard jaunt (round trip) was still a little beyond his ability, so he stopped about halfway to the overlook and talked to park interpreter Jay Schneider while I continued.

C.J. and Dianna Anderson of Van Buren were enjoying the overlook’s view with their grandson, Bryce Duquette, and didn’t mind me taking a photo.

The water below us was as blue as the sky and in it we could see the fragment of Lake Shepherd Springs dam left when that lake was merged with Lake Fort Smith to form one big reservoir for Fort Smith’s water supply. Towering above the lake as far as we could see were the lush green forests of the Boston Mountains. No wonder somedy was quoted saying during the official reopening of the park, “Miss Polly is surely looking down on us today, and smiling.”

One of the best deals Fort Smith ever got from Little Rock was Polly. Once the dynamic, irresistibly charming single mom had settled here and adopted us, she spent almost as much time tending to the aesthetic needs of Fort Smith area residents she did working and caring for her five children. She became a popular television and radio personality, civic leader and director of the Fort Smith Arts Center director.

Polly was a State Parks, Recreation and Travel Commissioner for more than a decade before her death in 2006 and had at least two other structures named in her honor – The Polly Crews Gallery of the Fort Smith Art Center, which she helped establish in the city’s Belle Grove Historic District, and the Polly Crews Barrier Free Cabin at Lake Catherine, the first State Parks handicap accessible cabin with its own barrier free fishing pier.

State Parks Director Greg Butts and Department of Parks and Tourism executive director Richard Davies State Parks say that Polly was an outstanding advocate for projects in her “own backyard.” But she was also passionate about preserving and improving all the state’s parks – and adamant that they be accessible to all residents and visitors, including those with disabilities. Polly brought out the best in everyone, her peers agree.

Soon, a plaque with Polly’s name and image will be fixed to a large native boulder at the overlook, where Fort Smith tourism director Claude Legris hopes those who never met Polly can get to know her as they look at another one of her state parks dreams that came true. And while she would not like all the praise and attention, Polly would certainly love the view from her latest tribute.

Linda Seubold, editor of Entertainment Fort Smith Magazine, can be reached at lindaseubold@efortsmith.com. Read her archived columns and articles online.

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