TEXARKANA, Ark. – With this week known as National Tourism Week, the Red River Welcome Center on US Highway 71 north of here is currently showing some of the historic, educational, relaxing, and spiritual qualities of the region.

The center invited representatives from Washington, the Southwestern Arkansas Regional Archives in Arkansas. Columbus, Arkansas Rick Evans Grandview Prairie Conservation Center; Pike County, Ark. Crater of Diamonds State Park; and members of the Christian Motorcycle Association in New Boston, Texas, Chapter # 1374, to speak to travelers passing the relatively new tourist building Thursday.

Casey Hardaway, a regional educator from southwest Arkansas at the Rick Evans Conservation Center, which teaches outdoor conservation programs to public school students, said the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission maintains at least 5,000 acres of prairie, 400 of which are direct to the center.

To draw the commission’s attention to efforts to preserve the soil, Hardaway brought a 5-month-old alligator to the center, but advised that she be there for observation rather than petting.

“I decided to call her Allie,” she said.

Waymon Cox, a park interpreter for the Crater of Diamonds, said the park, which opened in 1972, has been one of the state’s most popular tourist attractions for nearly 50 years.

“I even made sure I brought a package of diamond-bearing soil with me,” said Cox.

SARA Archives Manager Melissa Nesbitt, so the organization to this day, now houses more than 1,000 cubic feet of historical archives, at least 2,000 historical reference works, and more than 4,000 rolls of microfilm.

“These archives not only contain county records, but also many records of civil war military service,” she said.

Arthur Harneman, a member of the Christian Motorcycle Association, said his group had a special kinship with the travel center.

“We want to stop and pray for everyone who is traveling because we want them to be safe,” he said. “This is a great opportunity for ministers.”

(The Red River Welcome Center is located at 12555 N. State Line Avenue, about 10 miles north of here and just on this side of the Red River Bridge.)