Members of the First Service Bank Travel Club are excited about this year’s slate of trips and registration slots are filling up.

An impressive schedule is planned for First Service Travelers with four extended trips and four one-day trips. Destinations range from Nashville, Tenn., and the Canadian Rockies to Branson and Marlsgate.

Travel club director Ina Standridge said the response to the 2023 day trips and multi-day excursions has been great. “We are off to a wonderful start,” she said. “I’m excited about the trips we have planned this year and so are the club members.” Ina has served as the club director since 2018 along with Marilyn Battles as the assistant director. 

Ina said about 30 have already registered for the trip to Branson in May and the train trip in Northwest Arkansas in October, but it is not too late to sign up.

The First Service Travel Club is designed for customers 50 years and older who have flexible schedules and enjoy travel, social events and unique experiences. The travel club’s mission to identify and plan travel and experiences from local events to international trips that will be engaging and fun for all members. To participate in the travel club, customers are required to have a First Service Bank checking account with $5,000 or more in deposits.

Ina said the travelers enjoy wonderful sights and fun experiences, without having to worry about making arrangements for the trips. “You don’t have to worry about transportation, where to park or where to eat,” Ina said. “Plus, you make new friends. Everyone bonds so well and sometimes there are new, lifelong friendships.”

The schedule of day trips includes:

• Tuesday, May 16 – Branson, Mo. 

Club members will enjoy “Queen Esther” at the Sight & Sound Theatre. “We will get toexperience one of the most riveting Bible stories of the Old Testament as it comes to life,” said Ina. “There will be magnificent sets, special effects and live animals in this original stage production.” 

Breakfast is planned at Ferguson's Country Store and Restaurant near Leslie, with shopping at The Landing in Branson and lunch on your own.

The cost is $145 per person.

• Monday, Aug. 14 – Bentonville/Rogers. 

The travel club will visit the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in Bentonville. Founded by philanthropist and arts patron Alice Walton, the museum’s permanent collection spans five centuries of American artwork through the present. Crystal Bridges takes its name from a nearby natural spring and the bridge construction incorporated in the building’s design. Five miles of the museum’s 120-acre park to Downtown Bentonville.

In addition to the art museum, the trip also includes a tour of The Walmart Museum and lunch at Catfish John’s in Rogers. 

The cost is $100 per person.

• Tuesday, Oct. 17– Van Buren-Winslow train trip.

Club members will travel to Northwest Arkansas for a three-hour, 70-mile excursion by train through the ruggedly beautiful Boston Mountain range of the Ozarks. The train will travel over three valley trestles and through the 1,700-foot Winslow tunnel. “We will enjoy some of the most breathtaking scenery in The Natural State,” Ina said.

Train departure is at 11 a.m. and a box lunch will be served.

The cost is $150 per person.

• Tuesday, Dec. 12–Marlsgate Plantation at Scott. 

Travelers will tour the grounds, enjoy lunch and see beautiful Christmas decorations as they step into the living history and legacy that began in 1850 with the creation of the Marlsgate Plantation.

The cost is $130 per person.

How to register

For more information on the club and travel opportunities, call 501.514.2340 or visit firstservicebank.com/about/travelers. 

“We would love for you to join us on our next adventure,” said Ina. “We have some great trips planned with something for everyone.”