David Mills, (l-r) Levi Wilson, and Hannah Mills are celebrating the Mills’s retirement and Wilson’s new acquisition of Hot Springy Dingy with partners Steven Mitchell and Dan Pierce (not pictured.)
A little horsing around was in order when Levi’s brothers Zeb and Silas Wilson stopped in at Springy Dingy to wish Levi Happy Birthday.
By Alana Pierce
It was 1978 and Hannah Mills was done with Boston weather. She unfolded a map, closed her eyes, and jabbed her finger, allowing fate to choose her new home. Within the year, she sold her business up north and moved to Hot Springs, Arkansas.
Arriving in the Spa City in the middle of the night, she was taken aback. “It had just stormed and the whole city just glistened. I knew I’d found the right place.”
Hannah wasted no time finding a new spot for her business—costume rentals. What would become a staple of this town over the years, the Hot Springy Dingy—was in the dream stage.
The shop’s original location at 126 Central had weathered its own storm. “I pressed my face up to the window,” she recalls. “Inside, the entire floor was buried beneath three inches of mud.” Undeterred, she rented the place and learned two valuable things in the process: Spa City weather is unpredictable, but the generosity of its citizens is not.
“Neighboring shopkeepers came with brooms, buckets, mops, and more,” she notes. Within a few short weeks, the Hot Springy Dingy made its debut. For the next 45 years she, and her husband David Mills, weathered floods, the economy, and tourist fluctuations together. Today, the Hot Springy Dingy still thrives as a go-to spot for locals and tourists alike.
When the original location on Central was heavily damaged by a rockslide in November 1995, the pair spent just two months relocating, and rebuilding their popular business at its current location at 409 Park Avenue.
Now, at age 75, they have their sights set on travel: first to Europe and Asia, then across the US in an RV.
“We just had to find the right new owners before retirement,” she says. “Someone with a passion for the Park Avenue area, for costuming and theater, and someone who could carry the shop into a new generation.”
She says they found the perfect match with new owners, who took possession late last month. Partners Steven Mitchell, Dan Pierce, and Levi Wilson hope to continue and expand upon the legacy built by Hannah and David.
As a final thank you to Hot Springs and all their friends, Hannah and David extend a public invitation to their retirement party on October 5 at 4 PM at Springy Dingy, 409 Park Avenue.
Costumes are . . . optional?
Lana Pierce is a captain with the North Little Rock Fire Department and owner of The RetroFit. Under a pen name, she has been published in over 200 books, journals, and newspapers.
