BELLA VISTA, Ark. (KNWA/KFTA) — A filmmaker is hosting a fundraising gala to raise funds for her feature film “Wonderland Cave,” which celebrates the history of Bella Vista’s 1930s underground jazz club.
Director and Northwest Arkansas native Krista Bradley started developing “Wonderland Cave” in 2019, inspired by her grandfather’s stories about the cave’s history, according to her director’s note on the production’s website.
The film tells the story of Faye Chambers, a third-generation moonshiner aspiring to be a famous jazz singer, with Bradley’s grandfather, Ronald Alderson, contributing crucial historical insights to the script before his death in December 2023. The film has since been dedicated to Alderson.
“The project has already proven to be a catapult for regional tourism, kickstarting artists opportunities in the film industry, and putting the actual Wonderland Cave back in the public spotlight,” Bradley wrote in her note.
This Arkansas woman raced Amelia Earhart and won The event will take place at Meteor Guitar Gallery on Thursday, Oct. 24, from 7:30 to 9:30 p.m. and aims to support production costs for the film, according to a release. The gala will feature live jazz music, dancing, presentations from local historians and exclusive footage from the film.
Tickets for the gala are priced at $100 each, with reserved tables available for donors contributing $500 or more. A portion of the proceeds will benefit Women in Film Arkansas, promoting opportunities for filmmakers and enhancing film education in the state
The film’s proof-of-concept trailer and shorts have already won awards, including:
- Palm Springs International Screenplay Awards :
- Winner of the Sizzle Reel Contest (2023).
- Finalist in the Pitch Deck Contest (2023).
- Fayetteville Film Festival Pitch Contest : Winner (2021).
- Stage 32 1st Annual Historical Screenplay Contest : Semifinalist (2024).
- Wiki Screenplay Competition : Finalist (2024).
- Filmmatic Drama Screenplay Awards : Semifinalist for both Short and Feature categories.
- ScreenCraft Film Fund : Semifinalist (2022).
To learn more about the project, visit www.wonderlandcavefilm.com .
The largest sorority in the U.S. was founded in Arkansas About the Wonderland Cave
Wonderland Cave, located in Bella Vista, Benton County, is a natural underground cavern developed as a tourist attraction by Clarence Andrew (C.A.) Linebarger, opening on March 1, 1930, according to the Encyclopedia of Arkansas . It was added to the National Register of Historic Places on January 1, 1988.
The cave features a large, vaulted chamber approximately 300 feet in, which served as a venue for dances, complete with a band alcove, a ba, and booths, creating an exotic setting for big band and jazz music.
It was famously promoted as “The Largest Natural Place of Amusement in America,” evolving into the Wonderland Underground Nightclub.
After Prohibition ended, C.A. Linebarger founded the Clarence Andrew Linebarger Winery in 1935, producing wine under the Belle of Bella Vista and Wonderland labels. The Linebarger family sold the Bella Vista Summer Resort in 1952 but retained the cave’s ownership.
Arkansas was not always ‘the Natural State’, here were the state’s other nicknames Cooper Communities leased the cave in 1965 but did not renew the lease in 1985 after C.A. Linebarger’s death. In 1988, it was sold to Bentonville businessmen who operated it as a nightclub until its closure in 1995, according to the Encyclopedia of Arkansas .
The cave changed ownership several times, including a sale to a California businessman in 1996, who defaulted on a loan, leading to investor ownership in 2004.
Plans to reopen the cave as a tourist attraction in 2012 did not secure enough funding. Dartmoor Road LLC purchased the cave in 2019, and it has remained closed since.
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