AY About You February 2023

MY LA GOS MY WA Y

CAVIAR COLLECTIONS

Make 2023 Your Year for the

Susan with beautiful No Prep Veneers

Beautiful Smile You

With 40 years experience providing clinical excellence you know you’re in good hands. Dr. Wyant is Arkansas’ only Accredited Fellow Cosmetic Dentist.

Credentials, experience and caring concern for each individual patient insures that you’ll receive exceptional esthetic results regardless of the challenges presented. Learn more how Dr. Wyant can help you have an incredible smile by calling today for your complimentary smile consultation.

501.819.3608

ON THE COVER

Vibrant and colorful, the interiors and exteriors of River Rock Home Builders – owned by Keith and Patty Wingfield –are nothing but dreamy, lively creations. Read more: page 18.

Photo courtesy River Rock Builders.

Get Started with Pre-K Get Started with Pre-K

The Pulaski County Special School District is committed to providing a quality and equitable education to students in Pre-K through 12th grade. PCSSD’s Pre-K program is a free, standards-based program that aims to build strong foundational skills that help prepare students for kindergarten.

“In Pre-K, students learn how to be a student and develop a love for learning,” said Joe T. Robinson Elementary Pre-K teacher, Ms. Amy Bubbus DeCastro. “They develop important social skills like communicating, sharing, and taking turns. Children also go through a reading readiness curriculum where they learn letters and phonics. They develop math skills such as counting and shapes. Developing fine motor and gross motor skills is so important for pre-k children, and we practice these skills daily.”

Pre-K programs are available at 14 PCSSD elementary schools: Baker Elementary, Cato Elementary, College Station Elementary, Crystal Hill Elementary, Daisy Bates Elementary, Harris Elementary, Joe T. Robinson Elementary, Landmark Elementary, Lawson Elementary, Oakbrooke Elementary, Oak Grove Elementary, Sherwood Elementary, Sylvan Hills Elementary, William Jefferson Clinton Elementary.

“PCSSD’s Pre-K program is one of top Pre-K programs in the state and as teachers we take a lot of pride in that,” said Sherwood Elementary Pre-K teacher Tiffany Darr. “PCSSD is at the forefront of early childhood education and we are fortunate to get extensive training opportunities to help further our education. PCSSD Pre-K classrooms create an atmosphere of love and respect for all students and with our center-based approach to learning students are taught in a way that is developmentally most beneficial to them.”

Pre-K teachers across the District work hard to ensure a positive and loving learning environment for their students.

“I love children, and I love to see them learn,” said Daisy Bates Elementary Pre-K teacher, Ms. Jennifer Martin. “Really I want to set an environment of education for these students that is fun, encouraging, and challenging. I want them to love school. So if I can set a positive example for these Pre-K students, next year they will want more.”

“Pre-K teaches children about what it means to ‘work together,’ what it means to be a friend, and how a teacher really cares for you, and most importantly, how to be a friend to others,” said Oak Grove Elementary Pre-K teacher, Ms. Kim Lee. “This is the first experience for Pre-K children, so Pre-K builds a child’s confidence through consistency, structure, creativity, and positivity. That is why children in Pre-K love school. Children learn that their classroom is a safe place they can learn.”

ABOUT PCSSD

In order to attend Pre-K within the Pulaski County Special School District, families must meet at least one of the eligibility requirements issued by the Arkansas Better Chance (ABC) program, which can be found at www.pcssd.org.

Registration for PCSSD’s Pre-K program is now open and can also be found at www.pcssd.org. If you have specific questions related to PCSSD’s Pre-K program, please contact the Pre-K Department at 501-234-2065.

Pulaski County Special School District spans more than 600 square miles in central Arkansas and requires highly skilled and passionate personnel to adapt educational policies and personalization to 26 schools. Every school is accredited by the Arkansas State Board of Education. PCSSD has served schools across Pulaski County since July 1927.

PCSSD is committed to creating a nationally recognized school district that assures that all students achieve at their maximum potential through collaborative, supportive and continuous efforts of all stakeholders.

PRESIDENT & PUBLISHER

Heather Baker hbaker@aymag.com

EDITOR AT-LARGE

Dwain Hebda

EDITORIAL OPERATIONS MANAGER

Jessica Everson jeverson@aymag.com

ASSOCIATE EDITOR

Sarah Coleman scoleman@aymag.com

MANAGING DIGITAL EDITOR

Kellie McAnulty kmcanulty@aymag.com

ONLINE WRITER

Kilee Hall khall@aymag.com

STAFF WRITERS

John Callahan jcallahan@aymag.com

Mak Millard mmillard@aymag.com

Katie Zakrzewski katie@aymag.com

PRODUCTION MANAGER

Mike Bedgood mbedgood@aymag.com

GRAPHIC DESIGNER

Lora Puls lpuls@aymag.com

ACCOUNT EXECUTIVES

Linda Burlingame lindaaymag@aol.com

Tonya Higginbotham thigginbotham@aymag.com

Mary Funderburg mary@aymag.com

Tonya Mead tmead@aymag.com

Amanda Moore amoore@aymag.com

Colleen Gillespie colleen@aymag.com

ADVERTISING COORDINATOR

Rachel Mercer ads@aymag.com

CIRCULATION

Ginger Roell groell@aymag.com

CONTRIBUTORS

Jenny Boulden, Chris Davis, Amy Gramlich, Cassidy Kendal, Jamie Lee, Sarah Russell

RESEARCH ASSISTANT

Lexie Welborn

ADMINISTRATION

Casandra Moore billing@aymag.com

Vicki Vowell, CEO

TO ADVERTISE: 501-244-9700 or hbaker@aymag.com

TO SUBSCRIBE: 501-244-9700 or aymag.com

Please submit press releases & news to press@aymag.com

Joe David Rice, born in Paragould and reared in Jonesboro, probably knows Arkansas as well as anyone alive. The former owner of an outfitting business on the Buffalo National River and the state’s former tourism director, his "Arkansas Backstories" is published by the Butler Center.

Amy Gramlich is a wife, mom, blogger, and public school educator, proudly planted in Arkansas. She loves to celebrate all occasions big and small with fun outfits, creative recipes, and fresh home decor (which must always include plants). She enjoys all the details that go into planning the next trip or party

Cassidy Kendall, born and raised in Camden, Arkansas, currently lives and works in Hot Springs as a full-time freelance journalist. In the past year has published her first book, 100 Things to Do in Hot Springs Before You Die. She graduated from the University of Central Arkansas with a Bachelor of Arts in Print Journalism in 2018.

Julie Craig began her magazine career while living in New York City as an intern at Seventeen. With fashion and home design as her forte for the past 15 years, Julie is a blogger, writer and editor who has reported stories for Us Weekly and written about and photographed New York Fashion Week.

Chris Davis was born and raised in Sherwood, but now resides in North Little Rock with his wife and seven year old son. When his son was born, his wife asked for a new camera to take pictures of their little one. From there his love of photography grew and he is proud to be one of the newest contributing photographers.

Becky Gillette, based in Eureka Springs, is a freelance writer/ photographer whose work has been published in about 50 magazines and in newspapers nationwide. Her articles have appeared in Ladies Home Journal, Organic Gardening, Utne Reader, E, The Environmental Magazine, Arkansas Medical News, BioScience and Stockman Grass Farmer.

Jamie Lee, born and raised in Southwest Louisiana, now lives in Little Rock with her husband, daughter, 2 dogs and a cat. Jamie is a published senior photographer and shoots everything from portraits to branding to food. She has over 15 years of experience in the photography business and over 25 years in the travel and tourism industry.

Jenny Boulden has been writing professionally for more than 25 years. She now works at Arkansas Blue Cross and Blue Shield but still enjoys freelance writing for AY and other publications. Her creative focus is writing about people, film, books and food, some of her favorite things.

is $20 for one

(12 issues). Single issues are available upon request for $5. For subscriptions, inquiries or address changes, call 501-244-9700. The contents of AY are copyrighted

in any

without

Articles in AY should not be considered specific advice, as individual circumstances vary. Products and services advertised in the magazine are not necessarily endorsed by AY Please recycle this magazine.

written permission of the

With Love

I don’t know that there is a better song for this month of love than “Endless Love,” the 1981 love ballad by Lionel Richie and Diana Ross. The beautiful ballad was ringing through my ears as we put the finishing touches on this issue, and I hope that the same sentimental spirit finds you as you read through it.

Of course, there is Valentine’s Day, and we brought back our annual Valentine’s Day Giveaway for the occasion. Make sure to visit aymag.com from Feb. 1-Feb. 14 to enter to win fabulous prizes from our amazing clients like Dr. Suzanne Yee, Tipton & Hurst and Fort Thompson. One of my all-time favorite restaurants, Red Oak Steakhouse at Saracen Casino Resort in Pine Bluff, is giving away a $600 gift card for you and your honey to experience its exquisite cuisine. These are just a few gifts that we will be giving away for the perfect Valentine’s Day.

Can you believe it’s already time to think about spring break? Our Spring Break Travel special section includes a few off-the-beaten-path places to take your special someone, your family or even yourself to retreat and escape the anxieties of the “real world.” We also have AY, About You Magazine’s incredible Travel Editor Joe David Rice exploring the Cossatot River State Park & Natural Area in southwest Arkansas. Rugged and remote, it offers excellent hiking experiences and photographic opportunities in our fantastic Natural State.

This month also brings the reflective celebration of Black History Month, and AY shares a journey down the Arkansas Civil Rights Trail by Dr. John A. Kirk. This feature covers Arkansas civil rights history in every corner of the state, from the Delta to Fort Smith. Points of interest in this story include Central High School/integration in other Arkansas schools, “Jet” and “Ebony” publisher/founder/Arkansas native John H. Johnson, Memphis/West Memphis/MLK assassination to Delta Rhythm & Bayous Highway (now runs into Mississippi) and so much more.

As we come out of the pandemic, last year’s pool craze in the “home” world is still in full effect. What else is hot and happening in home renovation and building this year in Arkansas? Well, you will have to read our story to find out. Our cover story by Julie Craig features several River Rock Builders’ homes. Then, we have a special feature on the 71st Annual Central Arkansas Home & Garden Show, from Feb. 11th to 12th. Produced by the Home Builders Association of Greater Little Rock, the Central Arkansas Home & Garden Show will take place at the Arkansas State Fair Grounds. Previously known as the Little Rock Home Show, the Central Arkansas Home & Garden Show features two days with experts in home improvement, remodeling, design and garden expertise. Mark your calendars!

And it wouldn’t be right to discuss the topic of love without talking about food. This month, we’ve created a Romantic Restaurants List with some of my favorite restaurants around the state. Make sure to tune into KARK every Wednesday at 6:40 a.m. and KARK’s “Arkansas Style” at 2 p.m. for “The Bucket List” food segment with Nichole Niemann and me. You don’t want to miss it!

As usual, the list goes on and on, and this issue is packed with great content that we are all proud to bring you. Enjoy!

Heather Baker, President & Publisher hbaker@aymag.com / heatherbaker_ar

READER FEEDBACK

HISTORIC OHIO CLUB OF HOT SPRINGS CHANGING OWNERSHIP

“As long as the cooks stay!!! Food is amazing!!”

Matthew Roy Ricketts

ARKANSAS NATIVE ASHLEY MCBRYDE COMING TO EL DORADO

“My friend Ashley McBryde. She’s an amazing singer. Arkansas Strong Girl.”

Jennifer Morris

DAVID’S BURGERS IN WEST LITTLE ROCK IS RELOCATING

“I always love the atmosphere there! Best chicken sandwich around.”

Sheree Deann

CONWAY TRANSITIONAL HOUSING PROGRAM TO START IN LATE 2023

“Proud of you Phillip!!”

Healthy Chew

ZAZA SALADS HIT THE SPOT ON THE HEALTHY EATS BUCKET LIST

“This place is awesome.”

Pat Bullard

NEW CRUMBL LOCATION COMING SOON TO NORTH LITTLE ROCK

“Finally, I have been waiting for a while.”

Penny Womack Clay

ARKANSAS BACKSTORIES: TURKEY SCRATCH

“Know it well. My dad started to school there in about 36-7.”

Cheryl Jaggars

THE PEOPLE BEHIND YOUR NEWS: BROOKE BUCKNER

“We miss Ed! Glad you’re able to carry the legacy! Let him know Arkansans will never forget the legendary Ed Buckner!”

Logan Wortham

TRENDING ON AYMAG.COM

David’s Burger in West Little Rock is Relocating

Jadayia Kursh: The First Black Rodeo Queen in Arkansas

Crumbl Location Coming Soon to North Little Rock

New Stoby’s Face Behind the Place

The Last TCBY in Little Rock Closes

Historic Ohio Club of Hot Springs Changing Ownership

Jadayia Kursh, a Fort Smith native, has built an incredible career as the first Black rodeo queen in Arkansas.

David’s Burgers located at 101 S. Bowman Road in Little Rock is moving to a new location across the street, in front of JJ’s.

KARK’s investigative reporter and breaking news anchor Mitch McCoy is well-versed in news and broadcasting, as well as its various methods of delivery.

It’s time to get to know the heart and soul behind every restaurant experience: the server. Here’s our Q&A with Ty Collins of Bar Louie in Little Rock.

Discover the great outdoors as you journey along the Lost Canyon Cave & Nature Trail at Top of the Rock Ozarks Heritage Preserve. Following your journey, take in the views of the Cathedral of Nature before exploring the Ancient Ozarks Natural History Museum. Tickets available online at: topoftherock.com

5Top you just can't miss!

“DISNEY’S ALADDIN”

Feb. 1-5

Robinson Center // Little Rock

The hit Broadway musical, “Disney’s Aladdin,” will show at the Robinson Center this February, featuring unforgettable beauty, magic, comedy and a promised breathtaking spectacle. The musical features all of the movie’s best hits and new music written by Alan Menken.

“MOULIN ROUGE! THE MUSICAL”

Feb. 9-19

Walton Arts Center // Fayetteville

A winner of multi-Tony Awards winner, “Moulin Rouge! The Musical” is a must-see for Broadway enthusiasts. Based on splendor, romance, glitz, grandeur and glory, the musical is based off of the 2001 film, “Moulin Rouge.”

71ST ANNUAL CENTRAL ARKANSAS HOME & GARDEN SHOW

Feb. 11-12

Arkansas State Fairgrounds // Little Rock

Produced by the Home Builders Association of Greater Little Rock, the Central Arkansas Home & Garden Show will take place at the Arkansas State Fair Grounds. Previously known as the Little Rock Home Show, the Central Arkansas Home & Garden Show features two days with experts in home improvement, remodeling, design and garden expertise.

BALLET ARKANSAS: “THE SLEEPING BEAUTY”

Feb. 15-19

UA-PTC CHARTS // North Little Rock

One of the top 100 ballet companies, Ballet Arkansas, will be performing the classic, The Sleeping Beauty, this February. Featuring a cast of nearly 100 community performers, Sleeping Beauty has received accolades for its breathtaking choreography, ornate sets and costumes and storytelling.

DWIGHT YOAKAM LIVE IN CONCERT WITH JD CLAYTON

Feb. 17

Simmons Bank Arena // North Little Rock

Dwight Yoakam will be bringing his tour to North Little Rock this February, featuring Arkansan talent, JD Clayton. A winner of multiple Grammy Awards, Yoakam also has received the Americana Music Association’s Artist of the Year Award.

CELEBRATE CELEBRATE A CENTURY A CENTURY

OF ARKANSAS STATE PARKS OF ARKANSAS STATE PARKS

Whether you’re into biking, hiking and kayaking or visiting historic sites, there are FREE meaningful experiences waiting for you at 52 Arkansas State Parks across The Natural State. Celebrate 100 years of adventures with us — plan your trip today at ArkansasStateParks.com.

Pick up your Arkansas State Parks Passport at a visitor center, get a stamp at each park you visit and earn rewards.

Built With A Love for

Nature

By JULIE CRAIG

Amazing exteriors are the specialty of River Rock Builders. The company draws inspiration from natural surroundings, led by husband and wife owners, Keith and Patty Wingfield.

One of River Rock’s dreamiest projects rests on 11 acres in Searcy. The home of Ben and Alex Hollowell, it is truly a majestical wonder with 7,000 square feet of heated and cooled space that’s all about location, location, location.

“We used a combination of masonry brick veneer and stucco to create a unique Neo-Colonial architectural style, blending both Georgian and Federal architecture in a wooded setting,” said Lindsey Raney of Lindsey Raney Interiors. “These exterior materials are durable and sustainable and low maintenance.”

River Rock builds using only sustainable design and materials, and this home is no exception.

“This is the second home we’ve built to a net-zero rating … and we have followed LEED guidelines so hopefully we’ll achieve a gold rating once the final submittals have been reviewed and checked,” Keith said.

Inside, the stately entry offers a crossbeam coffered ceiling detail that is mirrored by the wood floor inlay. The large-scale light fixture adds to the grand impact of the entry, setting the tone for the home inside and out. A beautiful Calcutta white quartz slab was chosen for the kitchen countertops, paired with a subtle light cyan elongated picket tile backsplash.

Quartz was selected for its durability and beautiful tones that accent the spacious bath area. A tonal subway tile installed in a herringbone pattern gives the shower an elevated feel. And, of course, LED bulbs fill every space for ample and efficient lighting.

Because no two ideas are ever the same, River Rock caters each design to the homeowner’s exact needs by using software that gives clients a unique 3D design experience. This allows them to virtually walk the space of their dream home before it becomes reality.

“We’re able to show the volume of the space while we’re building and designing the space, and customers love it,” Keith said. “It’s so important because most people who aren’t experienced in building can’t just take a 2D flat piece of paper and see it in 3D.”

A massive portfolio of one unique project after another makes River Rock Builders true royalty when it comes to out-of-the-box, eco-friendly designs.

In fact, Keith said, River Rock was the first in Central Arkansas to imitate a design-build concept. “We take plans already designed, but we also offer [design-build] to help people who may not want to get a plan designer involved,” he said. “We’re able to give them preliminary work and show them right then what we’re able to do as well as previous projects that demonstrate our abilities.”

“In my role at River Rock, I not only provide customers with professional design assistance but also aid in the process of designing the home in a 3D format,” said Bridget McKenzie, project design coordinator and ASID interior designer. “Our clients can completely visualize how their new home will look when built.”

Keith has attained the certifications of Graduate Builder, Green Professional and LEED AP and has grown River Rock into the most active Energy Star® Builder in Central Arkansas. The company is behind the third-in-the-world single-family home to meet LEED v4.1 platinum standards and built the only net-zero home in Arkansas, which means balancing between the power a home needs and the renewable energy that can be generated to meet those needs.

This intense focus on green building practices is reflected in the company’s team. Ryan Renard, project manager, graduated from the University of Arkansas with a sustainability minor from the Fay Jones School of Architecture and Design.

“It’s one of the principles that first attracted me to River Rock Builders,” Renard said. “It’s easy to be ‘green,’ but it’s another thing to make it a creed and mindset that we bring to each build.”

“We try new products and new methods on each build to get better, and we test each and every home to make sure we are verifying the effectiveness and not using products or methods without a measurable result.”

Another project in Maumelle featured a number of specialty hold-down devices on all corners and both window and door openings to properly sustain wind. The team had a challenge of cutting off the top of the ridge to build the home, resulting in an eye-catching exterior setup.

“[Difficult terrain projects] do take more time, but once you get used to that, it makes it somewhat of a niche,” Keith said.

Located in west Little Rock’s private, exclusive Belle Pointe addition just north of the Villages of Wellington, is a multilevel project that features decks for days and a spectacular view at one of the highest points in the city.

“We worked with the owners to create their special space using the awesome views and creating the outdoor space that really makes the home unique,” Keith said.

The walk-out basement home consists of two levels, mirroring the hills of west Little Rock and western Pulaski County.

“This type of design is very much our wheelhouse of typical projects, as we have a lot of sloping topography.” Keith said. “Many clients like the walk-out basement space as another living level.”

Completing the awe-inspiring, multilevel deck is a luxury pool, constructed by Diamond Pools. The pool is complemented by abundant natural stone, providing a rustic and natural experience alongside the vintage French Country style of the home.

Custom-cut glass mullions match the shape of the front door, making for an out-of-this-world dining room window design. “It’s a very large piece of glass requiring very precise installation,” Keith said.

Materials such as glass are an important aspect of the company’s green mindset, especially the new generation of materials offering far more than meets the eye.

“What many customers don’t know is the improvement of the efficiency in glass protects their furniture, saves on their utility bills and allows for the ultimate comfort in their new home,” Keith

said. “Premium Low-E glass with argon gas between the double panes provides protection from the heat of the summer and loss of heat in the winter.

“We understand the availability of better solar heat gain coefficients in glass and can explain it to our customers in a way they can understand. We also provide shading for much of the rear glass with overhangs. Our architectural software can show the shading on any given day or time of the day, so we can customize the overhang and roof along with the glass. It’s all about the building science and our understanding of it.”

The team’s building mastery is showcased by another stunning home build located in Ferndale, described by homeowners Mary Jane and Mike Cole as their “little slice of Heaven.” Soaking in the spectacular view from the very high ridge that looks both north and south, it’s clear to see how it gets this name.

The entire project took about 19 months, due to extreme logistical challenges. The team could only bring in fill materials in half loads

and concrete in six cubic yard bunches. The tough logistics led to one of the home’s greatest assets of all — the exterior — where landscaping features scenic highlights from the outcropping of rock placed on the embankment in the ridge to a peaceful running stream and small pond.

To give the owners a stone-and-wood siding look with a modern exterior, the team combined natural stone from Schwartz Stone in Scranton with a new reverse board and batten siding product from Louisiana Pacific called Smart Siding. Smart Siding comes pre-finished with a wood stain, and the reverse board and batten mirrors a cool, lapped horizontal siding. Thin veneer stone was cut into various rectangular shapes, then tumbled to take off the sharp edges. The blend of the two products looks like nature pulled it all together.

“If it’s not sustainable, River Rock doesn’t do it,” Keith said. “We use high-performance

materials like Smart Siding, which is an engineered wood siding with a 50-year warranty. The stone is a natural product and extremely durable.”

The entire building assembly from the foundation to the tip of the roof is foam-filled to provide maximum efficiency to the walls and attic.

The team also used an exterior sheathing product manufactured by Huber Engineered Woods called Zip-R. It has an integrated moisture and air barrier membrane that is attached to the exterior surface of the sheathing. In addition, a half-inch closed-cell foam board insulation is laminated to the interior side of the sheathing, providing a thermal break between the wood studs and the wood.

“This thermal break not only adds the wall R-value but substantially reduces the thermal transfer that a wood-to-wood connection allows,” Keith pointed out.

Once inside, the mesmerizing two-story living room includes a circular stairwell that wraps around the elevator, creating a gap from the circle to the flat wall.

“It’s two stories tall, and the artwork that hangs in this gap is really cool,” Keith said. “As a bonus, the semicircle is formed on the exterior as well and is visible in the front elevation as a circular feature of the home.”

Additional chandeliers and pendant lights make for a modern and elegant ambiance throughout. The interior features subtle hues of mostly white and light grays brought to life by both Patty Wingfield and interior designer Carol Lantz. The interior doors and kitchen cabinetry were stained to look weathered.

“Our ultimate goal is always the same on every project, and that is to make the customer happy. We want customers to have the home of their dreams,” Keith said.

Homeowners Ann and Dr. Rick Owen researched their share of environmental homebuilding components before embarking on a dream journey with River Rock Builders to update their Little Rock Heights home. In this instance, “update” meant the home was completely torn down and rebuilt from the ground up to include a plethora of features meant to reduce its carbon footprint.

The finished product not only showcases eco-friendly at its finest, but truly exemplifies how sustainable design enhances comfort and livability in any home, from landscaping and irrigation to countertops and lighting.

Forty-two solar PV panels produce enough energy to power the 2,662-square-foot residence while interior green features include Energy Star appliances, WaterSense fixtures, recycled glass countertops and LED lighting.

In addition to the materials used in the American Craftsman-style project, various environmentally friendly building principles were also employed. In replacing the home, great care was taken to salvage fixtures, appli-

ances and materials. During the landscaping process, the family decided to forego a lawn in favor of permeable surfaces, thereby reducing water and chemical usage. Native plants adorn the property with eight rain barrels used for irrigation. In addition, the driveway is filled with porous concrete to curtail excessive stormwater runoff.

The electric color palette throughout the home lends an aura of pure happiness from purple to lime green to aqua blue and orange, contrasting with bamboo flooring and porcelain tile. The roomy and eye-catching kitchen island bursts with color from the addition of six bright orange barstools. Recycled glass countertops Vetrazzo are used throughout.

“It’s another way to recycle and reuse materials over and over again,” Keith said. “These surfaces come in many, many different patterns and colors, and Ann’s kitchen counters are very bright and colorful, in many ways expressing her cheerful attitude of life.”

The owners had the goal of achieving LEED platinum rating through the United States Green Building Council, a daunting goal for any building project. Yet that’s just what the project achieved.

“When I found out we would get the platinum rating and told Ann, she was beyond excited to know that their home had

made it to the top of ratings,” Keith said. “What we didn’t expect was how far we would go with the project, winning Arkansas Green Home of the Year and then finally the National Award for Project of the Year.”

Building an award-winning green home is always a fulfilling process for the team, but as Keith said, the real satisfaction comes from constructing a home that is earth-friendly.

“I wish more Arkansans would wake up and understand what a clean, energy-efficient and healthy home they can live in by practicing just a few of these principles while building a new home,” Keith said.

“I’m very satisfied to know that I have customers who understand the efficiency and sustainability in their home. I want them to tell everybody they know that you can live in comfort, with clean air, at a fraction of the cost of your neighbor. It takes an investment but really, what doesn’t?”

Keep it Classic

Debi Davis on Bucking Trends and Building a Timeless Space

Making a house into a home comes with enough challenges as it is, but against a barrage of constantly changing trends and advice, it can be hard to sort the tried-and-true from yesterday’s news. That’s not even to mention the hurdles (read: wear and tear) that family life can bring to bear on a space.

As Coco Chanel once said, “Fashion changes, but style endures.” But how can you make sure your spaces will still be au courant by the time the paint dries — and stay that way until after the kids move out?

That is where the expertise of Debi Davis comes in. Davis has been creating classic looks for clients all over Arkansas and across the country for 27 years. Her namesake firm, Debi Davis Interior Design, is known for its signature light color palettes and has earned a number of awards from publications including Southern Living, Southern Home, Southern Lady and At Home in Arkansas. Davis has been previously named a Woman to Watch in Arkansas and her firm has repeatedly been voted Best Interior Designer by AY About You readers.

Davis initially honed her style in the fashion industry as the owner of a high-end boutique in Little Rock. After eight years, she sold her business and went to work for an interior designer, all the while refining her natural-born taste into a true eye for aesthetics. Today, Davis and her team work in a plethora of styles, taking the time to build individualized looks for each client that are equal parts livable and beautiful. Her other business, Reborn Relics, brings old-world designs to a new-world audience through custom reproductions of 18th and 19th century antiques.

AY About You sat down with Davis to discuss her firm’s winning approach. From inspiration to editing, from shopping to space saving, here are a few tips you can take home now and for years to come.

By MAK MILLARD // Photos courtesy of DEBI DAVIS

AY: What are the best ways to find inspiration when designing a space?

Davis: When starting a project, I look at the style of the house. Then I see what items we are keeping, if any, and many times this gives us our direction.

AY: Should you have a decor shopping strategy or is it OK to see what strikes you in the moment?

Davis: I tell our clients, “Do not shop randomly.” A lamp may look great in-store, but does it work with the table it will be sitting on? Have a plan for your space; we give our clients three choices on most of the pieces going in the room. That way, we know they will work with each other no matter what.

AY: How do you design with “timeless” in mind?

Davis: I do not like fads. A lot of the time when you design based on a trend, by the time you finish the project, the trend has evolved. I respect the trends in color, wood tones and chandelier styles, but our clients are not just adding one piece to a room; we are doing a total look for the space. We use a lot of various shades of blue, ivory and white. These colors are very safe and long-lasting.

AY: Is there a rule about how many colors you use? Pieces of furniture? Artwork on a wall?

Davis: There are no set rules on items in a room but I do tell clients to declut-

Davis and her team work in a plethora of styles, taking the time to build individualized looks for each client that are equal parts livable and beautiful.

ter. Every inch of a space does not have to be filled.

AY: How important is filling a space versus feeling too empty?

Davis: I love a cozy room, not a stark one. I do not like a room to look like you just moved in, or like you started the room and did not finish it.

AY: If your space is tiny, how do you make the most of it and make it look more spacious?

Davis: I would use lighter colors on the walls and furniture. I would also use mirrors anywhere I could, or put a mirror on an entire wall.

AY: Can you use different themes for different rooms or should it all tie together?

Davis: It is important for the house to flow room to room. I never have one color story in one room and a different look in the next. The dining room, great rooms and entrance should flow – children’s rooms are always an exception.

AY: What’s the key to having nice decor when you have children, and how can you incorporate memories in a stylish way?

Davis: Number one, we are lucky to have family-friendly, high-performance material. Everything can look great while still being comfortable and livable. We love family pictures, but if your kids are teenagers, down come the baby

pictures. We make and frame black-and-white photos of kids, pets and family vacations. In the past, we have also put items from a parent or grandparent in a shadow box frame and used that in a built-in shelf area.

AY: What elements of a room do you recommend investing in?

Davis: Rugs, because they anchor a room.

AY: How do you go back and edit once you’ve designed?

Davis: These days, when I am finished with a room, I take a picture of the space to look at. I do this instead of standing in the room because you get a better overview of the space and can see the scale and flow better.

home

River Rock Builders

With the OnShow

By DWAIN HEBDA

For years, a visit to the Central Arkansas Home Show has been a living idea book for homeowners looking to build or remodel their home, offering looks at the latest in design, home components, building products and technology. So, it’s only fitting that after decades in existence, the 2023 version of the show is showing off some new upgrades of its own.

Now named the Central Arkansas Home & Garden Show, slated for Feb. 11 and 12 at the Arkansas State Fairgrounds in Little Rock, the event is offering an expanded range of vendors to address projects both indoors and out.

“One thing that we love about our show, as I like to tell people, is it’s a one-stop shop for all things home-related, and garden is part of that,” said Meredith Townsend, executive officer of the Home Builders Association of Greater Little Rock which puts on the event. “Several people who’ve come to the show in past years have asked why we don’t have a garden component.”

Until recently, part of the answer to that was relatively simple: The market already had a show addressing everything to do with the yard and gardening. The long-running Arkansas Flower and Garden Show, which debuted in 1992, was a popular draw and establishing a competing show unnecessarily didn’t make much sense, Townsend said.

That all changed in 2021, when organizers of the Arkansas Flower and Garden Show announced it was ending the event due to declining attendance and rising costs. The demise of that annual happening created an opportunity, Townsend said.

“Out of respect for that show we didn’t really want to dip our toes into that, but with that show being no longer, it gave us an opportunity to go ahead and start expanding into that area,” she said. “It will take us a little bit to grow that side of the show, but what I’ve always said about our show is it’s all the places that you need to go to, all under one roof. Rather than spending time and weeks and a lot of hours going all over town, all those resources are in one place for you.”

The addition of the garden vendors comes at a critical time for the Central Arkansas Home & Garden Show, as it continues to recoup and build attendance. After years

“Every person that is there is looking for home solutions.”

where 3,000 to 4,000 people visiting the show was routine, COVID delivered a gutpunch that still smarts.

“We actually held the 2020 show, which was scheduled in February,” Townsend said. “Then, in 2021 we had a show, very small. We pushed it back to late, late spring right after the Governor had given the okay to have large gatherings. Even though we had massive health department restrictions, we attempted it and it wasn’t the best attended show.

“The same thing happened last year. It wasn’t the best attended show, but we gave it our all and we got positive feedback from a lot of our vendors, even though the attendance wasn’t massive.”

Townsend said one of the things that has sustained the show through the leaner recent attendance has been the intentional mindset of the people who do show up.

“One thing I like to tell our vendors is that even when we were trying to do the show during COVID, which wasn’t fun in itself, this isn’t a show where people come just to kill time,” she said. “They’re purposeful; they’re not sitting around on a Saturday saying, ‘Hey why don’t we go out to the Home Show and kill three or four hours?’ That’s not the individuals that we see that come to the show.

“Every person that is there is looking for home solutions. So, whether we have 1,000 people come through or 5,000 people come through, every single one of them is motivated and trying to achieve something by coming to the show.”

It’s hard to imagine anything related to a new build, home improvement, outdoor living or yard and garden project that isn’t represented in some way at the Central Arkansas Home & Garden Show. While

“We have vendors on the banking side of things, mortgage loans, remodel loans.”

the final lineup is still being finalized, the show has a stellar reputation for featuring a wide collection of vendors offering goods and services curated over the many years of the show’s existence.

“Whether you’re looking to build a new home, remodeling, trying to get ideas, we’ll have experts on hand that can talk you through it,” Townsend said. “We have vendors on the banking side of things, mortgage loans, remodel loans, those type of things.

“You want to redo a specific aspect of your house? We’ll have several floor vendors, window vendors, countertops, everything that you can think of. Doors, windows, the full gamut.”

While most show attendees probably don’t think about it, the show also underscores the importance of residential construction on the local economy. According to 2020 data from the National Association of Homebuilders, the average economic impact of one new single family home equaled $327,681. Of that, about $188,962 covers wages and salaries, or the equivalent of 2.9 full-time jobs.

Multiply that by the 862,000 single family homebuilding permits issued that year and the residential construction industry generated an economic impact of $283 billion and supported 2.5 million jobs. And that’s just in

Acme Brick

Acme Brick

Countertop World

Countertop World

new single-family homes; the association also reported each rental unit in an apartment complex generated $142,000 and each remodeling job generated $83,000, creating about one job per project in each category.

Proceeds from the Central Arkansas Home & Garden Show go to support the work of the Home Builders Association of Greater Little Rock, which seeks to promote and strengthen this important economic engine. Business for homebuilders has been at record levels over the past several years, but with that high demand has brought increased challenges affecting timelines and costs.

“When you talk about supply chain issues, it was really crazy there for a while,” Townsend said. “A normal timeframe to build a 2,000-square-foot, single-level home would normally take about six months, generally. The next thing you knew it was nine months, then 12 months and all of that is based off labor shortage and supply chain problems. We’d never seen anything like it.

“Those are things that our builders just had to get creative with in how to combat that for the homeowner, especially those that put their house up for sale and it sold the first day. When you look at how many houses actually went up during that time it really took the entire industry to make that happen. Honestly, I’d give our industry an A-plus for how it came through COVID.”

The association’s work isn’t just about feathering the nest of members, but also ways to improve access to housing within the community for all.

“Advocacy is a big part of what we do as an association,” Townsend said. “We advocate for affordable housing, for example. We can’t control interest rates, but we’ve been instrumental in helping, at a national level, with the supply chain issues and getting those lumber costs down when they were just through the roof in the middle of COVID. We’ve been a champion on that side.

“During COVID, a framing package that was originally quoted in October 2020 increased by 30 percent six, seven weeks later, then to almost 50 percent by the end of the

year. Builders don’t want to have to pass on those costs to the homeowner. Our members, Lumber One, Kaufman, Ridout Lumber, Whit Davis, did an amazing job finding the resources and doing the best they could to get their own purchase price down, which was huge.”

The association also works to help attract more skilled labor and tap new sources of workers, as evidenced by one clever attraction at the 2023 Central Arkansas Home and Garden Show.

“One thing that will be there is a children’s reading area where we’ll have reading hours,” Townsend said. “We have a book that the national association has put out called ‘The House that She Built’; it’s a children’s book and it goes through all the careers and all the things that go into building a home. It’s also written from a female’s perspective to really try to encourage girls to step out of the norm and get into trade careers. We’ll be doing some readings with that.”

For the latest information on the Central Arkansas Home & Garden Show, please visit hbaglr.com/homeandgardenshow.

“It’s a onestop shop for all things home-related, and garden is part of that.”

F E B R U A R Y F E B R U A R Y

1 1 - 1 2 1 1 - 1 2

S E E P R O D U C T D I S P L A Y S

C O N N E C T

W I T H E X P E R T S

G E T I N S P I R E D !

P R E S E N T E D B Y

For almost 25 years, Parkinson Building Group has thrived to build a team that is known as the best solution for residential construction in Central Arkansas. Through the ups and downs that is the home building industry, their team has continued to focus on their goal to create the best possible building experience for their clients and to give them the support network they need to build their visions. Over the course of three years, their team has grown from a team of 6 to a team of near 20 to fully support their clients’ visions.

Parkinson Building Group has built homes across Little Rock; Chenal, The Heights, Woodlands Edge, Waterview, Hillcrest, and Rockwater, to name a few. As a result, PBG feels uniquely positioned to help their customers construct beautifully designed, fully custom homes in Central Arkansas. They believe that each new project is a deeply personal experience for their customers, and their team of top-notch project managers and office staff help to make the process detailed and seamless.

This Old House

Home Remodeling on the Rise

By DWAIN HEBDA

W

hen Scott Lucas of Scott Lucas Construction in Conway finally took the plunge into full-time entrepreneurship in 2009, he did so with an eye on building homes to meet the considerable demand blossoming in central Arkansas.

As time went on and word of Lucas’ quality craftsmanship got around, he found himself fielding requests for remodels, slowly at first and then more steadily.

“I had every intention of just building houses,” he said. “Then I had a realtor call me and say, ‘Can you build me an art studio in my attic room?’ I said, ‘Sure.’ I did that and the next thing I knew she recommended me to somebody else and then somebody else to do small jobs.”

One of the jobs was a shower remodel for a client in Dardanelle, a renovation project that was new to Lucas.

“I had built a lot of new showers with the new construction process, but I had never done a shower remodel,” he said. “I drove over an hour from my house for a week and a half every day. Didn’t make a penny on it, but I learned how to do a shower remodel. I put a picture of that up on Facebook and within a week’s time I had another guy call me and say, ‘Hey, I want that exact same thing.’”

Lucas quickly saw demand for his remodeling work skyrocket, something he shares in common with contractors all over Arkansas and, as industry statistics point out, nationwide. According to data compiled by iProperyManagement.com, the remodeling market in 2022 was the strongest in a decade, with homeowners spending an estimated $465 billion on projects, a $70 billion jump in just four years.

“What’s interesting is, usually when the housing market is strong remodels are down and vice versa,” Lucas said. “Over the last three, four years, certainly the last two years, both have been super, super strong. Why that is, I don’t know, maybe because of interest rates. Interest rates were driving people to purchase homes, but the cost of homes is so high nowadays people are just taking what they have and remodeling their existing homes and still coming out ahead.

“Now, the housing has dropped a little bit with the interest rates are going up, but my phone is still blowing up for new houses and remodels. I have officially started turning down houses now. All I do are remodels at this point.”

Industry experts point to a perfect storm of factors contributing to the numbers, starting with COVID. The pandemic not only gave people the time to tackle a long-awaited project while quarantining in place, but stimulus checks also gave many the means to do so. Millions of homeowners also took advantage of a spike in home values, freeing up home equity at rock-bottom interest rates, particularly once home prices started spiraling upward.

“With the cost of new homes, people are taking a second look at just remodeling their existing houses,” said Carl Gray Henson, owner of Carl Gray Henson Builders of Little Rock. “Even though we mainly do new construction, we do a little remodeling and it’s definitely grown over the last five or six years.”

According to Houzz’s 2022 Houzz & Home Report, more than half of all U.S. homeowners reported plans to renovate in 2022 and half of those projects cost $15,000 or more. Kitchens and baths are perennially the most common projects undertaken, but in recent years outdoor living spaces have made a very strong showing. Houzz reported 54 percent of renovation projects in 2021 included some form of outdoor home upgrade and outdoor furniture sales jumped more than $195 billion between 2021 and 2022, per Statista.

“People are definitely interested in higher-end materials, particularly in the kitchens,” Henson said. “They’ll spend a lot of money in the kitchen and

Cindy and Scott Lucas

bathrooms.”

Homeowners going all-in with a whole-house remodel represent a smaller part of the market overall, but enough customers took on such projects since 2020 to keep builders like Henson and Bill Parkinson of Parkinson Building Group in Little Rock, who only do whole-home jobs, hopping.

“About 20 percent of our clients are people who we built a house for who want to add additional space, or they’d like us to update the house we built for them ten years ago or whatever,” Parkinson said. “Another 20 percent is realtor-driven; we have realtors who know what we do, and they send us leads for people they’re selling houses to that need to have something done.

“The other 60 plus percent of what we do on remodel work comes from architects hired by people who are purchasing a home and doing a complete home renovation before they move in. They like the bones of the house, but they would like to have modern amenities.”

The numbers also indicate the value homeowners still place on hiring a professional versus doing work themselves as almost 90 percent of projects in 2022 were completed by craftspeople over DIY. This brought an unprecedented amount of business to the door of contractors, who are still working to get caught up.

“It’s been crazy. It really has,” Lucas said. “We had to figure out how to work smarter and not harder. Because of the demand of my company, we were overwhelmed. At one point, we had 15 to 22 remodels going at any given time while we were still building houses. There wasn’t enough coffee I could drink throughout the day, there weren’t enough hours I could sleep in.

“In November 2021, I finally reached the point I looked my wife in the face at lunch one time and said, ‘This is it. I cannot keep this schedule. Customer service is going to go down if we take more work than we can service.’ So, we’ve scaled back to doing seven to eight remodels. I’ll do a couple, finish off a couple, then we’ll start a couple.”

Market demand also has been complicated by supply chain issues, availability of subcontractors and a general shortage of skilled labor, stretching out project timelines and inflating costs.

“Supply chain created very difficult timelines. You already had new jobs, so trying to explain that to your homeowners was tough,” Parkinson said. “We’re starting to see a little bit of a rebound. We’re starting to see some supply chains clean themselves up a little bit.

“Everybody talked about windows and things like that are still struggling in certain sectors, but you’re starting to see some of your plumbing come back into availability. Fireplaces and garage doors got to where some lead times are back to normal-ish. They even have some selection that you can get in a reasonable amount of time.”

Labor has been a problem in all corners of the construction industry for years and the pandemic didn’t do the situation any favors. Parkinson said the craftsmen who were working during the pandemic and afterward have been snowed under by demand across all building sectors.

“A lot of them got absorbed into multi-family housing,” he said. “Apartment use exploded, so a lot of those guys took their skills over into commercial and apartment work. We saw a lot of our labor base disappear into those spaces as well.

“In 2007-2008 we had a similar feel; the subcontractor kinda had the upper hand, had all the leverage, had more work than they could do. In 2009, 2010, 2011 we were their best friends, and we got a lot of phone calls. We’re starting to get subcontractors again asking what we have going on, when’s the next project they can bid on. We haven’t had that in three years, so it’s been nice to get those phone calls again.”

Builders said the motivation for people to have work done in the first place varies from keeping up with the Joneses to adding newfan-

Carl Gray Henson

gled amenities such as whole-home technology to modifying living spaces to match lifestyle changes such as a growing family or kids moving out. According to iPropertyManagement, 11 percent of homeowners take on remodeling projects to improve their house’s resale value.

That can be a tricky proposition, said April Findlay, agent with the Charlotte John Company in Little Rock. Updating old carpet or dated wallpaper is always a good idea, and kitchen and bath investments generally recoup well. But, she cautions, temper expectations when it comes to getting back investment in all phases of remodeling.

“One thing that I warn people about, you are not going to get dollar for dollar every dollar that you put into your remodel,” she said. “Hopefully, [the project] is going to be something that you see transcend past a couple of years — maybe you’re knocking down walls or putting in granite or something that is not going to go out of style quickly. You are going to add value, but if you think you’re going to do $80,000 worth of work and get $80,000 in addition to how much you want to ask for the house, that’s just not going to happen.

“People who have purchased houses from me will call and say, ‘Hey, I want to do this in my backyard, or I want to do this. How much value do you think that’s going to add?’ That’s a loaded question, because I don’t know what the market’s going to do or where we’re going to be when you’re ready to sell your house. Your remodel may not be to the taste of your buyers, like in the case of a pool. Some people hate them, some people love them.”

Findlay is quick to note she doesn’t discourage anyone from making changes and upgrades to their home. She said homeowners should forget about the resale math and focus on what makes them happy and helps them gain maximum enjoyment out of the property.

“I always say do what you want, do as much as you want,” she said. “If there’s something you want that’s going to make your family happy while you’re living in the house, by all means, put however much money that you can afford into it and enjoy.”

Bill Parkinson

For more than 40 years, Gary Houston Electric Company has served Central Arkansas with affordable, quality and timely Commercial and Residential electrical contracting services with a strong emphasis on customer service. We service both new construction and existing structures needing electrical repair or being remodeled.

With a desire to turn their pastime into a vocation, Susan and Charlie Johnson opened Kitchen Tune Up Little Rock in March of 2008. Since then, Kitchen Tune Up Little Rock has offered a variety of professional and reliable options for updating your kitchen. Avoid the overwhelming array of options on home improvement sites and prioritize the features that matter to you and your family. A kitchen should be as unique as the people who cook in it, and Kitchen Tune Up has multiple ways to make your space reflect your home, style and use.

Thanks to its customer-centric approach that puts your needs first before, during and after the installation, Kitchen Tune Up Little Rock has received a variety of regional and national awards. In 2016, the business was named Kitchen Tune Up’s National Franchise of the Year.

Kitchen Tune Up Little Rock has the best of both worlds: customers can enjoy the resources of a national organization while also receiving the personal touch that comes from a locally owned and operated franchise. Combining the latest trends and the customer’s unique vision, Kitchen Tune Up Little Rock gives clients the kitchens of their dreams.

Carl Gray Henson Builders

Carl Gray Henson Builders has engineered a lifelong interest in building into a full-blown custom building business. Since 1974, the business has developed into a company fully devoted to helping its clients create dream homes that exceed expectations while remaining small enough to give each customer the personal attention he or she deserves.

Its expertise is known not only just around the state, but it has also received national recognition.

Carl Gray Henson Builders is a 20-year member of Southern Living’s Custom Builder Program, receiving the coveted Cornerstone Award in 2016. Beyond Southern Living, Carl Gray Henson was given the Distinguished Service Award from the American Lung Association for its work in the “Kids Kozy Kottage” program.

For residents of Central Arkansas, it’s hard to find a more decorated group of custom home builders. Owner Carl Gray Henson and his team work tirelessly for their clients, facilitating the construction of magnificent homes from lot selection to design and building.

If you dream of a home built with passion and attention to timeless architectural detail, Carl Gray Henson Builders is the right choice for you.

Carl Gray Henson has been building custom homes in Little Rock, West Little Rock, and surrounding areas for many years. Carl offers hands on service and is very passionate about what he does. All of his projects are built with timeless architectural detail, but with plenty of modern conveniences. Along with custom home building, Carl also does some remodeling and ensures your satisfaction.

“We care about each and every customer, and that is why we follow up with you long after we finish building your house. Our repeat business is a testimony to the trust that our customers have in us regarding one of the most important purchases in their lives. We’re glad to help.”

Energy Air, Inc.

Energy Air, Inc. has been serving many of Central Arkansas’ multi-faceted heating and cooling needs since 1992. From residential new construction to commercial, Energy Air provides exceptional service and the most energy-efficient systems available.

At the helm is President and CEO Tracie J. Kelley, who grew up watching her father serve the same great Arkansans that she does today.

“I have been surrounded, supported and loved, by a multitude of intelligent and powerful people who provided me with much wisdom over the years – and I took great notes!” says Kelley. “I’m all about providing the very best for my clients, from a simple service to an extensive system replacement.”

Despite the accolades she has received for her unwavering commitments to her customers, the fundamentals by which she operates have remained unchanged. Instead, she is even more motivated to perform for her clients. Energy Air is a leader in home and business technologies and specializes in a wide range of products and services, such as AMANA, DAIKIN Ductless Systems, TRANE, LENNOX, etc.

“Maintaining a strong will to push forward and focus on the individual needs of my clients certainly wasn’t learned in any textbook, but by great work ethics and self-discipline, which has resulted in much knowledge and success.”

Kelley’s experience and proven track record gives the customer complete confidence and they can rest assured they’re getting the best service possible every single time. Energy Air partners with only the very best in manufacturing products and backs the most efficient, environmentally-friendly comfort systems available.

Kelley says, “As a licensed general contractor and homeowner myself, along with serving the industry for well over 30 years, I firmly believe your system is only as good as its installer,” and the best of warranties backed by the manufacturer.

Energy Air offers convenience to its customers, who value working with one company for all their needs, by providing homeowners with several added services, including, electrical, plumbing, generators and ductless systems, just to name a few.

Opting for the best in the business saves you time and money, both now and in the future. From installation to long-term maintenance, Energy Air is the most trusted name in heating and air conditioning.

•Ventilation & Duct Systems

•Ductless Systems (Ideal for sunrooms/add-ons)

ALL ABOUT HOMES

•Duct Cleaning

•Emergency 24/7 Service

AND MUCH MORE!

YOUR PERSONAL HEATING & AIR SOURCE!

KellCo Custom Homes, Inc.

From her confident start as a one-woman operation in 1994 to her direction of a now-collaborative team of more than 35 talented individuals, Tracie J. Kelley and her businesses are a force to be reckoned with in the world of homes – and she’s not slowing down anytime soon.

Kelley is the President and CEO of KellCo Custom Homes, Inc., a Central Arkansas-based company specializing in one-of-akind custom homes and high-end remodeling. KellCo Custom Homes takes build visions to the next level to create one-of-a-kind homes that will stand up in the day-to-day and for years to come.

“As a custom designer and residential builder, I am constantly driven to new levels of uniqueness and architecture,” Kelley says. “Having a strong team on every level during construction is critical, and that’s why KellCo Custom Homes delivers a complete design package to help you execute the design, starting with the architectural phase.”

Kelley designs and builds with luxury in every detail — from breathtaking curb appeal to elegant kitchens, and spacious master suites to outdoor oases with pools and spas. No matter the element of design, no matter the meticulously hand-detailed and thoroughly obsessed-over styles, Kelley creates and builds spaces that are timeless and unique to each clients’ needs and desires.

“I have a fierce passion for helping others, allowing me to provide such a dynamic approach to serving my clients in every venture I set,” Kelley says. “I’ve set the bar high for myself and work daily to exceed my clients’ expectations.”

Kelley’s years of experience and hard work has solidified KellCo’s status as one of the most recognized and sought-after custom home builders in Central Arkansas. Building beyond the predictable!

KellCo Pools & Spas

PEAKING

Ahead

Spring Tours at Moss Mountain Farm

By SARAH COLEMAN // Photos Courtesy of P. ALLEN SMITH

Connectivity is the single most important aspect of cultivating life, be it the bond between people in their interpersonal relationships or the bond between individuals and earth. These attachments have been blended and shaded in the cultivation of the canvas of Moss Mountain Farm.

Located outside of Little Rock in Roland, Moss Mountain Farm is an ethereal space to experience. Full of fresh air and awe-inspiring views, the 600-acre farm was molded by P. Allen Smith and his team and is located in the foothills of the Ouachita Mountains with a beautiful view of the Arkansas River. From Daffodil Hill to the rose garden, the farm is what many have referred to as an intoxicating experience, and lucky for the public, it is an experience available for anyone to enjoy.

According to Smith, tour season is a special time at Moss Mountain Farm, with guests visiting from all around the state and throughout the country. The experience of nature has become less common with the shift from quality time to electronics, and the estate provides a powerful way to reestablish that connection in an eclectic and environmentally conscious manner, benefiting the community in a positive way.

The tours are a way to bring forth connections between like-minded people, which is one of the reasons Smith decided to open the farm to the public. They serve as learning opportunities and inspire many in their own gardening and decorating endeavors.

“It’s really fun to see the farm being used as a connector. We see a lot of people come out here for getaways. Friends from college, Bible study members and book clubs come out here, in addition to generations of families. We like being able to enhance these relationships over a day,” Smith said. “I enjoy having people come; they’re always so kind and respectful.”

According to Smith, the tours have created an environment in which friendship often blossoms. The people who visit are oftentimes interested in the same things, and therefore find connection as they learn more about Moss Mountain Farm.

“I often say come with a friend and leave with two,” Smith said.

Smith is well-known from the shows he has hosted on PBS. From “Garden Style, Garden to Table, Gardens

Moss Mountain Farm prepares for tour season.

and Garden Home,” Smith has taught and demonstrated valuable lessons in the garden and beyond to people who reside in the 98% of the country where his shows are broadcast.

“For the last 20 years people have been following the development of the show, and a lot of our guests want to see this house in person,” Smith said, explaining “Garden Home” and “Garden to Table” first aired around the time the house was being built.

“So many of our guests will say things like ‘Oh I remember when you painted these walls, this color is Nantucket Breeze!’ And I’m always shocked that they remember these little details, such as the ceiling paint shade being Dried Parsley.”

Sustainability has long been a hallmark for Smith. A lifelong endeavor, his journey in sustainability has bloomed from the simple seeds planted in his childhood. Growing up in a family who gardened, he remembers finding solitude in growing plants, whether they were vegetables or flowers.

“I’ve been interested in gardening from a very young age. I was so interested in how plants would grow so quickly, and I spent time doing what a lot of kids still do today. I would plant beans in the window and have my own experiments with rooting things in the window,” Smith said.

“I just thought that plants were so cool, and I loved thinking about how self-sustaining they are with just water and light and how they could produce things that we use. It really made an impression on me as a kid.”

In a way, farming is engraved in Smith’s DNA. Coming from a long lineage of farmers and cultivators, Smith’s father’s family is from Tennessee, where they have been farming since they migrated to the U.S. in the 1680s. Smith credits the Tennessee farm as the underscore of his early-onset fascination with plants.

“My family always had a big garden, so I saw what I could do with just a handful of seed and a big, tilled-up area,” Smith said. “As a family, we would grow all of these vegetables, and then my mom, aunt or my grandmother would prepare the food. We

would have these family gatherings where we would spend time canning.”

Through these simple life lessons, Smith was launched into the alternate reality of how people once lived. He was introduced to the very methods that allowed his family to truly live off the land.

“As we have moved to this more technological age where the world is dominated largely by technology, I’ve felt it is now more important than ever to talk about the importance of these practices,” Smith said. “Getting your hands in the soil is so important, and the experience of being connected to the natural world is something that is so important. Connection allows us to be more thoughtful of the experiences we have each day and how we live our lives.”

“I think, in a way, sustainability has kind of always been a north star for me. I always found it so interesting how my family could be so self-sufficient and produce so much of what they needed, for generations.”

In his own life, Smith is keen on giving items a second purpose. Many of his worn shirts have been made into cocktail napkins and placemats, and he is avid in his own cooking, canning and freezing efforts.

The house at Moss Mountain Farm is a unique blend of American decorative arts, paintings and furniture, specifically focusing on a Southern aesthetic. Built in the style of Greek Revival, everything within the house is intentionally familiar to the land. The shades of green and wash of limestone on the exterior brick create an extra sense of connectivity between the inanimate and the living.

According to Smith, the construction of Moss Mountain Farm was really ahead of its time in conservation efforts. While the home itself is evocative of early 1830s-1840s farmhouses, everything within the walls is incredibly efficient. The home has a passive solar energy system and was constructed in a way that encourages energy savings. The walls are about 18 inches thick, insulated with shredded denim from a blue jean factory and painted with paint containing zero Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs). The pine floors are finished with tung oil, a natural, nontoxic and eco-friendly finish, and no chemicals have been used inside the home, including within the furnishings.

The fireplaces are Rumford Fireboxes, which were not only popular in the time period emulated at the farm, but are also energy efficient. The passive solar panel on the south face of the roof serves in a myriad of ways, including heating the basement floor in the winter. According to Smith, all the furnishings are wool, linen and velvet in an effort to keep everything as natural as possible.

Property tours start at 10 a.m., sometimes earlier in cases of

“

My hope is that this environment we’ve created here will somehow inspire people. I’m certainly inspired by the people coming here.

An inside look at the farmhouse at Moss Mountain Farm

extreme weather, and run through 2 p.m., ending at the gift shop. Guests meet at the house for orientations, oftentimes learning about the special details of the home, and from there, groups follow tour guides throughout the property.

In experiencing a full tour of the garden and its eclectic variety of flowers and vegetables, guests also enjoy lunch on the grounds. Lunch consists of a meal made from a recipe in P. Allen Smith’s “Seasonal Recipes from the Garden” and includes at least one thing from the garden.

“I use the vegetable garden as a teachable moment,” Smith said. “We pause there to talk about the importance of pollinators and how we can all do a better job of reducing the chemicals we use in our daily lives. We also talk about how we can plant for these pollinators, so they have food and habitats.”

After lunch, tour guides take guests to see the heritage livestock and poultry. There are about 45 breeds of poultry here, largely chickens, from all over the world. Smith also runs Heritage Poultry Conservancy, a 501(c)3 nonprofit supporting 4-H efforts across the country. The Heritage Poultry Conservancy awards prize money to 4-H winners in heritage poultry on the state, regional and national level each year. This year, the nonprofit will award winners at the American Poultry Association’s 150th Anniversary Annual Show in Columbus, Ohio.

While the chickens are a major draw for tourists, the flowers are equally exciting to see in person. In March, guests can witness the overwhelming beauty of 1 million daffodils, and in April, guests can view the spring bulbs. In May, the rose garden blooms, and in June, the tours end. While every month brings something beautiful at Moss Mountain, March is of particular fondness for Smith.

“March is a very special time to come out here. There’s a lot of tension between winter and spring, and there are so many beautiful shades of green that are present,” Smith said.

In addition to the spring tours, Moss Mountain Farm is often used as a meeting place for conferences and groups. Throughout the year, there are formal classes available for people to enjoy demonstrations and guest speakers who talk about a variety of topics, such as floral design, bee keeping, soap- and lotion-making from goats milk and more. While a full calendar has not yet been released, guests are encouraged to visit pallensmith.com regularly to check for upcoming classes.

“We try to use the farm to advance people’s understanding on certain topics,” Smith said. “I’ve always enjoyed going places and learning things, and it’s always been part of who I am, so I like affording people that opportunity. It is consistent with our interests and values and hopefully it helps, making a difference in even the smallest ways.”

Moss Mountain is constantly evolving, with new things on the horizon. Currently, the Twin Gate Cottages are under construction on the property. The cottages will be available for short

rentals and are expected to be completed this spring. The two-story, three-bed and two-bath cottages are 1,000 square feet and match the recurring Greek Revival style of the rest of the property.

For Queen Elizabeth II’s birthday, Smith and his team planted 70 trees for The Queen’s Green Canopy Initiative, which was created to mark Her Majesty’s Platinum Jubilee in 2022. The effort has created a living legacy with over 1 million trees planted in her honor.

Smith is also currently working on a book about the farm, which he hopes to complete by the end of the year. The book, “Moss Mountain Farm: Lessons from the Land,” will be Smith’s seventh.

About 6,000 people visit Moss Mountain Farm every year, and the farm continues to amaze people for a myriad of reasons. Sustainability, conservation, garden-to-table and mindful gardening are among the reasons why so many people have journeyed to see what Smith has been able to craft throughout the past couple decades.

“My hope is that this environment we’ve created here will somehow inspire people. I’m certainly inspired by the people coming here. I really enjoy sharing the property. We really look forward to the tour season and seeing the visitors and hearing all of the laughter,” Smith said.

Moss Mountain Farm contains several gardens, including the rose garden and vegetable garden. Spring Tours allow guests access to the farm.

Can’t-miss Meals food

EIGHT DECADES

IN, THE YOUNG FAMILY’S LEGENDARY MURRY’S RESTAURANT REMAINS WORTH THE DRIVE

By JENNY BOULDEN

Sometimes, as a freelance writer, you get the really good assignments. I hadn’t been to Murry’s Restaurant in Hazen but had heard of its revered-among-those-in-the-know reputation.

I knew it was a family-run place smack dab in the middle of Arkansas duck country that had been dishing out good meals for longer than I’d been alive. I knew in 2020 it was inducted into the Arkansas Food Hall of Fame.

And I remember that same year reading Sid Evans, editor-in-chief of Southern Living, when he paid the compliment, “As far as I’m concerned, the best catfish in America is served at a place called Murry’s Restaurant just off U.S. 70 in Hazen, Arkansas.”

Garden & Gun, another national publication, declared Murry’s the best catfish in the South.

Murry’s owner Stanley Young admits being confused initially when someone called talking about gardens and guns; until the editor backed up and explained, he thought someone was inviting him to a duck hunt

Showing up

I hadn’t been able to reach anyone to arrange an interview, so I wrangled my husband, Ben, into joining me and just showed up one stormy Friday night (one of the only two nights they are open), fingers crossed I could interview owners Stanley or Rebecca Young.

When I told the friendly server, who we soon learned was Yolanda Young, their youngest daughter that I was with AY and hoped to talk with them, she said, “Sure! Come on back to the kitchen! They’re always here!”

Ben and I exchanged a look. Most restaurateurs I’ve interviewed prefer to keep the journalists out of the kitch en. But at Murry’s, such formality would be downright rude. Murry’s is a family restaurant in every sense: family-run, serving family-friendly fare made with old family recipes. And when you’re there, it doesn’t matter if it’s your first visit or your thousandth. By the time you leave, you’re part of the Murry’s fam. That’s just how it is. Southern hospitality of the down-home Delta variety.

So, we were suddenly standing in the aromatic kitchen among busy, aproned staff up to their elbows in flour and fish, meals being prepped with care. We met Becky first, a quiet but welcoming hostess who took off her gloves to shake our hands. Then Stanley — shortish, gregarious, big smile — came out of the back room, delighted at the opportunity to meet us. He promised we’d have a chance to talk “once things calmed down,” so we found seats and settled in for our meal.

We quickly learned that friends who come to eat often pop into Murry’s kitchen to say hello, maybe drop off some extra garden veggies or game they’d hunted. Murry’s is not licensed to sell wild game, but Stanley loves to cook some up to share with friends. The place doesn’t sell alcohol, but you’re welcome to bring your own. Make sure to also bring cash or check — they don’t mess with cards.

Arkansas eatin’

The standouts among Murry’s entrees are the famed catfish, and as Stanley puts it, “The cow.”

“The catfish is good, but I got a bone-in ribeye that’s oh-my-God good,” he told us later. “I do love the cow.”

Upon learning we hadn’t ordered steak, he insisted on throwing a big ribeye on the grill for us before we leave. Report: It’s right on up there with the best ribeyes I’ve eaten, by far the best steak I’ve unexpectedly eaten and by far the best I’ve tried late at night after a filling catfish dinner.

The catfish is Becky’s favorite, fried or blackened. I tell her I’ve heard catfish is easy to do OK but hard to get just right. She nodded.

“But we’ve been doing it so long, we don’t time it or anything,” she said. “We just know when it’s right.”

Murry’s fried catfish is, in a word, delectable. Impossibly light, the deep-fried, golden filets betray not a hint of grease. One measure of a well-made piece of catfish is how tasty it is on its own, without being slathered in condiments. We had lemon, raw onion slices and tartar sauce with our fish, but they weren’t needed. The light cornmeal breading created the thinnest coat of crunch before giving way to the flaky white catfish beneath. So good.

Even so, the fish had competition for the best food on our table that evening. In my almost five decades on this planet, I have never before referred to coleslaw as a revelation, but that changed after my first bite. Murray’s coleslaw is a surprise with bright flavors tied together by sweet apple for a crisp, cool and creamy side dish. Against anyone else’s catfish, it might steal the show.

Everything we ate was excellent. We started with the giant, flaky sweet onion rings, the kind that make your eyes go as wide when

they’re brought to the table. Next came the complimentary pull-apart bread; think of the fluffiest white rolls you’ve ever had, then imagine them pressed into a loaf form before baking, then drenched in warm melted butter before being brought to the table in a dish with butter still pooling around the loaf. The leftover unsold bread gets made into bread pudding, Murry’s signature dessert. It, too, is fantastic, somehow light instead of heavy, yet comforting all through.

Other local favorites from Murry’s menu include the deeply battered fried quail, the shrimp scampi, the frog legs and even a T-bone and lobster.

People-watching and -listening

We struck up a conversation with Yolanda as she served us. Yes, she was wearing an Elvis t-shirt because she was a huge fan.

“Ever since the movie (“Elvis,” which came out this summer), I just can’t get enough of him,” she gushed. “I love Elvis. I go to Graceland twice a week!”

Twice a week? Yes, really. She tells us all about it. She’s a character.

As we waited for Stanley or Becky to be get free — it’s almost always Stanley, as Becky noted fondly, “He talks enough for the both of us” — we sat back and watched the roomful of camaraderie. Folks were catching up with neighbors, hugs and handshakes were

being exchanged. It took most of the evening of people-watching for things to calm down, at which point Stanley joined us, regaling us with stories.

Stanley Young has twinkly eyes and a frequent laugh. His first true love is music; at 73, he’s drummer in the Stanley Young Band, a popular local group. They play Southern rock, country and blues at private parties and events. And he absolutely loves to duck hunt.

The youngest of 13 kids, he “came up hard,” in rural Carlisle, where the kids regularly did field work on local farms, picking cotton or strawberries.

“Mama also insisted all of us know how to cook, iron and sew. That was mandatory. People don’t realize I can sew,” Young said with a laugh.

Stanley’s dad was a butcher who had several side hustles, including catering for deer clubs and duck clubs. An excellent cook, his father worked himself to death when Stanley was just 13.

He describes his mom as “a strong, tough woman” and devout Pentecostal who raised 13 children. She warned her youngest son against smoking, drinking, or playing boogie woogie music. Stanley, who started playing in nightclubs before he was out of high school and has played in bands for about six decades now, said with a sly smile, “Needless to say, I broke a lot of rules.”

Murry’s of olden days

Stanley said he never meant to cook for a living; he wanted to play drums in nightclubs. After high school, he, but enrolled at Shorter College in North Little Rock. That led to a band scholarship and a transfer to Ouachita Baptist University in Arkadelphia to study music.

His sweetheart, Becky Murry, grew up in DeVall’s Bluff where her mom, Elsie, and dad, Olden, ran a legendary catfish restaurant, the original Murry’s. Much has been written about Olden’s renowned cooking skills, which he acquired working on a Mississippi riverboat preparing food that was simple yet fantastic. When an accident curtailed Olden’s riverboat career in the late 1940s or early 1950s, he opened up Murry’s in a passenger train car he’d bought.

As its reputation for tasty food spread, Olden had to expand capacity three more times. One at a time, he added three mobile homes to the higgledy-piggledy restaurant. The original Murry’s configuration of connected structures — a passenger car and three trailers — looked like no other restaurant on the planet. And people ate it up — not just locals, but senators and bigwigs who came through for the hunting or the politicking.

In 1971, Becky had graduated from college and was ready to get married. Olden had bought her a mobile home and a new car and she convinced Stanley that they could work at her parents’ restaurant, reasoning that since they already had a home, transportation and jobs, it didn’t matter if he had no money. The restaurant became their life, and Stanley became his father-in-law Olden’s culinary protege.

“Most of my cooking was trial and error,” Stanley said. “I hung around the guys who worked on the riverboat. All of them were chefs. They were good cooks.

“Not like with this cuisine they’ve got now with all these French and high-class names. To me, food is better if you keep it simple. I don’t like to cover the taste of nothing with sauce. I want the flavor of the food to come out.”

Rebirth

Eventually Becky’s parents’ health declined, and the Youngs carried on for them. She and Stanley wanted to open up a place of their own only to face tragedy in 1987. Mur-

ry’s burned up in a fire, a total loss.

“It was big news,” Stanley said. “Channels 4, 7 and 11 came out and covered it because of our reputation.”

In the aftermath, as Stanley was literally searching through the ashes for anything salvageable, a local businessman invited him to come visit an empty, thrice-failed restaurant in Hazen. Stanley insisted he had no money to open a new place, but the man, a former competitor, gave him the keys on the spot, telling him he could start making payments when the place started making money.

Stanley and Becky were the sole proprietors. The new Murry’s opened three days later with so much excitement from the community, there was a line out the door all day and police had to come to direct traffic. It’s been hopping ever since.

Family affair

The Youngs have three children: Gaylon Hale, Stan Jr., and Yolanda. Yolanda is the dietitian at Presbyterian Village in Little Rock, but she and Gaylon, who works as circuit court clerk in Prairie County, spend Friday and Saturday nights helping at the family business. Their brother running corporate security in Fayetteville

“They don’t need to work here,” Stanley said, proud of his kids’ careers. “But I couldn’t do it without them.”

Stanley’s realm is the kitchen while Becky tends to patrons’ needs in the front of the

house. And she handles decorating duties.

“That woman loves to decorate,” Stanley said of his wife. “I hate to see Christmas come; she does 12 Christmas trees in the house! I told her I’m getting too old to be getting all her decorations out.”

Murry’s used to be open seven days a week, then six. In 2019, the Youngs decided the work was wearing them out. They cut Murry’s hours to just two nights a week, so they could keep the restaurant open and maintain the quality they expected.

“I’m still up here about every day,” Stanley said. “It takes all week to get ready for these two nights.”

It’s inevitable Murry’s will end some day; the kids have their own careers and no plans to keep it going. But Murry’s is worth visiting as often as you can, while you still can.

As for the couple behind it, Stanley said he and Becky have no intentions of retiring.

“I tell my daughters, ‘I’m going to retire when you do,’ ” he said, noting his doctor questioned him once about how long he thought he could continue.

“He said, ‘Stan, I don’t want to see you lying on that floor with an apron on.’ ” Stanley said. “And I said, ‘If that’s the way God wants me to go, so be it.’ I’ve had a good, interesting life. I have a passion for what I do. It’s not hard to do things right when you enjoy doing them. We are so blessed. And I figure good luck don’t last this many years, so we have to be doing something right.”

The standouts among Murry’s entrees are the famed catfish, and as Stanley puts it, “The cow.”

A Sure BET

Oaklawn becomes a formidable new player in Arkansas fine dining

By CASSIDY KENDAL // Photos By CASSIDY KENDAL

Blueberry Moscow Mule at The Bugler

aklawn is a beautiful casino centered around the heritage of horse racing. Longtime owners the Cella family has done a lot of things right in growing this Hot Springs dynasty, surprising the masses as it consistently develops into something better than it was before. All this to say, I was skeptical of its food. Only some people can be good at everything.

A bronze statue of a track bugler greets patrons at one of Arkansas’ most elegant restaurants, aptly named The Bugler. Walking into the space, you are immediately transfixed by the expansive floor-to-ceiling windows. The windows frame a highly sought-after view of Oaklawn’s legendary racetrack, allowing the race day experience to emanate through the space.

In the main dining and bar area, an impressive wall gallery, consisting of recessed blue wooden planks, creates a visual backdrop for the black-and gold-framed Oaklawn racing photography and memorabilia.

Upon being greeted, I was seated at a cozy table by the window. It was early evening, and the view of the track and infield were incredible. The track was bathed in yellow and gold light, compliments of a setting sun. An expansive patio on the track side of the restaurant, situated on the first turn, provides a unique perspective. I was told the patio makes for a great brunch spot, especially on early mornings when the horses practice.

My server, a soft-spoken waitress named Ashley, took excel-

lent care of me. Ashley started me off with a glass of Mountain Valley Sparkling Water. I ordered a Blueberry Moscow Mule from the cocktail menu. It came adorned with a fresh lime and a horseshoe toothpick piercing two succulent blueberries. I’ve always had a soft spot for Moscow Mules but never had a blueberry one. It was perfectly sweet and refreshing.

For an appetizer, I ordered the Fire and Ice Seafood Tower, a two-story tower of seafood imported from across the world. On the bottom layer sat six jumbo shrimp and oysters and lobster cooling on a bed of ice; on the top tier, fresh scallops, mussels and clams rested on a sizzling plate. The food was outstanding and fresh.

I began to get lost eating the tower of shellfish before I realized there was an entree to be had. I ordered the double bone Duroc pork chop paired with a sweet bourbon sauce, mashed potatoes and grilled asparagus. Ashley presented me with a well-marbled chop accompanied with bourbon sauce that was both sweet, yet savory, the perfect compliment.

For dessert, I ordered the chocolate mousse torte, a luscious dessert for chocoholics. The rich, dark chocolate mousse cake was topped with fresh strawberries, blueberries

Durac Chop at The Bugler

Fire and Ice at The Bugler

and blackberries and rested in a pool of sweet cream sauce. Oh, so decadent!

I was impressed with the delicacies provided by head chef Omar Escobar’s kitchen. I would recommend The Bugler to everyone. And when I say everyone, I mean everyone. Unlike some of the attractions at Oaklawn, The Bugler can be enjoyed by the whole family because it’s located just outside the casino floor, meaning all ages can dine there.

After experiencing the consummate fine dining mastery at the The Bugler, I wasn’t sure how The Oak Room could be any better, especially since it’s located on the busy casino floor.

The Oak Room & Bar at Oaklawn, the property’s newest high-end dining experience, is the perfect blend of contemporary and traditional. When you walk into the restaurant, you can go right and have a drink at the bar or go left into the dining room for a luxurious, comfortable fine dining experience.

The bar area consists of elegant wood paneling and has a vintage parlor feel, including softly lit lighting and earth-colored tones complemented by black marble finishings. The furnishings are eclectic with fun, geometric print cocktail tables and bar stools with ostrich-textured upholstery. Globe pendants suspended by leather straps and brass hardware round out an equestrian heritage.

In the bar area, I enjoyed three cocktails: Lavender Haze, Blue Diamond and Smoked Old Fashioned. The Lavender Haze was my favorite and it was very smooth. I tried it without knowing

it was a gin-based cocktail (my liquor of choice). Along with Tanqueray No. 10 gin, the drink had lavender simple syrup, sparkling wine and lemon juice. The Blue Diamond was one of the most beautiful drinks I had ever seen, deep blue with edible glitter dancing around the glass. The Smoked Old Fashioned was a unique variation, infusing a cloud of smoke added to the top and covered before it came billowing out of the glass. The smoke beautifully brought out the apple hickory flavor of Oaklawn’s Woodford Reserve.

For the appetizer, chef presented me with a smoked shrimp cocktail — yet another interactive piece decorated by smoke — and amuse-bouche surf and turf with yellow tuna sided with lemon curd, and a ribeye cap topped with beech mushroom demi.

The entree was a massive Duroc chop topped with cranberry sauce and sided with greens and real potato chips. The Oak Room Wedge Salad is a sight to behold. A delicious lettuce wedge bursting with crispy fried Louisiana crawfish, cherry

Left to Right: Smoked Old Fashioned, Lavender Haze and the Blue Diamond

tomatoes, smoked bacon and boiled egg. The masterpiece was drizzled with cayenne-buttermilk dressing.

The fine dining room side of the restaurant has an intimate feel as the varied ceiling heights provide a cozy atmosphere. The walls of the eatery feature aqua-colored wooden panels accented with mirrored columns. The antique-inspired globe pendants are a thing of beauty while tables are adorned with candles placed inside quartz crystal holders, representative of Hot Springs’ love affair with crystals. Original LeRoy Newman art pieces decorating the walls add a sense of elegance and the chic geometric-print wool carpet finishes out the space.

The Oak Room meets a peak standard of excellence Oaklawn strives for in every aspect of its resort. Everything, from the atmosphere to the food to the service, right down to the bathrooms, screams attention to detail.

“What happens when Oaklawn gets too good?” I earnestly asked Food and Beverage VP Stephen Greer.

“There’s no such thing as too good,” he said in reply.

Speaking of a high standard of excellence, it was Greer who recruited Ken Bredeson to Oakland Racing Casino Resort as executive chef. Greer had previously worked with Bredeson in Las Vegas and convinced him to come to Oaklawn.

“I’ve been in casinos for almost 27 years,” Bredeson said. “Prior to that, I worked in Europe for almost three years. I’ve got a mixed skill set between savory cooking and pastry chef.

“We really try to focus on high-end ingredients. I enjoy importing items not usually seen around Arkansas and watching people light up because it’s something they have never before experienced. The beef is sourced from Iowa and Omaha. We source our meat from specific cattle ranches we buy from. We do our own butchering in-house as well. Our fish mostly comes from Honolulu, Hawaii, and ships fresh weekly.”

Bringing fine seafood to the land-locked is always a challenge, but not under the skilled management of Chef Bredeson. The restaurant’s seafood hails from many ports of call around the world, including rock lobster from Africa and shrimp from the Gulf and Asian coast.

“Unfortunately, we can’t get [the lobster] fresh because of where it comes from, but it is in the top 2% freshest that you can get in the world,” Bredeson said. “It comes from the southern coast of Cape of Good Hope, which is between Africa and Antarctica, so it’s some of the coldest and cleanest water in the world.”

“We use Tiger shrimp and Texas Brown. … The same with our oysters. People like Gulf oysters, but we also buy East Coast oysters to switch it up. There’s more of an oyster variety on the East Coast, as the water is a little more tropical.”

Chef added that they also are trying to source many local ingredients as well, whether it’s locally sourced beef or chocolate

from a Fayetteville chocolatier who makes it from homegrown cocoa beans.

Bredeson says food has been misrepresented for many years.

“Food is a way of sustaining and sustenance for us, right? But really, it can be a journey,” he said. “You can take a sensory taste trip without leaving. If you go and eat in a restaurant, you can feel like you went to Italy. You can feel like you went to Asia, if they do it right. And sometimes, if you’ve been able to visit those places, you could be like, ‘Man, I remember….’

“We’re a hidden gem. A lot of people don’t know about us … [Oaklawn] has really never been known for its food. It was always about racing, racing, racing. We’re trying to change that. We want people to come for the food and have the gambling, racing and concerts as a secondary option. We really want to become a culinary powerhouse.”

And Oaklawn Racing Casino Resort is well on its way to becoming just that.

Smoked Shrimp Cocktail (top left), Oak Room Wedge (top right), Chef Ken Bredeson (bottom).

Let’s begin with happy hour — cocktails at The OAK room & bar. Step out to the casino for a few hands of blackjack, a slot machine or two before dinner calls at The Bugler. Sea bass or braised short ribs? Either way, save room for dessert. This is my Oaklawn. What’s yours?

section header

MARK ABERNATHY Reflects on career of food, music, and community

By KATIE ZAKRZEWSKI // Photos By JAMIE LEE

Few names carry as much importance and influence in Arkansas food, music, and community as chef, restauranteur and businessman Mark Abernathy. Abernathy recently took the time to reflect on his career and the life lessons he’s learned along the way.

Abernathy graduated from the University of Arkansas in 1971 with a degree in banking and finance.

“When I graduated, I was a hippie and had a lot of habits that didn’t fit in with banking,” Abernathy said. “I decided to take a job at TGI Friday’s in Little Rock. It was the third TGI Friday’s in the nation.”

Abernathy enjoyed the food scene, and TGI Friday’s became a phenomenon. A group of investors bought the franchise rights for the chain to expand in Texas and hired a handful of crew members in Little Rock and Memphis to open the Dallas location.

Abernathy went to Dallas, as TGI Friday’s not only entered the scene but rocketed in popularity. At 23 years old, the Arkansan was an assistant manager at one of the hottest restaurants in the country, and he was hooked on the buzzing lifestyle.

“It was wild and fabulous,” Abernathy said simply. “That’s how I got into this.”

When Abernathy opened a TGI Friday’s in Houston, a group of investors hired him away from TGI Friday’s to open a restaurant that mimicked the phenomenon in San Antonio. Abernathy fell in love with the new city.

“I was an Arkansas boy who hadn’t done much traveling,” Abernathy said. “I learned to speak Spanish and loved the Latin and Asian cultures in San Antonio. It was a vibrant city. I stayed there in the business for 13 years, and opened my own

places there, including a restaurant and a legendary music club that hosted Willie Nelson, Jerry Jeff Walker, Stevie Ray Vaughn, and many others from the Austin music scene.”

But one day, Abernathy looked up to find, at 30, that the lifestyle had taken its toll, leaving behind a few bad habits. He made the decision to make a major life change to clean up his act, quitting the restaurant business in Texas.

Before the long nights of cuisine, music and culture, Abernathy had been an Eagle Scout as a young boy.

As fate would have it, Abernathy ran into the administrator of the Boy Scout program in San Antonio, formerly of Little Rock. Abernathy was invited to join the organization. He transferred back home as a Boy Scout executive in Little Rock.

Upon settling in, Abernathy noticed a serious shortage of the great Tex-Mex food he had become accustomed to in his time away.

“I decided I would open a Tex-Mex restaurant and started looking for a location,” Abernathy said. “I found this great burned-out shell of a building with Spanish architecture on South Main Street. At the time, the area was crawling with winos and hookers. Madison Guaranty S&L was down the street and had started to redevelop the area.

“I had the resume and background of owning successful restaurants, but I was totally shocked when Madison loaned me the money to buy the building and open the restaurant. My civic leader friends at the time immediately warned me that I was crazy to locate it there. But I realized after being in Texas that the I-630 expressway was about to open just two blocks down the street. When it did, almost overnight, everything changed.”

Abernathy’s establishment, Juanita’s, made big

Abernathy’s two restaurants, Loca Luna and Red Door, sit side by side in the Rebsamen Park area of Old Cantrell Road in Little Rock

waves as it entered the scene, with long lines of people waiting to get in over the first year of its existence. Abernathy started a band called The Torpedos which played every Tuesday and Thursday night in the small Juanita’s bar.

“I had opened a gift shop in the building I owned next door,” Abernathy said. “When I saw how packed things became when we played, I decided to knock down the wall and put in a live music room. Juanita’s live music program became a huge success.”

Abernathy recalled that at the time he opened his music venue, the music business was not what it is today.

“It was before the internet and streaming, and if you wanted music, you listened to the radio or cassette tapes,” Abernathy said. “Recording musicians were always on the road to promote their music and make a living. Since we were at the crossroads of I-30 and I-40, the touring music world came through Little Rock, headed to bigger markets. We booked some of the best music in the country on weekdays for smaller fees,” Abernathy said.

“As a musician, I understand production values. I invested what I thought at the time was an outrageous amount on the sound system and lights. That proved to be a real draw to quality bands playing a small venue. If you were a live act in Arkansas, you really wanted to play Juanita’s. Plus, the food was damn good,” Abernathy said.

After Juanita’s had been open for five years, Abernathy and one of his partners, Frank McGehee, decided to bring a New Mexican-style restaurant to central Arkansas.

“Frank was an insurance agent but also a foodie with good instincts,” Abernathy said. “He really helped me be a better chef. We created Blue Mesa Grill. It gained national attention. We developed and introduced the first white cheese dip in America, but that’s another story.”

Abernathy eventually wanted to try his hand at something different, so he left his partners in Juanita’s and opened Loca Luna in 1996 with a new business partner, Dr. David Wilkes. The two have had a great working relationship for over 27 years.

By this point, Abernathy had demonstrated a golden touch when it came to cuisine and entertainment. With a string of notable restaurant successes from scratch in both Texas and Arkansas, his positive influence on Arkansas food and entertainment was indisputable. Most people would be content to step back and enjoy their success.

Not Mark Abernathy.

With the Food Network and cooking shows on the rise, Abernathy once again tried his hand at something new.

“I decided to get into cooking shows and did a show called ‘Today’s Cuisine,’ which was syndicated across the U.S.,” Abernathy said.

Abernathy worked in the cooking show industry for a while, traveling across the country. But The Natural State once again called him back like a siren song.

“There wasn’t a lot of money in cooking television yet,” Abernathy said. “The Food Network had just started, and it was a ton of work and required time on the road. I had a new wife, Lyne, and kids. I decided that this was not the path I wanted to go down.

“In retrospect, I was on the cutting edge of food video, so I wonder where that might have led. I might be cooking on TV with Bobby Flay.”

Instead of a cooking show, Abernathy bought the building next door to Loca Luna that had previously housed Brave New Restaurant. Abernathy opened an Italian restaurant, Bene Vita.

“I had Bene Vita for eight years; it was good food and it did OK. But in the restaurant business, it’s too much work just to do OK,” he said. “If you’re just breaking even, that’s not success. So we changed the format to Red Door. It’s done great ever since,” Abernathy said.

Red Door has been open for 17 years. The

restaurant’s neighbor, Loca Luna, has been open for 26 years.

But Abernathy did more than just open restaurants. He was known for fighting publicly on behalf of the restaurant industry against high taxes and regulations. He was active in the community. About 25 years ago, Abernathy was in the third class of the Little Rock Leadership Institute. While in a class talking about race relations, Abernathy had a revelation.

“The topic of 1957 and Central High came up,” Abernathy said. “Here I was, a native of Little Rock, a middle-aged, well-educated, successful man, and I realized that I didn’t know what really happened at Central High or any of the details. I’d never heard of the Little Rock Nine.

“As a state and community, for almost 50 years, we’d systematically swept that incident under the rug and hoped to forget about it. We looked at it as an embarrassment. When I started digging and learning more about it, it became clear that there were a lot more heroes than angry, misguided bigots and warped politicians.”

Abernathy was the president of the Quapaw Quarter Association at that time, so preservation was on his mind as well. He’d managed to preserve the old Juanita’s building on Main Street, and he’d personally bought the Taborian Hall (now the Arkansas Flag and Banner building) to keep the city from tearing

“We developed and introduced the first white cheese dip in America, but that’s another story.”

it down. Abernathy was also responsible for forming the South Main Improvement District that today is known as SOMA.

Abernathy had an idea. With the help of the Little Rock Leadership Institute alumni, he founded and chaired a committee that began creating a Central High School Museum. The committee decided to buy and restore a former Mobile gas station across from Central High School and turn it into a museum.

“The first thing I did was talk to leaders in the African American community to see what they thought. I was just a white guy with an idea, and I didn’t want to seem crazy,” Abernathy said. “They loved the idea and joined the cause.”

Abernathy shared that he and others wanted the museum to focus on the bravery of the school board, the Little Rock Nine, and their parents rather than the negative narrative he had lived with all these years.

“Can you imagine? I had a young son at the time, and I thought, ‘My gosh, how much courage did it take to send your kid into that, with death threats aimed at both you and your kid?’” Abernathy said.

Abernathy and the committee earned support from the mayor and the city of Little Rock, and soon, the museum was born. A couple of years later, to the committee’s amazement and delight, U.S. Sen. Dale Bumpers turned the little museum into a National Historic Site with federal support.

“I didn’t make this happen by myself. I can take credit for birthing and leading this crazy idea in the beginning, but not for making it happen,” Abernathy said. “It never would have happened without an incredible committee and widespread support. They did it.”

Now, over a decade later, after a colorful and diverse career, after a pandemic and economic recessions, Abernathy reflects on his career as a whole.

“We’ve had more challenges since COVID-19 than I’ve ever seen in my entire restaurant career,” Abernathy said. “That includes two recessions, ups and downs, but since COVID-19, we’ve been dealing with stuff that I’ve never seen in 50 years. It wasn’t so much being closed, but struggling to find quality staff when we reopened and now dealing with runaway inflation.”

One life lesson Abernathy offered is not to bet more than you can afford to lose because no matter what, you might just lose it.

“In 1992, I put on the largest music festival in Arkansas’s history called August in Arkansas,” Abernathy said. “It was a critical home run, with 100,000 people and fabulous music, but our business model was designed to sell lots of beer and t-shirts.

“A record-setting cold front came through the second week of August, and people were in long sleeve shirts and sweaters. It killed our revenue. People wanted hot coffee. This whole event was to benefit some nonprofits, and I

had loaned the festival a lot of my own money. Man, did I take a beating,” Abernathy said.

Abernathy has also learned the importance of rolling with the punches.

“For years in the restaurant business, if there was a snowstorm or a Razorback game on TV and it cratered my business, I would get all fired up and angry,” Abernathy said. “Then I realized that I needed to focus and care about the things I could actually influence. I can’t fix the weather or call the coach of the Razorbacks and say, ‘Hey, this isn’t a good time for me.’ I learned to just go with it. If it’s going to snow, grab a sled and have fun.”

Finally, after 50 years of pushing the boundaries and limits of Arkansas community, entertainment, and fine casual dining, what’s next for Abernathy? Simply put, more rest, if possible.

“Life’s been a party with music and great food,” Abernathy said. “I’ve got two good sons, and Lyne has supported me for over 27 years, and she has contributed multiple great recipes to our restaurants. I’ve been so lucky; I’ve had very few moments in my life where I woke up in the morning and said, ‘Oh God, I don’t want to go to work today.’

“I’m just focusing on giving back now. I don’t need any more money, my health is good, and I’m in a wonderful marriage. Contentment is a pretty good spot to be in. I’ve had a wonderful journey, and I’d be a fool not to enjoy it and rest a bit.”

Mark Abernathy stands in the kitchen with two of his signature dishes.

Abernathy’s famous cheese dip has made waves all across the South.

Toast to Breakfast this National Breakfast Month

By SARAH COLEMAN

There are two types of people in the world: those who haphazardly reach for a granola bar while running late to work and those who love breakfast so much, they insist on making it for dinner at least once a week. February is the most romantic month of the year, not only because of Valentine’s Day but also because of America’s endless love affair with breakfast, marked with National Breakfast Month.

There is nothing more polarizing than a conversation between two people about the right way to enjoy grits – sweet or savory. There is nothing more normal than a group of 20-somethings Instagramming their brunch plates on a Sunday morning with the caption “phone eats first.” Breakfast is for everyone, whether they prefer the cheesy, savory flavors of an egg scramble or the dream of the perfect chocolate chip waffle.

To that, everyone, raise your mimosa-filled glasses and toast to a few of Arkansas’ best breakfast spots this February.

Big Bad Breakfast

Located in Little Rock, Big Bad Breakfast is known for its big, bold flavors. The space inside is comfortable with an open floor plan and lots of natural light. Fresh omelets are a fan favorite at the eatery. Owner Ben Brainard lists the veggie omelet with egg whites as his own personal favorite. Though the franchise is known for its Southern-style flavors and New Orleans influence, there are as many zesty options as there are tangy. The drink menu is also varied, with coffee, various juices and many cocktails available. The Big Bad Cold Brew remains one of the restaurant’s many fan favorites, with several flavors for guests to choose from. Big Bad Breakfast is currently exclusive to west Little Rock, but the eatery has announced it would be expanding to downtown Little Rock, with an expected open date in April.

The Croissanterie

Charming and sweet, both the food and the staff are top-notch at The Croissanterie, located on Cantrell Road in Little Rock. Not only are the croissants the perfect consistency of flaky and buttery, but all the menu items are of the highest quality. The business bloomed from selling fresh-baked croissants at local farmers markets and has quickly grown into one of the most popular breakfast spots in Central Arkansas. Utilizing an authentic French technique to create the croissants, which takes three days, Chefs Jill McDonald and Wendy Schay bring world-class savory pastries to the area. The interior of the eatery is small but lively, with comfortable seating perfect for intimate family and friend gatherings. From the location to the menu offerings, everything about The Croissanterie is modern yet classic, perfect for a quick bite before work or to catch up with your friends over a decaf french-pressed coffee.

Susan’s Family Restaurant

If you’re local to Northwest Arkansas, then you know all about Susan’s Family Restaurant, located conveniently on Sunset Avenue in Springdale. A mom-and-pop place, Susan’s is rarely not busy but always worth the wait. Southern-style and relaxed, the menu echoes the location with references to culture in NWA. Established in 1996, Susan’s is known as a staple locally with original and new menu items available. The breakfast options are inclusive with the perfect blend of savory, nutty, sweet and traditional items to choose from. The “Getcha By” options are perfect for an early morning or before-school meal, as is the Harvest Bowl, packed with eggs, sweet potato, spinach and quinoa. In a nod to the home city of Tyson’s headquarters, the Chickendale Breakfast is increasingly popular, served with chicken tenders battered in buttermilk atop Susan’s famous Belgian waffle.

The Root Cafe

Almost all you need to know about The Root is that you need to visit the quaint, eclectic eatery located in Little Rock’s SoMa neighborhood. Well, that and the fact that Guy Fieri visited for “Diners, DriveIns and Dives.” The Root’s farm-to-table ethos sources as much as possible from small farms and producers in Arkansas, including all the eggs, meat and bread served at the restaurant. It’s very rare that you won’t have to wait in line but it is also worth it, as the smiles on satisfied guests exiting the cafe confirm. Both the drink menu and the food menu hold a variety of breakfast favorites, with local twists. All coffee drinks are made with Fidel & Co Coffee, and the diner’s ever-so-popular Omelette comes with a side salad that is simple, yet divine. No matter what you’re looking for, The Root Cafe has it, and you can rest assured you are supporting local farmers in your decision to eat at the restaurant.

The Toasted Yolk Cafe

Vibrant and lively, the interior of The Toasted Yolk Cafe is spacious, with seating available not just in the dining rooms but also at the bar and patio. Located off Chenal Parkway in Little Rock, Toasted Yolk just feels like a place where you’d want to prepare for the day. With pop hits blasting through speakers and a friendly staff, the food is not only Instagramable, but also delicious. Specializing in brunch foods, this picturesque location has colorful murals painted on the walls, a ton of seating and a square bar with wine glasses eloquently stored along the edges. For a quick bite or a full-course meal, Toasted Yolk has you covered. The west Little Rock location is Arkansas’s first for the nationwide chain, famous across the United States for its never-ending menu of can’t-miss dishes.

Lakewood Health and Rehab offers skilled professional care in a supportive and compassionate atmosphere.

Lakewood Health and Rehab offers skilled professional care in a supportive and compassionate atmosphere.

We invite you to experience the difference our facility has to offer from the moment you walk through our door.

We invite you to experience the difference our facility has to offer from the moment you walk through our door.

Call us to today to schedule your tour!

IN-HOUSE SPECIALTY

Call us to today to schedule your tour!

SERVICES

Lakewood Health and Rehab, LLC.

Lakewood Health & Rehab

Lakewood Health and Rehab, LLC. offers an inhouse team of professionals providing specialty services to better serve the specific needs of our residents.

2323 McCain Blvd, North Little Rock • 501.791.2323

Rehabilitative Services providing Physical, Speech and Occupational Therapy.

Our team is passionate about bringing the latest programs and techniques to our patients. They utilize therapy modalities combined with a comprehensive therapy program for strengthening, balance training, pain reduction, wound healing, and increasing range of motion.

Lakewood Health & Rehab

• IV Therapy • Wound Care provided by our Wound Care specialists

2323 McCain Blvd, North Little Rock • 501.791.2323

FACILITY AMENITIES

Lakewood Health and Rehab offers skilled professional care in a supportive and compassionate atmosphere.

• State of the art Rehabilitation Gym

• Physician Services 24/7 by Specialized Staff

• 24-hour Nursing Services

• Wonderful Activity Program

We invite you to experience the difference our facility has to offer from the moment you walk through our door.

• Beauty Salon Services

• Daily Housekeeping and Laundry Services

Call us to today to schedule your tour!

Lakewood Health & Rehab 2323 McCain Blvd. North Little Rock 501.791.2323

Lakewood Health & Rehab

You Had Me at Waffle

There Will Be Love in the Air When You Serve These Delicious Strawberry Chocolate Chip Waffles for Breakfast

By AMY GRAMLICH

February is the month for all things love, chocolate and the color red. Why not make someone you love a breakfast of homemade strawberry chocolate chip waffles? This recipe is a fan favorite for kids and adults alike!

A homemade waffle batter with hints of vanilla, strawberry and chocolate can be dressed up for a lovely Valentine’s Day morning treat, but it can also be served any day of the year.

This easy waffle recipe is a spin on some other family favorite waffle recipes.

The batter for these strawberry chocolate chip waffles will be thick, especially once you load it up with the strawberries and mini chocolate chips.

In a quality waffle maker, these waffles will bake up nice and fluffy into thick waffles, which freeze well for later. To freeze extra waffles, simply place them in an air-tight container, and pop into your freezer for up to three months. Thaw and heat in a waffle iron or the microwave from frozen for 70 seconds until heated through.

INGREDIENTS

6 cups all purpose flour

½ cup granulated sugar

¼ cup baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 ½ teaspoon salt

3 ½ cups milk

1 cup vegetable oil plus 2 Tbsp

4 eggs (lightly beaten)

1 ½ cups fresh strawberries (chopped)

¾ cup mini chocolate chips

the waffles.

Mini chocolate chips are the best choice in this recipe as they fill all corners and areas of

INSTRUCTIONS

1) In a large mixing bowl, combine all dry ingredients.

2) Add all wet ingredients to the bowl.

3) Mix until smooth and well-blended.

4) Add chopped strawberries and mix again for 20-30 seconds.

5) Heat waffle maker.

Strawberries only need a rough chop before being dropped into the waffle batter.

6) Once the waffle maker is hot, add batter, one cup at a time, to the center of the lower grid. You can use a measuring cup to do this, until the bottom grids, are full but not overflowing. Do not overfill the grids as batter may run over the edges.

7) As you remove each set of cooked waffles from the machine, you may place them on a baking pan in a 300-degree oven while the rest of the waffles cook. This will keep them warm.

Whether using a Belgian waffle maker or other style, these strawberry chocolate chip waffles should bake nice and fluffy.

Top the waffles with a dollop of Cool Whip, mini chocolate chips, and the strawberry hearts. Don’t forget the syrup!

8) Garnish waffles with Cool Whip and additional mini chocolate chips. Or use syrup, powdered sugar and fresh strawberries.

This recipe yields 16-20 waffles depending on size and fullness.

Make Strawberry Hearts for a Valentine’s Day Spin

To make these strawberry chocolate waffles extra special for a Valentine’s Day breakfast or brunch, add strawberries shaped into hearts for garnish. Making the strawberry hearts couldn’t be easier!

Some strawberries have a rounded bottom while others have a pointed bottom. For these strawberry hearts, choose strawberries with the pointed bottoms.

Simply, wash and pat dry several fresh strawberries. Each strawberry will provide two strawberry hearts. With a small knife, slice the strawberries in half vertically, from the stem down.

Next, take the knife and notch a small, inverted triangle into the top of each strawberry. It might be easier to turn the strawberry upside down (stem area facing down) and cut a regular triangle into the stem area. If necessary, shape the edges of the top of the strawberry to round them a bit.

Choose

strawberries with pointed ends for the best heart shapes.

Five Tips for Great Waffles in Your Waffle Maker

1) Don’t Use Cooking Spray - You may be tempted to spritz a bit of cooking spray onto the waffle maker grids. However, cooking spray can lead to build up on your grids which then can interfere with consistent cooking of waffles. It is best to use a batter which includes a proper amount of oil.

2) Start in the Center - When filling a waffle maker with batter, it is best to start with a small amount of batter in the center of the bottom grid and quickly spread the batter toward the outer edges with a rubber spatula. Add additional batter as needed to fill the grid. Do not overfill, otherwise the waffle batter may spill over the edges, making a mess on the outside of the waffle maker and on the counter.

3) Use Thick Batter - If your batter is too thin, the waffles may tear and stick to the waffle maker. Using a thick batter ensures the waffles will rise and bake to a fluffy consistency.

4) Watch Your Machine - Keep an eye on the heat of the waffle machine. While many waffle makers use automatic timers for preheating and cooking, there are still some models out there that require a closer watch. Also, if you are making back-to-back batches of these waffles, you may need to add or remove a bit of cooking time, since the machine has been heating for an extended period of time. Your machine might not put out as much heat after the third or fourth use. On the contrary, your machine might cook the last rounds faster after being turned on for a while. Keep a close eye so you don’t have overcooked or undercooked batches.

5) Clean Waffle Maker Thoroughly - After each cooking session, be sure to clean your waffle maker thoroughly to prevent old crumbs and other build up from leading to flawed batches of waffles during your next waffle-making session.

About Stonehaven Assisted Living

Every day is an opportunity to enjoy your golden years. Our vibrant community keeps you close to the family and friends you've known all your life and supports you as you make new memories. We provide a maintenance-free lifestyle and tailor our care to meet your needs.

BUSINESS ABOUT YOU

For years, our publication has registered familiarly with thousands of Arkansans as AY Magazine. It’s concise, straightforward, catchy. And while we continue to live by the popular nickname, we’ve also made a concerted effort to make commonplace our full name: AY About You. We didn’t do this for us, and we won’t correct you for using the shortened title (in fact, we still use it, too). We just wanted to make sure that it was clear what we put first — our readers and the wonderful stories that they, and the other residents of our state, have to tell.

But this backbone is not singular to us. It’s a customer-first philosophy that the best enterprises have adopted for centuries or more. And there are a number of Arkansas-run businesses that do the same.

Because of that, we created this special section to showcase some of the other companies around the state who live by this customer-focused code and operate for the betterment of the state and the people in it, no matter the vocation or specialty.

Thank you to the following businesses for taking part in this edition of AY’s Businesses About You. And thanks also to you, for reading our magazine and utilizing these companies for the many services each provides. Anything that we do is only possible with your support. It’s about you.

BLACKMON AUCTIONS

Thomas Blackmon Jr., President/Owner/Auctioneer

For the uninitiated, the fast-paced world of auctions can be overwhelming. For Thomas Blackmon, president, owner and auctioneer at Blackmon Auctions, the unpredictability is a thrill. Since taking over the family business in 2010, he’s expanded Blackmon Auctions’ operations with a real estate division and three permanent facilities in Arkansas, Texas and Oklahoma.

“An auction is the best and most efficient way of selling that brings out the competition and need from your buyers. You might be able to list something on an online marketplace and sell it quickly, but are you really getting the highest market value?” Blackmon says. “A well-advertised auction conducted by an established auction company will always create the highest market value for that day.”

Essential to that growth is the trust he and the rest of the Blackmon team have cultivated over eight decades in the business. That commitment to the customer – giving them the good, the bad and the ugly so they can make informed decisions – is at the

heart of Blackmon Auctions’ business model.

“A lot of auctions happen due to rough times in life. As the auctioneer, I end up being a counselor, accountant, advisor and sometimes just a shoulder to cry on.” Blackmon says. “At the end of the day, your business is only as good as your reputation – it can take years to build and minutes to tear down.”

COY’S SOUTHERN EATS

Tracy Brown, Director of Business Development

Coy’s is a name that needs little introduction. The famed Hot Springs restaurant, though no longer standing, built a legacy that speaks for itself. Today, those historic (and delicious) flavors live on as Coy’s Southern Eats, a spice, seasoning, dressing and event company.

For Coy’s Director of Business Development Tracy Brown, the Coy’s ethos is about staying true to the customers who made the brand into what it is. They don’t take lightly the confidence that customers have put in them, either. “The number one statement anyone can say about you is that you have excellent customer service,” she says.

Brown sums up the Coy’s mission statement as “keeping a smile on your face and helping you remember the greatest times you ever had with food.”

Coy’s Southern Eats is not just about reminiscing on the storied past of Coy’s Steakhouse, even though Brown and the rest of her family still love to hear “Coy’s Stories” from former patrons and current fans.

“So many people have such great memories from their times at Coy’s,” she says. “For those who are just getting to know us, I hope they love our products. When they see us, they can tell us how they created new memories with their family and friends while they used our products.”

The Coy’s Southern Eats team is a family – mixed with friends who are as good as blood. As a new generation comes up in the family business, Brown says, everyone has only gotten better at learning from and playing to each other’s strengths.

“When we decided to rebrand, we had a year and a half of learning new trends, planning and deciding the best path to merge the old and the new generations together,” Brown says. “Above all, we all trust each other, share the same goals and have really, really

good products.”

“The restaurant industry can be a tough and cynical business,” she continues. “We could have never imagined that what we were doing back in the 70s and 80s could or would still mean so much to people today. It is a totally different era now, but we will always do the best we can to make the next generation feel the same way about Coy’s as the ones of the past.”

LEGACY SPINE AND NEUROLOGICAL SPECIALISTS

Dominic Maggio, MD, Neurosurgeon and Partner

Honoring the work of trailblazing former partners Ray Jouett, MD and Ronald Williams, MD, Legacy Spine & Neurological Specialists builds upon their mission to advance neurosurgical care across the region. As pioneers of neurological surgery, Jouett and Williams used their expertise to set the standard in Arkansas for specialized care of the brain, spine and peripheral nerves. Today, neurosurgeons Scott Schlesinger, MD and Dominic Maggio, MD, along with their highly-skilled team, carry that torch.

The goal of Schlesinger and Maggio is to make a lasting impact on the lives of their patients by delivering life-changing, minimally invasive neurosurgical care. As one of the most established practices in the state – boasting a combined 80 years of highly-conservative neurological care – Schlesinger and Maggio have delivered great outcomes for patients. The pair of neurosurgeons also leads the nation in the development and advancement of computer and image-guided micro spine surgery.

“As we look to our storied past, we are compelled to do our part in forging a better future for our field and, most importantly, our patients and their families,” Maggio says.

Up to 30% of lower back pain can be attributable to SI joint dysfunction. This condition is commonly misand under-diagnosed, despite being readily treatable with good outcomes. The specialists at Legacy Spine are amongst the most experienced in the country for identifying and treating patients with this disorder. Legacy Spine also offers same-day MRI appointments for any area of the body, and preliminary results are available to the patient’s physician within an hour of the MRl appointment.

Located within the Legacy Spine clinic, Pavilion MRI features a GE 1.5T MRI machine, the largest wide bore high-resolution magnet on the market. This state-of-the-art MRI is designed with a more spacious setting to help reduce patient anxiety, and is ideal for those who may be claustrophobic. It can also accommodate patients weighing up to 500 pounds.

Each of the services offered by Legacy Spine and Neurological is provided by expert spine and neurological physicians, technicians and nurses. To completely address each patient’s unique issues, Legacy Spine and Neurological utilizes a team approach, combining neurological expertise, minimally invasive (MIS) care and state-of-the-art neuro-imaging to create the full-spectrum of integrated care for every patient.

Everyone at Legacy Spine and Neurological is committed to advocating the most conservative approach to patient care and to treating each patient like family. From comprehensive evaluations that ensure an accurate diagnosis to customizable treatment options, the entire team of health care professionals strives to make a lasting and positive impact on the lives of their patients.

“Oftentimes, patients come to us at a difficult time in their life. We want to make them feel comfortable and educated on what is causing their pain,” Maggio says. “Our ultimate satisfaction is making people better through the least invasive means possible.”

NATURAL STATE RECOVERY CENTERS

Recovery is a long and difficult journey, often riddled with obstacles and setbacks. To meet the increasing demand for addiction treatment in Arkansas, Natural State Recovery Centers was established in 2018 to be the premiere provider of outpatient care for those suffering from substance abuse disorders. In 2021, Natural State expanded to include detox and inpatient treatment options in addition to its individualized treatment programs.

It is an unfortunate fact that the state is disproportionately affected by substance abuse, and the demand for recovery treatment far outweighs the supply. Arkansas leads the nation in the number of people testing positive for meth and is number two in the nation for overprescribing opioid medications. The team at Natural State Recovery Centers is proud to be a part of the solution to these issues, making a real and immediate impact on individuals and their communities.

As a facility accredited by the Commission on Accreditation of Rehabilitation Facilities, Natural State Recovery Centers offers a comprehensive approach to substance abuse treatment which includes medical detox, residential treatment, outpatient care, and sober living.

“We want our clients to feel like they are equipped with the skills and mindset that it takes to have long-term success,” Outreach Coordinator Katie Wilson says. “Clients develop

healthy lifestyle habits through a steady curriculum of classes, including yoga and meditation, physical exercise, nutrition, creative arts and more. We also address the underlying causes of substance abuse disorders with the help of licensed mental health care providers who lead group therapy sessions, offer private counseling and provide individualized discharge plans for every client.”

The goal with every person who comes to Natural State is long-term recovery. Many of the staff at Natural State are in recovery themselves, giving them a genuine understanding and respect for what clients are going through. They work to give clients the structured and disciplined environment they need while treating everyone with kindness and dignity.

“You’d be hard-pressed to find a more committed team than ours,” Wilson says. “Natural State Recovery Centers provide 24-hour care, seven days a week, 365 days a year. That doesn’t happen without an amazing team of caregivers working on nights, weekends, and holidays to provide the best recovery care in the state.”

While the staff does an excellent job of managing a carefully planned schedule for clients, they also like to shake things up. From therapy animal visits to wilderness hikes, from holiday celebrations to other special events, the Natural State team strives to bring joy and friendship to clients, reminding them that they are not alone as they walk the path to recovery.

No matter where a person might be in their journey, whether that’s the first step of a medical detox, needing a comfortable and drug-free place to stay or re-entering everyday life with guidance and support, Natural State can accommodate them.

NEURODIVERGENT THERAPIES

A. Rae Pittman, Owner and Therapist

Neurodivergent Therapies opened its doors in April of 2022 with one question: What if life could feel easier? The traumas, symptoms and obstacles that many people struggle with in daily life can take a long time to address with traditional talk therapy. While medication is a supportive option for many, it is not a one-sizefits-all solution and can be inaccessible due to costs and side effects. That’s why Neurodivergent Therapies utilizes neurofeedback training to help clients heal from old injuries and prevent future difficulties without the need for medication.

Neurofeedback gently trains the brain to use different neural networks and pathways in order to better navigate life. With the help of software that tracks brainwave activity, clients can learn to handle mental and emotional dysregulation more effectively. Each protocol targets a specific symptom or set of symptoms; therapist and client can then discuss changes, progress and goals for their individualized treatment plan thanks to the data collected during each 30-minute session.

Owner and licensed professional counselor Rae Pittman explains the technique with a metaphor: a client’s coping skills, mental and emotional regulation are a reservoir being held back by a dam of trauma or unhealthy thought patterns. Stifled this way, those skills are unable to flow freely during stressful and overwhelming moments. Other approaches work away at the blockage slowly, while neurofeedback brings the dynamite, allowing the client’s cognitive understanding to be implemented with full force.

Pittman, alongside Neurodivergent Therapies’ other provider, Jackson Lake, is giving clients hope when it comes to tackling their longstanding struggles. Being able to see and understand changes in brain activity gives clients the language to effectively communicate their internal experiences to family members, friends and other medical providers. This innovative technique, rooted in objective science, opens new and holistic pathways to healing.

“After a first session, I want our clients to feel informed, heard and understood,” Pittman says. “Then, when we reach the point of successful discharge, the client should feel confident and capable. We work towards insightful self-knowledge, effective self-support and realistic rhythms they can maintain after

treatment concludes.”

According to Pittman, people are surprised to learn how quickly neurofeedback can work, as well as the range of issues it can be used to treat. Many of her clients notice a difference in their symptoms within three sessions. With the supervision of a functional medicine provider, Pittman and Lake work with clients on everything from ADHD and anxiety to migraines and sleep irregularity.

Neurodivergent Therapies is also unique in that it works with many major insurance networks and provides an option for remote, in-home neurofeedback sessions. Additionally, Pittman and Lake offer combined neurofeedback and talk therapy in 50-minute appointments. This is a great option for clients with hesitations, as it gives them more time to talk through the process.

“The key to success in our first year has been the clients’ willingness to try something new,” Pittman says. “Neurofeedback is a new option for almost everyone, and I’m tremendously grateful for the trust each person places in us.”

Ironically, Pittman considers it her main job to work herself out of a job. Preparing clients to handle whatever life brings them – on their own – is a bittersweet but rewarding experience. There’s no substitute for the real, lasting change clients experience with Neurodivergent Therapies.

We want to give you, our readers, the opportunity to make this Valentine's Day a memorable one. That’s why we’ve brought back our annual Valentine’s Day Giveaway to help you spice up your special day.

KEMURI —

Value: $150 (gift card)

Locations at Chenal and Hillcrest Little Rock, AR 72205

(501) 821-7272 (Chenal); (501) 660-4100 (Hillcrest) kemurirestaurant.com

If you’re looking for date-night dinner plans – or maybe just looking to treat yourself this Valentine’s Day – a gift card to Kemuri is exactly what you need. This sushi-lover’s paradise is Little Rock’s first Japanese fusion robata grill, offering premium seafood, fresh ingredients and signature sushi and sashimi.

3day

FORT THOMPSON SPORTING GOODS

Value: $150 (gift card)

5802 Warden Road

Sherwood, AR 72120

(501) 835-3006

ftthompson.com

WILKERSON

Value: $999

JEWELERS

222 South Main Street Stuttgart, AR 72160 (800) 631-1999

wilkersonjewelers.com

DR. SUZANNE YEE —

Value: $470

1 day day

12600 Cantrell Rd, Ste 100 Little Rock, AR 72223 (501) 214-0661

drsuzanneyee.com

We’ve all seen the way people seem to glow when they’re in love. Thankfully, you don’t have to rely on romance to get that radiant look with this selection of SkinMedica products from the office of Dr. Suzanne Yee. The HA5 Rejuvenating Hydrator and Essential Defense Mineral Shield sunscreen work to soften and protect your skin. Complete the look with a Vitalize Chemical Peel at Dr. Yee’s office to address unevenness and diminish the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles. 5day

Dreaming of diamonds this Valentine’s Day? The experts at Wilkerson Jewelers have got you covered with this stunning pair of .50ctw diamond stud earrings. And, when you’re ready for a different kind of romantic bling, Wilkerson has a large selection of engagement rings to help you find the perfect one.

2

Maybe your other half is less into fine wine and more into duck blinds. That won’t be a problem with this gift card from Fort Thompson Sporting Goods, whether you want to pick out the perfect piece of camping gear or send them on a shopping spree. From Patagonia to Browning, from Echo Duck Calls to Muck boots, there’s something for every hunter, camper and Natural State explorer to enjoy.

4day

TIPTON & HURST —

Value: $125

Locations in Little Rock, Conway, North Little Rock and Pine Bluff (501) 666-3333

tiptonhurst.com

Tipton & Hurst is a no-brainer when it comes to finding the perfect Valentine’s Day gifts. This “Roses, Romance & Chocolates” gift bundle is no exception, with one dozen long-stem roses, a plush bear and a box of chocolates. Since Tipton & Hurst has taken care of the classics, all that’s left for you to worry about is your dinner reservation.

SARACEN CASINO RESORT

Value: $600 (gift card)

1 Saracen Resort Dr. Pine Bluff, AR 71601 (870) 686-9001

saracenresort.com

day

Located at Pine Bluff’s Saracen Casino Resort, Red Oak Steakhouse is Arkansas’ premier steakhouse, combining comfortable elegance with elevated flavors. Serving prime grade wet and dry-aged beef, Red Oak is also Arkansas’ only restaurant serving certified Kobe Beef. Executive Chef Ebony Warfield masterfully impresses the palate with delicately crafted dishes to take dining to the next level. Recognized by Arkansas Times readers as the State’s Best Steakhouse and as AY Magazine’s Best Bite of 2022, Red Oak’s first class staff offers a seamless evening with the finest wines curated by Arkansas’ most decorated sommelier, Ken Lipsmeyer.

TITANIC MUSEUM —

Value: $205 (Family Pass $115; Titanic Gift Card $50; Shirts $40) 3235 76 Country Blvd & Hwy 165 Branson, MO 65616 (417) 334-9500

titanicbranson.com

James Cameron's “Titanic” was released 25 years ago and took home 11 Oscars, including one for Best Picture. This epic tale will be re-released on Valentine's Day — what better time to bring your partner and experience the drama and romance all over again? But don’t just leave the story on the big screen; bring it to life with a visit to the Titanic Museum in Branson, Missouri.

7day

MOLLY MAID —

Value: $800

Greater Little Rock Area (501) 758-9996

8day

mollymaid.com

day

ZEN INFUSION —

Value: $199

11220 Executive Center Dr, Ste 201 Little Rock, AR 72211 Mobile services available across Central AR (501) 626-8306

zeninfusionivtherapy.com

Valentine’s Day is great, but maybe you’ve got another date circled on the calendar with a diamond ring. If that’s the case, the “Say Yes to the Drip” rapid package from Zen Infusion is the perfect way to get you and your bridal party ready for the big day. In addition to hydration for photo-ready skin, this 30-minute treatment contains seven B vitamins to provide energy, endurance and mood stimulation so you can feel as good as you look.

Don’t let an untidy house keep you from having your Valentine’s date over. Arkansas’ most trusted house cleaning service is not only offering up a free, three-hour, two-person team cleaning; they’re also giving away a free iRobot Roomba to make sure your home stays clean well after Molly Maid’s uniformed and insured Home Service Professionals leave.

Don't Forget!

Each day, of February leading up to Valentine's Day visit AY’s social media platforms for the code word of the day. Enter it at aymag.com/contests for your chance to win. Items must be picked up in person.

CHENAL PET PALACE

Value: $150 (gift card)

14309 Kanis Rd. Little Rock, AR 72223 (501) 223-2688

chenalpetpalace.com

day

There’s no love like puppy love. Pugs and kisses are great, but why not treat your four-legged Valentine to a luxury vacay with this $150 gift card to Chenal Pet Palace? Even your favorite felines can enjoy a stay in their very own cat condo. No bones about it: this is the paw-fect gift for your pets!

day

CAMP TACO —

VALUE: $150 (gift card)

822 E 6th St Little Rock, AR 72202

(501) 353-0884

camptaco.com

Tell your Valentine “te amo” with this $150 gift card to Camp Taco, the small-batch brewery project/summer camp of your dreams from the team at Lost Forty Brewing. From the beer to the birria, Camp Taco has the snacks, sweets and cocktails to make any date night into something to taco-bout.

PETIT & KEET BAR AND GRILL—

Value: $150 (gift card)

1620 Market Street

Little Rock, AR, 72211 (501) 319-7675

petitandkeet.com

For the discerning date with refined taste, this $150 gift card to award-winning Petit & Keet is sure to thrill. Polished yet casual, Petit & Keet offers a variety of dishes created by renowned chefs with local ingredients. Enjoy a night out picking from the carefully-crafted dinner menu, or stop by for happy hour and have a more relaxed rendezvous.

day

G. SPINELLI JEWELRY—

Value: $175

442 Chimney Rock Dr. Sherwood, AR 72120 (501) 993-4820

gspinelli.com

Give that special someone a one-of-a-kind, handcrafted gift from none other than the masterminds at G. Spinelli. This hand-wired necklace consists of white freshwater pearls on a short gold chain, and the pendant is a gold and silver coin featuring Belgium Hainaut horses embellished with pearls and CZs. Pairs well with a day at the races.

1 1 day 13 day

TRADER BILL'S OUTDOOR

SPORTS —

Value: $150 (gift card)

12006 I-30 Frontage Rd Little Rock, AR 72210 (501) 255-3713

traderbills.com

As the saying goes, there are plenty of fish in the sea — and you might just catch yourself one with this gift card to Trader Bill's Outdoor Sports! Run by local sportsmen, Trader Bill's Outdoor Sports offers the highest quality hunting, fishing and marine products and services at affordable prices.

time, talent, treasure

Home, SWEET HOME

In 2023, AMP Magazine unveils a new series, “Time, Talent, Treasure” which spotlights individuals working to make their community a better place to live through service. This month, we visited two individuals whose dedication and commitment to Our House shelter is helping to literally reshape the organization through a massive expansion of its Little Rock campus.

By DWAIN HEBDA

Head of the Class: ANDREA LEWIS

Growing up in a small town often means doing without a lot of the amenities common to the big city. But when it comes to role models, Andrea Lewis had everything she needed and more to form an early attitude of service to others. And it all stemmed from the Sunday table of her late grandmother, Ella Mae Hogan, whose commitment to the less fortunate still strikes a chord.

“We would eat at her house on Sundays, and I’ll tell you how a little goes a long way,” Lewis said. “She would cook every Sunday for our family, but then she’d have people coming in off the street like friends and other friends and other relatives and she was always encouraging them to eat.

“As a small child, I saw how Granny doesn’t say no to anybody, and she doesn’t turn anybody away. Growing up with that mentality, I think I have that same concept where I will give the shirt off my back. If it’s going to help you more than it’s going to help me, then why not?”

Lewis, assistant vice president, community outreach business development with First Security Bank, joined the company as a teller in 2001 while attending the University of Arkansas. She said the bank’s focus on community service is one big reason why she’s spent the majority of her career with the organization.

“I love the culture here,” she said. “I love that we are a good, strong community bank. I love our concept of being only in Arkansas. Not that we won’t help you if you are outside the state, but we’re focusing on the fact that we can only be as good as our communities are. There’s a lot of work to do right here in Arkansas, and that’s what we’re going to focus on.”

Among her long list of community service activities – which also includes the Food Bank of Arkansas, AR Kids Read and Little Rock Chamber of Commerce — Lewis said she is most enthusiastic about the opportunity to improve financial literacy in the community.

“I come from a family who was strong in education,” she said. “My dad, Alfred Hogan Sr., just retired recently after 43 years in education. He was a superintendent for a number of years. My mom, Nancy, same thing; she retired from Midsouth Community College in West Memphis, after many years there as a director for TRIO Student Support Services.

“Stephens Elementary School, they are my diamond and where I started financial literacy education, talking about the importance of kids saving money. I wanted to start talking to them about the importance of financial literacy because my parents talked about saving money in the household, they talked about paying your bills on time and different things like that. But I understood that everybody didn’t have that growing up.”

Over time, Lewis said, First Security expanded to include four inschool banks. Meanwhile, other community organizations began reaching out to her to bring in her financial literacy talks. One of those groups was Our House.

“The bank was doing some classes, and when I came onboard, I was able to join in with that,” she said. “[At Our House] we’re teaching the homeless and near-homeless about budgeting and saving money.”

These efforts eventually led the bank to adopt the Bank On program, an initiative aimed at unbanked and underbanked populations to help them start a savings program and get into a checking account. Our House provided an ideal target audience for the initiative.

“Bank On has really helped Our House help individuals who may

have had a checking account in the past and perhaps made some poor decisions,” she said. “We are now allowing people to open First Steps checking, which I refer to as second chance checking, through the Bank On program.”

The more she worked with the organization and its clientele, the more convinced Lewis was of the essential nature of its work, leading her to take a seat on Our House’s board of directors.

“I love how Our House gives a hand up and not necessarily a hand out,” she said. “They help people get educated. They’re helping people find jobs. They empower people to save their own money, so when it is time for you to leave, you are self-sufficient. If you’re not able to sustain yourself, you’re going to go out there, and it’s going to be the same mistakes that were made before.”

Lewis said she has a particular sense of pride serving Our House at this point in its history, given the physical expansion currently going on.

“They’re turning people away because they are maxed out; they’re filled to capacity,” she said. “It’s exciting and very rewarding to know you’ve able to help with this expansion now, because that just means more and more people are going to be able to be served.

“And hopefully, when these people are served, they’ll get back on their feet, they’re going out sharing their story to people in similar situations like they were, and it’s like the domino effect. Now they can see somebody struggling and steer them in a different direction; they’re able to take their experience and help somebody else.”

Legacy of Giving KEITH RIGGS

If Keith Riggs, his forefathers or his successors had never given a dime or a moment of spare time to nonprofits, the family would still have a lasting legacy in Arkansas. Riggs Cat, founded by Keith’s great-grandfather in 1927, has dealt in the heavy equipment used in projects that transformed and advanced the state’s construction and infrastructure for five generations.

But being the family that it is, the Riggs clan wasn’t satisfied with just growing a successful business and seeing the progress its products helped create. From one generation to the next, the family’s philanthropy and support of local causes has been an important pillar of its operations, encapsulated today in the Riggs Benevolent Fund of which Keith Riggs is a trustee.

“Giving back to the community has been very important to the company and the family,” he said. “When I first started at the company back in 1984, I was trained by my father, Jack Riggs, and my uncle, Bob Cress, to give back. The company and our family wouldn’t be where we are today if it wasn’t for the community.

“You have to make a difference in the community for the quality of life. Quality of life for us, quality of life for our employees, quality of life for our customers, quality of life for the entire community.”

The Riggs Benevolent Fund and Our House shelter have enjoyed a long partnership, Riggs said.

“My involvement with Our House is when I became a trustee of the Riggs Benevolent Fund back in 2013,” he said. “At that time, the Riggs Benevolent Fund made a donation for their career center. Workforce development has always been a huge interest of ours, not only from the work aspect of it, but also just for bettering the community.”

The relationship has continued thanks to Our House’s methodology, which addresses issues related to homelessness from multiple angles in an attempt to break the cycle of poverty in families.

“I’m impressed with their strategy,” Riggs said. “Their clients have to show accountability. They have to show progress in finding a job and keeping a job to be able to stay at the facility. It’s not just show up and get a free meal and go back out on the streets. There’s much more to it. They’re working with both the parents and the kids to up their skill sets. Helping kids is very important to me and the Riggs Benevolent Fund.

“Another thing that’s very important to me, and the thing that really got me involved in learning about Our House, was their career center, giving individuals the skills they need to be employable and keeping a job. That’s critical in society and it’s critical to Little Rock.”

Riggs’s work in the community isn’t limited to the 75 donations the Benevolent Fund averages every year. The 62-year-old is also personally invested in organizations he feels speak most directly to improving quality of life, such as the Museum of Discovery, Pfeifer Camp and the Little Rock Regional Chamber’s leadership program. AR Kids Read, of which he’s a board member, is another headlining passion project.

“It’s an organization doing incredible stuff,” he said. “It’s a program to tutor kids in literacy who are below grade-level reading in first through third grade. We focus on first through third grade because that’s where you learn how to read. After the third grade, you read to learn. If you can’t read by the third grade, you’re already behind.

“We recruit folks in the community to go out into the schools and spend an hour a week with two kids, 30 minutes tutoring time with each

kid. One of the facilities that we are tutoring at now is Our House; we’re also doing a pilot with Big Brothers Big Sisters and working down in Pine Bluff with the University of Arkansas Pine Bluff.”

Riggs considers the work of AR Kids Read so important, he’s willing to lead by example as well as in the board room.

“Not only am I a board member, I’m a tutor,” he said. “I’ll tell you this: It’s one of the highlights of my week. I just love my kids so much, to see them learn something and get something out of it. It’s much more than just having kids read to you, it’s mentoring, too.”

As active as he is in his favorite organizations, Riggs said it doesn’t take a lot of time to make a difference in the lives of others. He said the reason many give for not getting involved — lack of time, lack of funds, lack of expertise — are more perception than reality.

“There are so many great organizations,” he said. “The Arkansas Food Bank always needs folks to help. A lot of folks, their churches are involved in things. If you can’t give financially, give some of your time. You don’t have to be a teacher or have special skills; I’m not a teacher to be a tutor and mentor those kids in AR Kids Read. We have a great system that anybody can use.

“There are so many organizations where an hour a week would be great. The difference you could make would be tremendous.”

Community Spotlight: Our House

Founded in 1987, Our House provides pathways out of and away from homelessness by empowering individuals and families to succeed in the workforce, school and life. The organization, which serves about 3,000 people annually, has achieved national recognition for its two-generation approach, working equally with parents and children to help them build the skills, resources and confidence to lift the whole family out of current circumstances and put them on the path to achieve.

The group’s many services include a Children’s Center providing after school and developmental programs and a Career Center that provides extensive resources to help adults find jobs that lead to fulfilling careers. Programs addressing homeless prevention, mental health and shelter-based and apartment housing are also part of Our House’s slate of services.

In September, Our House broke ground on an ambitious physical expansion to add 27,000 square feet of space for more housing and extra workforce training and space dedicated to new onsite mental and physical health services. The $16 million project, expected to be completed in 2023, will double the number of people Our

This HEADBANGER’S A Ball

Cossatot River provides mild to wild outdoor entertainment

By JOE DAVID RICE // Photos Courtesy of ARKANSAS TOURISM

The “Cossatot Falls is a series of back-toback class III-IV+ rapids that drops around 40 feet in 1/8 of a mile,” and are a favorite of early-Spring white-water enthusiasts.

Tucked away in the steep, forested hillsides of the Ouachita Mountains in southwest Arkansas is one of The Natural State’s little-known treasures, the Cossatot River. From its headwaters a few miles southeast of Mena to the backwaters of Gillham Lake some 30 miles later, this stream tears through the east-west trending ridges of the Ouachitas, so impressive in its fight through the layers of bedrock that Native Americans blessed the powerful waterway with a very apt name: “skullcrusher.”

In its first 10 or 12 miles, the river flows through and then out of the Ouachita National Forest. Although early explorers had ventured into its rugged and remote watershed a couple of centuries ago (the “falls” of the Cossatot appear on maps published prior to Arkansas’ statehood in 1836), the Cossatot really didn’t become known to canoeists and kayakers until the early 1970s. Weyerhaeuser Corporation had acquired the Cossatot property in 1969 when it purchased the extensive land holdings of the old Dierks Lumber and Coal Company and conservationists began talking to Weyerhaeuser officials about putting the river corridor below the national forest boundary under public ownership. But citing concerns about litter, poaching, land management and fire control, Weyerhaeuser was reluctant to cede control of the land.

Richard W. Davies, then director of Arkansas State Parks, recalls the protracted efforts to buy the property. “It was a very big deal,” he said. “Nobody had ever done anything like this. It took a lot of hard work and flexibility from all the agencies and organizations.”

After a dozen years of intermittent negotiations, Weyerhaeuser agreed to sell 4,230 acres along a 15-mile stretch of the river to the State of Arkansas for a combined state park/natural area. The Arkansas Nature Conservancy bought the land for $690 an acre − 30% less than its appraised value − and then transferred it to the state over a period of years as funds became available.

Then-governor Bill Clinton, who was well aware of the long history of talks between Weyerhaeuser, the Arkansas Natural Heritage Commission, Arkansas State Parks and the Nature Conservancy, was a staunch advocate of the project and participated in the ceremony announcing the land’s purchase.

When the deal was finally announced on Nov. 18, 1985, Clinton said he believed “it would be easier for us to solve the difficulties in the Middle East than the problems in this transaction.” (Strangely enough, eight years later President Clinton himself orchestrated the historic Middle East peace settlement between Israel and the Palestinian Liberation Organization. But I digress.)

The Cossatot has a well-deserved reputation among serious paddlers for having some of the most challenging whitewater in the South, with rapids known by such colorful names as Eye Opener, Cossatosser, Whiplash and Washing Machine. Canoeists, kayakers and rafters flock to the stream when heavy rains, usually in late winter or spring, bring the river up to optimum conditions. It is not a stream for the novice floater.

One person who feels the stream has gotten an unfair rap is

Davy Ashcraft, superintendent of the Cossatot River State Park/ Natural Area. Ashcraft, who’s been coming to the stream since he was a kid, grew up in Cove which is 10 miles or so to the west of the park, and learned to fish, swim and skip rocks on the Cossatot. When asked what might surprise a first-time visitor to the park, Ashcraft said, “The Cossatot is not high water and rafting all the time. It’s a nice, super-clear, meandering river, great for swimming. I’m always blown away about how pretty it is.”

And the fishing is pretty good, too. “I’m still amazed by the clarity of the water,” he said. “You can see the fish looking at your bait before they strike.”

Ashcraft and his colleagues in the park are eager to introduce the Cossatot to folks who haven’t yet ventured to that corner of the state. A good place to start is at the 16,000-square-foot visitor center (1980 Highway 278 West) between Umpire and Wickes, about 75 miles west of Hot Springs. In addition to a wildlife observation room, the center includes an exhibit gallery featuring life both above and below the water, a hands-on laboratory, restrooms and a gift shop. The center is open December through February from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday through Friday and from 1 to 5 p.m. on Saturdays and Sundays. In the March to November peak season, it’s open daily from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.

A limited number of tent sites (no hookups) are located at three locations along the river and a primitive group camping area is also available by reservation. Contact the park at (870) 385-2201 or cossatotriver@arkansas.com for additional information.

Hikers will be delighted to learn that the park offers a full gamut of trails, short to long and easy to strenuous. The Waterleaf Interpretive Trail is a barrier-free, quarter-mile paved loop extending just east of the visitor center and winds along the ridge top. At the northern end of the park is the Brushy Creek Nature Trail, a three-quarter-mile footpath situated on a ridge above the confluence of Brushy Creek and the Cossatot.

Print a copy of the Brushy Creek Trail Tree Identification Guide from the park’s page at arkansasstateparks.com before your trip to become acquainted with species making up the mixed-southern forest cover.

Those interested in longer hikes will want to check out the Harris Creek Trail or the Cossatot River Corridor Trail. The former is a moderately difficult 3.5-mile path through six different habitats, highlighted by an overlook atop a bluff offering a spectacular view of the river. The latter is a challenging 12.5-mile trail extending from one end of the park to the other, zigzagging across some of the roughest, most scenic terrain of the Ouachita Mountains.

Trailheads can be found at the visitor center to the south and the Brushy Creek Recreational Area. The Corridor Trail passes through the park’s access areas, allowing hikers the option of breaking their treks into shorter distances, if desired.

The high point of any visit to the Cossatot, of course, is a trip to the falls themselves, a series of cascades where the stream

Pack your camera, hiking boots, walking sticks and a picnic lunch and get ready to enjoy this special gem of The Natural State!

drops about 40 feet in an eighth of a mile. Getting there involves a bit of driving over graveled roads, but the dust is definitely worth it.

From the visitor center, turn east on Arkansas 278 for 1.3 miles, then turn left (north) onto Weyerhaeuser Road 52200. Remain on this road for 3.6 miles until the intersection with Weyerhaeuser Road 52600. Turn left (west) onto 52600, traveling for

1.8 miles and then turning left into the Cossatot Falls Recreation Area. A short walk will then take you to what might well become your favorite photo op.

To sum up, the Cossatot River State Park/Natural Area is one of southwest Arkansas’ true natural treasures. Pack your camera, hiking boots, walking sticks and a picnic lunch and get ready to enjoy this special gem of The Natural State!

(Left) Cossatot River State Park Visitor Center exhibit. (Below) A young visitor takes in the living fauna. The State Park shares acreage with the Cossatot River Natural Area, given to the preservation of the state’s unique or endangered plants and animals.

Outdoor recreation is a fun way to spend your time, and it’s also full of health benefits. From walking and hiking to fishing and hunting, being outdoors is a great way to get a physical and mental workout.

One way to enjoy our great outdoors is simply by observing wildlife. Scan here to find out how you can get a front row seat to nature.

Sometimes fresh air and family time is the best medicine.

Spring Travel

Guide 2023

As you and your family look towards warmer weather and wait for spring to, well, “spring,” you might also be itching to get out of the house for some much-needed leisure time. And, since no one wants to spend half of the trip in a car or on a plane; it helps to look a little closer to home for a not-too-far-away getaway.

Whether you’re after a relaxing spa day, an outdoor adventure or an entertaining Spring Break itinerary for the kids, Arkansas has a multitude of options for crafting the perfect vacation. Cities across the state — and even a hop, skip and a jump away in places like Branson, Missouri — offer everything from can’t-miss restaurants and shops to educational museums and breathtaking natural areas.

In this special Spring Travel Guide for 2023, AY About You has collected a few of our favorite places to eat, play and stay in Arkansas and nearby. While you’re making reservations and shopping for new luggage online in preparation, why not work some of these must-visit destinations into your plans?

Spring Travel

PLAY. STAY. UNWIND.

Maybe the winter weather has you dreaming of the beach. Maybe you need a destination that has something for everyone in the family to enjoy. Maybe you’re just looking for something bigger, better and bolder to make this Spring Break one to remember.

If that’s the case, look no further than Beau Rivage Resort & Casino, the iconic beachfront destination in Biloxi, Mississippi. Part of the MGM Resorts International™ family, Beau Rivage has been thrilling guests since 1999, and it’s only getting better every year. The resort recently unveiled a $55 million remodel of its guest rooms, with new designs, upgraded amenities and state-of-the-art technology. All of the newly updated rooms stay true to the resort’s sophisticated Southern style, offering stunning views of the Mississippi Gulf Coast or historic Biloxi and its Back Bay.

From the moment you step into the lobby and see its thousands of elegantly-arranged plants and flowers, you’ll understand why Beau Rivage welcomed more than 3,330,000 visitors in 2021 alone. In addition to being recognized by Forbes Travel Guide Recommended, Conde Nast Traveler and Travel + Leisure, Beau Rivage is also the largest resort in the Southeast to receive the AAA Four Diamond award.

From shopping to dining, from the spa and salon to the golf course, the amenities offered at Beau Rivage mean your dream itinerary will practically make itself. The resort’s retail promenade features luxury jewelry, boutique brands, unique gifts and artisan products. After your shopping spree, you can visit the lushly-landscaped tropical pool and enjoy a fabulous view of the Gulf. When you’re ready for even more relaxation, be sure to make time for the nationally recognized, 20,000-square-foot spa and salon.

Beau Rivage

Hungry? BR Prime is the resort’s signature steak and seafood restaurant, featuring prime grade steaks, fresh seafood and an extensive 3,000-bottle wine collection. At Jia, the award-winning Pan-Asian restaurant, you’ll be greeted by an inviting, Zen-inspired space offering four distinct dining experiences: sushi, teppanyaki, a noodle bar and traditional dining.

For the adventure-seekers, Topgolf Swing Suite’s next-gen simulator bays bring excitement and fun for golfers and non-golfers alike with a variety of virtual games. If you’re after a more classic golfing experience, the Tom Fazio-designed championship golf course, Fallen Oak, is exclusive to guests of Beau Rivage and has served as home to a PGA TOUR Champions event for the last decade. Beau Rivage Arcade features the hottest video and redemption games, along with fantastic prizes including PS5, XBox, Nintendo Switch, electric guitars and more.

Sports fans and music lovers are also welcome. In addition to Wednesdays and Thursdays at the swanky Black Clover Lounge, Beau Rivage offers live entertainment nightly at EIGHT75. BetMGM Book Bar & Grill has more than 100 HD screens, including a 24foot wide, 14-foot tall video wall, and six sports betting windows, kiosks and BetMGM app allow for 24/7 sports betting.

The Beau Rivage Theatre also has a steady stream of visiting talent, such as Dancing With the Stars: LIVE! On February 24. Upcoming headliners include Gladys Knight, Johnny Mathis, Aaron Lewis, Gary Allan, Chris Tucker and Alice Cooper.

Start planning your spring getaway now: book your reservations by calling (888) 5676667 or visiting beaurivage. com. MGM Rewards members receive priority access.

Beyond The Lens! is where entertainment and technology collide. We call it Techno-Tainment™, and you will love it! It is also home to one of Branson’s newest attractions, FlyRide. This amazing sensory experience gives you the immersive feeling of flight as you soar over 22 national landmarks.

The exhibits at Beyond The Lens! will have you engaging in fun, interactive gaming and trivia, including 2-minute escape rooms, virtual reality games and an augmented reality scavenger hunt. Dive into the alien egg ball pit. Hunt for Bigfoot. Flip and spin like never before with Flip Zone, a thrilling modern-day bumper car ride.

You will capture incredible photo opportunities: sitting in the Oval Office, holding your own press briefing in the White House Press Room, becoming a life-size Barbie Doll and G.I. Joe or taking a selfie on a $50 million stack of cash.

Come experience Techno-Tainment™ at Beyond The Lens! Branson.

After almost 100 years, the Little Rock Zoo is a true icon of the capital city. Over 400 animals call the Zoo home, many of which are threatened or endangered species. To fulfill its mission of inspiring people to value and conserve the natural world we all share, the Zoo provides educational, interactive and engaging experiences from the moment you step onto the grounds. The Zoo is also a great choice for families, giving people of all ages the opportunity to “travel the world” right here in Central Arkansas. The historic Over-The-Jumps Carousel and Arkansas Diamond Express train offer other perfect ways to keep the guests engaged. As a leader in conservation learning and the only facility in Arkansas accredited by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums, the Little Rock Zoo is committed to giving people and animals alike the best experience possible.

What started as an antiquities and curiosities museum in 1927 has evolved into Central Arkansas’ premier hands-on science, technology, engineering, arts and math museum. From toddlers to grandparents, Little Rock’s Museum of Discovery offers fun and educational experiences for people of all ages.

The Museum of Discovery’s calendar is full of exciting events year-round, but for Spring Break, the museum will have a special array of hands-on activities and opportunities to meet museum animal ambassadors. For the little ones, the museum has Room to Grow, a gallery containing a soft play space, the Discovery Animal Clinic, a shopping market and more. There’s also a two-story, three-tower climbing structure that has been a hit since it debuted last November. In addition to other interactive galleries, the museum is home to an 1,800 square foot cardboard maze that you’ll want to check out before it leaves this fall.

Your spring travel plans are a great time to break the mold: while everyone else flocks to the beach, why not opt for a trip into the mountains of Northwest Arkansas? Whether you’re traveling with a group of cycling buddies, taking your family on a getaway or need a respite and a place to unwind from life’s demands, Bentonville offers something for everyone.

Visit Bentonville provides everything you need to plan the perfect NWA getaway. With over two decades of experience helping travelers, you can rest assured you’re getting the best advice to make your trip unforgettable. The experts at Visit Bentonville will guide you to places to play and explore, suggest dining options based on your personal tastes and connect you with lodging at one of the 22 hotels in town.

Best of all, the services Visit Bentonville provides are complimentary. You get top-rated advice at no cost to you, meaning you can save your money for the things that really matter –splurging for dessert at your new favorite restaurant, picking up locally-made products to enjoy at home or finding souvenirs for friends and family.

Sign up for Visit Bentonville’s newsletter online to stay in the know about the latest and greatest happenings in the city.

Photo by Paul Caster

Mountain Harbor Resort

Award-winning Mountain Harbor Resort and Spa is an all-in-one spectacular destination. From the nationally recognized Turtle Cove Spa to the fisherman’s paradise that is Lake Ouachita, there’s something for everyone. Bring the family and enjoy a lakeside horseback riding adventure, grab a party barge to explore one of the country’s cleanest lakes (and Arkansas’ largest) or hike the Lake Ouachita Vista Trail. In the evenings, roast marshmallows around the courtyard firepit or enjoy a glass of your favorite beverage cozied up by the native stone outdoor fireplace. Bring your “catch of the day” to the Harbor Lodge Restaurant, and the chefs will cook it up and give it back with all the fixings to boot.

Owned and operated by the Barnes family since its founding in 1955, Mountain Harbor Resort and Spa is a labor of love. A passion for customer service has led to improvement of the resort’s amenities every year; Mountain Harbor offers a variety of lodging for every budget and boasts one of the largest inland marinas in the South. The floating marina store features a camper’s grocery, fishing supplies and sporting goods, as well as the world’s only floating Subway and a spacious, covered patio.

Mountain Harbor offers Arkansas families a place to be together, bond and create memories to last a lifetime. Best of all, it’s all right here in Arkansas’ backyard. No long drive or hectic airports – your smile is your passport.

LAKE LIFE IS THE GOOD LIFE

Spend your spring break with us to reconnect with your natural self. Play in the pristine waters of Lake Ouachita during the day and relax in our luxurious lodging at night. Book your stay today — you’ll be glad you did.

994 Mountain Harbor Road | Mount Ida

Photo by Leigh Brown

The city of North Little Rock is always up to something: new public art; outdoor adventure; chef-driven restaurants, live entertainment. We’re also known as “Dogtown”, are home to minor league baseball team Arkansas Travelers and host live concerts at Argenta Plaza. Come see what we’re up to!

events & travel

NorthLittleRock.org @exploreNLR #exploreNLR

Murphy Arts District

If a trip down (or up, or over) to El Dorado isn’t on your list yet, what are you waiting for? Thanks to the nonprofit El Dorado Festivals & Events, the Murphy Arts District (MAD) is the latest and greatest addition to a city that has been recognized as one of “America’s Best Small Town Comebacks.” MAD’s grand opening in 2017 saw a star-studded lineup featuring the likes of Brad Paisley, ZZ Top, Ludacris, Smokey Robinson, X-Ambassadors, Migos and more. MAD is an entertainment destination like no other, offering music, dance, theater, art and food in fun and immersive ways that hold true to the people and culture of El Dorado.

The idea behind the Murphy Arts District is “big city entertainment, small town vibes.” There’s year-round live music inside the First Financial Music Hall and outdoor MAD Amphitheater, along with seasonal entertainment including MAD Movie Monday and MAD on Ice. The Farmers Market at MAD features a variety of family farms and local craftspeople selling fresh produce, soaps, sweets and more. The children’s playscape is open seven days a week, and the splash pad opens up during the spring and summer. The venue is also available for weddings, proms, banquets and conferences throughout the year.

Best of all, MAD is just steps away from El Dorado’s historic downtown and all of its shopping, dining and lodging options, so there really is something for everyone to enjoy.

Big acts are always right around the corner at MAD; already on the calendar are Mardi Gras Rumble 2023 on Feb. 17, Arkansas native Ashley McBryde on Feb. 25, Arkansas Governor’s Conference on Tourism Feb. 26-28 and The Wildflowers Band – America’s #1 Tom Petty Tribute on March 3rd.

To keep up with the latest happenings, follow MAD on social media and check the website for upcoming shows.

Withspring almost here, it’s time to shake off the winter chills and get out and about. Whether you’re looking to enjoy the outdoors as it blooms back to life or looking for interesting indoor destinations, Pine Bluff is the perfect place for a Spring Break daycation.

Just a short drive from Little Rock will get you to the charming and historic Delta. Here, music lovers can enjoy music festivals and events. History buffs can visit museums that are home to fine art and historical artifacts. Outdoor enthusiasts can enjoy boating and fishing on Lake Saracen or kayaking the world’s longest bayou, Bayou Bartholomew. Families can also explore nature up close and personal through the wildlife exhibits at the Delta Rivers Nature Center. End your day dining with family and friends at one of the city’s unique eateries.

If you’re ready to pair unforgettable indoor excursions with the great outdoors in the Delta sunshine, you’re ready to discover Pine Bluff. What are you waiting for?

ARKANSAS Civil Rights Trail

By JOHN A. KIRK

This story was originally published in our February 2019 issue. John A. Kirk, PhD, is the George W. Donaghey Distinguished Professor of History at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock. His research focuses primarily on the civil rights movement. Dates and other information have been updated for 2023. A new section detailing destinations in Mississippi has also been added in order to deepen your exploration of this interconnected, and in many ways ongoing, chapter of U.S. history

Arkansas is known nationally and internationally for the events surrounding the desegregation of Little Rock’s Central High School in September 1957. President Dwight D. Eisenhower’s decision to deploy the U.S. Army’s 101st Airborne Division to escort the Little Rock Nine into the school cemented the city’s place in civil rights history. In 2018, the city was incorporated into a United States Civil Rights Trail (civilrightstrail.com), which is now composed of more than 120 landmarks in 15 states and Washington, D.C. But the civil rights movement in Arkansas stretches far beyond Little Rock. The state has a long, wide and rich civil rights heritage that could easily produce a civil rights trail of its own.

Any Arkansas civil rights trail must begin in the southeast part of the state, dominated by the Arkansas Delta, where the vast majority of the African American population has always resided. Pine Bluff has long been considered Arkansas’ Black capital city. The University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff (1200 University Drive), created in 1873 as Branch Normal College, serves as the seat of Black higher education in the state.

The downtown Masonic Temple (4th and State St.) was a hub for Black businessmen and professionals and a center for Black politics, society and culture for much of the 20th century. Pine Bluff was also a base for the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) in the 1960s and a launchpad for its other projects in Gould, Helena and Forrest City. During that time, SNCC was instrumental in orchestrating non-

BELOW: Highway 65 from Pine Bluff to the Louisiana border was recently renamed the Delta Rhythm and Bayous Highway in honor of the musical luminaries came from this area.

Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated in April 1968 on the balcony of the Lorraine Motel in Memphis. King had returned to the city in support of a sanitation workers strike. The hotel is now home to the National Civil Rights Museum.

violent direct-action demonstrations and campaigns for voting rights in the state.There is a marker at Freedom House (King and Locust streets) where the SNCC-inspired Pine Bluff Movement met.

From Pine Bluff, Highway 65 – renamed the Delta Rhythm & Bayous Highway in 2017 (facebook.com/deltarhythmnbayousalliance/) –stretches down to the Louisiana border. Many musical luminaries came from the area between Pine Bluff and the state line along Highway 65, including William “Big Bill” Broonzy, one of the first musicians to take the blues to Europe in the 1950s and spread its influence there.

Take a detour on County Road 4 to Arkansas City and see the John H. Johnson Museum and Educational Center (Courthouse Square) at his former childhood home. Johnson built a publishing empire that included Jet and Ebony magazines. At Lake Village, take the Greenville Bridge over to Mississippi, then drive to Memphis through the Mississippi Delta, an area steeped in its own civil rights and musical history.

Memphis is where Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated April 4,1968, while supporting the sanitation workers’ strike. King was shot on the balcony of the Lorraine Motel, which is today home to the National Civil Rights Museum (450 Mulberry Street). After spending

the morning there, have lunch at the Four Way Soul Food Restaurant (998 Mississippi Boulevard), reputedly King’s favorite restaurant in Memphis. In the afternoon, visit the nearby Stax Museum of American Soul Music (926 East McLemore Avenue) for a reminder of how closely entwined African American civil rights struggles and musical traditions are.

Crossing back over to Arkansas on the Hernando de Soto Bridge leads to West Memphis, where Lance Watson (alias Sweet Willie Wine), a member of the Memphis Black power group the Invaders, set off on a four-day walk against fear to Little Rock along Highway 70 on August 20, 1969. The walk drew national coverage and gained Watson much notoriety.

Head south to Helena and visit the Delta Cultural Center (141 Cherry Street) to gain an overview of the region’s history and culture, and Freedom Park (700 South Biscoe) to learn about the Black experience in Arkansas during the Civil War.

Latinos also played an important role in Delta history through the Bracero Program that brought in thousands of Mexican workers to meet labor shortages from the 1940s through the 1960s, when many Black

James H. Johnson's marker. Johnson was founder of Ebony and Jet magazines.

Freedom Riders Plaque outside Stephens Building in downtown Little Rock (site of the old Trailways bus station), part of the 2011 Arkansas Civil Rights Heritage Trail event on “Freedom Rides and Sit-Ins.”

residents left the state to pursue opportunities elsewhere.

Leaving Helena, take County Road 44 to Elaine to see the site of what may be America’s largest mass shooting. In 1919, as Black sharecroppers tried to organize a union, the attempt was brutally suppressed by local whites with the assistance of U.S. troops from Camp Pike in Little Rock. The precise body count is still unknown, but estimates run into the hundreds. The Elaine Legacy Center (313 College Avenue) proclaims the town the “Motherland of Civil Rights.”

Next, explore civil rights history in the northeast part of the state. The Southern Tenant Farmers Museum (117 S. Main Street) in Tyronza provides an introduction to the pioneering Southern Tenant Farmers Union. The union was founded in 1934 and, unusually, brought together a biracial coalition of Black and white farmers to fight for better tenant farmer and sharecropper rights.

Nearby in Dyess is the Johnny Cash Boyhood Home (110 Center Drive). Cash campaigned for prisoner and Native American rights reflected in songs such as “San Quentin” and “The Ballad of Ira Hayes,” which was about the fate of a Native American soldier who was one of six U.S. Marines to raise the American flag on Iwo Jima in 1945.

Further north is Hoxie, home to one of the earliest integration battles in Arkansas after the U.S. Supreme Court’s landmark 1954 Brown v. Board of Education school desegregation decision. The Hoxie school board voted to desegregate in 1955 because it was “right in the sight of God,” the school superintendent said. When Life magazine reported the event with a full picture spread, segregationists from around the state descended on the town. The Hoxie school board stood firm, and the segregationists beat a retreat. There are currently plans to build Hoxie: The First Stand Civil Rights Museum to tell the story.

From Hoxie, drive down Rock ‘n’ Roll Highway 67 to Little Rock, then to southwest Arkansas on I-30. Drop in at Hot Springs, which for many years has been a popular tourist destination. In 1937, Rep. Arthur Wergs Mitchell from Illinois, at the time the only African American serving in U.S. Congress, decided to take a vacation there. When his train crossed the Arkansas state line, a conductor evicted him from his Pullman sleeper coach, enforcing state segregation law. Mitchell won a favorable ruling from the U.S. Supreme Court in 1941 and later settled the matter out of court.

Hot Springs is also the birthplace of Mamie Phipps Clark, whose psychological research along with her husband Kenneth B. Clark proved critical in convincing the U.S. Supreme Court to hand down its 1954 Brown decision. Many of Hot Springs’ famous bath houses were segregated for much of the 20th century, a story told at the Hot Springs National Park (101 Reserve Street). In the Pleasant Street Historic District, the largest African American historic district in the state, there are plans to open an African American history and cultural center at the John L. Webb House (403 Pleasant Street). Webb was a prominent Black contractor and philanthropist in the city.

Down in the corner of southwest Arkansas is Stamps, where celebrated author and poet Maya Angelou spent her childhood, which she recalls in her 1969 memoir “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings.” Stamps’ city park and Lake June are now named in her honor.

Another Stamps notable, William Harold Flowers, was a trailblazing attorney who laid the foundations for the civil rights movement in the state. In 1940, Flowers formed the Committee on Negro Organizations in Stamps and began one of the first statewide voter registration drives. His success attracted outside help from the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), which

set up a state conference of branches in 1945. In 1948, Flowers became state NAACP president, paving the way for his friend Daisy Bates to succeed him in 1952.

Bates and her husband L.C. Bates owned and ran the Arkansas State Press newspaper in Little Rock from 1941 to 1959 and were mentors to the Little Rock Nine. Daisy Bates was born and raised in Huttig near the Louisiana state border. She writes a powerful chapter about her experiences growing up there in her 1962 memoir “The Long Shadow of Little Rock.”

Head back to Little Rock and take I-40 west. Stop off at Petit Jean Mountain just outside Morrilton, where in 1953 Winthrop Rockefeller, the grandson of Standard Oil founder John D. Rockefeller, bought land to construct Winrock Farms. Winthrop Rockefeller had sat on the board of the civil rights organization the National Urban League since 1940. He immediately began breaking racial barriers at Winrock Farms when he appointed trusted employee and friend James “Jimmy” Hudson as general superintendent. It is said that Hudson was the first African American to ever spend the night on Petit Jean, which had previously been a “sundown mountain” – a place where Black people were not allowed to stay after nightfall. A number of similar “sundown towns” were scattered across Arkansas.

Explore the history of African Americans in Arkansas at Mosaic Templars Cultural Center in Little Rock (right)

The state has a long, wide and rich civil rights heritage that could easily produce a civil rights trail of its own.

Rockefeller made an even greater impact as governor between 1967 and 1971. The Winthrop Rockefeller Institute (1 Rockefeller Drive), located on top of Petit Jean Mountain, contains an exhibit documenting Rockefeller’s life and engagement with civil rights.

Morrilton was the eastern anchor in the Arkansas River Valley for Black education. Sullivan High School took in Black students from many surrounding districts that had small Black populations and could not afford to run their own segregated schools. When Morrilton raised its tuition fees in 1964, it forced many of those school districts to desegregate.

At the western end of the Arkansas River Valley, Fort Smith’s Lincoln High School also accepted Black students from surrounding districts, including those from nearby Charleston, which became the first school district in Arkansas – and one of the first in the South – to desegregate in August 1954. Charleston attorney and future Arkansas governor and U.S. Senator Dale Bumpers played a leading role in convincing townsfolk to do the right thing.

Fort Smith is also the home of the future United States Marshals Museum (usmmuseum.org/), which is expected to open this summer. No doubt it will include the storied life of Bass Reeves, the first Black deputy U.S. Marshal west of the Mississippi. Born in Crawford County, Reeves was said to have apprehended more than 3,000 felons and shot 14 outlaws in self-defense during his career.

A journey up I-49 takes you to Fayetteville, home of the University of Arkansas. In 1948, the university became the first in the South since Reconstruction to voluntarily admit a Black student when it enrolled Silas Hunt, a World War II veteran from Ashdown, into the law school.

No Arkansas civil rights trail would be complete without a visit to Little Rock. The obvious place to start is the Little Rock Central High School National Historic Site (2120 W. Daisy Gatson Bates Drive). The Daisy Bates House (1207 W. 28th Street) is nearby. Don’t miss a visit to the Mosaic Templars Cultural Center (501 W. 9th Street), the state’s foremost museum of African American history. Other sites in the capital city are too numerous to mention, but fortunately, there’s an app for that. Download the Arkansas Civil Rights History Tour App to find out more.

The tour ends at the UA Little Rock Anderson Institute on Race and Ethnicity’s Arkansas Civil Rights Heritage Trail, which begins outside the Old State House (300 W. Markham Street). Launched in 2011, the trail celebrates Arkansas’s civil rights history with bronze markers recognizing individuals in the state who have made a difference, eventually leading all the way down to the William J. Clinton Presidential Library and Museum (1200 President Clinton Avenue). The Clinton Library contains permanent and traveling exhibits related to civil rights.

Each place in Arkansas has its own civil rights history. The aformentioned suggestions only begin to scratch the surface of what is out there. Visit these places, and then begin to discover the civil rights stories in your own community — you may be surprised at just how many you find.

Silas Hunt is commemorated on the University of Arkansas campus (above) with a monument and a hall that bears his name. Fort Smith will soon be home to the United States Marshal Museum (top right). The Old State House (right).

THE STORY CONTINUES IN MISSISSIPPI

By MAK MILLARD

As is the case across the country, and especially in the South, Black history and the history of the civil rights movement extend far beyond any state or county line. Connections abound between regions to tell stories of tragedy, struggle, hope and success, even into the present day.

In 2018, Mississippi added a portion of Highway 82 to the Delta Rhythm & Bayous Highway. After intersecting Highway 65 on the Arkansas side of the Mississippi River, the highway passes through the historic Mississippi towns of Greenville and Leland. Greenville’s Nelson Street was home to a flourishing strip of blues clubs in the 1940s and 1950s; the site is now commemorated as a landmark on the Mississippi Blues Trail. Greenville is also the birthplace of Mary Wilson, Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee and founding member of the Supremes, the best-charting female group in U.S. history.

Leland has five Blues Trail markers of its own, including two celebrating musician and sculptor James “Son Ford” Thomas and famed blues and soul artist Tyrone Davis, whose hits spanned more than 20 years. Another Leland notable, journalist Douglas A. Blackmon, was actually born in Stuttgart, Arkansas, and worked as a reporter and editor in Little Rock early in his career. In 2009, Blackmon won a Pulitzer Prize for his book, “Slavery by Another Name: The Re-Enslavement of Black Americans from the Civil War to World War II.”

Mississippi has eight destinations on the United States Civil Rights Trail covering a variety of pivotal and infamous events. Many of the sites memorialized on the national trail overlap with Mississippi’s own Freedom Trail. Created in 2011, the Freedom Trail consists of markers all over the state recognizing people and places that played a significant role in the civil rights movement.

Jackson is home to the Mississippi Civil Rights Museum. Exhibits cover the entire civil rights movement, with particular attention paid to the murders and legacies of Medgar Evers and Emmett Till. Evers, the first NAACP field secretary and a prominent civil rights activist and organizer, was assassinated at his home in 1963. The Evers family home in Jackson, designated a National Historic Landmark in 2017, has been restored and turned into a museum.

Also in Jackson is Tougaloo College, which served as a refuge for activists and became a key gathering place for organizers and leaders in Mississippi. In 1961, a group of students known as the Tougaloo Nine staged a “read-in” at the Jackson Public Library and were arrested, sparking protests and demonstrations on their behalf. In response, the American Library Association released a statement saying its members must welcome everyone, regardless of race. As a result, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia and Louisiana withdrew their memberships.

One of the most abhorrent moments in the state’s history is the murder of 14-year-old Emmett Till. A historical marker stands in the community of Money at the former site of Bryant’s Grocery & Meat Market, where, in 1955, Till was accused of whistling at a white woman. His subsequent abduction, torture and murder made headlines across the country after Till’s mother, Mamie Till-Bradley, insisted on holding a public, open-casket funeral. Emmett’s killers, Roy Bryant and J.W. Milam, were found not guilty by an all-white jury. Photos of Till’s mutilated body were published by Jet magazine, one of the publications owned by Arkansas-born John H. Johnson. The case brought intense scrutiny onto the plight and treatment of Black people in Mississippi and across the South.

In nearby Glendora is the building that once held the cotton gin from which Till’s killers stole a fan and wire used to weigh the boy’s body down before throwing him into the Tallahatchie River. The site is now home to the Emmett Till Historic Intrepid Center, telling the story of Till’s life, death and the civil rights movement in Glendora. In Sumner, 30 miles south of Money, the Tallahatchie County Courthouse where the murder trial took place has been preserved as a museum, and an interpretive center across the street helps to tell the story.

The effects of Till’s legacy – and the subsequent failure of the justice system to hold his killers accountable – is still being felt today, especially as Black people continue to face disproportionately high rates of police violence. In 2022, the film “Till” was released, telling the story of Mamie Till-Bradley as an educator and activist after her son’s murder. Also in 2022, the U.S. Senate unanimously passed the Emmett Till Anti-Lynching Act, making lynching a federal hate crime punishable by up to 30 years in prison.

Just 30 minutes away in Ruleville is the Fannie Lou Hamer Memorial Statue. Hamer, the youngest child of sharecropper parents, was one of 17 individuals who traveled to Indianola, Mississippi, in an attempt to register to vote. She faced severe backlash for her actions but went on to join the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee and helped organize the 1964 Freedom Summer voter registration campaign.

One of the most prominent and ambitious civil rights campaigns, the Freedom Summer campaign was built on years of organizing work by SNCC and the local Black community. To combat racist voter suppression tactics and other societal barriers, thousands of volunteers flocked to Mississippi to help register as many Black voters as possible. Volunteers also taught in Freedom Schools throughout the state. In Canton, the Freedom House held volunteers and served as the local headquarters for the Congress of Racial Equality. The Freedom House was bombed in 1964, just one of countless instances of violence faced by the organizers and the community. Today, the restored structure of the Canton Freedom House is a civil rights museum housing photographs, articles and civil rights memorabilia.

In the eastern part of the state, Neshoba County holds several historic sites related to three other martyrs of the civil rights movement. The deaths of Michael Schwerner, Andrew Good-

man and James Chaney in 1964, known as the Freedom Summer murders, were initially treated as a missing persons case. Schwerner, Goodman and Chaney were traveling to the CORE office in Meridian when they were stopped by county deputy sheriff and Ku Klux Klan member Cecil Price. The three men were later killed by Price and a group of Klansmen.

After an extensive FBI investigation, 19 men, including Price, were indicted by the federal government for civil rights violations. In 1967, an all-white jury found Price and six other men guilty, acquitting nine others and deadlocking on three more. Though none of the accused spent more than six years in prison, it was the first time anyone in the state had been convicted on civil rights violations. In 2005, Edgar Ray Killen, a former Klansman and Baptist preacher, was sentenced to 60 years in prison for his role in orchestrating the murders. Killen, the last person serving time for a civil rights-era death, died in 2018 at age 92.

The final stop on the Mississippi portion of the national Civil Rights Trail is in Oxford where, in 1961, James Meredith, a Black man, applied for admission to the University of Mississippi. After two rejections and a long battle between the state and federal governments, 500 U.S. marshals escorted Meredith to his registration at the behest of U.S. Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy.

Despite riots that broke out on campus after the police presence was removed, Meredith officially became the first African American student to enroll at the University of Mississippi. He graduated with a degree in political science on August 18, 1963. A historical marker at the university designates the site of the rioting and a statue of Meredith stands in the university’s Circle Historic District.

It is worth taking the time to learn this history in Arkansas, Mississippi and across the United States, not only to celebrate its heroes and remember its martyrs, but to bring awareness to the ongoing struggles faced by the Black community today. Visiting these sites and becoming familiar with their stories allows everyone to connect the past to the present – a necessary task as we look toward our future.

Mississippi Civil Rights Museum

CABOT HEALTH & REHAB, LLC

is a skilled nursing facility offering resident-centered care in a convenient and quiet location. Cabot Health & Rehab, LLC is located in beautiful Cabot, AR near the city center, medical offices and hospitals. Our team consists of licensed nurses, physicians, therapists and other medical specialists who believe in building strong relationships with our residents and their families. We believe this is essential to the healing process.

ACCOMMODATIONS & SERVICES

Cabot Health & Rehab, LLC offers both semi-private and private rooms (when available). Our staff is dedicated to ensuring that our residents are provided a robust activity calendar, a superior dining experience in a warm, family-like setting. When recuperation and convalescence is needed, our staff works as a multi-disciplinary team to develop a comprehensive rehabilitation program to facilitate a return to home.

REHABILITATION

When indicated, our team of therapists work with residents to customize a rehabilitation program which can include physical, occupational and speech therapy with a focus on improving mobility, endurance, safety and facilitating a return to home. A tailored treatment plan will allow residents to recapture health and an independent lifestyle when possible. The enrichment of daily physical function can significantly improve a resident’s self-reliance and overall happiness.

Briar wood Nursing and Rehab is a 120-bed skilled facility located in an urban setting within the heart of Little Rock, in the neighborhood of Briarwood. We are located just minutes from downtown Little Rock and are only one block off interstate 630.

We provide long-term care and short-term rehab care. All residents are monitored throughout the day with assistance in providing daily care as is needed: bathing, dressing, feeding and providing medications. Briarwood staff also work at ensuring the best care for residents through individual care plans of residents' needs, as well as daily activities, which allow for a variety of interests and abilities.

Nearly all - 98 percent - of our rehab residents return to the community as a result of positive, caring therapists. Briarwood's approach has provided healing to many people in the community.

At Briarwood Nursing and Rehabilitation Center, we are committed to ensuring that the best possible care is given to you or your loved one in an atmosphere that is calm, quiet and focused on healing. We endeavor to ensure that all aspects of your well-being — mental, physical and spiritual — are cared for in a peaceful and safe environment. Our staff strive to promote dignity, respect, and independence as much as possible, in a beautiful, soothing enviornment that was designed with our residents' comfort in mind.

Briarwood's service-rich environment is made possible by its dedicated staff, from our nursing staff and therapists, to our operations and administrative employees. At Briarwood, our residents enjoy three generations of staff and families. That is over 30 years of service to the community!

In Demand: CITY SUPPLY

By SARAH COLEMAN// Photos COURTESY

It was 2009, The Black Eyed Peas’ Boom Boom Pow charted at No. 1, the United States was facing the Great Recession, Razorback football won the Liberty Bowl, and a 21-year-old Kirsten Blowers-Morman was opening a refurbished furniture shop, Riff Raff, on the historic Fayetteville Square.

Blowers-Morman, a lifelong resident of Fayetteville was a senior interior design student at the University of Arkansas at the time she opened Riff Raff. Starting out she sold refurbished and hand-painted furniture, but before long she expanded to include small gifts and clothing. Upon graduation, Blowers-Morman stepped into entrepreneurship full time, buttressed by her eye for design and a knack for social media.

In optimizing her start-up, Blowers-Morman credits much of the storefront’s success to simply focusing on the items that were selling. Shortly after, Charlie Southern, a wholesale T-shirt company, was created out of necessity. Clothing consistently sold out quickly at Riff Raff, and in needing to produce more, faster, starting Charlie Southern was a natural step.

“I am extremely proud of the hard work that I put into Riff Raff and that over the 14 years of having the businesses, I employed around 250 employees who contributed a lot to the effort of growing,” Blowers-Morman said.

“I never would have imagined that it would grow into something this big, where we have a thriving online store that ships around 200 packages across the nation daily. And I certainly never imagined having

a wholesale company, Charlie Southern, that would be connected with that as well.”

In 2016, Blowers-Morman was named to Forbes’ 30 Under 30 list in the category of retail and e-commerce as a 28-year-old, continuing to shine in her brick-and-mortar as well as online.

“Everything we accomplished with Riff Raff and Charlie South-

ern came together very naturally. It was never forced, and that’s one of the best lessons I’ve learned from this business,” Blowers-Morman said. “If you’re forcing something in any career path, or any relationship, it’s not going to thrive.”

Blowers-Morman, a self-proclaimed quintessential busybee, found herself working 12- to14-hour days, devoting her time to the company she, in a way, grew up with. But the next step in the company’s development was going to take something more than a single person could do, even one as dedicated as she.

In 2018, she and her husband, Chase Morman, started City Supply in the space directly next to Riff Raff. Created on the couple’s desire to bring a classic general store to the area, the shop’s birth brought the rich history of the Fayetteville Square, the nostalgia of a Southern childhood and the familiarity of local goods to one place.

“There’s so many pictures of historic downtown Fayetteville, it’s close to the U of A, and the Bank of Fayetteville has such an amazing history,” Kirsten said. “I love being located on the square because it allows people to enjoy the history of the city while also shopping for locally sourced goods.”

Shortly after opening the old-time general store-inspired storefront, the couple had their son, Duke, bringing additional demands on her time, energy and attention.

“Once you have children your focus shifts and, you know, that’s really where I am now. I gave a lot of effort to Riff Raff, and once I started feeling myself stalling out, I just felt that the universe was saying, ‘It’s time to hand this over to someone who can work with and grow this company more than you already have,’” Kirsten said.

“I was feeling myself not giving City Supply all of the attention and energy it deserved. I definitely thrive in the startup phase of a business, and I do well in putting in hard work and manual labor on the front end, and that is really what I wanted to do with City Supply.”

Kirsten announced she was selling Riff Raff and Charlie Southern to Kelsie Nolte in December 2022. Prior to buying Riff Raff and Charlie Southern, Nolte served as director of Charlie Southern.

“Kelsie has been the director of Charlie Southern for over 10 years

now. She really grew that company into what it is today, and she helped me build a million-dollar company,” Kirsten said. “I thought ‘Why not pass the entirety of both companies over to her?’ She will definitely continue to grow these companies, as she is extremely capable, smart, and one of the hardest-working employees that I’ve ever had.”

City Supply is not just a gift shop, it is a space of connectivity. Chase said he often hears conversations among guests, as they discuss their finds. The conversation discoveries are intentional, the result of the Mormans curating unique and eclectic inventory.

“I love getting to connect with the people who shop at our store. Guests will find a lot of great conversation pieces in City Supply, and it makes for a great environment,” he said.

One of the first things the couple decided on when opening City Supply was to have a projector streaming episodes of “The Andy Griffith Show,” a staple of Chase’s childhood.

“The show reminds him of his childhood but also reminds at least 20 other people a week about their childhoods,” Kirsten said, explaining they want the store to both be innovative and remind guests of their own happy nostalgia.

City Supply is a space everyone can enjoy with gifts specific to both men and women in any stage of life. Many of the goods are sourced from local entities.

“We love supporting small businesses and Arkansas-based producers,” Kirsten said. “If you buy a bottle of Guenther Apiary Arkansas Hot Honey, that money goes right back to the state. Instead of purchasing

In optimizing her start-up, Blowers-Morman credits much of the storefront’s success to simply focusing on the items that were selling.

honey from a big box retailer that just puts a different label on it, you’re supporting a farmer right here in Arkansas. This cycles to our employees and through taxes to our city, county and state.”

During COVID-19, supporting local businesses meant the world to City Supply, as it solved a lot of supply-chain issues.

“A lot of our best-selling products come from Northwest Arkansas,” Chase said. “We can call Pink House Alchemy or War Eagle Mill and have a restock the next day.”

The couple is incredibly involved in the community, with philanthropic efforts valued in their household. The couple sits on the funds development committee for Children’s Safety Center of Washington County, where they meet once a month to brainstorm ways to raise money.

“Children’s Safety Center is the first responder to child abuse allegations, and we got involved with them because we find ourselves very, very fortunate that we have a family and home that is safe and healthy for our kids,” Kirsten said.

“We pour a lot of energy into making sure that our kids feel loved, safe and secure, and we know that, ultimately, a lot of children in our community do not feel that way. We’re all victims of our childhood, and so we want to make sure that we show up for kids that need direction and help in certain areas.”

Using their business as a platform, the Mormans raise as much money as they can for CSC. City Supply’s website provides an easy way to donate at the $5, $10 and $20 level online. Before selling Riff Raff, Kirsten also integrated donations through the store’s website. Not only that but select Riff Raff T-shirts and hoodies also go toward benefitting the center.

The duo grew up in Fayetteville, with Chase also having roots in Hope. As lifelong local residents, the couple is passionate about the area they reside in.

“I love everything about Fayetteville. I think a lot of my passion comes from working on the square for 14 years,” Kirsten said. “I always felt so at home being in the downtown area, I know everyone who works on the street and everyone that works in the different buildings around the square.

“There’s nothing better than parking my car, walking to Arsaga’s on Church and Center to get a London fog, and walking into work.”

Arsaga’s Coffee Roasters is a staple of Northwest Arkansas, bringing quality coffee to customers since 1992. While the roasters sell a wide variety of coffee drinks, Chase says he, unlike Kirsten, prefers his coffee black.

The Fayetteville Square maintains a small-town feel, despite the massive current and projected growth of the area. The Northwest Arkansas Council released a report in 2022 that forecasted 10 percent population growth from 555,000 to 611,000 in four years. Fayetteville alone had 95,230 residents in 2021.

“I was raised here, and I’ve seen it grow, and a lot of my best friends still live in the area. We’re still such a close-knit community.” Chase said. “We root for the Razorbacks, and there are plenty of things to do out-

doors like hiking. This is such a fun place, and I couldn’t imagine myself or my family anywhere else.”

“With us both being from Fayetteville, we have a lot of friends and there’s not an hour that doesn’t pass that we don’t know someone personally that walks in the door. That’s such an awesome thing, and it’s something you don’t get to experience in really any other career, so that’s just one of the joys of having a retail shop in your hometown,” Kirsten added.

Social media has been a life-changing tool in the success of businesses. Approaching its fifth anniversary, City Supply boasts about 25,800 followers on Instagram while Riff Raff currently has 256,000 followers and Charlie Southern has 29,600.

Social media, specifically Instagram and Facebook, are important sources of inspiration in Kirsten’s work.

“I get a lot of inspiration from social media,” she said. “We both follow a lot of famous and successful chefs on Instagram, and from there we decide what cookbooks we want to carry. We like investing in what markets to our general interests and we are inspired to connect that way.”

“I look up to Kirsten, she’s been in this retail business for so long and I really appreciate watching her do what she does and watching her creativity pour out into what she does,” Chase said. “I’m learning from one of the best in the business, and I’m inspired by her and the community we have in Fayetteville. We live in a place that is extremely supportive of small businesses.”

Kirsten says she doesn’t only look up to other successful retailers but she also looks up to those who are doing what they love to do and cheering them on in the process.

“I hope to grow our reach and create more avenues for our customers to connect with us. Whether it’s through social media, events or through in-store or online classes, I want to build relationships with our customers,” she said. “I think [relationships] are something that we’ve missed over the past couple of years, especially through a pandemic, and I think it is very important for people to meet together and have connections. So, that is something that I would love to focus on over the next couple of years.”

“I think our biggest goal for City Supply is to keep doing what we do best, which is great customer service, innovative and new ideas and striving to do better,” Chase said. “It’s all a learning experience and I know we have some great things planned for this next year. We’re going to continue supplying local goods on the Fayetteville Square and having fun while we do it.”

“I was raised here, and I’ve seen it grow, and a lot of my best friends still live in the area. We’re still such a close-knit community.”

Kirsten and Chase Morman and family.

Colonel Glenn Health & Rehab is central

Bradford House provides skilled professional care in a compassionate and supportive atmosphere. Our licensed nurses, physicians, optometrists, dentists and other specialists believe that building strong relationships with residents and families is essential to the healing process. The entire staff is devoted to providing the quality of care which celebrates the dignity and grace of every single resident.

1202 SE 30th Street

Bentonville, AR 72712

479.273.3430

BradfordHouseNR.com

Bradford House provides skilled professional care in a compassionate and supportive atmosphere. Our licensed nurses, physicians, optometrists, dentists and other specialists believe that building strong relationships with residents and families is essential to the healing process. The entire staff is devoted to providing the quality of care which celebrates the dignity and grace of every single resident.

Bradford House provides skilled professional care in a compassionate and supportive atmosphere. Our licensed nurses, physicians, optometrists, dentists and other specialists believe that building strong relationships with residents and families is essential to the healing process. The entire staff is devoted to providing the quality of care which celebrates the dignity and grace of every single resident.

1202 SE 30th Street | Bentonville, AR 72712 | 479.273.3430

BradfordHouseNR.com

Quapaw Care & Rehab Center offers modern conveniences in a gracious setting.

1202

Street | Bentonville, AR 72712 | 479.273.3430

BradfordHouseNR.com

Nestled in a quiet neighborhood, Quapaw Care & Rehabilitation Center is a unique, family-oriented facility offering skilled care in a loving, supportive atmosphere. Our licensed nurses, physician assistants, dentist, podiatrist and other specialists believe that building strong relationships with their families is key. Our home is conveniently located just off Hwy 7 South, past Hot Springs Mall, on Brighton Terrace, under the medical direction of Dr. Hosam Kamel.

138 Brighton Terrace, Hot Springs quapawcr.com

SE 30th

Best 201 8 of

When you walk into the Robinson Nursing & Rehabilitation Center you will feel a comfortable atmosphere different from any other facility you have visited. We feature tall ceilings and an open floor plan. We have a lovely dining room and a covered outdoor patio area.

When you walk into the Robinson Nursing & Rehabilitation Center you will feel a comfortable atmosphere different from any other facility you have visited. We feature tall ceilings and an open floor plan. We have a lovely dining room and a covered outdoor patio area.

We specialize in short-term rehabilitation and long-term care services. The short-term rehabilitation area has its own dining area and day room. From the moment you enter our facility, we want you to experience the difference our facility has to offer. From our light-filled day areas to our beautiful outdoor areas, we want you and your loved one to feel comfortable and safe when staying with us. You will also notice the pride we take in our facility by keeping our building sparkling clean from the inside out.

We specialize in short-term rehabilitation and long-term care services. The short-term rehabilitation area has its own dining area and day room. From the moment you enter our facility, we want you to experience the difference our facility has to offer. From our light-filled day areas to our beautiful outdoor areas, we want you and your loved one to feel comfortable and safe when staying with us. You will also notice the pride we take in our facility by keeping our building sparkling clean from the inside out.

Our team is dedicated to providing a safe and comfortable environment. Robinson Nursing and Rehab offers modern conveniences in a gracious setting. We provide daily planned activities led by certified activity directors, like social events and outings and pastoral services with spiritual care for all religions. We strongly encourage family participation in group activities, meals and celebrating family birthdays and special days.

Our team is dedicated to providing a safe and comfortable environment. Robinson Nursing and Rehab offers modern conveniences in a gracious setting. We provide daily planned activities led by Certified Activity Directors, like social events and outings and pastoral services with spiritual care for all religions. We strongly encourage family participation in group activities, meals and celebrating family birthdays and special days.

To help you plan your visits, we provide a monthly event calendar and a monthly meal planner. Robinson Nursing and Rehab does not have set visiting hours. We view this facility as the “home” of each resident.

To help you plan your visits, we provide a monthly event calendar and a monthly meal planner. Robinson Nursing and Rehab does not have set visiting hours. We view this facility as the “home” of each resident.

We try our best to communicate with patients and families to help alleviate the anxiety that accompanies this journey. Our team of nurses, therapists and support staff work closely together to develop a plan based on the individual needs of each person. We recognize that rehabilitation involves not only the patient, but the entire family.

We try our best to communicate with patients and families to help alleviate the anxiety that accompanies this journey. Our team of nurses, therapists and support staff work closely together to develop a plan based on the individual needs of each person. We recognize that rehabilitation involves not only the patient but the entire family.

arts & culture

A Wish Come True

Disney’s “Aladdin” Comes to the Robinson Center Stage

By MAK MILLARD // Photos By DEEN VAN MEER

Hot on the (oversized) heels of the comedy musical “Tootsie” in January, Little Rock’s Robinson Center Performance Hall has yet another thrilling performance lined up for February. Disney’s “Aladdin” is playing in Arkansas from Feb. 1 - Feb. 5 as part of the show’s 36-city North American tour. The show is part of the Robinson Center’s 2022-2023 Broadway season, in partnership with entertainment agency Celebrity Attractions.

Based on the 1992 animated film, the stage production is an extravagant new take on the classic story of comedy, adventure and romance, with glittering costumes and colorful backdrops in every scene. In addition to the five songs from the original soundtrack, the musical features three tracks cut from the film and four new songs written for the stage. Eighty-four special effects bring all of the movie magic to life, from Genie’s antics to Aladdin and Jasmine’s flying carpet ride.

On this tour of the award-winning musical, actor Anand Nagraj is taking up the cobra-headed scepter of Jafar, one of Disney’s most infamous villains. For Nagraj, the role is a perfect synthesis of his talents

and tastes.

“I was familiar with the movie from my childhood, and Jafar definitely left a mark on me back then,” Nagraj said. “It’s fun to be the bad guy, and it plays to a lot of my natural vocal leanings. When you find a part like that you’ve just got to go for it.”

In bringing the Sultan’s sinister adviser from the screen to the stage, Nagraj is taking inspiration from a few different sources, including his own background in classic theater productions.

“I haven’t done a lot of musicals, but I have done a lot of Shakespeare, and I’m putting that training to work,” he said. “Jafar is larger than life, and it’s helpful to come at the character as a three-dimensional being. Some of those Shakespeare characters are a great analogue for the size that you need to play with.”

Another key lies in the look of the character itself. An integral part of Nagraj’s daily routine is showing up for over an hour of makeup application, which he described as extensive and elaborate. On top of having learned a new skill, he’s grateful for the time this process gives him to focus and mentally prepare for each performance. And with all

Adi Roy stars as Aladdin in Aladdin Tour

of that practice now under his belt, it’s an ability his family is grateful for as well.

“My brothers have already told me that I’m going to be the uncle who gets consulted for Halloween from now on,” Nagraj said.

When it comes to completing the look, the costumes are works of art unto themselves. According to the musical’s website, 342 people in 26 different costume shops worked on the pieces, with fabrics imported from Morocco, Turkey, India, Uzbekistan, Guatemala, France, Italy, Germany and China. At the cast’s first technical rehearsal, Nagraj was finally able to put on his full costume, and the difference it made in his performance was palpable.

“A lot of the way that Jafar moves is because of what he’s wearing. He presents to the world as very upright, and that’s informed by the height of the costume when everything is on,” Nagraj said. “I have these robes that float beautifully when I turn onstage, and it’s been a real pleasure to figure out how to use that to maximum effect – and how not to trip my fellow actors while everyone is moving around.”

He also highlighted the artisans and craftspeople it takes to pull off all of those moving parts. “Larger than life” applies to every character, song and moment, thanks to the expert work of the show’s costume and special effects designers. The musical’s website claims that it takes 180 people to deliver a single performance of “Aladdin,” from the actors to the ushers and every role in between.

When asked to reveal some of the secrets behind the illusions, Nagraj said, “Well, it’s all magic. That’s what I can say. Every element of the show is beautifully and exquisitely realized. When people come to see us, they won’t be able to figure out how we’re doing it.”

There are parts of the show that even Nagraj can’t wrap his head around, including the sequence for the song “High Adventure,” which is one of the tracks cut from the film and restored for the musical.

“The ensemble really makes the show come alive, because they make up so much of every song. They’re doing incredible things that I can’t even begin to comprehend; they are moving and singing and giving wonderful acting performances all at the same time,” Nagraj said. “‘High Adventure’ is hilariously funny and incredibly well-sung, but it also features this dashing swordplay throughout.”

Nagraj is glad to be taking Jafar on the road, not least because it allows him to see new parts of the country. Touring also gives him the chance to revisit cities he’s worked in over the course of his regional theater career.

“One of the joys of my career has been that I’ve done a lot of different things. It keeps me mentally engaged to jump from style to style and project to project, to do things all over the map and be very different each time,” he said. “Hopefully, I get to keep that up and work on as many things as possible for the rest of my career.”

Nagraj and the rest of the cast are also fascinated by the way different audiences engage with the show from city to city. No two groups react exactly the same way to the jokes and the action, even on different nights at the same venue. That’s only enhanced by the way this story has been refreshed from the movie to the musical.

“There’s so much material that is from the movie, but there’s an equal

amount of material that is new to this stage version,” Nagraj said. “If all you’re familiar with is that movie, it will be brand new to you.”

“Aladdin” has been a hit from the moment it premiered and continues to play eight times per week at Broadway’s historic New Amsterdam Theatre. The show has been seen by more than 14 million people worldwide, from Mexico City to Tokyo. This tour, which kicked off in October of 2022, marks the first time “Aladdin” can be seen in the Unit-

ed States and Canada (outside of New York) since before the pandemic. Other main cast members for the North American tour include Adi Roy as Aladdin, Senzel Ahmady as Jasmine, Marcus M. Martin as Genie and Aaron Choi as Iago.

For all of its enchantment, “Aladdin” is just one of the must-see shows coming to the Robinson Center Performance Hall this year. Though not technically a part of the official Broadway season, “Chicago” will bring its world-renowned song and dance numbers to the Little Rock stage as part of its 25th anniversary tour from March 17 to 18.

After “Aladdin” leaves town, the Robinson Center will be halfway through its 2022-2023 Broadway season with Celebrity Attractions. In another hit musical adapted from the screen, “Legally Blonde: The Musical” will be in town April 21 - April 23. Wrapping up the Broadway season is the classic “My Fair Lady” from May 19 - May 21. The latest on ticket sales and more information can be found on the Robinson Center website.

Anand Nagraj (Jafar) and Aaron Choi (Iago).

We are a skilled nursing facility with a state-of-the-art rehab center offering person-centered care in a quiet and serene setting.

We are a skilled nursing facility with a state-of-the-art rehab center offering personcentered care in a quiet and serene setting.

Awarded Bronze National Quality Award by the American Health Association.

We are a skilled nursing center offering person-centered

Awarded Bronze National

Awarded Bronze National 1092 West Stultz Road, Springdale

1092 West Stultz Road, Springdale

479.750.3800

ShilohHR.com

We are a skilled nursing facility with a state-of-the-art rehab center offering person-centered care in a quiet and serene setting.

Awarded Bronze National Quality Award by the American Health Association.

Awarded Bronze National Quality Award by the American Health Association.

1092 West Stultz Road, Springdale | 479.750.3800 | ShilohHR.com

Awarded Bronze National Quality Award by the American Health Association.

Awarded Bronze National Quality Award by the American Health Association.

1092 West Stultz Road, Springdale | 479.750.3800 | ShilohHR.com

A HOME AWAY FROM HOME

Innisfree is a unique family-oriented facility offering skilled care in a loving, supportive atmosphere. Our licensed nurses, general practitioners, and other specialists believe that building strong relationships with their families is key to the healing process.

Our home is conveniently located just off Walnut in Rogers close to Wal-Mart, under the medical direction of Dr. Kimberly Burner.

Hot Springs’ newest, premier skilled nursing and long term care facility.

Our facility features all private rooms for our long term residents, as well as, private short term rehab rooms with 42-inch flat screen televisions and telephones for family and friend convenience. We have a dedicated secure unit with 23 private rooms and an enclosed courtyard.

2600 Park Ave | Hot Springs, AR 71901 | 501.321.4276

features all private rooms for our well as, private short term rehab screen televisions and telephones convenience. We have a dedicated private rooms and an enclosed Ave | Hot Springs, AR 71901 |

Women Helping Women

The Intersection of Art and Breast Health

By SARAH COLEMAN // Photos By BRYAN CLIFTON/UAMS

“I

could just stay in this dressing room forever,” “This is the most calming space,” “I feel at peace here,” “This place is truly beautiful.” These words come from women who have visited the newly-renovated Breast Center, located inside of University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences Winthrop P. Rockefeller Cancer Institute.

UAMS Winthrop P. Rockefeller Cancer Institute serves as the state’s only academic cancer treatment and research facility. In an effort to continue to improve cancer care for Arkansans and beyond, the cancer institute treats many forms of cancer.

The institute’s expanded Breast Center opened its doors April 5, 2021, following a lengthy renovation with Hrand DuValian, senior architect at Cromwell Architects Engineers, leading the process. The new space encompasses about 12,000 square feet, complete with 14 dressing rooms, five mammography rooms, five ultrasound rooms, an MRI suite and more amenities.

Following the renovated facility’s opening, a well-known name set out to make sure the space was decorated in a way beneficial for all patients, creating an environment as inviting as it was medically and technologically advanced. Natalie Rockefeller began this effort following an appointment she had in March 2021.

“I went for a mammogram at UAMS when it was still in the outpatient building and while I was there, Dr. Bryant-Smith had gotten permission to show me the new center in the cancer institute,” Rockefeller said. “Even before it was finished, it was like going from two totally different experiences. Walking from the old space to the new, I was floored. The windows, light and the hardwood floors – it was just beautiful, and you could tell the space was designed by women for women.”

The space was put together with finishing touches that make it more welcoming, said Rockefeller, with prep and exams rooms featuring frosted-glass, mirrors, storage space in changing areas, soundproofing and more. And yet, there was something missing.

“They put a lot of thought and planning inside the space, and I remembered looking at Dr. Bryant- Smith and saying ‘This place needs really good art,’” Rockefeller said.

Dr. Gwendolyn Bryant- Smith, director of The Breast Center, is enthusiastic in her work, with a positive attitude and immense gratitude, she describes the space as being built intentionally, with patients’ peace-of-mind in the background of every decision. In

working with Rockefeller, Bryant-Smith was ardent about a way to help women while creating a serene space. The serenity Bryant-Smith was hoping for is apparent for more than 250 patients, who reported that the new space was overwhelming, beautiful and a complete transformation, in a UAMS-conducted survey.

“At UAMS we have always prided ourselves on having excellent patient care. Now, our facility matches the effort we put into creating a calming environment for our patients,” Bryant-Smith said. “We’ve had several patients comment on how calming the facility is, a lot of which is thanks to the amazing art that is showcased in the dressing

rooms, waiting rooms and exam rooms.”

Upon returning home from touring the facility, Rockefeller began brainstorming ways to fill the walls with cohesion and creativity. Rockefeller wanted to showcase art from local artists but did not want the artists themselves to have to donate their pieces. Upon calling Dr. Bryant-Smith back, Rockefeller pitched the idea of local artists

Sunsoaked by Catherine Burton

creating work specifically for the space, but instead of donating the pieces, they set their price and outside buyers could purchase the art in dedication of a cancer survivor or warrior. It was an initiative that would allow women to help women.

“Artists get asked to donate pieces all of the time, but I wanted this to not just benefit the space, but also benefit the artists,” Rockefeller said. “It was really centered around the thought of women helping women–which became the title of this project.”

With this plan underway, Rockefeller called on a few members from the cancer institute’s board of advisors, of which she has been chairman since 2018. She asked for nominations of women artists and combined those suggestions with her own. She then reached out to the artists, who were all local to Arkansas, and once more pitched her idea.

Unsure of the magnitude the project would come to hold, Rockefeller originally thought she would maybe receive 10 or 12 paintings.

By late April 2021, she’d secured eight pieces from four artists. Announcing the project via an Instagram post (@whwartproject) she left for a tennis class and when she returned home, was shocked to see all the pieces were already sold. In that moment, she knew Women Helping Women was going to be far greater than she originally anticipated.

“Not only were all of the paintings sold, but people were reaching out to see how they could get involved with the project,” she said. “We got to work.”

Fortunately, The Breast Center offered plenty of space for artwork between its multiple dressing rooms, mammography rooms, ultrasound rooms and imaging suites. It also offered space in the large waiting areas, filled with natural light. This provided the new art program with ready and available space to grow the collection.

With plush pink and white robes, privacy and calming wave-sculpted accent walls, the space was promising. Bryant-Smith has been successful in ensuring that women would never have to sit in a gloomy waiting room, a cramped dressing room, or in a cold exam room with a scratchy robe.

Rockefeller not only secured the pieces but was also involved in their display. She wanted the walls of the corridor and the waiting room to look cohesive, but the many other rooms retained their own personality, thus opening the initiative up to artists with different styles. Purchased pieces were delivered to BK Moulding Supply in Little Rock which framed the pieces and handled installation.

“For a while, we were doing an install every week, working with The Breast Center team and the installers to do so,” Rockefeller said. “Every piece was assigned to a certain space and the art was all truly made for the spaces.”

Bryant-Smith is proud of how the project has come to fruition, as a supporter of the arts, she is thrilled with the improvement to the space.

“I love all of the artwork, but one of my favorite pieces is featured in one of our dressing rooms, dubbed ‘The Lipstick Room,’ and it is

Seashowers then Sun by Catherine Burton

Dr. Gwendolyn Bryant- Smith, director of UAMS Breast Center

absolutely gorgeous, with pops of bright color,” Bryant-Smith said. “My husband commissioned a piece by the same artist, Morgan Herndon, to hang in my office.”

Several UAMS providers in The Breast Center have also commissioned pieces from Women Helping Women, including Dr. Scott B. Harter, who has an Arden Boyce painting in his office.

Though the styles and techniques used by the artists vary to a great degree, the pieces have been planned in a way that allows for cohesion and balance. Women Helping Women features work from a variety of female Arkansan artists, all of which are renowned in their own right. As of December 2022, these artists include Arden Boyce, Lauren Anderson, Catherine Burton, Emily Cobb, Linda Harding, Tracee Mathews, Amanda Southerland Owens, Vicki Kovaleski, Morgan Herndon, Katheryn Sixbey, Mary Lynn Nelson, Stephanie Ann Hutchinson, Michelle Renee and Eleanor Dickinson.

In a related project, Heather Jenkins donated her time to photograph the pieces for an upcoming coffee table book, targeting a Fall 2023 publish date. Upon completion of the project, the book will serve as a way for more people to enjoy the artwork featured in The Breast Center.

The project is close to being completed, having resulted in more than 80 paintings, with sales totaling about $90,000 as of December 2022. The result of the work provides, in the words of The Breast Center website, “a painting a woman will remember seeing the day she is told she is cancer-free, or the piece she will remember that brought her a sense of calm before her mammogram.”

As for Rockefeller, she comes by her passion for the institute and the work it does honestly. Her father-in-law was the late former Lieut. Governor Winthrop P. Rockefeller, who died of cancer and whose name is on the building. She said like all departments here, The Breast Center is an outstanding medical resource for women and families dealing with a cancer diagnosis.

“One thing that is so unique and special about The Breast Center is how much they respect your time,” she said. “They let you know your results the same day, instead of making you wait for a letter to come days or weeks later. They always, always make sure women know the day-of.

“They make sure to do what is necessary. I had a friend who needed a biopsy and they gave her the option to do it that very same day. I needed an ultrasound in addition to a mammogram, and now they can use that ultrasound as a benchmark. You can do all you need to do in one day, all with the peace of mind that you won’t have to go back multiple times just to find out your results.

As director, Bryant-Smith is proud of how UAMS and The Breast Center have been able to serve women, with several initiatives put in place for patients. Inside the Women’s Center at UAMS, there is now a 3D digital mammography machine, so that women can get their mammograms conveniently – and be called with their results the same day. The Breast Center also has a mobile mammography van, so that women in remote and rural areas can get their mammograms without having to travel far. With extended hours on one Tuesday night a month and one Saturday a month, women who work or have other obligations during the center’s regular hours can schedule appointments around their schedules – instead of changing their schedules to get an appointment.

“Accessibility is everything in women’s health care,” Bryant-Smith said. “We are really proud that we are able to get sameday results to our patients.”

Rockefeller says she is appreciative of how The Breast Center works to ensure women are treated and seen in a timely manner.

“As women, our time is valuable, our lives are important and The Breast Center at UAMS allows you to get back to what you’re doing, quickly,” Rockefeller said.

Just for Joy by Emily Laughlin Cobb

Inception by Kathryn Daniel Sixbey

Daddy’s Roses by Morgan Herndon

We are devoted to providing high quality care which celebrates the dignity and grace of every person who enters our facility.

At Sherwood Nursing and Rehab we are committed to providing the highest quality of patient care. Our qualified staff is here giving support for the tasks of day-to-day living, allowing for the enjoyment of more pleasant and carefree activities.

We specialize in Short-Term Rehabilitation and Long-Term Care services.

245 Indian Bay Drive Sherwood, AR 72120

501.834.9960 Fax: 501.834.5644

Underdog

Jimmy McGill and the Arkansas Recovery Model Leading the Nation

By Mak Millard

T The extent of Jimmy McGill’s recovery transformation after 23 years of drug addiction cannot be overstated. It can, however, be illustrated by someone who knew him at his worst: Kirk Lane, the “hard-nosed cop, notoriously known to get everybody he set out to arrest.” His interactions with McGill — or mentorship, as McGill described it — started in the back of a patrol car.

“He saw me when I was the bare resemblance of a human being,” McGill recalled. “I’m skin and bones; I haven’t showered in days. I’m walking around with an ego as big as Texas, thinking I’m the flyest

thing since an airplane. You can’t tell me I’ve got a drug problem.”

As the third generation of addiction — the grandson of a bootlegger and son of a father who learned from an early age that he wasn’t scared of anything, jail included — McGill’s traumatic upbringing indoctrinated him into a violent lifestyle.

At 38 years old, he was headed back to jail

for the sixth time. With 18 felony convictions and a pending drug charge, he had surrendered to the fact he would likely die incarcerated.

As he recounted this period of his life, McGill explained his situation as a mix of both “self-imposed disadvantages” and being at the mercy of addiction. Alongside his choices was an illness beyond his control.

“I always thought there was something wrong with me,” he said. “There’s this misconception that people use substances because they want to use. That’s not the truth. I remember staring at a loaded syringe and crying so long that the tears crusted to my face. I didn’t want to use, and I knew I was going to anyway.”

Here, McGill pointed to what he’s come to call “the first miracle.” Despite the pending charge, he mades parole — a situation unlikely at the time, and nearly unheard of now. While he was in a recovery residence, another realization hit him like a brick to the face.

“I realized whatever was wrong with

me was way bigger than me,” he explained. “As a teenager, my choice was to use. But my choice was not to not stop, because I tried to stop thousands of times and couldn’t. When you talk about substance use disorder, that’s what you’re talking about: something that will not let your brain stop the obsession with returning to that use. Substance use disorder is both a medical condition and a mental health issue. It must be treated as such.”

In recovery, McGill began telling his story and encouraging others to battle stereotypes by, in his words, “recovering out loud.” The more he spoke out about his experiences, the more invitations he received. In 2017, at two years clean, McGill was invited to speak at the Arkansas State Capitol alongside the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Drug Enforcement Agency and the Attorney General’s office. Also on the speaking docket was newly appointed Arkansas Drug Director Kirk Lane.

“I decide I’m going to go shake his hand and tell him thank you,” McGill said. “And I did. He just smiled and said, ‘It’s good to see you, too.’ I could tell immediately he had no clue who I was. The FBI spoke,

the DEA spoke, Kirk spoke — and then I spoke.

“I started out, ‘I’ve got two years clean. Before I was clean, there were only two things I liked to do: get high and hide from Kirk Lane.’ Everybody laughed, and it hit him. He came up and bear-hugged me afterwards.”

That night was a catalyst for both men. For Lane, who was “trying to arrest his way out of the problem,” McGill said, “He realized recovery is a real thing.” For his part, McGill described the night as “magical,” because he learned his story could impact decision-makers at the highest levels.

Lane and McGill began traveling around the state speaking to colleges, law enforcement and other groups about the real possibility and need for a recovery-centered approach. In

“Don’t give up. Your past is not a death sentence. Despite how bad your past may look — criminal histories, diagnoses, mistakes, hurts — you are never too far gone to find your purpose and pathway.”

Former Arkansas Drug Director Kirk Lane (Left) learned about the real power or recovery thanks to McGill’s story.

In 2019, Gov. Asa Hutchinson signed a bill allowing DHS to hire individuals with prior drugrelated offenses to work as peer support specialists.

2018, Lane told McGill about a position opening up with the Arkansas Department of Human Services in the new Peer Recovery program.

Another impossibility turned into reality: Even though McGill was the only applicant actually in recovery — one of the qualifications for the job — he was still on parole, so his chances of getting the state job were slim to none. But he passed his interview with flying colors, impressing an intimidating panel that reminded him more of the parole board.

“The governor had to sign off on a special waiver for me to be hired,” he said. “I knew immediately that this was bigger than me. I knew that this was bigger than Kirk. This was about giving a voice to a population of people who had not had one. This was about fixing a system that doesn’t realize it’s broken.”

In September of 2022, Gov. Asa Hutchinson signed off on another milestone of McGill’s success story, granting him a full pardon.

“I had the breath knocked out of me when I got the phone call,” he said. “It opened my eyes to full-fledged redemption. To go from 19 felony convictions to being a liar if I say I’m convicted of anything — I still can’t wrap my head around it.”

Now an author, pastor, homeowner and national vanguard for the power of recovery, McGill described his journey as “a story of impossibilities, where the underdog becomes the champion,” and it’s hard to

argue with his assessment.

“Only God can take you from sitting in state prison into a state position,” he said. “That’s exactly what happened.”

As the name suggests, a peer recovery model relies on the expertise of peers: people with direct lived experience in recovery from addiction, mental health or similar struggles. Peer recovery specialists are trained and deployed to hospitals, jails and other places where they can approach people in crisis with true understanding and support their long-term success.

“All these things that were once a burden or an embarrassment now become a pathway to a productive future,” McGill explained. “Every mistake ever made becomes on-thejob training. We built a workforce out of it.”

According to McGill, the concept of peer support has been considered an evidence-based practice by Medicaid as far back as 2007, but before 2017, the state workforce was virtually nonexistent. The few peer recovery specialists who did exist were underutilized or put in positions that didn’t highlight their true value.

“Addiction has been around for a long time, killing people,” McGill explains. “The sad part of the story is that the right people started dying — with the opioid epidemic — and all of a sudden, they started caring. In 2017, the federal government began releasing its first rounds of funding for states and territories. One of the stipulations of the money was that we embrace the concept of peer support.”

In his role as Director of Peer Support for the Arkansas Deaprtment of Health and Human Services (DHS) and a certified Peer Recovery Peer Supervisor, McGill has spearheaded the development of peer recovery throughout the state. According to the Arkansas Peer Recovery site, McGill has assisted in training over 330 peer recovery specialists. Arkansas peer recovery now spans from DHS and the Division of Youth Services to emergency rooms, drug courts and community service centers.

Two of the first places in the state to benefit from this peer recovery program also symbolized the full circle of McGill’s own recovery. The first was the same Lonoke County jail, where McGill was headed for the sixth time, having given up any hope of life outside of prison. The second was Next Step Recovery

“People can and do recover.”

The founders of the state’s first jail-based peer recovery program, in the same Lonoke County jail where Jimmy McGill spent time as an inmate. From left: Casey Copeland, Sheriff John Staley, McGill and Kirk Lane.

Housing, the community-funded recovery group founded in 2017 by McGill and his wife, Chelsea.

“We went back to the same population that had been stigmatized by society, and now they’re the key ingredient to overcoming the mental health crisis and the substance use addiction epidemic,” McGill said. “The same group of youth with different sexual orientations. Those same people they said were homeless and would never be anything are now leading the nation. That’s what this thing is about.”

The success of Arkansas Peer Recovery has made the state an example for the nation and put McGill in a position to teach the model to groups across the country.

“We are number one in the nation when it comes to evidence-based recovery support services, and we’ve got the only 988 call center in America with certified peer workers in it,” McGill said. “We have mobile crisis units. We built the only model in the nation with a career ladder for peer specialists.”

McGill also highlighted that the Arkansas model of peer support was built to not be dependent on Medicaid for sustainability. Instead, he and DHS focused on collecting effective data that would make employers “look foolish if they didn’t embrace the concept of peer support,” he said. The program is Medicaid billable, but also benefits from discretionary grants and other funding mechanisms.

Another key to keeping the program viable in the long-term is leadership development and finding people within DHS who truly believe in peer recovery. McGill is confident in having that support from Jay Hill, director of DHS’ Division of Aging, Adult, and Behavioral Health Services, who “took the torch” from Kirk Lane and continues to push for expanding peer recovery’s reach.

When it comes to filling gaps in the program, McGill points to youth support services and family support services for youth, neither of which yet has a certification path for peer recovery specialists. He said the situation is especially dire for LGBTQ youth because, “as long as youth don’t have a safe place to identify and feel secure, suicide rates and drug rates are going to spike.”

“I want to see community drop-in centers where youth can hang out and be safe together,” he said. “But I want to see family support, too. I want to see the allies; I want to see the mothers and the fathers who lost their children to suicide and mental health crises and to overdoses. Everywhere we see addiction and mental health, I want to see recovery services.”

One of the most important improvements to make, McGill added, is to stop using jails and prisons “as a mental health hospital,” and instead turn them into places where people struggling can receive the support they need.

Looking to his own future with DHS, McGill has no plans of going anywhere anytime soon. “It’s such a huge part of my story,” he said. “Right now, 49 other states can say, ‘Arkansas did it; why can’t we do it?’ Hopefully, when I leave, I’ll have someone just as good to pass that torch to.”

Asked what others can do to support peer recovery and help others on their own journeys, McGill pointed to recovery-focused education and crushing long-held social stigma as two of the most important steps. Nonprofits such as Next Step Recovery Housing could always use donations of time and money, he added.

For those who struggle with addiction or know someone who does, McGill again stressed the real possibility of recovery.

“Don’t give up,” he said. “Your past is not a death sentence. Despite how bad your past may look — criminal histories, diagnoses, mistakes, hurts — you are never too far gone to find your purpose and pathway. People can and do recover.”

McGill speaks at the Clinton Public Library as part of the Mobilize Recovery Across America 2022 bus tour.

Arkansas Addiction, Treatment and Rehab Centers

Conway Behavioral Health Hospital • Conway • Adults, 12-17

Inpatient psychiatric care, outtreatment, partial hospitalization, adult inpatient

Natural State Recovery • North Little Rock • Adults

Detox, residential rehab, outpatient, sober living

Oasis Renewal Center • Little Rock • Adults

Inpatient, partial, extensive outpatient

Pinnacle Pointe Hospital • Little Rock • Ages 5-17

Inpatient, sub-acute, partial hospitalization, options for Military families, outpatient services

Recovery Centers of Arkansas • Little Rock • Adults

Rehab, long-term housing, Veteran services, outpatient services and counseling

Renewal Ranch, Houston • Men • 21+

Christian-based recovery, job training, GED/continued education options

Serenity Park Recovery • Little Rock • Adults

Addiction recovery, medically assisted detox

The BridgeWay • North Little Rock • Adults, adolescents ages 13-17, and children ages 4 through 12

Electroconvulsive Therapy for Adults

True Self Recovery • Rogers and Holiday Island, AR • Adults

Offers medical detox, residential treatment and outpatient + supportive housing; offers adventure therapy; has a specific Veterans track

Oasis of Northwest Arkansas • Several locations • Adult Women

Transistional living, supportive housing for women in recovery, second chance employment program

Next Step Recovery Housing • Clarksville (new location, opening in Feb) • Adult Men

Sober living; drug/alcohol screening; must be committed to next step program; faith-based

Next Step Recovery Housing • El Dorado • Adult Women

Sober living; drug/alcohol screening; must be committed to next step program; faith-based

Our doctors listen

Arkansans at Risk. We call Arkansas The Natural State, but ours is a rural state, which places Arkansans at risk.

What does it mean to be taken care of? At Arkansas Blue Cross and Blue Shield, it means providing peace of mind. We’ve been taking care of Arkansans for over 70 years, providing affordable, reliable health insurance … to keep you healthy and help you heal. Investing in your community to keep this diverse and wonderful state strong. We’re looking out for your physical, emotional and social health, connecting you with resources, and helping you navigate the healthcare system — so you and the ones you love can live your best life, your whole life long. Take good care Arkansas.

Physicians are on the medical staff of The BridgeWay, but, with limited exceptions, are independent practitioners who are not employees or agents of The BridgeWay. The facility shall not be liable for actions or treatments provided by physicians. Quality

Russellville Nursing and Rehabilitation Center is nestled in the heart of the River Valley in Russellville, Arkansas. Our staff provides skilled professional care in a compassionate and supportive atmosphere. Russellville Nursing & Rehabilitation Center not only provides long-term care services, we also offer a wide range of rehabilitative services. Our physicians, nurses and staff all believe strong relationships with residents and their families is essential to the healing process. The entire staff is devoted to providing quality care, which celebrates the dignity and grace of every single resident.

Nursing and Rehabilitation Center

MURDER MYSTERY: Snake Eyes

Part 2

–

By Sarah Russell –

Faster than a summer brush fire, the story moved through the Hot Springs community. Barely two months after the June 24, 1966, death of a local teenage girl, Cathie Ward, out at Frank Davis’ Blacksnake Ranch, Davis’ fourth wife, Sharron Knight Davis, hid their two boys at her parents’ home in town and then escaped him, just 33 days before their third wedding anniversary.

It wouldn’t be like Frank to just let this go; nobody defied him. And sure enough, shortly afterwards, he abandoned the ranch and moved back into town with his mother. There, he settled into ritualistic daily patterns, starting the day by biting into a lemon covered with two tablespoons of salt, then slugging a half-pint of whiskey, per author Bitty Martin in her true crime book “Snake Eyes.”

The morning cocktail was topped with a cherry of sorts, Equanil, an anxiety medication. While in the military, Davis had bleeding ulcers, sometimes causing blackouts for days. Medically discharged, he left with a disability check and a rationale for creating his own mix of painkillers.

Given enough time, Davis would then make his way over to the Blue Bell Cafe each day to get lunch, bringing with him a pint to doctor his Mountain Valley Water. Sometimes he’d go to the nearby liquor store to replenish his supply, killing time until happy hour at local clubs.

Multiple times a day Frank would call Sharron on the job at Vanity Beauty Shop to ask when were she and the boys coming home? Often, a visibly frightened Sharron left work, hiding out in her friend’s shoe shop next door until her ride home arrived. Sharron was trying to stay out of his sight.

If he spotted her out, Davis would drive slowly alongside her, yelling, “I’m gonna kill you!” She had no doubt he meant it. With or without her, he wanted his boys back. In her quiet way, she always

put him off and finally filed for divorce. He ignored it, refused to pay child support and offered instead the chance for them to come home.

Davis was convinced Sharron and the boys were moving home for good on Sunday, January 15, 1967. He and his mother, Irene, waited all afternoon to welcome them back to Blacksnake Ranch. Sharron never showed, and four days later, Davis was still furious she’d stood him up. Enlisting a teenaged boy to tail her, he was alerted of her whereabouts on Thursday night, arriving in time to see Sharron run to her mother’s car and drive away.

Later, Davis pulled into the Oaklawn Redbird Service Station and Laundromat for gas. The building had an unusual design with a set of double glass doors at the front entrance, which perfectly aligned with a duplicate set at the back entrance. In a clear line of sight from front to rear, Davis could see Sharron’s mother, Pauline Knight’s car parked near the back door, so he drove around.

Pulling up beside her car — driver’s side to driver’s side — Davis could see Mrs. Knight in the passenger seat, cradling the baby. In the back of her two-door was his smiling toddler. Leaving the laundromat, Sharron saw Davis and rushed to the car. She jumped into the driver’s seat and began rolling up the window. This time, so a witness reported, she made her message clear. She wanted nothing more to do with him. His response was deadly.

Reaching back to the floorboard of his mother’s Ford Thunderbird, Davis pulled out a Winchester 30-30 and blasted through Sharron’s window. Frantically running into the laundromat for help, Pauline Knight was next. Through the back glass door, Davis’ aim took another toll. Mrs. Knight dropped to the floor. Leaving his children for strangers to comfort, Davis drove off.

Sharron Knight Davis

Police were quickly behind. At Irene’s house, they found him blacked out in a back bedroom. How had he so quickly managed to become unconscious was never clear. Coming to the next morning in a jail cell, Frank Davis claimed he couldn’t remember killing his wife. No matter. This time, there were plenty of witnesses. January 19, 1967 —the date would be marked on his case file and Sharron’s tombstone as the day he committed murder — was also Irene Davis’ 60th birthday.

As funeral arrangements were made for Sharron, Pauline Knight fought for her life. Police pulled their case together and Irene Davis hired the best attorneys money could buy for her boy. That seemed plenty, but there was still Sharron’s parting shot to Frank. And, yes, it was a doozy.

As Dr. Hiram Ward explained to “Snake Eyes” author Bitty Martin, “His wife (Sharron) had what he’d done in the past, written in a letter, and she put it in a lockbox. She said he’d killed my daughter and a little boy that was in a pond in front of their house. The authorities drained the pond, and there he was.”

Sharron’s letter also revealed that Frank had bludgeoned Cathie Ward with a rock, (some say it was in the lockbox, others are unsure) then staged the accident as an incident with a runaway horse. But it seems another child, a foster kid, had witnessed it and died as a result, too. Davis was indicted for Cathie Ward’s murder, but it would be secondary to Sharron’s case.

On June 11, 1968 – Frank Davis’ 44th birthday — Sharron’s trial began. Eyes no doubt rolled when his attorneys went for an insanity defense. In four days, he would be found guilty and sentenced to death in the electric chair on Aug. 17 that year.

That should have been it, but Irene Davis wasn’t having it. An appeal was made and lost. Another was planned, but it would not be by appeal that Frank would escape Old Sparky. Instead, Gov. Winthrop Rockefeller, now departing office, commuted the sentences of all those on death row. In the cruelest of twists, the only man connected to the case who would be electrocuted was Sharron’s father, who died on the job 16 months after he buried his child.

Frank Davis managed to defy justice even further. The man whose defense was insanity was made a trusty in prison — a high-ranking inmate position allowing that prisoner to oversee

others. At that time, a trusty was even able to commit crimes — including rape and murder — within the prison wire.

With his experience with livestock, Davis was also granted cattle to tend and his own prison horse to do so. Some said he could ride off into the sunset any time he pleased, telling of time he just “got lost” for a couple of days.

One of Davis’ former friends told author Bitty Martin that Davis had been at the fairground’s rodeo when he was supposed to be locked up at the penitentiary. The court stenographer of Davis’ murder trial also saw him at the Garland County Fair Arts and Crafts show. Looking straight at her, he lifted his right hand to make a gesture as if shooting her.

His taunting became much worse. Now raising Sharron’s two boys, a permanently disabled Pauline Knight had survived, but she lived in terror of Davis coming back for her. As related in “Snake Eyes,” Pauline went “out the back door of her kitchen onto three steps that led down to the backyard — that’s where she found Frank’s cigarette butts.”

Then the word came down that Frank Davis was eligible for parole, his mother Irene leaning in hard for his release. Members of the judicial system, law enforcement, the media as well as the townsfolk, responded with a loud and a righteous fury, reminding the parole board that true justice had not been served, not even close. Frank had slipped out of the death penalty, but he had by no means been held accountable for all his actions. Charges for attempted murder of Mrs. Knight had lapsed; indictment for Cathie’s Ward murder had been dropped; and there was only hearsay about the drowned boy at Blacksnake.

Despite the rising tide of public outrage, Frank was paroled where the Davis family and Wanda promptly made a new home. Irene died six months after Frank was paroled.

And who was Wanda? Seems at the time of Sharron’s death in 1967, Wanda was Davis’ pregnant girlfriend, soon to be the mother of his daughter. During a 1976 furlough in Searcy, she became his fifth wife.

Ten days before his 60th birthday, Frank Davis was declared dead of natural causes, having been found sitting upright in his truck. Time had finally dealt him a losing hand. Or, as they say in gambling circles — snake eyes.

Cathie Ward

SHORT-TERM REHAB, LONG TERM CARE & RESPITE SERVICES

We specialize in Short-Term Rehabilitation and Long-Term Care services. From the moment you enter our facility, we want you to experience the difference our facility has to offer. From our light-filled common area to our beautiful outdoor patios, we want you and your loved one to feel comfortable and safe when staying with us.

Natural Bridges

By Joe David Rice

My friends with geology degrees tell me the recipe for natural bridges is simple. Find an area of exposed sandstone or limestone arranged in horizontal layers. Periodically add varying amounts of water, ice, and wind. Wait a couple of million years – and voilà!

Mother Nature has blessed Arkansas with a good mix of these wonders – and several are easy to visit. The best known of the lot is the aptly-named Natural Bridge of Arkansas, a commercial tourist attraction a few miles north of Clinton on the east side of US Highway 65. The majestic span, some 120 feet long, requires a short walk to see it and is worth the reasonable admission fee. The state’s premier underground attraction, Blanchard Springs Cavern, is only 60 miles to the east.

Another modest fee is required to inspect the small, naturally occurring bridge at the Pivot Rock tourist stop in Eureka Springs. What it lacks in size is more than made up by convenience – and it offers an interesting contrast to the architectural curiosities of this quirky little town.

Petit Jean State Park, the flagship of the state park system and about an hour west of Little Rock, includes a handsome natural bridge within its 3,500 acres. The popular Seven Hollows Trail provides a direct route to and then under the picturesque span. Make sure to check out Cedar Falls, Indian Rock House and the strange “turtle rocks” while you’re at the park.

The Buffalo River, winding across north Arkansas and America’s first national river, includes at least two natural bridges in its vast acreage. The most accessible of the pair is found in Lost Valley about 2 miles south of Ponca. Over the ages, Clark Creek has carved a hole in the bedrock, easily big enough to climb through, and the creek emerges from this opening in dramatic style – especially in the spring when the water’s up. It’s a relaxed hike and is among the most photogenic spots in the state.

Another Buffalo River example is located in the rugged and remote canyon of Indian Creek, upstream from Kyle’s Landing, a National Park Service campground between Ponca and Jasper. This natural bridge –sometimes called “the eye of the needle” because of its vertical orientation – is also photographer’s delight (take a wide-angle lens), but the treacherous, steep and often slippery route is not for the faint of heart.

South of Jasper and a mile or so west of the junction of Arkansas 7 and 16 is the Alum Cove Recreation Area maintained by the Ozark

National Forest. After a short walk on a marked trail visitors will arrive at an imposing 20-foot wide stone arch stretching some 130 feet in length. It’s definitely worth a visit, especially when the fall colors are at their peak.

A short distance to the south – as the crow flies – is the Hurricane Creek Wilderness Area, also in the Ozark National Forest. This challenging 15,300-acre tract is chock-full of interesting features to include an impressive natural bridge – although getting to this formation requires a serious hike. The Ozark Highlands Trail, which parallels the sparkling, boulder-strewn stream, is popular with the backpacking community.

Finally, yet another few miles to the south is the Buzzard Roost Area within the Ozark National Forest. Located off the backroads between Arkansas 7 and Big Piney Creek, this stretch of rocky terrain is not easy to reach, since it’s a dozen miles off the paved highway. But the adventuresome will be rewarded with a great array of attractive rock formations – to include at least two natural stone arches.

Spend some time bushwhacking the blufflines of the Ozarks and you can make your own discoveries of these fascinating geological anomalies. Late fall and winter months offer the best opportunities. No need to rush though. Arkansas’s natural bridges have been here for eons and are aging well.

Joe David Rice, former tourism director of Arkansas Parks and Tourism, has written Arkansas Backstories, a delightful book of short stories from A through Z that introduces readers to the state's lesser-known aspects. Rice's goal is to help readers acknowledge that Arkansas is a unique and fascinating combination of land and people – one to be proud of and one certainly worth sharing.

Each month, AY will share one of the 165 distinctive essays. We hope these stories will give you a new appreciation for this geographically compact but delightfully complex place we call home. These Arkansas Backstories columns appear courtesy of the Butler Center for Arkansas Studies at the Central Arkansas Library System. The essays have been collected and published by Butler Center Books in a two-volume set, both of which are now available to purchase at Amazon and the University of Arkansas Press.

Spanning over 18,000 square feet, our tranquil environment awaits you for a day of pampering. Rest, relax, and escape this season at Cedar Creek Spa.

Book your appointment online: bigcedar.com

More Specialists

Conway Regional Maternal-Fetal Medicine Center of Arkansas

The new Conway Regional Maternal-Fetal Medicine Center of Arkansas, led by Dawn Hughes, MD, and Stacey Johnson, APRN, offers care for women with complications found prior to or during pregnancy and for their unborn baby. Each woman's journey to having a baby is unique, which is why our highly-skilled specialists collaborate with ob-gyns, neonatologists, and pediatricians to provide each patient with a special, individualized care plan. Visit ConwayRegional.org to learn more.

We’re not just growing—we’re growing together.

Left to Right: Dawn Hughes, MD, and Stacey Johnson, APRN