AY About You March 2024

UPCOMING EVENTS

eclipse 2024 watch party

The event will include free eclipse glasses, arts and crafts vendors, food concessionaires, yard games, NASA TV on the big screen, and the chance to talk to UCA scientists about the eclipse.

10 a.m. to 3 p.m. | Estes Stadium

eclipse kic k off p arty on the stripes

1:40 p.m. | Estes Stadium

Join four-time Grammy nominee and Zydeco legend Sean Ardoin for a mass line dance performance. LUNA, the 25foot-tall inflatable eclipse superhero, will also be revealed.

public lecture:

How to Safe ly Photograph

the Eclipse

By Ja mes Neihouse

6 p.m. | Buffalo Alumni Hall

RSVP Required

pet friendly eclipse viewing and dog barkanalia

Enjoy entertainment for you and your canine companions. We’ll have mainstage entertainment and a show ring with dog agility demonstrations and costume competitions.

10 a.m. to 3 p.m. | College of Business Lawn

eclipse planetarium showS

April 5 at 7 p.m.

April 6 at 1 p.m., 3 p.m., 5 p.m. and 7 p.m.

April 7 at 1 p.m., 3 p.m., 5 p.m. and 7 p.m.

Conway Corp Center for the Sciences, Griffin Planetarium

the elton john experience featuring the rocket band

7:30 p.m. | Reynolds Performance Hall

public lecture: dr. amber straughn

NASA Astrophysicist

7:30 p.m. | Windgate Center Concert Hall

EVERYONE HAS A STORY

When the lights come up on the production of QUEEN ESTHER, audiences hear a voice inviting them to “Pay attention to what you are about to see. Don’t miss a moment. The Author’s hand is in every detail.”

Esther’s entire world is turned upside down when she is taken from her people and thrown into the dangers of palace life. Surrounded by chaos and political agendas, this young woman finds herself alone and facing an uncertain future. Can she find the courage to trust in the faithfulness of God and believe that He is carefully crafting every moment of her story?

For nearly fifty years, Sight & Sound has been bringing the Bible to life on stage with live animals, special effects, and three-story tall sets. Taking nearly four years to create, meticulous attention is given to every detail of these original productions. However, it is Sight & Sound’s hope that the powerful messages within these stories shine brightest from the stage.

At Sight & Sound, we remain passionate about presenting stories from the pages of Scripture because of the way they inspire and encourage us in our own walks of faith. This year, as the captivating story of QUEEN ESTHER comes to life for one final season on the Branson stage, we hope you will join us and be reminded that you, too, were made for such a time as this.

QUEEN ESTHER plays now through October 5th at Sight & Sound Theatres in Branson, MO.

“Saint George and the Dragon” by Kehinde Wiley (2015) a central artwork at Lady Slipper in Bentonville.

Photo by Ryan Parker.

LEARNING EXTENDS Beyond the Classroom

The Pulaski County Special School District is committed to providing a quality and equitable education to all students, which includes lessons both in and out of the classroom. In addition to the academic courses offered for Pre-K to 12th grades, PCSSD provides a number of extracurricular and club activities for students to join at many different grade levels.

Whether it’s related to the arts or mastering the mind in the world of STEM or challenging your leadership skills, there are so many opportunities for extracurricular activities across PCSSD. Here are just a few we’d like to highlight.

The art club at William Jefferson Clinton Elementary functions as a small group extension of the classroom for students to expand their creativity. Students in this club are selected for this club if they exhibit a high level of art skill and desire to improve that skillset. Students work on projects including clay donuts, themed magazine collages, cards for local community organizations and more. Hannah Lopez, art teacher at WJCES and sponsor for the club, says the club allows students to open up and showcase their creativity beyond the classroom.

“I hope the students learn that they are what makes the artwork amazing,” Lopez said. “Their story, who they are and what they are feeling is the part that makes art, art. I encourage them to collaborate with each other, learn from one another and teach me something as well.”

Over at Sylvan Hills Elementary, there are two clubs that allow students to strengthen leadership skills and showcase musical talents. The Encourager Club is an opportunity for students who might be struggling either academically, socially, or just needed a “friend” to be partnered with volunteers from the community and local partner, Sylvan Hills United Methodist Church. This partnership strengthens the community relationship and aims to improve student self-confidence. Volunteers work on skills the teacher provides, read with children, and more. All volunteers have passed the PCSSD volunteer background check.

Students who are musically talented have the opportunity to join the Bear Tones Choir at Sylvan Hills Elementary. This club is open to any 4th and 5th grade student at Sylvan Hills Elementary and currently has 24 members. When in this choir group, students focus on improving singing skills and singing together as an ensemble. The group sang for the Arkansas State Capitol’s Sounds of the Season event in December and also spread holiday cheer at our school district office and a local senior community. The choir only focuses on singing whereas in music class we focus on music in general as well as playing instruments. Beth Hendrix is the school’s music teacher and says music is a way to help students feel welcome and accepted.

“At the heart of it, I hope that this is the beginning of lifelong participation in a singing community,” said Hendrix. “Singing as a group and working together to have a great performance gives students a sense of belonging and community.”

Pine Forest Elementary features a chess club that meets weekly after school. The students begin each session with a short instructional video lesson and then attempt to incorporate new strategies into their chess game. Deborah Jones leads the chess club and points out the infectious nature of the game of chess as the reason so many kids enjoy playing.

“I hope that students carry these skills into their everyday life. Sometimes teachers or parents wander in to play a game,” Jones said. “Attendance is always high and their enthusiasm for Chess is infectious. The kids are there because they think it is fun.”

PCSSD is proud to offer a number of unique extracurricular activities and clubs for students across the District. You can find a full list of extracurricular

PCSSD

PRESIDENT & PUBLISHER

Heather Baker hbaker@aymag.com

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

Dwain Hebda dwain@aymag.com

ASSOCIATE EDITORS

Sarah Coleman scoleman@aymag.com

Mak Millard mmillard@aymag.com

EDITORIAL COORDINATOR

Darlene Hebda darlene@aymag.com

STAFF WRITERS

John Callahan jcallahan@aymag.com

Sarah DeClerk sdeclerk@aymag.com

MANAGING DIGITAL EDITOR

Kellie McAnulty kmcanulty@aymag.com

ONLINE WRITER

Kilee Hall khall@aymag.com

PRODUCTION MANAGER

Mike Bedgood mbedgood@aymag.com

GRAPHIC DESIGNERS

Lora Puls lpuls@aymag.com

Jenna Kelley jkelley@aymag.com

ACCOUNT EXECUTIVES

Linda Burlingame lindaaymag@aol.com

Mary Funderburg mary@aymag.com

Karen Holderfield kholderfield@aymag.com

Jona Parker jona@aymag.com

Dana Rodriguez dana@aymag.com

Bethany Yeager bethany@aymag.com

EXECUTIVE ASSISTANT

Jessica Everson jeverson@aymag.com

ADVERTISING COORDINATOR

Angela-Maria Jones ads@aymag.com

CIRCULATION circulation@aymag.com

CONTRIBUTORS

Eileen Beard, Mark Carter, Ken Heard, Justina Parker, Ryan Parker, Sarah Russell, Genevieve Townley, Todd Traub

ADMINISTRATION 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.

Jason Pederson spent 20 years as KATV’s Seven On Your Side reporter. He is now deputy chief of community engagement for the Arkansas Department of Human Services. He and his wife, Mary Carol, have two biological children and one bonus son. They are longtime members of Fellowship Bible Church in Little Rock.

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.

Angelita Faller is the news director for the office of communications and marketing at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock. A native of Newton, Ill., Faller holds a bachelor’s degree in journalism from Eastern Illinois University and a master’s degree in digital storytelling from Ball State University.

Kelli Reep is a writer and public relations practitioner in central Arkansas. When she is not looking for the best pie in the state, she is being ordered around by three cats. She likes to read, cook, sleep and help out when she can.

Jamie Lee is a native of southwest Louisiana now residing in Little Rock. She is a freelance photographer and writer who focuses on food and restaurants. Jamie has been a photographer for 15 years, shooting seniors, families, portraits, branding and food. She also has more than 25 years of experience with marketing in the travel and tourism industry.

Lori Sparkman, owner of Lori Sparkman Photography, has traveled the globe to work extensively with beautiful brides and grooms, fierce fitness clients, growing families, as well as high-profile and corporate clients. She prides herself in capturing their personalities with a sophisticated and lighthearted style.

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 contributing photographers for AY magazine.

UCA

BARKANALIA ECLIPSE PARTY

FAMILY & DOG-FRIENDLY WATCH PARTY FOR THE SOLAR ECLIPSE WITH FOOD, MUSIC, PRIZES, AND FUN! OPEN TO THE PUBLIC! FREE ADMISSION

PUT THE WORLD ON PAWS! DURING TOTALITY, WE PAUSE OUR DAILY ROUTINES, CARES, AND DIFFERENCES TO UNITE WITH OUR FRIENDS AND PETS FOR AN UNFORGETTABLE COMMUNITY EXPERIENCE.

APRIL 8, 2024

10AM - 3PM

COLLEGE OF BUSINESS FRONT LAWN

Featuring:

• MAIN STAGE ENTERTAINMENT

• LUNA THE ECLIPSE SUPERHERO INFLATABLE

• PHOTO BOOTH, YARN BOMBING

• DOG DEMONSTRATIONS, CONTESTS, LAWN GAMES, AND MORE!

UCA.EDU/ECLIPSE

Music by Pat Becker and the Rex Bell Combo

Step into Spring

After a chilly, snowy start to the new year, spring has definitely started to show its face in Arkansas. The weather is warmer, and the scenery is greening up. Soon, the azaleas will be in bloom, spring break will be upon us, and before you know it, school will be out. It is amazing how fast things can change when you live in Arkansas.

We are very excited about this issue of AY About You, starting with our Bentonville Bucket List. I had the opportunity to visit this unique community, which is unlike any other town or city you will find in the state. Bentonville is a town that offers a rich and diverse experience for visitors. It has gained recognition for its world-renowned chefs, who have brought their culinary expertise to the area. Additionally, Bentonville boasts a fascinating history and is home to advanced technology that sets it apart. One of the remarkable aspects of Bentonville is that everything is conveniently located within walking distance or a short bike ride away. Visitors can explore the town’s vibrant culture, indulge in delicious cuisine, and immerse themselves in various activities, all while appreciating the beautiful scenery. AY About You magazine has dedicated a large part of this issue to Bentonville, featuring a comprehensive bucket list of must-see attractions and must-do activities. Whether it’s staying at unique lodging options, enjoying the local art scene, or engaging in outdoor adventures, Bentonville offers something for everyone. It’s a destination that promises a memorable and fulfilling experience for all who visit.

Also in this issue, we reveal our “Best Of 2024” nominees, which span nearly every category imaginable. This contest is our biggest and most prestigious of the entire year and is determined by you, our loyal readers. You spoke, and we listened, tallying your nominations for the best Arkansas has to offer in restaurants, health care, retail, entertainment, media, places to work, personalities and more.

With the gala season starting to heat up, we take a look at two events supporting worthwhile causes: Camp Aldersgate and the Wolfe Street Foundation, both in Little Rock. We also preview the upcoming Arkansas Cherry Blossom Festival in Hot Springs, a one-of-a-kind cultural happening for the whole family.

Finally, March means St. Patrick’s Day, so we bring you stories about Irish dance, food and pubs to help you celebrate the wearing o’ the green.

All this and more awaits you in our jam-packed March issue. From all of us here at AY Media Group, thanks for being one of our loyal readers.

Cheers to spring!

Heather Baker, President & Publisher hbaker@aymag.com

READER FEEDBACK

2024 HOME GUIDE: PARKINSON BUILDING GROUP

"Bill Parkinson is the best! Fantastic builder and even better person!"

Teresa Hastings Hauser

THIS SIDE OF SEVEN: SECOND CHANCES

“Great story!”

Tonia Griffin

THE MURDERS OF MARY LEE

“I’m ready for part two.”

Pamela Hosier Bates

INTERIOR DESIGNER AWARDS 2024: SHINE INTERIOR DESIGN STUDIO

“Stacey Breezeel congratulations!!! You and your team did an AMAZING job and we are so happy you guys helped us achieve our vision!”

Draft + Table Argenta

ARKANSAS COUPLE TO CELEBRATE 50 YEARS ON VALENTINE’S DAY

"Such a sweet story! Happy anniversary.”

Donna Rogers Norsworthy

THE SOUL OF COOKING: LONGTIME CHEF JAMIE MCAFEE EARNS PRESTIGIOUS ACCOLADE

“Great article! Those dishes are absolutely art! Congratulations Jamie McAfee!”

Trisha Delhommer Shank

AY ABOUT YOU NOMINATED FOR 2024 ARKANSAS COUNTRY MUSIC AWARDS

“Outstanding!! Congratulations Heather!”

Randy Allison

Historic

Burnt

The Wye Mountain Daffodil Festival is being held March 2 through March 10!

Recipe: Vegan Turnip Taco Soup. Link in our bio. Recipe and photo by Squizito Tasting Room.

The Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey are returning to North Little Rock with their all-new, reimagined “The Greatest Show On Earth” at Simmons Bank Arena.

Dave and Jenny Marrs have packed their bags from their hometown of Bentonville and are traveling abroad on a new mission.

Every child

our best Better Beginnings works to help ensure all Arkansas children have access to quality early learning environments.

Every child deserves the best start possible and the opportunity to start kindergarten with a solid foundation from which to continue their education.

Research tells us the most effective learning happens through play and positive interactions with adults and caregivers.

Better Beginnings trained early childhood educators prepare children for kindergarten with positive experiences, researchbased curriculum, and learning through play.

Learning with family Families can create learning opportunities whenever they are together. Using the online learning activities in Better

Better Beginnings

Written by Kelli Hilburn, Better Beginnings Program Administrator

All Arkansans

Families can go to work or seek higher education knowing their children are in a quality learning environment. Employers can see higher workforce efficiencies and their community a stronger economy.

Reach for the stars

Find star-rated quality early childhood educators by clicking the orange Find Child Care banner on our website. We encourage families to reach for the stars

– Better Beginnings star-rated quality early childhood educators.

Top you just can't miss!

AMERICAN CRAFT SAKE FEST 2024

March 2

Bridge Street LIVE! Entertainment District — Hot Springs

Kicking off a busy month for Hot Springs, the American Craft Sake Fest will be hosted for the first time ever in Hot Springs on March 2 at Bridge Street LIVE! Entertainment District and will feature craft sake from several makers, including Arkansas’ own Origami Sake.

ARKANSAS CHERRY BLOSSOM FESTIVAL AND ARKANSAS’ FIRST SUMO WRESTLING EXHIBITION

March 3

Hot Springs Convention Center

The next day, the Arkansas Cherry Blossom Festival and Arkansas’ First Sumo Wrestling Exhibition will be held in conjunction at the Hot Springs Convention Center. The events are part of the Hot Springs Sister City Program, and visitors will be able to enjoy a number of activities and demonstrations. In bringing sumo wrestling to Arkansas for the very first time, AY Media Group’s president and publisher, Heather Baker, will also step into the ring.

PBR: UNLEASH THE BEAST

March 15-16

Simmons Bank Arena — North Little Rock

PBR, the world’s premier bull riding organization, will bring its Unleash The Beast Tour to Simmons Bank Arena. With fierce competition, and even fiercer bulls, the crowd will be able to enjoy the best of the best for two nights only. Fans may even see legends in the making such as Dalton Kasel return to North Little Rock

DISNEY’S ALADDIN

March 26-31

Walton Arts Center — Fayetteville

From the same producer as The Lion King, Disney’s Aladdin will be showing at Walton Arts Center this March. As a thrilling new production, this production is known as one of the greatest Broadway musicals. VIP upgrades will also be available for ticket holders.

ARKANSAS DERBY

March 30

Oaklawn Racing Casino Resort — Hot Springs

The 2024 Arkansas Derby purse has increased to $1.5 million this year, and the derby will feature Kentucky Derby hopefuls. A cherished tradition among many, the Arkansas Derby will include live betting, live music, good food and even better drinks.

And the Nominees Are…

AY ABOUT YOU SHINES A LIGHT ON THE BEST ARKANSAS HAS TO OFFER

By DWAIN HEBDA

There are many things for which Arkansas is known and can be justifiably proud — duck hunting, mountain biking, largemouth bass, fly-fishing, rice, lakes, mountains, rivers, the cost of living, state parks and more. These are the headliners of life in the Natural State, and with good reason. Such amenities drive the state’s economy and infuse residents with a deep, abiding pride of place. From the Ozark landscape to the north to the brawny shoulders of the Delta and from the Diamond Lakes to the piney woods, there is much about Arkansas to be proud of.

One element that does not always get as much credit is the state’s business community, a slight of gothic proportions. Arkansas is a business mecca and is only getting better by providing the kinds of careers that enhance quality of life for millions and drive the economic engine of the state in the process.

Part of the reason why Arkansas has remained largely unsung as far as business success is due to the profound — and largely inexplicable — lack of love shown by national news organizations, the words of which are simply swallowed whole by the rest of the country. However, any self-respecting business-ranking organization that cannot appreciate what is going on in Arkansas must not know its hat from a hole in the ground.

Name another state Arkansas’ size that can boast birthing two companies on the Inc. 100, including 2023’s top company, Walmart, which is headquartered in Bentonville, and No. 80, Tyson Foods, which is headquartered in Springdale and boasts a seven-year run atop Fortune’s list of “World’s Most Admired Companies.”

In trucking, Arkansas has two firms that routinely place in the top 10 in size in the nation, including last year’s No. 3, J.B. Hunt, which is based in Lowell, and No. 10, ArcBest in Fort Smith. In banking, Little Rock’s Bank OZK was recently ranked top performing bank in the country by Bank Director, while three other bank holding companies — Simmons, headquartered in Pine Bluff, Arvest Bank, headquartered in Bentonville, and Home BancShares, headquartered in Conway — were ranked among the U.S.’ top 100 banks by the Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council.

Arkansas also attracts more than its share of heavy hitters that are based elsewhere but want to cash in on the state’s unique combination of central location, multi-modal infrastructure and a favorable cost and quality of living. Amazon, No. 2 on last year’s Inc. 100, has built millions of square feet of distribution space here while two of the largest steel companies in the U.S. (No. 1 Nucor and No. 4 U.S. Steel) have invested billions in stateof-the-art plants in the northeast corner of the state. Multiple defense contractors, including three of the top five largest aircraft, aerospace and defense companies in the world, have expanded their footprint in Camden, and the list goes on.

Yet all of that pales in comparison to Arkansas’ thriving small business community. Large corporations represent less than one percent of the state’s total companies, and the remaining

99.3 percent, per boostsuite.com, are small-tomedium-sized firms operating across the state in virtually every industry. Those companies — from mom-and-pop restaurants and small manufacturers to ambitious tech startups and high-quality health care organizations — are the true lifeblood of the state.

Owned and operated by hard-working men and women, sometimes over multiple generations, these ventures represent what is best about Arkansas and the nation itself. Connected to their communities and accountable to their clients, entrepreneurs put in the long hours to deliver value for the dollar, despite escalating regulations and up-and-down financial periods.

It is these that AY About You’s “Best Of” poll was founded to recognize. The poll identifies the best Arkansas has to offer over hundreds of categories as determined by readers of AY About You magazine and the general public at large. As consumers, the public is the ultimate judge of quality when it comes to goods, services, difference-makers and best places to work. Their votes count, and their voices speak loudly to declare the Best of 2024 in Arkansas.

In January, the public was asked to nominate their favorite companies and service providers across hundreds of categories, including retail, restaurant, health care, beauty, media, construction, interior design and more. Just getting on the ballot is an accomplishment — BoostSuite reports there are about 255,000 small businesses in Arkansas — and to make the slate of the top five is a remarkable achievement.

On March 6, the final voting round begins. The public will again be asked to cast their votes online to determine the Best of 2024, and the top-voted nominees will be honored as finalists in an upcoming edition. This summer, the winners will be revealed amid muchdeserved fanfare as the elite group they are, having emerged from a field of thousands to stand alone atop their industry and earn the right to brand themselves Best of 2024. It is no wonder that so many past winners include the “Best Of” badge in their advertising, proudly showcasing themselves as the people’s choice in their respective fields.

Without further delay, we present, with great pride, this year’s slate of nominees for what we consider to be the most prestigious accolade in Arkansas today: AY About You’s Best of 2024.

PROUD SPONSOR OF SPRING BREAK

• 9 Nature Centers

• 14 Nature Trails

• 17 Water Trails

• Numerous Shooting and Archery Ranges

• A Boatload of Public Fishing Areas

the art of CONSTRUCTION

Parkinson Building Group takes a professional approach to luxury homes

By DWAIN HEBDA

reating anything of beauty and substance is a process that combines, in varying measures, art and science. Guided by that mindset, Bill Parkinson founded Parkinson Building Group in Little Rock. The company has developed a comprehensive system for walking clients through the various steps of building or remodeling a dream home. In doing so, Parkinson addresses the science of the construction process without sacrificing the artistry and craftsmanship of the finished project itself.

“Most of our clients have never done this before, and so I always view it as this being one of the most stressful things that they are going to go through,” he said. “It’s one of their biggest investments. It’s a lot of decision making, and every detail is important.

“When we build a house for someone, we go in there and say, ‘How can we serve this person best? What’s their goal?’ As we’ve climbed the ladder to building bigger and bigger homes, those conversations changed a little bit, but you still have to look at it through that lens.”

Under PBG’s system, each detail of the process — from financing to finishes — is addressed in such a way as to reduce the client’s stress load as much as possible while still attending to the necessary details. The company has assembled a larger-than-average team of construction professionals in house to shepherd the process and maintains an even larger network of outside professionals, including

architects and designers, through which the company connects clients to needed services.

“We’ve got a full-time, permanent team of about 17 individuals, most of whom have been with us for two to three years now, with several people in the eight to 10 year range,” he said. “For the residential type of work that we mainly do, I’d be surprised if there’s any other builders that do upper-end new construction and remodel work that carry a team the size we do in central Arkansas.

“For instance, we have three project managers who work with us now, and each one of them has different strengths and different weaknesses. That allows us to pair jobs to the right project manager based on clients’ goals, which has been really fun. Before, we just had one way that we did it, and now we’ve got three different approaches, three different options of people who can manage a build and give a client an experience that not only matches their goals but matches their personality.”

This variety of perspectives and expertise has enabled PBG to remain design agnostic when it comes to the types of home a client is looking for. Parkinson said one point of pride he has for the work of the company over the past 20 years is the many architectural styles the company has taken on successfully.

“We love to build whatever it is our clients are looking for,” he said. “We really are a true custom home builder that’s not afraid to go after different projects. We’ll do contemporary homes, Mediterranean homes, French country homes, traditional homes, Southern Living farmhousestyle homes. All those types of homes we have done and are doing right now.

“Some builders, you drive through Chenal and say, ‘So-and-so built that house. They built that house. They built that house,’ because they are

known for a particular style, and people hire them for that style of house. I don’t think we really have that type of reputation in town. If you go out west, we’ve built all sorts of homes. You go to the Heights, we’ve built a number of different styles.”

Parkinson’s art-plus-science mentality began early. He studied architecture for two years at the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville before changing his major and graduating with a degree in public relations. He did not have a firm plan for what he was going to do with it, however, and nothing he interviewed for after college felt like the right fit.

“I ended up talking to somebody who said, ‘They’re hiring over at Pulaski Mortgage [Co. in Little Rock],’” he said. “I was about to get married, so I just went and did that.”

The role might not have been part of his original game plan, but it proved to be an invaluable education for his later career in several ways.

“I was connected to Realtors and title companies and banks and different people who were in the construction world. I also loaned money to people for their new construction loans and those types of things,” he said. “I learned a lot.”

The genesis for PBG’s founding in 1999 came in the simplest of ways while he took his young son for walks through the neighborhood.

“I was living in a new-construction neighborhood, and when we’d take our son for a walk or do different things, I’d be looking at the construction with the little bit of knowledge that I had at the time,” he said. “The homes they were building were fine, and there was nothing wrong with it, but seeing the finishes and colors and all that kind of stuff, I just said, ‘I think I can do this better.’

“I bought a lot in Chenal and built a spec house — picked up a presold right about the same time from a guy who I’d done a loan for who found out I was doing this and built his first house. From there, we always had one presold and one spec house going at a time, going along slowly, building my knowledge base.”

Parkinson’s company grew right alongside the Chenal subdivisions upon which it focused. Located on what was then the city’s westernmost fringe, the area is known as a prestigious address, and clients wanted homes to match. This boosted the size and complexity of projects, which PBG adjusted to without compromising its core philosophy and client-first approach.

“Anytime you get into a larger project, there’s more options, and there’s usually more individuals involved in the conversation,” he said. “What we did was expand to three-person teams so our project managers had enough office time to do what they needed to do on scheduling and ordering. We added project coordinators on many of our projects to stay connected with architects and Parkinson

Bill Parkinson was inspired to start building homes after taking his young son for walks in their newconstruction neighborhood.

designers. Our field supervisors are out there hitting the jobs two or three times a day, making sure all the questions are answered and communicating with subcontractors when the project manager’s not on site.

“Doing all those things, we try to give our clients the best product by giving them a great experience and a full team that can help meet their goals.”

The company’s internal systems are just one of the attributes by which PBG has grown into a prestigious brand among luxury home builders. In construction, every finished project serves as a de facto resume for future work, and over the past two decades, Parkinson and team have piled up an impressive collection of challenging projects.

“We have architects who push us from time to time with projects that you look back on and say, ‘Man, we really went the extra mile to make that client and that architect’s dream come to life’,” he said. “We built one in Beau Vue that had a pool that was about 20 feet up in the air. It was an infinity pool overlooking the river. It was an incredible project, incredible slope to it, which gave it an incredible view. We did one in the Heights where I’d say probably half the house is suspended on steel and floating over the back.

“Those are the things that most residential builders shy away from just because they’ve never done it or it’s not in their wheelhouse, so they’re not going to spend the time figuring it out. That’s never our approach. We’re like, ‘We’ll spend the time. That’s why you’re hiring us.’ We love to grow our portfolio of things we can do because that just makes us more available to take on different types of largescale projects.”

As PBG continues to evolve, Parkinson has had to come to terms with several realities of running the company at this scale. Like all successful ventures, the growth of the firm demanded he spend less and less time on job sites and forced him to place his trust in others.

“It was very difficult for me to let go,” he said. “I’m a perfectionist at heart. When people don’t do things the way you would do them or you don’t think the final product is all that it could be, you start to question things and you want to go in there and micromanage, but you can’t after a certain point. We get great feedback on our teams and the work that they are doing, I have had to learn that my way isn’t the only way; we brought these people on to do this work and they do a great job.

“So, developing the staff and spending my time trying to support the staff here has turned into my main goal. Coaching people, developing people, that’s really become my new focus — instead of building a house, I’m moving towards building this company. I’m still involved in the development process every day, I’m still involved in estimating every day, I’m still involved in our builds every day, but just not to the

level that I was. I’m really enjoying building this company. It has shifted, but it’s the same.” The company’s program is working, and the combination of personnel development and proven systems has brought PBG into new market areas. A few years ago, the company began taking projects in the Heights and Hillcrest heritage neighborhoods of Little Rock and the new Rockwater development of North Little Rock.

“We’d been a west Little Rock builder, and when we started building in areas that we normally shied away from, we got to meet a whole new group of architects, designers and other individuals,” Parkinson said. “Opening that up really kind of showed me that, hey, we can serve a larger portion of central Arkansas.

“Now we’re looking at perhaps having a team that could service Hot Springs and trying to see how, over time, we could serve a larger population of central Arkansas. That’s one of the things I’m most optimistic and excited about as we develop these processes and get our groups to where they’re ginning the way we want them to.”

Parkinson’s approach to these opportunities is measured by design. After two decades in the homebuilding game, he has seen what happens when companies take on too much too fast and risk and quality control suffer in the name of gaining market share.

“I’m really enjoying getting to build something that is, hopefully, beyond me,” he said. “For so many years, it was Bill Parkinson this and Parkinson Building Group that. We’ve even gone to a PBG logo now, trying to take Parkinson Building Group out of the main title because I’d love for this company, when I’m gone, to still be able to continue forward with the team that we’ve put together.

“Being able to invest in processes, being able to grow the team to a size to where somebody else takes the baton and runs with it and it can survive without the founder being in the day to day, that’s really exciting to me.”

Of everything that has come into being during the life of the company, the one that perhaps gives Parkinson the most pride is the reputation PBG has built for professionalism in all aspects of operations. He said more than any other goal or single project, being known for treating people with respect is the most gratifying thing he hears from clients and contractors alike.

“I think our clients can feel that we’re different,” he said. “It is nice when people, our customers and especially our subcontractors tell us, ‘Something about y’all’s company is different. We really like working for you. We can tell a difference between you and the other builders we work for.’ That, to me, is a sign that we’re practicing what we preach and something that, no matter what the future holds, will continue to define us as a company.”

• Natural insulation

•

•

• Fire protection

Get growing

A great garden awaits those who think ahead in March

By SARAH DECLERK // Photos provided

This month brings the end of winter and beginning of spring, and with warmer temperatures and longer days on the way, Arkansas plant lovers who have been itching to get their hands dirty can finally move forward on some gardening tasks.

“Don’t wait too long,” said Chris H. Olsen, landscape designer and owner of Botanica Gardens in Little Rock. “Mid-February through mid-March is the best time to get your winter chores started and finished. Before the new spring growth flushes is when you want to get your garden ready for the warmer months ahead.”

Pruning existing perennials is one of the main tasks to complete this month. Olsen advised cutting back perennials, roses and most ornamental grasses except for most sedge grasses.

“Even evergreen ferns and liriope need to be trimmed back in February and March,” he said.

He also recommended pruning hydrangeas that bloom on new wood, including tardiva, pee gee and limelight varieties. Trim back crepe myrtles only if necessary, he said.

“Do not trim or prune back spring-blooming plants,” he added. “They need to be trimmed and pruned after they bloom, if necessary.”

Rebarking flower beds is another task gardeners can add to their to-do lists. Add additional nutrient-rich supersoil to garden beds if needed, Olsen said, and then rebark using mulch. Olsen said he prefers to use single-hammered hardwood mulch.

Although some may be eager to get new plants in the ground, Olsen said gardeners tend to plant spring and summer annuals too early. The best time to situate those warm-weather babies is in midApril, when there is no danger of frost, he said.

However, gardeners who want to start planting this month might find early March the ideal time to add plants that can withstand cold temperatures to their beds.

“Now is a perfect time to plant any winterhardy plant,” Olsen said. “The disadvantage is that some hardy plants are dormant, and you will not see anything that you planted, but rest assured that the sleeping plant will be developing its root system, even during the winter, since our ground does not freeze.”

For gardening newbies, research is key.

That said, gardeners will not have to wait too long to start selecting warm-weather plants at local garden centers. Olsen said the best inventory can be found from mid-April to mid-May, when temperatures are warm but not too hot.

When selecting plants, gardeners should pay special attention to the root systems of their prospective picks.

“The most important thing is to make sure the plant has a good root system. You do not want the plant to be wobbly in the pot, and it’s OK to pull it out of the container and examine the root system,” Olsen said. “The top growth should be dark green and lush.”

For those who plan to go above and beyond by overhauling or adding to an existing garden this year, Olsen recommended getting a design

before starting work. A design is worth the investment and builds a firm foundation for the garden, he said.

For gardening newbies, research is key, he added.

“Read, read and ask,” he said. “There is lots of information online, and ask your garden center expert. You may want to take the Master Gardener class to learn more.”

With spring en route this month, Olsen advised gardeners not to procrastinate on the winter chores that can ensure a beautiful garden for the year ahead. With moderate temperatures, late winter and early spring are great times to tackle gardening tasks.

“It’s not hot, so get those garden chores done,” Olsen said.

Chris H. Olsen, landscape designer and owner of Botanica Gardens in Little Rock, said early March is an ideal time to tackle last-minute winter chores before the weather warms up in earnest.

BON APPETIT!

Of all the businesses that a person frequents in their lifetime, arguably none are as intimate or as deeply connected as a favorite restaurant. Restaurants play a special role in the lives of its patrons, as the setting for first dates and retirement farewells, wedding rehearsals and strived-for promotions, plus birthdays and graduations and anniversaries.

Chances are, when the average person thinks of the meaningful moments and relationships of life, a restaurant played a role, forever linking itself to a client’s story. Thus do the little burger joint around the corner from one’s dorm room or the café that served Mom’s favorite quiche or the white-linen steakhouse where she said yes become more than just words on a menu and a table with a view.

As the authority on all things joyful and good in Arkan -

sas, especially food and the life moments that come with it, AY About You has always appreciated how important a favorite restaurant is in the lives of our readers. Our Readers’ Restaurant Poll reflects that, recognizing the best diners and eateries the state has to offer as voted on by the dining public. It is the ultimate seal of approval — and among the highest honors — for any restaurant to make this annual list.

According to restaurant.org, there are about 5,600 eating and drinking establishments in Arkansas and the following list represents the very best there is among them. We salute each and every establishment listed on the 2024 AY About You Readers’ Restaurant Poll for the way they make an ordinary weekday special and a special occasion unforgettable.

Comfort food odyssey

Homer’s Kitchen Table levels up down-home tradition

There is an unwritten rule for food lovers, particularly Southern food aficionados, that wherever you see a parking lot full of pick-up trucks and service vehicles, you can count on that restaurant having superior blue-plate specials. While it may not be true that Homer’s Kitchen Table was the reason the rule was established, it is true the restaurant understood the assignment.

The original Homer’s Restaurant was birthed at a former truck stop, Circle B, in southeast Little Rock on Roosevelt Road, near the Clinton National Airport. Named for its pater familias, Homer Connell, the restaurant features daily specials, breakfast and lunch, and a gravel parking lot full of blue- and white-collar workers looking for a hot, delicious, nourishing meal to bridge the workday.

“It was set up where 18-wheelers could pull in, and work trucks, and could pull right out,” said David Connell, owner of Homer’s Kitchen Table, now in west Little Rock. “I started working with my dad in 1998, and I managed it until he retired in

By KELLI REEP // Photos provided

2003. At that time, I told him we needed to consider opening a Homer’s in a more residential part of town so people could come for dinner and weekends.

“When I was working for him, I always wanted to bring it to the residential or restaurant area where we live because people would always ask, ‘You only have that downtown location?’ That was what made us come closer to west Little Rock. In 2012, I opened Homer’s West on Rodney Parham, which is right down the road, and my dad came out of retirement to help.”

Connell said he opened Homer’s Kitchen Table further west on Rodney Parham when the Franke’s Cafeteria space became available.

“Ten years after we opened Homer’s West, we established Homer’s Kitchen Table because we wanted to brand it in a different way,” Connell said. “We took all the things that are good about the original Homer’s and are expanding it to a broader audience. We still have daily specials and serve breakfast and lunch, but we also serve dinners, have a full bar and cater. What we want

Elevated blue-plate specials are a hallmark of Homer’s Kitchen Table in west Little Rock.

BEST FRIED CHICKEN and BEST CHICKEN & DUMPLINGS

Homer’s Kitchen Table to be is a place where you can bring your family, your work associates, your friends or just yourself and feel comfortable, welcome and know you’ll be taken care of.”

Part of that care includes continuing the original recipes, which his father and mother, Remedios “Remy” Connell, developed.

“My mother was Filipino, but she lived in the South long enough that she learned the recipes just through trial and error,” he said. “She also had good cooks there to help, and they were the type of Southern women who had been in the kitchen for decades. They don’t measure. They would put a dash of salt here, some pepper there until the seasoning was correct. They could make a pan of cornbread in their sleep.”

He said the bar area, which includes a full menu service, as well as beer, wine and liquor, is a particular favorite for individuals who need to decompress after working eight to 10 hours.

“We opened the bar when we had Homer’s West,” Connell said. “The bar was already installed when we were determining how to remodel, and I didn’t want to tear it out, so we decided to get a liquor license and use it. Turns out we did a pretty good bar business, especially at breakfast and brunch with mimosas and Bloody Marys.

In reenvisioning the new space, which opened in 2022, Connell added “Kitchen Table” to the name to help diners connect it with the food and atmosphere of their home dining space.

“The kitchen table is where everybody gathers at home,” he said. “Dining rooms are a thing of the past, in my opinion. People today get these big island kitchen tables, and that’s where you sit down and congregate, so I wanted to make our restaurant where you could feel like that — like you’re at Grandma’s house or your mom’s or at home. I wanted to give it more of a Southern feel and tradition. That’s why I’ve got all the barnwood in here, just give it more of a Southern tradition. We hope our patrons feel nice and cozy.

“It’s also important that our servers and staff are as friendly as they can be and treat people like they are family when they come in. Southern hospitality is what we are all about.”

While the atmosphere and service are cornerstones of Homer’s Kitchen Table, Connell maintains the restaurant’s food is the foundation of its reputation.

“If I had to guess, our meat-and-three plate and our home-cooked vegetables are what people know us for,” he said. “Dishes like chicken and dumplings, chicken and dressing, meatloaf — the meals you would have on Sundays with your parents and grandparents — are where we begin and end. We have people who come every Monday because it’s meatloaf day, then others who come every Tuesday because that’s when we serve fried chicken. If you’re in the mood for a Southern staple or just a vegetable plate, we can accommodate it.”

After a year at the location, Connell said he sees trends in the types of customers who help make Homer’s Kitchen Table a staple.

“Our clientele is so loyal,” he said. “We have a lot of repeat customers, which is how we stay in business. We serve people who’ve paid our rent because they have eaten with us three, four times a week. They come because we change our entrees every day, and our offerings aren’t stagnant. Changing up our specials helps people feel like they’ve got something new in a spot where they are always comfortable.

“We’ve also evolved a little bit from what we used to be. Today, we feature dinner items like a nice ribeye or strip steak. We have several salads. We aren’t trying to reinvent the wheel, though; we cook with butter, salt, pepper, flour. You’re not going to find any kind of aioli sauce or demi-glace reduction here. That’s not who we are. I like to say we’re paper napkin, not linen, but we will continue to evolve while maintaining a homestyle, hospitable environment.”

Based on the success of Homer’s Kitchen Table, Connell and his team are considering opening other locations around the state.

“People have asked me if we have plans to open another location, and I would like to,” he said. “Maybe Benton, Conway, Cabot. I would venture into northwest Arkansas too. This is the beginning.”

With indoor and outdoor seating, a full-service bar, and meals for every taste and appetite, Connell continues to think about ways to make Homer’s Kitchen Table accessible to more people.

“We get a lot of big groups, like family reunions, high school reunions,” he said. “We have a room that holds 20 right now, but I would like a private party space where we could accommodate 50 or more patrons.”

The way Homer’s Kitchen Table accommodates larger parties today is through catering, a new aspect to the business that developed during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“When the pandemic hit, it changed the way everyone did business,” Connell said. “We went from full-service, in-room dining to catering box lunches, which we delivered. That got us thinking about catering after the pandemic, and we’re now doing a lot of corporate catering. We have a van we use to cater for about three or four events per week, like lunch at doctors’ offices. We feed the whole staff, and it’s turnkey. We set up, serve, clean up and go. We’ve also catered weddings before for up to 150 people.”

As Homer’s Kitchen Table continues to expand, Connell said he understands the restaurant’s success is rooted in its tradition of Southern foods cooked just right and served quickly by welcoming staff in a place where everyone can feel welcome.

“When you come here, I want people to feel like they are at home,” Connell said. “When you go home, you know who’s there, what’s available and how it will taste. We want you to have that same level of comfort when you come here to eat with our family.”

Homer’s Kitchen Table

11121 N Rodney Parham Road, Little Rock 501-224-6637

homerskitchentable.com

The dishes at Homer’s have garnered a loyal following that includes repeat customers and regulars who eat there several times a week.

Wendy Schay and Jill McDonald

RESTAURANT

READERS’

By DWAIN HEBDA // Photos provided

To understand Lefty’s on the Square in Magnolia, one must first understand its backstory, of which there are two versions.

The short version tells of an engaged couple, Christy Ouei and Burt Adams, who opened Lefty’s in October after launching the successful MuleKick restaurant in Magnolia in 2019. The duo did a top-to-bottom refurbishment of the downtown Lefty’s building into a sleek new speakeasy motif that reflects the structure’s glory days.

“When we started this, we started looking at what we could bring to Magnolia that wasn’t already here. The answer was actually a lot,” Ouie said. “We’ve been working on Lefty’s since 2021, completely gutted the former coffee shop, and went back to the 1920s and what we imagined was the original vibe.”

As fascinating as that is, it pales in comparison to the long version of the restaurant’s origins, which Ouei delights in telling anyone who asks. The tale begins in Ireland with the birth of Francis Dalton Miller in September 1895. He immigrated to America with his family five years later. Ultimately settling in Chicago, Miller threw in with Northside crime boss Dean O’Banion and came to be known by the nickname “Lefty.”

In 1921, Miller and a fellow gangster visited Memphis, Tenn., and Hot Springs on assignment from the boss to sniff out new connections for bootleg liquor. A wrong turn at Arkadelphia and a brewing storm landed them in Magnolia for the night. At the Johnson Hotel, Miller sat down to a poker game with the owner, Manny Johnson, who at one point was dealt two pair, aces and kings.

Feeling invincible, Johnson put up the deed to the hotel against the car Miller and his companion drove up in. When Miller laid down three threes, he went from hotel guest to owner in an instant. Miller refurbished the hotel and came to be known as an upstanding corporate citizen, supporting local causes and donating a sizeable amount to build the town library. It was an open secret where much of his money came from, especially after he added the 333 Club to the property in honor of his winning hand.

During the era of Prohibition, however, it was probably inevitable that Miller’s luck would one day run out, and that day came in 1932. Agents from the Bureau of Prohibition raided the 333 Club, guns blazing, and Miller slipped away in the night, never to return to Magnolia. He lived out the rest of his days as F. Dalton McAffrey in Lake Village. On Oct. 13, 1973, he emerged from Doe’s Eat Place in Greenville, Miss., where he was shot during a stickup and died shortly after midnight Oct. 14 at the local hospital.

“It happened to be on the same night that there was another person there who was giving birth in that same hospital to a daughter,” Ouei said, “so when we opened Lefty’s on Oct. 14, 2023, it was the 50th anniversary of his death, and also my 50th birthday.”

She let the surprise ending sink in a moment, then said, “Yeah, the coincidences are something else.”

Lefty’s on the Square wears its romantic history on its sleeve. The original bar is there, illegal in its day, which the gangster-turned-proprietor shipped in under cover of darkness to elude the prying eyes of the authorities. Sharp-eyed dinner guests can still see bullet holes in the wall that were created during the 1932 raid. Ouei and Adams also formed a members-only group, the 333 Supper Club, as an homage to the original speakeasy.

More than the physical remains of the place’s history, however, it is the enduring spirit of Lefty’s that has captured the imagination of diners who come from near and far. Other than their experience at MuleKick, neither Ouei nor Adams have any formal chef training, but that has not stopped Adams from developing an elevated menu that includes pork shank sous vide, spatchcock chicken and an Asian-inspired ahi tuna.

“We wanted to bring something that people didn’t have to Google,” Ouei said. “We cut out osso buco because for people who didn’t travel much, that’s a Googleable item. If you have to Google it, you might not order it if you are intimidated by how to say the thing. We do try new things with our 333 Club members. That’s our testing ground.”

Ouei, who also pitches in in the kitchen as needed, takes primary responsibility for backoffice duties and front-of-house customer service. For each, her standards are exacting.

“I like the business end of it,” Ouie said. “I like the menu engineering, and I like figuring the cost of goods, and I like working with personnel. I would way rather work short than to just have bodies that fill the space, so we do a lot of staff development.

Approachable, yet elegant, dishes complement the speakeasy atmosphere at Lefty’s on the Square in Magnolia.

“With that, we really try to help them grow as humans and not just as wait staff. Two months ago they had an assignment to come to our pre-shift meeting, and they had to bring the goals that they wanted to accomplish for the next year, three of them. Every week since, I make them tell me what they have done that week to reach those goals. We have a really special group.”

Now an AY About You Restaurant Award winner, an honor about which Ouie struggled to put her feelings into words, the restaurant is poised for big things in a small town. Its success, as well as that of MuleKick before it, has the owners thinking of other concepts for the future, a topic Ouei addresses in hushed tones.

“I would imagine there’s another restaurant in the future,” she said. “There’s so many opportunities here in Magnolia for places without repeating anything that people have done so far. Magnolia is growing, and our customer base travels. Many of them are used to different types of food, some more urban styles of food, and I think we can do that.

“Burt has played around with names, but I told him we can’t even talk about it or we’ll get kicked out of our own company. I had to hold my right hand up and promise my managers that I would not open anything else until Lefty’s was two years old, and I think they are going to try to hold my feet to the fire on that one.”

Lefty’s on the Square

124 N. Court Square, Magnolia 870-901-3000

leftysonthesquare.com

Best Ambiance THE BUGLER Hot Springs v

Best Appetizer

RED MOON TAVERN Little Rock v

Best Asian Fusion THREE FOLD NOODLES + DUMPLING CO. Little Rock

Best Bakery THE CROISSANTERIE

Little Rock v

Best Barbecue Ribs BACKYARD BARBEQUE CO Magnolia v

Best Barbecue Sandwich WRIGHT’S BARBECUE

Bentonville, Johnson, Little Rock, Rogers v

Best Bartender

ROB ARMSTRONG CYPRESS SOCIAL Maumelle v

Best Beer Selection SUPERIOR BATHHOUSE BREWERY

Hot Springs

Best Biscuits & Gravy THE CROISSANTERIE

Little Rock v

Best Breakfast STOBY’S Conway v

Best Brunch

MOCKINGBIRD BAR & TACOS

Little Rock

v

Best Burger (non fast food) BIG ORANGE

Little Rock v

Best Business Lunch TACO MAMA - SIDE TOWN Hot Springs

Mt. Fuji reaches NEW HEIGHTS

Restaurant continues to broaden diners’ horizons

By JUSTINA PARKER // Photos by JAMIE LEE

Nestled in the neighborhood shopping center Breckenridge Village is Mt. Fuji Japanese Restaurant, the first sushi restaurant in Little Rock, which opened in 1978. Current owners Aaron Shota Jackson and Yusuke Jackson, who are no strangers to the restaurant industry, continue to honor the legacy of Mt. Fuji as the trailblazer of sushi by keeping alive the tastes that keep many patrons coming back after years, as well as pushing the envelope with the ever-changing trends of Japanese cuisine.

The brothers grew up spending countless hours with their family and friends at the original location and recall spending many evenings in the restaurant, watching their mother serve tables. Aaron worked in the restaurant while growing up, and longtime owner Emiko Biggin remained in contact after the Jacksons moved to Dallas in 2014.

“I stayed in the restaurant industry, working at a ramen place, and was frequently visited by Emiko to answer questions as she began Mt Fuji’s journey in adding ramen to the menu,” Aaron said.

Yellowtail, salmon, big eye tuna and kinmedai are on the menu at Mt. Fuji.

Pear shortcake

BEST JAPANESE

When Biggin decided to retire, she approached the brothers in 2020 about coming back to Arkansas to take over the restaurant. They were hesitant at first due to COVID-19 and the state of the restaurant industry, but Yusuke said he always wanted to return to Arkansas to raise his family. When Biggin approached again in 2021, he knew it was time to go home, and the brothers took the reins of the restaurant in 2022.

“We really wanted to return to run the restaurant where we had so many birthdays,” Yusuke said. “I’m so happy it’s still alive.”

The Jacksons’ eyes light up when discussing their passion for Mt. Fuji still being a completely family-run restaurant. Shannon Jackson, head sushi chef and Aaron’s wife, moved to the United States from the Philippines eight years ago and pursued a degree in hotel and restaurant management while living in Dallas.

“I remember being hired through Skype for a prep cook job at a restaurant named Uchi in Dallas,” she said. “FaceTime and Zoom weren’t a thing yet, but I was able to sign a year contract for work while I obtained my degree.”

In 2017, Shannon and Aaron crossed paths at that restaurant while working in the kitchen, and love was in the air. After leaving Uchi, they worked at a steakhouse together, where both quickly moved from prep to line cook, and Aaron became executive chef within a year of starting. The couple shared the love of the restaurant industry, which made Shannon eager to move to Little Rock and run Mt. Fuji.

“I was excited to leave a bigger city but do miss a lot of the food in Dallas,” she said. “Little Rock is a lot calmer, and I can see our future here. We learned a lot while working in Dallas, and wanted to bring that knowledge back to the area.”

Many of the current kitchen and waitstaff grew up together in the previous space and have been with the restaurant for years, including chefs Kenji Koga and Rey Antipolo.

“Both of our wives and our brother-in-law are part of running this restaurant with us,” Aaron said. “We’ve had the same lead prep chef, Ken-San, for 25 years, and Rey-San, who was the first sushi chef in Little Rock. Anyone that knows anything about sushi in Arkansas knows who Rey-San is. It really is a family effort with a lot of the second generation of everyone that created it.”

Koga, known for being the “recipe book” of the restaurant, helps keep the balance of tradition and innovation. The owners said they have many original items on the menu, such as katsudon, and stick to staple items that feel like home while remaining open to pushing boundaries.

“Japanese food is always changing, so you must be willing to try new dishes but must keep the authentic cuisine. One of our biggest focuses is on authenticity,” Yusuke said. “A lot of other restaurants in the area fuse nationalities, which we love but that isn’t what you’ll find here. We’re not just a sushi restaurant but we are strictly Japanese. There are items on our menu that we would come home after school to eat.

“We create Japanese soul food and have a lot of Japanese students that come to our restaurant and say that it reminds them of home.”

Part of staying authentic means weekly trips to the Little Rock airport to pick up fish. The Jacksons have developed longtime customers because of the restaurant’s reputation for fresh, quality stock. One of the current challenges the restaurant faces is the increased cost of freshwater eel, also known as unagi, due to the shortage of kelp on the coast. Aaron expressed concerns about access to unagi but said he is confident in the restaurant’s ability to continue to offer it on their menu.

With everything that is familiar and traditional about Mt. Fuji, its relocation in 2023 to Breckenridge Village and the former Greenhaw’s Men’s Wear location could have been a major disrupting factor. However, diners were quick to discover the level of customer service and standards for quality food are as high as ever and are now served in a larger and more updated setting than the original space. The new location has also seen upgrades in the number of neighboring restaurants being brought to the shopping center. The addition of Waldo’s Chicken & Beer and Flyway Brewing promises to attract more dinner traffic there.

“We’re the same people and same recipes but now in a space with a full bar, where your drinks can be served quicker, and more customers can enjoy,” Yusuke said.

When transitioning Mt. Fuji to the new space, Shannon said she found a lot of memorabilia at the restaurant.

“We were able to bring old memories to a new place,” she said. “We found lots of Aaron and Yusuke’s childhood pictures while cleaning up the old space and are honored to preserve the legacy of the original location. We are so thankful for the owners that kept it running for 35 years before us.”

In addition to maintaining authenticity, Mt. Fuji also places a priority on supporting

local vendors. This mission has been assisted in recent years by the emergence of Japanese products being produced in Arkansas, specifically sake and sake rice. Arkansas is already one of the largest producers of rice in the nation, and in recent years Lonoke County rice grower Isbell Farms became one of the first to lead the charge in growing premium sake rice.

“We get a lot of our sake rice from Isbell Farms in England. We love supporting local and want to celebrate local businesses.” Shota said.

Mt. Fuji offers Origami Sake, which is produced in Hot Springs. The owners said they look forward to watching the company grow in the future, as well as being able to feature additional items at their restaurant.

Shannon could not choose a favorite item to prepare on their menu because she said everything is delicious.

“Japanese ingredients can be limited, so we often find the need to get creative when thinking of new seasonal dishes,” she said. “Aaron and I work in all roles of the restaurant and enjoy being able to come up with fresh ideas we think customers will love that stay true to the Japanese culture.”

The many changes that have come to the restaurant since its relocation do not appear to have dulled the public’s appetite for its cuisine. Ownership notes the establishment is frequently booked to capacity, so advance planning is a good idea. Diners who wish to experience fine Japanese cuisine and culture are advised to call ahead for a reservation or visit Mt. Fuji’s website to reserve via OpenTable. A new website is also coming soon to and will announce future events and seasonal specials.

mtfujirestaurantlr.net

Traditional dishes such as tendon, made of tempura shrimp, marinated egg and assorted vegetables, are diner favorites.

Best Cajun/Creole COPPER MULE TABLE & TAP

Bryant, Little Rock

v

Best Caterer DOWNHOME CATERING Little Rock

v

Best Catfish

BURGE’S HICKORY SMOKED TURKEYS AND HAMS Little Rock

Best Cheese Dip HEIGHTS TACO & TAMALE CO.

Little Rock

v

Best Chef CHEF MATIAS DEMATTHAEIS

RED OAK STEAKHOUSE

Pine Bluff

v

Best Chicken & Dumplings HOMER’S KITCHEN TABLE

Little Rock

v

Best Chicken Salad

CHICKEN SALAD CHICK

Conway, Little Rock, North Little Rock

v

Best Chicken Wings MULEKICK

Magnolia

Best Cinnamon Roll

CINNAMON CREME BAKERY

Little Rock

v

Best Classic Restaurant (20+ years)

SHOTGUN DAN’S PIZZA

Little Rock, North Little Rock, Sherwood

v

Best Cocktails

CACHE RESTAURANT

Little Rock

v

Best Cocktails

PETIT & KEET

Little Rock

v

Best Coffeehouse (non-chain)

KOLLECTIVE COFFEE & TEA

Hot Springs

BEST BARTENDER

ROB ARMSTRONG

BEST MEDITERRANEAN

BEST COCKTAILS

BEST PANCAKES

BEST JAPANESE

Best Date Night

DONS SOUTHERN SOCIAL Hot Springs v

Best Deli HOGG’S MEAT MARKET North Little Rock v

Best Dessert TRIO’S RESTAURANT Little Rock v

Best Distillery ROCK TOWN DISTILLERY

Little Rock

Best Dive Bar TOWN PUMP

Little Rock v

Best Donuts

MARK’S DO-NUT SHOP

North Little Rock v

Best Entertainment MULEKICK

Magnolia v

Best Farm to Table THE ROOT CAFE

Little Rock v

Best Food Truck

OUACHITA BAR & GRILL

Hot Springs

Best French Fries FRANKS HOT DOGS

North Little Rock v

Best Fried Chicken HOMER’S KITCHEN TABLE

Little Rock v

Best Girl’s Night Out CAMP TACO AT LOST FORTY BREWING

Little Rock v

Best Guy’s Night Out REVIVAL :: RESTAURANT + BEER GARDEN Benton v

Best Gyro LAYLA’S GYRO

Little Rock

Best Happy Hour SAUCED BAR AND OVEN

Little Rock

v

Best Historical Resturant OHIO CLUB

Hot Springs

v

Best Hospitality ARTHUR’S PRIME STEAKHOUSE

Little Rock

v

Best Ice Cream LOBLOLLY CREAMERY

Benton, Little Rock, Roland

Best Italian GEORGE’S LITTLE ROCK

Little Rock

v

Best Japanese MT FUJI JAPANESE RESTAURANT

Little Rock

v

Best Kid-Friendly Restaurant PURPLE COW

Conway, Hot Springs, Little Rock, North Little Rock

v

Best Late-Night Dining (after 10 pm) LEGENDS SPORTS BAR AT SARACEN CASINO RESORT

Pine Bluff

v

Best Liquor Store COLONIAL WINES & SPIRITS

Little Rock

Best Local Brewery

LOST FORTY BREWING

Little Rock

v

Best Mediterranean

TAZIKI’S

MEDITERRANEAN CAFÉ

Bentonville, Conway, Fayetteville, Little Rock, North Little Rock

v

Best Mexican LA HACIENDA

Various Locations

v

Best New Restaurant LEFTY’S ON THE SQUARE

Magnolia

v

Best Overall Restaurant

RED OAK STEAKHOUSE

Pine Bluff

READERS’ RESTAURANT

A winning TICKET

Elegant dining at the Bugler is a sure bet

By DWAIN HEBDA

Although the food is classy, the atmosphere is more energetic than other fine-dining restaurants.

(Photo provided)

The Bugler provides a fine-dining option at Oaklawn Racing Casino Resort in Hot Springs. (Photo by Cassidy Kendal)

Long before there was The Bugler at Oaklawn Racing Casino Resort in Hot Springs, there was the dream of it: an elegant, white tablecloth enclave of resplendent fare and uncompromising service. It is a dream Ken Bredeson, executive chef at the resort, knows well.

“When Louis Cella took over [as president] in 2017, he had a vision of taking what his father had built and making it one of the premier destinations in the United States,” he said. “To do that, he had to elevate everything, offering amenities that had never been done on this property before.”

The goal was audacious and music to Bredeson’s ears. Having worked his way up from a kitchen chef, he had had a front-row seat to the many amenities that had sprung to life at the storied racetrack, from a casino addition to the most ambitious tourism expansion in the state’s history, the addition of a luxury hotel, a performance venue and a spa. As each new element came online, he became more obsessed with creating a restaurant that not only fit the new surroundings, but stood out.

“The Bugler itself has a special place in my heart because I started off in that kitchen when I first came to work for Oaklawn,” he said. “I basically started the evolution of that restaurant and convinced the Cellas to go to the next level and built the OAK Room, which is a second fine-dining restaurant we have on the property.

“My conceptual idea was that we can offer high levels of service in food in a very smallpopulated area. Hot Springs is only 35,000 people, but I knew guests would come from Little Rock, and they would come from outside the market specifically to eat at our restaurant if we provided the best food amenities and service, bar none.”

Oaklawn leadership achieved that wild dream and then some with the Bugler, which immediately set off a buzz among longtime guests and first-timers alike. Patrons clamored for a table in the elegantly appointed dining room, which offers trackside views and some of the finest cuisine to be had in the region.

Bredeson said the intent was to not only to elevate the fare and service, but also that of the Oaklawn experience itself.

“The way the restaurant is designed is not what many might typically consider a finedining experience, which tends to be a little stuffy and quiet,” he said. “[The Bugler] has very large vaulted ceilings, very large open windows out to the track. I would consider it more like an open cotillion kind of feel, which creates a little bit more of a boisterous and loud environment in there. It’s not really a party environment, but it has more of that party energy.

“Even at night, you see the ambiance of the field lit up and the beautiful landscape that’s out there, and we have an outdoor balcony, so you get the feel of the outside, being next to the track and feeling some of that energy, as well.”

The Bugler’s menu carries forward the duality of luxury and approachability. Dishes engage the highest-quality ingredients in a manner that is nonetheless familiar, eliminating much of the intimidating vibe that many fine-dining restaurants give off.

“Food-wise, we really try to make food very approachable,” Bredeson said. “I want us to be garnishing, but we’re not overgarnishing, for example, and garnishes are not just a fluff but actually play into the dish. I’m very adamant about not throwing a sprig of rosemary on the plate, for instance. Who eats a sprig of rosemary? It looks nice, but it doesn’t have a function, except for aesthetics. My food needs to be aesthetically pleasing and pleasing to the palate, as well.”

When it comes to dishes that have garnered the restaurant its reputation thus far, Bredeson mentioned the Chilean sea bass, which has entrenched itself as a diner favorite since the Bugler opened. Flown in every week, the fresh fish is butchered on site and placed in miso marinade for an extended period to provide depth of flavor.

Bredeson said the other star of the menu is a more terrestrial protein.

“We are definitely known for steak,” he said. “We use prime Iowa beef that’s in the top two percent of beef available in the United States. We wet-age it for a minimum of 21 days, giving it a flavor that a lot of people who come in go, ‘I’ve never had a steak like

this anywhere else.’ I tell them, ‘You’re right, because guess what? We’re the only place you can get this kind of stuff.’”

A trend among casinos of late is to form a partnership with a celebrity chef to open a signature restaurant on premises. When asked if the decision to eschew a celebrity name and let the food take center stage added any additional pressure to the Bugler’s kitchen staff, Bredeson said it did, of the best kind.

“Pressure is a creative driver for us,” he said. “People say in the days of social media, restaurants get unfairly bashed because people can comment about their food before they even leave the restaurant. I say that depends on if you’re doing what you’re supposed to be doing. If you know your clientele, you can build whatever you want, whether it’s a burger joint, whether it’s a chicken joint — whatever it is. You’re going to make it great because you’re listening to your customer base and you’re providing a service that they want.

“The last 30 years of my career, I’ve been trying to impress upon my chefs it’s not about doing what Gordon Ramsay’s doing or what’s impressive in the market or what happening in trends. You can slap a name on a restaurant and the food can be OK because sometimes it’s built upon the name, and that’s the only thing propping it up. To me, it doesn’t really matter what the name is. Did you leave with a full belly? Did you leave content? Did you feel like you got value for what you asked for, and did we exceed your expectations? If we did all those things, it doesn’t matter whose name is on the door or what the name is. We did our job.”

The Bugler

2705

thebugleratoaklawn.com

Dishes at the Bugler are both beautiful and tasty. (Photo provided)

Best Pancakes BIG BAD BREAKFAST Little Rock

v

Best Patio Dining HILL STATION Little Rock

v

Best People Watching SUPERIOR BATHHOUSE BREWERY Hot Springs

Best Piano Bar WILLY D’S ROCK & ROLL PIANO BAR Little Rock

v

Best Pie CHARLOTTE’S EATS & SWEETS Keo

v

Best Pimento Cheese CHICKEN SALAD CHICK

Conway, Little Rock, North Little Rock

v

Best Pizza (non fast food) DELUCA’S PIZZA Hot Springs

v

Best Place to Watch the Game BOUDREAUX’S GRILL AND BAR

Maumelle

Best Restaurant for Holiday Gatherings THE GRUMPY RABBIT Lonoke

v

Best Restaurant for Vegan Options CITY SILO Little Rock

v

Best Restaurant for Vegetarian Options THE FOLD: BOTANAS & BAR Little Rock

v

Best Restaurant to Impress Out-of-Towners

ROBER :: COCKTAILS + CULINARY Benton

v

Best Restaurant Worth the Drive TAYLOR’S STEAKHOUSE

Dumas

Best Rooftop

THE AVENUE RESTAURANT AT THE WATERS HOTEL Hot Springs

v

Best Salad ZAZA’S Little Rock

v

Best Sandwich

CROSS CREEK SANDWICH SHOP

Conway

Best Seafood (non fast food) THE OYSTER BAR

Little Rock

v

Best Server

DAVID TIMBERLAKE

PANTRY WEST Little Rock

v

Best Special Occasion THE OAK ROOM Hot Springs

v

Best Sports Bar BREWSKI’S PUB & GRUB Little Rock

v

Best Steak THE BUTCHER SHOP

Little Rock

Best Sushi KEMURI

Little Rock v

Best Taco

BAJA GRILL

Benton, Little Rock v

Best Vietnamese PHO AND MORE Jacksonville v

Best Wine List ALLSOPP & CHAPPLE RESTAURANT + BAR Little Rock

Best Piano Bar

What happens at camp, happens at camp. Join us for locally-made beer, tacos, cocktails, and live music. Looking forward to an endless summer of shenanigans with y’all! Cheers!

S Sláinte! láinte!

Irish pubs in Arkansas few but friendly

Long before Don Dugan was the well-known restaurateur and entrepreneur he is today, he was just another hourly server waiting tables, tending bar and dreaming of the day he would have a place of his own. When the day came that he finally stepped out on his own, he had a clear picture of what his establishment would be.

“Years ago, I worked at Kelly’s Bistro [in Little Rock], and I tended bar and waited tables and managed there,” Dugan said. “A lot of the Irish crowd used to come to Kelly’s, and I got to know a lot of them and really enjoyed them. When it came time for me to branch out on my own, it just seemed like a natural course of where to go and what to do.”

The resulting establishment, Dugan’s Pub in downtown Little Rock, was born to emulate the proud heritage of the Irish pubs Dugan had visited and embraced while touring Ireland.

“[A pub] just seemed like something that I wanted to do,” he said. “I’ve been to Ireland and experienced things over there. I like the culture. I definitely like their alcohol. Their beers are really good, and their whiskey, I think, is the best in the world.”

Thirteen years later, Dugan’s Pub continues to thrive as a friendly neighborhood bar that proudly upholds the tradition of the pub. It is one of surprisingly few such establishments in the state, despite the popularity of the term and the Irish heritage behind it that has long been embedded in the American terroir. In central Arkansas alone, the aforementioned Kelly’s Pub is long gone, as is Creegen’s Irish Pub in North Little Rock’s Argenta district, for which its demise is more recent.

As one of the last few survivors of the pub art form in the state, Dugan’s Pub straddles the line between American tastes and Emerald Isle traditions. The menu is a mix of American favorites and traditional Irish staples, and the decor follows suit, right down to the pub’s most noticeable design element.

By DWAIN HEBDA

“Something we took from over there was a fireplace,” Dugan said. “A lot of the pubs in Ireland are in little hinterlands or whatever, but even if you’re in Dublin or Belfast, a lot of them have fireplaces. My wife was dead set that we were going to have a fireplace in this place. I was like, ‘I don’t know if that’s a great idea. If we don’t put it in, we can have this many tables, and it’ll generate this much revenue.’ She goes, ‘We’re definitely having a fireplace.’

“Needless to say, I lost that battle, but you know what? It has turned out to be one of the better things that has ever happened. It has been a really, really great feature that people like. It’s a good thing she put her foot down and insisted on it.”

Dugan’s Pub is as known for its take on Irish favorites and its elevated bar food as it is a well-loved watering hole.

Located in downtown Little Rock, Dugan’s Pub is a popular option for Irish fare, libations and celebrations. (Photos provided)

Today, Dugan’s Pub is as known for its take on Irish favorites and its elevated bar food as it is a well-loved watering hole.

“We have bangers and mash, and our bangers are sourced out of Chicago. They’re fantastic,” Dugan said. “Our fish and chips are very authentic. Our batter is light and crunchy. It’s not a heavy beer batter but a very light, crunchy batter. I’ve had multiple, and I mean multiple, people that have been over from Ireland or England, and they tell us it’s the most authentic fish and chips that they’ve had since they’ve been in the States.”

Saddiq and Jeannie Mir, owners of the Copper Penny Pub in Hot Springs, also understand the mystique of the Irish pub lies in both ambiance and menu. The couple purchased the

bar in 2022 and immediately set a new mandate for the guest experience.

“Since we have taken over, our thing is to make it a fun place,” Siddiq said. “Our claim to fame is that we want every guest to have a memorable experience whether they are local or from out of town. We don’t settle for just OK food or OK service; we want to provide a great combination of both to give people a wonderful, fun experience.”

The couple comes to the bar business with an extensive background in restaurants. Trained in Europe and boasting a resume that includes fine dining and resort establishments around the world and across the country, Siddiq was recruited to Hot Springs from Dallas to serve as vice president of hospitality at

Oaklawn Racing Casino Resort. Smitten by the Spa City, the couple took a leap of faith on three establishments — the fine dining J&S Italian Villa and Copper Penny Pub in 2022 and the legendary Ohio Club in 2023 — with the intention of redefining Hot Springs hospitality and cuisine.

“We added a chef position at the Copper Penny Pub to make sure we focus on food quality,” Saddiq said. “When people say the food is good, to us, that means it is just OK. We believe in having incredible food and memorable dining experiences. That’s what we try to create so that every guest remembers us and remembers Hot Springs as a place for an amazing fun time.”

Mir said the Copper Penny Pub wants to

We don’t settle for just OK food or OK service; we want to provide a great combination of both to give people a wonderful, fun experience.

— Saddiq Mir, Copper Penny Pub

hang its hat on the quality of food, from regular pub fare to Irish favorites, which has led ownership to substantially elevate the menu.

“We’ve introduced more Irish-style dishes in the pub style of things, so people can have fish and chips. They can have a Reuben sandwich that’s amazing. They can have an Irish stew that’s incredible,” he said. “Our No. 1 selling item is fish and chips, and we also have freshly made shepherd’s pie that’s really delicious.”

A third element that sets any great watering hole apart, especially pubs, is connection to the community. That is the calling card of Hibernia Irish Tavern, a dark, warm pub tucked away in Little Rock’s midtown. Founded 13 years ago by Irish immigrant and pub veteran Gerry Ward, Hibernia is the epitome of the cozy neighborhood tavern.

“Every major city in the world has an Irish bar or restaurant in it,” he said. “I think Irish people have a certain reputation of being friendly to everybody, except maybe themselves. I’ve traveled the world, and I find that

the Irish are warmly welcomed everywhere, and I’ve found in turn, [Irish people] welcome foreigners with open arms, whether they’re tourists or asylum-seekers, migrants or immigrants. They welcome foreigners like no one else. It’s kind of payback in one way.”

Ward landed in America after serving in the French Foreign Legion. He worked in Irish bars in New York, one of which, the Blarney Stone on 58th Street in Hell’s Kitchen, was directly across the street from fire station Engine 54.

“Engine 54 lost more firemen on 9/11 than any other station in the city,” Ward said. “I was friends with some of those guys, so we do have a bit of a 9/11 connection here. There’s a picture of the Twin Towers on the wall behind me. There’s a flag in the front lobby with the names of everyone who died that day, an American flag, and a banner, Engine 54 Battalion 9, that came from the fire station in Times Square. It’s kind of a memorial to those guys.”

Throughout its history, Hibernia has also

Copper Penny Pub in Hot Springs provides a local option for Irish food and drinks, as well as a charming atmosphere. (Photos provided)

paid tribute to Irish culture by providing a venue for traditional musical groups on Sunday, supporting other activities by local heritage groups and throwing a St. Patrick’s Day bash that rivals much larger establishments. The bar’s menu, while not as expansive as competitors, offers a solid collection of authentic dishes, from Irish soda bread and fish and chips to shepherd’s pie and one of the better Reuben sandwiches in the city.

When asked what has kept the bar going all this time, Ward quips it is his own pure stubbornness, and one is inclined to believe that. Every nickel he has is in the place, he has

battled shady business partners, COVID-19 restrictions and even cancer, only to emerge intact, unbowed and dedicated to the community at large.

“We’ve done a lot of fundraisers over the years with two or three this last year for friends who lost homes and had damaged homes with that tornado that ripped through here. We raised a lot of money for those,” he said. “It’s nothing new for us. It’s something we do for any worthy cause. You don’t have to have an Irish last name for us to be willing and able to help you.”

The pub [short for “public house”] is an ancient emblem of Irish culture. Part watering hole, part gathering place, pubs have existed for a thousand years with the oldest pub in Ireland, Seans Bar in Athlone, County Westmeath, dating back to 900 A.D. and still serving, the Irish Daily Star states. In America, the pub got its start on the East Coast when waves of disembarking Irish immigrants landed during the Great Migration of the 1820s to 1860s. Whether it was called saloon, pub or tavern, a drinking establishment was a way for the newly arrived to get a

toehold in the Land of Opportunity.

Today, Irish pubs run the gamut from the authentic and historic dens of New York, Boston and Chicago to the plastic green façades of a hundred pretenders looking to cash in on a gimmick. A good measuring stick for an authentic pub is the pride in which they pour a proper pint of Guinness, the dark elixir Americans voted as their favorite beer in 2023, per the Irish Daily Star.

Both Dugan and Ward claim the title of serving the most Guinness in Arkansas, which makes for some good-natured cross-town rivalry. While the subject of serving the most may be up for debate, the question of serving it best is a shared point of pride. Both proprietors said every drop is poured and served to silky perfection.

“It’s the very first thing that we teach someone when they go behind the bar,” Dugan said. “I won’t have it any other way. Either you’re going to pour a pint of Guinness correctly, or you’re not going to pour any at all. That’s it. If you don’t pour it correctly, you’re not working behind my bar.”

“I’ve had people come in here and say, ‘I

Every major city in the world has an Irish bar or restaurant in it.

— Gerry Ward, Hibernia Irish Tavern

hear you pour a great pint of Guinness.’ Well, sit down and find out for yourself,” Ward said. “There are cheaper ways to do a Guinness — kegerators or cans of beer — but there are only two ways to pour a pint of Guinness: my way and the wrong way. I was trained by some of the best bartenders in New York. I owe it all to them.”

Copper Penny Pub patrons not only get to enjoy the frothy beverage, but because the bar is located in Hot Springs’ entertainment district, they can take it to go. That comes in particularly handy during the madness of the city’s St. Patrick’s Day celebration, which is highlighted by the World’s Shortest St. Patrick’s Day Parade.

“It is a beautiful crowd, and business is insane. That’s how I’ll sum it up,” Mir said. “We have live entertainment all day long for that because everybody’s here to have fun. Our goal is to deliver that for every guest.”

For more details on St. Patrick’s Day festivities or to check out music and menus all year, visit:

Dugan’s Pub, Little Rock duganspublr.com

Copper Penny Pub, Hot Springs copper-penny-pub.com

Hibernia Irish Tavern, Little Rock hiberniairishtavern.com

Gerry Ward, owner of Hibernia Irish Tavern, demonstrates how to properly pour Guinness.

(Photo by Chris Davis)

Irish Eyes are Smiling

Cook up this comforting dish to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day or at anytime

By AMY GRAMLICH // Photos by AMY GRAMLICH

Nothing speaks to the history of St. Patrick’s Day like a dish of cabbage and potatoes. This simple cabbage potato skillet features pan-roasted potatoes co-mingled with bacon and fresh cabbage in a comforting one-pan meal that is sure to please.

CABBAGE AND POTATOES IN IRELAND: A SHORT HISTORY

Cabbage has been part of Irish cuisine for centuries, thanks to its reliability as a year-round crop that thrives in Irish soil and cooler temperatures. Because of its reliability, cabbage became an affordable vegetable for many Irish families throughout history during the 18th and 19th centuries.

By the early 1840s, more than half of Ireland’s population was relying on potatoes as the primary food staple for meals. However, during the Great Potato Famine in Ireland from 1845 to 1852, people sought other food sources and came to rely on cabbage. The leafy veg complemented other ingredients well and also offered nutritional value, leading many Irish cooks to explore different ways of preparation.

Once its versatility was realized, cooks gave cabbage the star treatment for side dishes, soups, stews and main dishes. Since those days, cabbage has played a starring role in colcannon, a traditional Irish dish made with mashed potatoes and cabbage, and in cabbage soup.

KNOW YOUR SPUDS

For this recipe, choose potatoes that are of the starchier varieties. High-starch, dense potatoes have a low moisture point, which makes them versatile for frying, roasting and mashing methods of preparation. Popular potato varieties to use here include:

• Russet

• Idaho

• Yukon Gold (yellow potatoes)

Other potato varieties, such as red potatoes or fingerling potatoes, are waxier and have higher moisture and sugar contents. That means they will not crisp up as well and can darken too quickly during the cooking process.

WILT IT WELL

When cabbage is cooked, it wilts due to the breakdown of its cell walls and the release of water. The heat from the stove causes the cell walls to soften and lose their structural integrity. Ultimately, this leads to the breakdown of the cabbage leaves. Other vegetables that cook down or wilt by a similar process include spinach, collard greens, kale and Swiss chard.

Additionally, the heat also causes the proteins and other compounds within the cabbage to break down, further contributing to its wilting. As a result, the cabbage becomes softer and more pliable as it cooks.

The key to this particular dish is to let cabbage wilt somewhat while still keeping a bit of its structure. Basically, it should wilt about 75 percent. As the cabbage cooks, keep an eye on it, and allow the cabbage to cook for 5 to 10 minutes until it is mostly, but not fully, cooked down.

ADD SPICES AND COLOR

This cabbage potato skillet is complemented by a dose of salt, black pepper and fresh parsley.

One benefit of adding a fresh herb such as parsley is the added green color. Once the cabbage cooks down, it loses some of its earlier vibrant green, giving the entire dish of cabbage and potatoes a pale appearance. Fresh parsley and chopped bacon bring back some color to the dish. Garnish with additional parsley before serving for a finished, appetizing look.

Other typical Irish spices include:

• Thyme

• Rosemary

• Garlic

INGREDIENTS

4 strips bacon

1 tablespoon olive oil

3 pounds yellow potatoes, peeled and diced into one-inch cubes

1/2 yellow onion, chopped

1 tablespoon salt

1 tablespoon black pepper

1/2 head cabbage, chopped into long strips

1/8 cup parsley, chopped

DIRECTIONS

In a large skillet with deep sides, fry bacon on medium-high heat until browned. Remove bacon from skillet and crumble into small pieces once cool enough to handle. Leave bacon drippings in the skillet.

Add an additional drizzle of olive oil around the pan of bacon drippings and reduce to medium heat. Add peeled and chopped potatoes and chopped onion to olive oil and drippings. Season with salt and pepper.

Cook over medium heat for 20 minutes or until potatoes are golden brown and soft. After the first 10 minutes or so, add some of the bacon back to the skillet. Reserve a bit of crumbled bacon to sprinkle on top when serving.

Add chopped cabbage to the pan, stirring well to allow some cabbage to reach the bottom of the skillet.

Continue cooking over medium heat for another 5 to 10 minutes or until cabbage has cooked down but still has some of its structure remaining.

Serve with parsley and reserved crumbled bacon sprinkled on top.

A NEW YORK state o f MIND

Bar Cleeta and the Big Lieutenant bring big-city tastes to Bentonville scene

By JOHN CALLAHAN // Photos provided

Bar Cleeta and the Big Lieutenant in Bentonville were the brain children of husband-and-wife team Trae and Weisi Basore.

Anative of northwest Arkansas with a long family history of graduates from the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville, Trae Basore eventually left his hometown to follow his childhood dream of becoming a chef. This pursuit led him first to New Orleans, where trips with his grandparents had inspired his love for great food, and later to New York City. Meanwhile, a graduate of New York University was beginning her career as a bartender in the midst of NYC’s cocktail renaissance, working at a variety of restaurants ranging from casual to fine dining.

“We met through mutual friends,” said Weisi Basore, co-owner of Bar Cleeta and the Big Lieutenant in Bentonville alongside Trae, her husband. “It was a friend I had met in the bartending community and had worked with Trae at a restaurant in New York. We met on July 4th at a Mets game. That was almost 11 years ago at this point. We left New York in 2017 and spent a year in Los Angeles, which was really fun and exciting, but we realized it wasn’t for us. We had plans to open our own restaurant and have a small business, but LA wasn’t really the best environment for that.”

Trae had kept up with news from his family in northwest Arkansa and caught wind of Bentonville’s rapid growth before most California residents. In 2018, after years of practicing the culinary arts on America’s eastern, western and southern coasts, he finally returned home.

“I think it was Trae who said [Bentonville] is like Manhattan meets The Andy Griffith Show’s Mayberry. It’s a place that has so many amenities and so many offerings, but we’re still kind of a suburban small town,” Weisi said. “You still run into people you know on the street. I go to Kroger, and I’m bound to see someone I know, so you’re still very in touch with the people that live in your community, even though we have a billion-dollar museum.”

establishment a wine bar that is partly inspired by Pearl & Ash and features a strong wine list and high-quality, fine-dining-level food, but with the presentation of a neighborhood restaurant.

“Our two main focuses were how do we elevate without pretension, and how do we give an opportunity to guests who are coming in who maybe haven’t been to New York or haven’t gone into the fine dining world and experienced all of these things?” Weisi said. “How do we offer caviar to someone for the first time but still make it affordable? How do we add truffles to a dish without overwhelming your pocketbook but still give you a taste of how splendid and luxurious truffles can be?”

Likewise, the couple sought to bring something new with their wine program. Bar Cleeta’s wine menu intentionally lacks many of the more common wines, such as sauvignon blanc, chardonnay, cabernet or pinot. This encourages customers to step out of their comfort zone and try a more eclectic collection of nearly 300 options, including Spanish, Italian and eastern European wines, among others.

“At the end of the day, the goal was always to be inclusive, both of people from bigger markets who understood our concept, but also locals and people who think of us as more of a special occasion, like an anniversary or birthday place.

— Weisi Basore, co-owner

The couple had plans for a fine dining establishment but eventually decided something more casual would be a better fit for the community. They found a space on the Bentonville Square and turned it into Bar Cleeta.

“Trae’s last position before leaving New York was as the executive chef of a restaurant called Pearl & Ash,” Weisi said. “One of the things that they really focused on was share plates. They also had a killer wine program that was really renowned, but share plates was something that Trae really homed in on.”

Though the city square has changed a great deal since Bar Cleeta opened in 2019, Trae and Weisi felt at the time that the area was lacking a community gathering place. They resolved to make their new

“We were very fortunate to take over a previously existing restaurant, so the footprint really stayed the same,” Weisi said. “The previous restaurant was a very modern concept. Everything was very monochromatic — black and white, tile — just more modern and austere. We wanted to do something that was much more like the living room in someone’s house, like you could be walking into a farm somewhere, and you’re sitting down at someone’s table. It feels inviting and natural.”

Bar Cleeta’s menu changes seasonally, though not simply with four menus rotated per year. Rather, items are added or removed from the menu as their ingredients become seasonally available at the Bentonville Farmers Market, and Trae frequently visits the market with a wheelbarrow to load up on whatever happens to taste good.

“We have a couple of dishes that have been with us since the very beginning, and we’ve never taken them off, regardless of season, because they’re really simple,” Weisi said. “Trae does this tarte flambee, which is like a really thin, crispy flatbread pizza that’s from Alsace, so both French and German. It’s like a cracker crust. It’s baked fresh. We make all of the dough in house, and that is on almost every table.”

Bar Cleeta received significant support from the start, and the Basores found new friends and regular customers, especially those who had also moved to Bentonville from larger cities and had now found something familiar to them. The idea of shared plates proved to be a significant obstacle to some patrons because many were hesitant to let go of the idea of having their own plate. It was not until the restaurant reopened after COVID-19

that more native Arkansans seemed willing to try it out, perhaps eager to find something new after quarantine.

“The reception was, in short, really, really supportive, even if it wasn’t for everyone,” Weisi said. “At the end of the day, the goal was always to be inclusive, both of people from bigger markets who understood our concept but also locals and people who think of us as more of a special occasion, like an anniversary or birthday place. I think we’ve struck a good balance between the two.”

The Big Lieutenant, shortened by locals to “Big Lieu,” finds its roots in a more casual New York restaurant named The Smith. While the Basores lived in New York, they frequently found themselves eating at The Smith, despite having access to all of the fine dining options the Upper West Side has to offer. When, as all couples seem to, they failed to come to an agreement on what type of food they wanted, The Smith offered a little of everything, from steaks to salads, burgers to oysters and pasta to Korean beef bowls.

Likewise, Trae and Weisi found that Bentonville had many great restaurants that dealt with specific cuisines, such as Indian, Vietnamese or Mexican food, but could use something that would cover more directions. Additionally, they wanted to create another gathering space for the community, this time in southern Bentonville, with a more expansive bar, a sports theme and a more familyfriendly atmosphere fit for any occasion.

“We had always agreed, before we even had our first restaurant, that all of our concepts down the line would be named after family members because we have a strong faith in our familial bonds,” Weisi said. “I’m really close to my family. He’s really close to his family, and so we decided to always be inspired by the people around us.”

The Big Lieutenant is named in dedication to Trae’s grandfather, who was a lieutenant in the U.S. Air Force during the Korean war and remarkably tall at about 6-5. In his honor, Big Lieu is also dedicated to current and retired military and first responders and offers a 10 percent discount on food to those patrons.

Bar Cleeta, likewise, was named after the lieutenant’s mother and Trae’s great-grandmother. That family dedication has been reflected in a surprising way by the Big Lieutenant’s patrons, many of whom have been regulars at Bar Cleeta for years but are now bringing their children.

“I think our biggest challenge is that we’re still coming from fine dining,” Weisi said.

High-quality food and carefully curated drink offerings define both Bar Cleeta and the Big Lieutenant.

“Our food is still built from scratch. We don’t have frozen things we’re defrosting. We’re not throwing a bag of fries into the fryer. We cut them and season them ourselves. There’s so many things that we add to the menu, so even though it is a sandwich or a burger, there is so much more soul and passion that we put into the food. That means our price point is a little higher, and I think that’s something that some people struggle with, but hopefully they realize what’s actually going into it.”

At Big Lieu, the burger reigns supreme as the customer favorite by a longshot. The next most popular item, however, is the Korean beef bowl, which is made with Trae’s own homemade bulgogi sauce and marinade. The bar’s fried mozzarella, meanwhile, is so popular that the couple will not even put it on the menu, instead choosing to offer it as special available until demand inevitably outstrips supply.

“We get giant blocks of fresh mozzarella. We cut it. We double-bread it, season it. We make our own red sauce,” Trae said. “Yeah, it’s mozzarella sticks, which are awesome, but they’re not mozzarella sticks from the bowling alley.”

As the bar develops, the Basores hope to add more of a bistro offering to the menu. Before the holiday season last year, for example, they offered a steak frites au poivre, much like

what could be found in a bistro in France or New York. Where Bar Cleeta goes all in on wines, Big Lieu favors seasonal cocktails with syrups made entirely in house. It also offers a variety of local craft beers on tap, as well as a by-the-glass program that makes use of canned wine, rather than bottled.

Trae and Weisi are deeply involved in the day-to-day of both Bar Cleeta and Big Lieu, often commuting between their home and both establishments five or six times a day. As such, any future projects would almost certainly remain in the Bentonville area, though no future plans have been either confirmed or denied. Regardless of what comes down the pipeline, it is certain that the couple’s dedication to the Bentonville community will remain strong.

“I’m extremely grateful and stoked and happy to be able to come back to my community. I was born and raised here, and I made a decision to go and learn the craft of cooking,” Trae said. “That’s what led me to New Orleans and to New York for over a decade and to LA with the goal of, hopefully, someday being able to come back here and have places for our community to go and relax and to get their mind off things for 30 minutes or two and a half hours, however long they want to spend with us.”

Where everybody knows your name

Bentonville Brewing Co. makes its hometown proud

By DWAIN HEBDA // Photos by DYLAN JOHNSON

It has been said that an athlete to be admired is the one who plays for the name on the front of the jersey and not on the back, and by that assessment, Bentonville Brewing Co. is something to be held in high esteem. Not unlike the community in which it was founded, the little brewery that could has grown substantially in a short period of time, offering a name that leaves no doubt as to where it calls home.

“I’ve always viewed the brewery as a community place,” said Katie Boykin, co-owner and chief operating officer. “We want it to be a place that you can count on being open if you have friends in town on a weekday or if you want to take the kids out to lunch and they just need some space to run around and the adults want to be together. We wanted to have a spot where you could bring your dog if you wanted to.

“That family element is a really strong value for me and my husband, and I see that is how Bentonville is growing. We’re getting young folks moving here. There’s a lot of people recruiting great talent from all over the world, and we’re trying to give them something that they might feel they’d be lacking by moving from a big city like Dallas or Houston or somewhere.”

Those who find it hard to square a brewery with the concept of family need only look at

Bentonville Brewing’Co.’s four-year-old home, where ample outdoor seating, the presence of food trucks and a nearby playground attract a wide cross section of the population.

“We were very lucky with the timing and being approached with this project to be a part of this park thing that they’re building in Bentonville,” Boykin said. “We’ve got the climbing gym as a neighbor, and they’re adding more parks down Main Street as they build up the trails.”

The stunning new place has been a long time coming. Bentonville Brewing Co.’s original taproom, which opened in February 2015, was much smaller than the current place but still gave off that communityfriendly vibe that endeared the establishment to its core fan base. Boykin, who cut her craft beer teeth in Fort Collins, Colo., one of the industry’s taproot communities, said the Rocky Mountain influence has been part of the brewery’s winning formula from the beginning.

“I moved to Fort Collins when I was 19, and that’s where I met my husband, Beau,” she said. “I came of age, 21, in that atmosphere. I always thought it was so cool, and it was also just very normal to go to the breweries, go on a tour, take your family when they’re in town. [The breweries] open up early in the day. They don’t stay open so late. There’s kids, there’s dogs — the whole thing — and I thought that was normal and every place had that.”

The Boykins came to Arkansas at the urging of brewery founder and brother-in-law Lee Robinson to find a very different craft beer scene than they had been accustomed to. Boykin said it was something of a culture shock at first.

“When I came to Arkansas in 2015, there were very few of us [breweries],” she said. “Bike Rack [Brewing Co. in Bentonville] had just opened, Ozark [Beer Co. in Rogers] had been open a year, and there was Fossil Cove [Brewing Co. in Fayetteville] and Saddlebock [Brewery in Springdale].

“When we toured all the breweries to see if this was something we wanted to do, that tour didn’t take very long. There were only four places, and we had to do a lot of driving. Back in Fort Collins, I think

Homewrecker IPA is a cornerstone of Bentonville Brewing Co.’s selection.

there were 21 breweries, and you’d have had a really hard time visiting them all in one day.”

Nonetheless, the couple immediately saw the potential for getting in on the ground floor of the craft beer industry’s growth in Arkansas. The Boykins’ move to the Natural State coincided with Bentonville Brewing Co.’s opening and its process of building an audience, which it did on its cornerstone brews, headlined by its India pale ale, or IPA.

“We made our name with Homewrecker IPA, which is almost a double IPA. It’s a very high-gravity one, not quite double, but you could call it that if you wanted to,” Boykin said. “We’ve really played on the popularity and the name recognition of that brand.”

Those who follow the industry in Arkansas will no doubt remember the first major hurdle to the company’s operations, an abrupt relocation in 2017 to nearby Rogers. While the

At the end of the day, we want to make a beer the same every time, and we want it to be one that you want to drink all the time.

— Katie Boykin, co-owner

Bentonville Brewing Co. seeks to offer big-city options when it comes to beer.

The current building opened in 2020, after the company spent a three-year stint in Rogers.

Katie Boykin, co-owner of Bentonville Brewing Co., said breweries were a part of the culture of her previous home in Fort Collins, Colo.

rationale for the move was understandable — the company’s seven-year lease was terminated five years early — it was still an awkward fit, having a company with Bentonville in the name trying to survive in an industrial park in a neighboring community. To make matters worse, the rudimentary space had almost no taproom to speak of.

Today, however, Boykin considers that challenging chapter of the company’s history to be the catalyst for all the growth that has come after.

“It really changed the way we had to run the business,” she said. “A lot of folks in this business rely on those taproom sales to pay the bills because you’re making $5 a glass of beer. Well, you’re not making that if no one’s coming here and buying it. You’re not making that much of a margin on kegs of beer, so we realized we’re going to have to become a distributing brewery and increase our options of what we can sell.”

for before we go into other parts of Arkansas.

Over three years at the Rogers location, company leadership worked to build its supply chain, get into Walmart, learn how to work with retailers and liquor store owners, and develop a means of self-distribution. The company invested in vehicles and drivers to help ferry products to outlets in various communities, starting in northwest Arkansas and radiating outward.

“As a self-distributing brewery, we’ve always wanted to go deep before going wide,” Boykin said. “We want to make sure that we’re not running out of the beer that our customers in our backyard are asking

“For the longest time, it was just Benton County — Bentonville, Rogers — and then we added Fayetteville, and then we started doing the stuff between Fayetteville and Rogers. Then we added Eureka Springs and Siloam Springs. It was very slow and organic, the way that we added new territories. It was a lot of trial and error and a lot of overhead, but it worked out.”

Ownership was so battle-tested by the process that by the time they physically relocated back to Bentonville in April 2020 to open a brandnew built-to-suit building featuring production, taproom and outdoor spaces, they were prepared for anything.

“We were already used to not having a taproom that made any money,”

Food trucks, outdoor seating and a playground create a family-friendly atmosphere at Bentonville Brewing Co.

Boykin said. “We had changed the way we did our business and made each part of our business support itself. We sold more beer to go in our taproom in Bentonville than we did when we were fully open at the location in Rogers, but instead of the taproom supporting the brewery as a whole, we made sure that the taproom supported the taproom being open and the wholesale sales supported the production side of things. It wasn’t easy, but we did it.”

Since the COVID-19 pandemic, Bentonville Brewing Co. has further expanded its distribution into Fort Smith and central Arkansas and has also enjoyed beneficial partnerships with various entities on special projects. These projects have not only opened up additional revenue streams, but also furthered the BBC brand.

“For Crystal Bridges [Museum of American Art in Bentonville’s] 10th anniversary, we made a special label for the Homewrecker IPA, our most popular beer,” she said. “It was called Art Maker, and it’s got a really beautiful Crystal Bridges drawing. That was available in our taproom, but also at Crystal Bridges and at the Momentary [in Bentonville]. They have a restaurant inside where they do lots of events and forest lights and forest sounds and different things. You can walk around with a beer and enjoy the Crystal Bridges property and a fine beverage at the same time.

“First National Bank of NWA approached us and said, ‘We want to do something really cool. We want to brew a beer that kind of speaks to our brand,’ and we did that. We’ve also used that beer to help raise money for different charities, and we do it in different ways. It’s like our give-back beer.”

Today, Bentonville Brewing Co. has expanded its permanent varieties to help keep 24 taps flowing in the taproom, as well as satisfy demand through its distribution area. Among the year-round reliables are Natural State Porter, Hills and Hollers Amber Ale and Soul Shine Kolsch. Also on the menu is Lil’ Wrecker IPA, a lower-alcohol derivative of its big brother that BBC brewers have tinkered into different variations. On top of that, there are as many as 10 seasonal variations available onsite at any given time.

“It really just depends what time of year,” Boykin said. “We’re starting to make cider. We do our own dry cider that’s a lot less sweet than you would expect. We like to do different sours, and our barrel-aging program is really starting to take off. If you come in the wintertime, there’s usually a couple of barrel-aged beers. Right now, we have our barrel-aged Deliverance, which is an imperial stout. There will soon be our first barrel-aged mixed fermentation sour coming out, but I don’t have an ETA on that yet because the brewers are

artists, and they will not tell me an exact time.”

The company employs nearly 30 people, about half of whom are full time. Bentonville Brewing Company produced 4,200 barrels of product last year, a record, and Boykin predicts the brewery will hit the 5,000 barrel mark in 2024. After deftly managing the company through all of its early challenges, Boykin said the future is very bright, thanks to the close cultural match with the community.

“I think one of the most important things that got us here is we have always tried to focus on the little things with our product,” she said. “We do some weird stuff, yes. We’ve done some of the different fun things with different ingredients, but at the end of the day, we want to make a beer the same every time, and we want it to be one that you want to drink all the time. We don’t want it to be one that you want to try once, and then you can cross it off your bucket list because you can say you’ve had a Buffalo-wing flavored beer.

“We want our beer to be one that you’re like, ‘That is my beer. We’re going to the football game. Do not forget the six-pack of Homewrecker.’ We don’t get distracted by trends and different things like that. We just keep our head down and make sure we’re doing the right thing by our customers.”

We want it to be a place that you can count on being open if you have friends in town on a weekday or if you want to take the kids out to lunch and they just need some space to run around and the adults want to be together.

— Katie Boykin, co-owner

Despite the popularity of the taproom, the owners engineered the brewery so that wholesale sales support production costs.

Bentonville Grows up

Managing population growth and booming tourism top Bentonville leaders’ agenda

Using almost every measurement one can think of — outdoor amenities, arts and culture, creative dining, thriving business climate — there are few places in the Natural State — or the country, for that matter — that rival Bentonville. From its founding as a simple farming community through the launch of the world’s biggest retailer, Walmart, and on through to today, the city’s history is one of the more intriguing success stories Arkansas has to offer.

More than that, it is a story that continues to unfold as a steady influx of new residents seek their piece of this prime slice of the thriving northwest Arkansas corridor. The new faces bring their own culture and energy to the community, redefining what is possible.

By DWAIN HEBDA // Photos provided

“I think we can say that we’ve done a fairly good job of that collaboration piece, and we’ve been very intentional about that,” Mayor Stephanie Orman said. “Not just city government, but bringing together all the partners in the puzzle to create that type of environment where we have a vibrant economy and also the arts and culture and outdoor recreation. It is a unique combination you don’t see in every other city.

“What I like to say is, it’s kind of a tribute to the can-do attitude that you see here

in Bentonville, the willingness to sit around a table and figure out how to combine resources and make it happen.”

Virtually no conversation about Bentonville can be had without discussing the city’s explosive population growth. According to the Encyclopedia of Arkansas, Bentonville’s population has grown nearly sixfold between 1980 and 2020, more than two and a half times between 1990 and 2020 and just under 180 percent since 2000.

The momentum has shown no sign of slowing down, either; in May 2022, the U.S. Census Bureau released population estimates that show Bentonville grew its headcount by just under five percent to 56,734 between 2020 and 2021. That was more than double the growth of second place Conway and ranked Bentonville as the 28th fastest-growing community in the nation.

While many Arkansas towns and cities would likely welcome even a fraction of that kind of influx, the fact remains that such growth does not come without challenges, albeit of the good-problems-to-have variety. Orman said in addition to city agencies, collaboration with the other three primary communities of the region — Fayetteville, Rogers and Springdale — helps Bentonville navigate

Attractions abound in Bentonville, but less visible work helps sustain the influx of businesses and residents.

questions of future resources and capacity.

“We’re trying to be proactive instead of reactive as much as you can be based on what we’ve seen in the past 10 years of growth,” Orman said. “We do have a unique collaboration in northwest Arkansas, allowing us to have discussions on a regional level for infrastructure and trying to combine resources on that. We’ve had water discussions with Beaver Water District, which supplies water to the four main cities, to make sure that capacity is going to be there.

“When you grow population, you’ve got to grow infrastructure with that, and we’re doing the work here to find the funding and understand how we get the projects in the ground. If we want to maintain the quality of life and why people want to come here now, then we have to address infrastructure.”

Thus far, the city has done a good job of managing such issues. When visiting the community, one sees surprisingly little congestion or the usual wear and tear that generally results from such heavy traffic.

That not only benefits locals but helps feed into the city’s thriving tourism trade. However, Orman said, that success does not just happen, and with rampant development and a tight labor market, the process is not getting any easier or cheaper.

“I think we’re very blessed, but with growth, there are also a lot of challenges, and those challenges can be expensive,” she said. “We’re pretty good at putting together funding for projects, but to find the workforce to get the projects in the ground is a

“We do have a unique collaboration in northwest Arkansas, allowing us to have discussions on a regional level for infrastructure and trying to combine resources on that.”

— Mayor Stephanie Orman

big challenge in northwest Arkansas.

“Right now, we might bid a project, and we only get one bid, if any. It’s really hard to get projects done when you don’t have the construction bidders out there to bid on the projects [and] the workers to get it done. That’s one thing that really is a struggle for us in this area, and we’ll probably continue to see that.”

Kalene Griffith, president and CEO of Visit Bentonville, said that for all the things Bentonville has to offer in dining and recreation, less exciting elements, such as wellmaintained streets and adequate sewer systems, are just as foundational to the city’s reputation as a vacation getaway and especially for people looking to relocate.

“I would say we’re an entrepreneurial area, but we’re also this area of opportunity, and I think people see it when they come to our community,” she said. “We’ve positioned ourselves as a destination that has these qualityof-life-type of experiences in the arts and in the cycling industry, but the other thing is, we’re

attracting people that want to learn more about us and want to experience us permanently.

“People are looking at Bentonville and feel that there are opportunities not just to visit, but to live, work and play here. It is essential for them to have these types of positive experiences when they’re looking for locations or destinations.”

Griffith arrived in Bentonville 18 years ago and has had a front-row seat to the city’s explosive period of growth ever since. She said while many cities might have been overwhelmed by the tidal wave of new residents and visitors, she gives community leaders high marks for their management of the influx, from their efforts in residential development and business support to tourism.

She said the city’s cycling community is one great example of looking ahead of the curve and marshaling the resources to capitalize on that vision.

“The things that I’m most impressed with are city leadership and public-private partner-

ships,” she said. “Years ago, we did a lot of education on what cycling tourism can do for the community. We talked with our hotels, saying if we’re going to have trails, here’s the things you have to do to be a cycling-friendly business. Our retailers, restaurants, put out bike racks in front of their businesses, for example. Everybody adopted that cycling culture within our community, which has allowed us today to be the mountain bike capital of the world.”

Though it may be hard to see from the outside, Griffith said there is still much on the tourism side that Bentonville can continue to develop and maximize. She said that includes expanding existing attractions such as dining and museums, as well as thinking creatively on how to fill in missing amenities.

“I do think we are continuing to evolve as a destination,” she said. “We don’t have a convention center, so what we have done is we’ve created the ‘unconventional convention,’ where people meet downtown in different buildings. Guess what? That immerses

art and intentionally developed walking trails boost quality of life throughout Bentonville.

our tourists into our downtown area, so they’re becoming part of our community. They’re not in a convention center all day; they’re stopping and getting a coffee in between their keynote speaker and their breakout session. We started that in 2016, and it is continuing to grow. People are loving it.”

One recent project that fits in with the drive to continually improve is the Quilt of Parks project, which seeks to connect six city parks and public spaces downtown. Approved in 2020, the project’s central feature is a new linear park called a Street Promenade, which will eliminate a vehicular thoroughfare in favor of pedestrian-only play areas, café seating and an open space for events.

“Quilt of Parks really began as an effort to improve some of our existing parks and plazas,” Orman said. “We wanted to add new green spaces and plazas and gardens and stitch them all together in a cohesive, pedestrian-friendly way. It will allow us to take a lot of our events, where we try to pack thousands of people into our downtown square, and allow those events to be a little more spread out, a little more walkable, a little easier for people to flow through.”

Such projects have also made Bentonville a prime location for business. The city will likely always be known primarily as the home of global retail behemoth Walmart — and happily so, Griffith said, noting the generosity of the company and of the Walton family behind it — but entrepreneurs and corporate entities alike are finding Bentonville a fertile place to establish and grow myriad companies.

“From a business standpoint, there is tremendous opportunity to relocate or expand here in the local marketplace,” said Brandom Gengelbach, president and CEO of the Greater Bentonville Area Chamber of Commerce, who recently came to the position after a similar role in Fort Worth, Texas. “In fact, it’s a huge reason why I’m here is to allow the chamber to help facilitate that process and get engaged because of the volume of activity that’s taking place.”

Gengelbach said in addition to Walmart and the national

Big on Bentonville

Brian Johnson is proud of his adopted hometown of Bentonville, and he does not care who knows it. The founder of Big on Bentonville launched the golf cart tour service three years ago with his wife, Karen, during which he enlightens visitors about the unique attributes of the community.

AY About You: What is your title with Big on Bentonville?

Brian Johnson: Chief funcierge officer.

AY: Where did the idea for the company come from?

Johnson: Right before COVID-19, we were in Rome, and we had a local take us around on his golf cart, and it was just the most fun. I’m a supply-chain nerd by trade, and when we came back here, everybody stopped traveling. I was sitting at home doing Zoom calls all the time, and I was like, you know what? I’ve got to get out and about once in a while, so I decided that I would buy a golf cart and show people around this awesome city.

AY: What makes Bentonville so different and unique?

Johnson: I’ll tell you what I tell people: You have the wealthiest family in the world living here, investing here. You have the No. 1 company in the world investing here. You have all these vendor companies in the community. All of that allows us to enjoy world-class art, world-class mountain biking, world-class outdoors. We have culture, food, outdoors — a trifecta creating an area that is unlike anywhere else in the world.

AY: Tell me about your tours.

Johnson: We have different ones but the main tour is called the Best of Bentonville tour. It’s an hour-and-a-half tour that highlights and gives a view of the city from a local. We’re telling the stories behind why the art pieces are here, about the new Alice [L.] Walton School of Medicine. We’re hitting all the highlights of the downtown area, we’re showing the Fixer to Fabulous homes.

AY: What kind of feedback do you get from your guests?

Johnson: Most of our guests are from out of town. They’re here for a weekend, and they want to know where to eat, where to shop and what to do while they’re here, from a local standpoint.

I think that’s what they appreciate most, getting an understanding of what it’s like if they lived here. What I like to say is Bentonville is too big to walk and too small to drive, so the golf cart is the optimum way to experience it.

bigonbentonville.com

Public

brands that have created a local presence to stay close to the corporate giant, Bentonville also boasts a thriving community of small, independent businesses. He said his goal is for the chamber to become even more relevant by elevating all companies, regardless of size.

“The chamber will be the voice of the business community,” he said. “A symptom of high-growth communities is sometimes small businesses that have been here and been part of the growth for a long period of time start to fall through the cracks.

“As a chamber, we want to ensure that small businesses are participating, they have a voice in things and that the authenticity of the community which has made it so relevant and popular continues. That’s a big piece of our brand and charm as the community, and we need to help ensure small business doesn’t get diluted with all the new folks coming in.”

Gengelbach said even though he has only been in Bentonville a short time, he is impressed with the cohesiveness of the business community and its willingness to work together to improve the marketplace for all.

“The biggest key for me has been getting out there and really listening to what the needs and challenges are,” he said. “We’ll be doing 13 focus groups with our membership

this year because I want to make sure that the return on investment that we provide for our members, both those large businesses and small businesses, is the return on investment that’s relevant in 2024.

“It’s easy for organizations to get in a rut and continue to do similar things year after year, but for us to be successful in such an everevolving community as Bentonville, we have to take some stock of our value and our role in the community on an annual basis. I anticipate doing these focus groups every year, as the needs of 2024 may be different than 2025.”

Matthew Cooper, Conifer

Arkansas native chef Matthew Cooper earned his culinary training in the Pacific Northwest at Le Cordon Bleu. After opening the acclaimed Cache Restaurant in Little Rock, Cooper came to Bentonville as founding chef of the Preacher’s Son before opening Conifer in 2022. He was nominated for a James Beard award in design in 2018 and in hospitality in 2022.

AY About You: You could have set up shop anywhere in the country. Why did you choose Bentonville?

Matt Cooper: My focus has always been to build communities. I was in Little Rock,

where I had just built Cache Restaurant, and I was approached by Ropeswing [Hospitality Group] when it was first started to come up here about what ended up being Preacher’s Son. I came up here and interviewed and saw what was happening here, and I was like, “Man, I could really get involved in this,” because community is so important to me.

AY: When the time came to open Conifer, was it a complete blank slate, or are there traces of things that carried over?

Cooper: I think that when you work for someone else, you’re never capable of being 100 percent who you are and what you want to do. The experiences in your past mold and shape the path for your future. If you come here, you recognize my food because all I’ve done is take what we really tried to focus on at Preacher’s Son and finetuned that. Just taking those things from my core — being more local, more regional, more sustainable.

AY: You seem to have a remarkable philosophy toward the people you work with. Cooper: I wanted to open a restaurant and be the sustainable model of a restaurant providing careers for people. It is a “we,” not an “I,” because I’m not successful without any of the people that have chosen

When it comes to businesses looking to relocate, Gengelbach said the welcome mat is out.

“I would say if you’re looking for a dynamic, authentic community that has a small-town feel, Bentonville is a place to consider,” he said. “My wife says Fort Worth was a big city that felt like a small town and Bentonville is a small town that feels like a big city. For those individuals who don’t want to give up the benefits and the amenities of a large city but really enjoy small-town lifestyle and small-town charm, Bentonville is the place to go.”

to surround me. For that reason, we offer health care for all our full-time employees. We do two weeks paid vacation, even for servers. It’s unique that we’ve been able to do that and something we’re really proud of.

AY: What does James Beard recognition mean to you?

Cooper: The recognition is huge for all the people that have supported us. I get really emotional when I think about everyone who took a chance on this restaurant and came to work with me and believed in what we wanted to do. I think that’s where the justification is. The award is huge. It’s great for the community. It’s great for our restaurant. It’s great for everyone in it.

coniferbentonville.com

BENTONVILLE STAR CHEF

Stephanie Orman

Brandom Gengelbach

Kalene Griffith

Check out these local retailers, restaurants and adventures on your next visit to northwest Arkansas.

BREWERY/COFFEE/BAR

Airship Coffee

The Beacon

Bentonville Brewing Company

Bentonville Dive

Bike Rack Brewing Co.

Boba Journey

Heroes Coffee

The Hub Bike Lounge

Hype Coffee

Java Dudes Coffee Company

Lost Forty Brewing

Red Kite Coffee’

Social Project Brewing Co.

Taproom

Tea & Mi

Third Space Coffee

Undercroft

RESTAURANTS

211 Café

AOI Sushi

Azul Tequila Mexican Cuisine

B Side Loft

Barley & Vine

Beach Oak Smoked Barbecue

Bentonville Taco & Tamale Co.

Berretto

The Buttered Biscuit

Cafe Louise

Capriotti’s Sandwich Shop

Co-op

Crepes Paulette, LLC

Eleven at Crystal Bridges

The Fire Truck

The First Seat

Fred’s Hickory Inn

Flying Fish, Inc.

The Hive

JoVe’s Bake Shoppe

Kalye Manila

Lady Slipper

The Magical Spatula LLC

The Meteor Cafe

Mezzaluna Pasteria

Natural Muse

Olly Makes Bakery

Onyx Coffee Lab

Oven & Tap

Ozark Mountain Bagel Co.

The Pedaler’s Pub

The Preacher’s Son

Pressroom

Record

River Grille

Roll and Fold

Sandi Sue’s Gluten Free Bakery

Scotch & Soda

Snack Lab

Spark Café Soda Fountain

Sunny’s

Superfine

Swamp Kitchen

Table Mesa Bakery

Table at the Station

Tavola Trattoria

Tazikis Mediterranean Cafe

Tejas Dogs LLC

Thai Kitchen

Trash Creamery

Travis’s Emporium

The Tree House

Tusk & Trotter

Waldo’s Chicken & Beer

Wright’s Barbecue

Yeyo’s El Alma De Mexico

ACTIVE & OUTDOORS

37 North Expeditions

Big on Bentonville

The Bike Inn, Bentonville

Bike School Bentonville

Climb Bentonville

Cocoon Yoga Lab

Encore Bike Rentals

Great Day! Skate Place

The Kidz Krib

The Links at Bentonville

The Links at Rainbow Curve

Naz-T’s Float Shop

Ozark Bike Guides

OZ Cycling Tours

The Ride Series

Smiley Bike Rentals of Bentonville

Spoke Adventures

Summit Aviation

Trailblazers

Yoga Story

ARTS & CULTURE

21c Museum Hotel Bentonville

Amy Keever Gallery

Arkansas Musicworks, LLC

Arkansas Philharmonic

Art on the Square

Artisan Alliance at Wishing Spring

BFFoundation / Bentonvillle Film Festival

Bentonville History Museum

Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art

Fifth Street Studios

Meteor Guitar Gallery

The Momentary

Museum of Native American History

NWA Suzuki School of Music

Northwest Arkansas Conservatory of Classical Ballet

Ovations Plus

Peel Compton Foundation

Scott Family Amazeum

AY’s ARKANSAS

Bentonville

Bucket List

Walmart Museum

RETAIL/BOUTIQUE

8th Street Market

Bear Hollow Kids

Bentonville Mercantile

Bentonville Provisions

Beautiful Lives Thrift Boutique

Block Street Records

Blue Moon Bentonville

Botanic Plant Co.

The Cigar District

The Fancy Frog Boutique

Gearhead Outfitters Experience Center

Happy State Co.

Hemma Homewares

Hillfolk

In Season Label

Markham and Fitz

The Meteor

Moosejaw

Oscar’s Awards & Engraving

Oil + Meg

Overstreet’s Jewelry, Inc.

Once Upon a Time Books

Phat Tire Bike Shop

Ramo d’Olivo

Remedy Road

Rope Hounds

Rush Running Company

Southern Style

Specialized Bentonville Experience Center

Sweet Freedom Cheese

Three Dog Bakery-Bentonville

Two Friends Books

FOOD TRUCKS

Bayou Boys

Cacahuzintle

Delta Biscuit Co

The Fire Truck

For the Love

Hawk & Robin

Indian Dhaba

Loafin Joe’s

Louisiana Influence

Mario’s Kart

On Snap Ice Cream

The Piggy Shack BBQ

Priato Pizzeria

Slice

Spice Shuttle

Spud Doctors

Sweet Dream Creamery

Taqueria Lucha

The Smash Shack

The Spark Café

The Witching Hour

Ride Get on a BIKE , and

For work or play, cycling reigns supreme in Bentonville

No trip to Bentonville is complete without taking in the breathtaking natural scenery that surrounds the picturesque community. Whether that view comes astride a bicycle, in a canoe or kayak, or along a hiking trail is a matter of personal preference, but all three experiences are there for the asking.

Atop that list is cycling, specifically mountain biking, but also included are numerous routes for road bikes and a growing number of gravel routes. The mountain version, however, is the unquestioned bell cow because Bentonville entities have invested millions in infrastructure over the past decade. It does not take long for a local to refer to the community as the Mountain Bike Capital of the World.

It is a title self-awarded by the city but also one shared by many in cycling nationwide, as recent press clippings attest. In a February

By AY STAFF

Photos provided

article, Two Wheeled Wanderer called Bentonville the “Disney World for Mountain Bikers” and delivered a raving review of the area’s rides.

“Over the past few years, the Walton Foundation … has poured millions of dollars into Bentonville to build world-class mountain bike trails in and around town, as well as help transform the town of Bentonville into a classy destination with amazing restaurants, museums, public urban spaces, and, yes, mountain bike trails right in town. It’s amazing,” Becky Timbers wrote.

“Thanks to all the work that has gone into transforming this town, it also boasts really cool bike community vibes perfect for families and outdoor lovers.”

That is not exactly news to locals, but it is music to their ears nonetheless. Ryan West, owner of OZ Cycling Tours, built his business on

the local mountain biking scene. He said even for a local, the pace and degree of the city’s embrace of the activity is impressive.

“We are super fortunate here to have what we have,” he said. “We have clients all the time that come in and go, ‘Man, this is like Austin, [Texas], 40 years ago. It’s so cool. I’m moving here,’ and they do. It’s wild.

“A lot of my clients are like, ‘This is the best place in the United States to ride bikes.’ I forget that until I go out of town for a little bike vacation to get away, you know? Then I come back here, and I’m riding our hard-surface trail by the multi-million-dollar museum and all the awesome landscaping. We have it made here. We couldn’t really be more fortunate than to live in northwest Arkansas.”

West, who grew up in Bentonville, said it is something of a shock to see where mountain biking is now versus when he was growing up. It does not take a rocket scientist to identify the catalyst of the change, he said.

“Money, resources — there’s so much money here, and they wanted to make it happen, so they made it happen,” he said. “Cycling really became relevant in Bentonville when the Walton Foundation started putting in a few trails around Slaughter Pen Road on the north side of town. From there, we gradually started getting bike shops, Phat Tire Bike Shop being the first shop in town.”

Bike adventures suitable for all ages and abilities are for the asking in Bentonvillle.

Local programs have worked to make active transportation easier.

West also cashed in on the cycling cottage industry with the launch of Oz Cycling Tours five years ago. The company offers customers two-wheeled tours, predominantly mountain biking and mainly for tourists.

“I have always wanted to be in the outdoor industry and the bike industry,” he said. “I think showing people what a great place this is and what it’s becoming day to day is an awesome adventure to show off.

“When I first started this, I was just kind of like, “Cool, outdoor guide riding with people,” but now I’m converted into where I realize I’m actually taking these people on their summer vacation. This is something they’re going to remember for their whole life.”

Helping to improve and advance Bentonville’s cycling ecosystem are several for-profit and nonprofit entities. Bike School Bentonville is a for-profit business designed to help turn beginners on to the sport, while the Bentonville Moves Coalition seeks to make the community safer for

Three Dog Bakery

Located right on Bentonville Square, Three Dog Bakery specializes in wholesome, handmade treats for furry family members. Known for being dog friendly and canine approved, the store is a popular stop any time of year but especially during farmers market season.

AY About You: How long has Bentonville’s Three Dog Bakery been open? Paula Critselous, co-owner: For eight and a half years.

AY: How did you get into the treatmaking business?

Critselous: I was a stay-at-home mom, and my husband, Bobby, was in equity trading in Memphis, [Tenn.] at the time. Our kids came to [the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville], and Bobby lost his job because of a buyout, so we decided to try to do something on our own together, and this was the only franchise I was interested in. We had a Three Dog Bakery that we shopped in Memphis, so we were familiar with it.

AY: Why Bentonville?

active transportation of all types.

“We’re focused around community building as part of our core programming,” said Kyla Templeton, founder of Bike School Bentonville. “We engage in partnerships across our community with other organizations and sponsor group rides and things that are open for fun and for families to get together.”

Templeton, who, in addition to being a longtime cyclist herself, has also been a coach for competitive youth riders in the past, said the company focuses its attention on families as a core clientele, be they locals or visitors. She sees her work as seeding the next wave of riders by giving them a curated and supervised cycling experience.

“One of our new offerings is Family Bike Adventure, which is a guided ride for a whole group to give them an introduction to our trails and also a little bit of skills introduction as part of that,” she said. “This helps give them the basics so they can be safe and know where to go and have a good afternoon on the trails. That’s definitely tailored to people coming into town.”

Templeton said one of the things Bentonville has done well to promote both cycling and cycling-related businesses is the intentionality of planning cycling routes in and around the city’s business districts. This results in a kind of cross-promotion by both activity and amenities and is one reason cycling is so popular.

Critselous: Northwest Arkansas in general is just very dog friendly. Bentonville had the allure of the square, although at the time, the square was not nearly anything [compared to] what it is now as far as other businesses. We saw that it was gaining traction, and there was the farmers’ market and that kind of thing. Walk-by traffic is so much better than drive-by traffic.

AY: What’s your No. 1 seller?

Critselous: From the bakery case, we’ve got two. One is a cookie called the Peanut Mutter and the other one is a Collie Cannoli.

AY: Are there seasonal items?

Critselous: As far as flavor changes, the one time that we really do a specific different flavor is pumpkin in the fall. We have some items that we call everyday bakery items that are in our bakery case pretty much all of the time. We also do a lot of holiday treats that are very cute and appealing to customers.

AY: What do you like best about this business?

Critselous: The dogs, of course. Plus, our community is awesome. Everyone loves to support local. That’s very special and unique to this area.

threedog.com/bakery/bentonville-square

Three Dog Bakery treats come highly recommended by pups, for pups.

“As we’ve built trails, the businesses are coming along and popping up alongside those trails,” she said. “The businesses see trails as an opportunity, which makes cycling more fun and social and gives people a place to hang out. There’s an appetite for that sort of community gathering in Bentonville, for sure.”

The Bentonville Moves Coalition takes the scenario a step farther by addressing infrastructure. Geared toward permanent residents, the aim of the nonprofit is to help make it easier for people of all ages to engage multiple means of transportation.

“We are not a bicycle advocacy group. We are an infrastructure advocacy group,” said Jessica Pearson, manager. “We understand that as the population of Bentonville continues to grow, and it is anticipated to double in the next 20 years, that there simply isn’t enough space to accommodate the vehicular traffic that’s going to come along with that growth.”

The coalition was formed in 2021 in conjunction with the city of Bentonville’s adoption of the Connecting Bentonville Bike & Pedestrian Master Plan and is currently engaged with other entities to develop and build additional trails in core neighborhoods. These projects will make it easier and safer for people on foot, bike or other nonvehicular conveyance to travel to schools, parks and other day-to-day destinations.

“That plan received public input, went through the various public processes, including city council and planning commission approvals, and identified close to 100 miles of infrastructure to accommodate active transportation,” Pearson said. “That looks like protected bike lanes, greenways, sidewalks, connections and shared-use paths.”

Though officially conveyance-agnostic in its work to improve transportation infrastructure, the coalition has nonetheless been involved in several bike-specific programs, particularly as it pertains to the city’s youth. The group has also awarded grants for various projects, such as public art and murals along trails and bike paths in the city.

“We have a focus on schools and neighborhoods,” Pearson said. “We are responsible for supporting the Bentonville school district and organizing bike trails and safer routes for many of our elementary schools. We also have assisted in funding grants to support the All Kids Bike program implementation in the final three schools in the district that lacked that programming.”

Pearson said the work of the coalition is essential to maintaining the quality of life that has spurred Bentonville’s growth in the first place. She said businesses, local government, fellow nonprofits and even individual citizens each have an important role to play in the direction of the city’s future.

“We’re the Mountain Bike Capital of the World, and we have the recreational cycling, and we have the usership,” she said. “It’s not a question of, ‘If we build safe and reliable infrastructure, they will come,’ because they are already here. It’s more like, ‘If we build it, they will start using it.’

“We have an opportunity beyond just what we are doing now to set a precedent here citywide in what active transportation can do for the vitality and longevity of a growing community.”

37 North Expeditions

Outdoor adventure company 37 North Expeditions specializes in experiences that run the gamut from horseback trail riding to goat hiking to paddleboard and more. Michelle Bazis, marketing director, took AY About You through the unique experiences the company offers.

AY About You: What is 37 North Expeditions?

Michelle Bazis: 37 North was started in 2018 by Danny Collins, who has a background in adventure guiding through National Geographic. He initiated the company as a guide service creating elevated experiences.

AY: How does it work?

Bazis: In addition to doing weekend experiences that people can opt in either by themselves or with a group, they can also schedule private a private excursion for a curated experience. For example, we’ll create programming for a season and that could include horseback riding, goat hikes, kayaking excursions. Each event will have a limit on the number of people that we can accommodate.

AY: Why does this business fit so well in Bentonville?

Bazis: Aside from being one, if not the only exclusive adventure hospitality company in the Ozarks area, what you’re experiencing with 37 North is an elevated experience. You could hire a one-off guide through a lot of different services but what you’re getting with 37 North is more of a hospitality service. You’re also getting the reassurance of the certifications and the skills and knowledge of the guide.

AY: Who is your typical guest?

Bazis: A lot of them are people wanting to try something for the first time. Even something as simple as hiking, something that doesn’t really require special equipment, can be really intimidating because people don’t know where to go. They might be concerned about the terrain or the wildlife. They might want to know a little bit more about the area.

People come to us because they want to experience something with that security of having a professional, someone that’s first-aid certified, knows where they’re going, knows what to do and can guide them on that experience.

We also get a lot of people who want to enjoy an experience but they don’t have the equipment or the ability to invest in the equipment or they don’t want to have to transport that equipment from place to place. We provide them with not only the guide, but with the gear they need to enjoy a new activity without having to spend a lot of money or figure out how to transport it.

Ryan West

Jessica Pearson

Looking for something fun to do? We got you. North Little Rock is always up to something: outdoor adventure; chef-driven restaurants, live entertainment and fun year-round attractions like the beautiful Old Mill and touring a real World War II submarine at the Arkansas Inland Maritime Museum. Come see what we’re up to!

Mountain

Bites

Inventive, approachable dining growing everywhere in Bentonville

The growth experienced by Bentonville and the surrounding region over the past decade has been staggering by any metric, and with such rapid growth always comes rapid change. Fortunately for Bentonville, that change has brought a great influx of people and influences from around the country and channeled them into a distinct and vibrant culinary scene that brings together old classics and new ideas, mixing formal with casual and Southern with just about anything else.

With so much going on and no signs of the growth halting any time soon, there are likely new things to try in Bentonville, no matter how recently one may have visited.

Today, many might know Crepes Paulette for its brick-and-mortar locations in Bentonville and Fayetteville, but the restaurant spent many of its early years as a food truck. Before that, its story began when a young graduate of Hendrix College in Conway, who is from Bentonville, set off to see the world and returned to Arkansas in 2005 with a French husband and two children.

By that time, Alice Walton had announced her plans to build Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in Bentonville, and that graduate, Paula Jo Chitty Henry, and her husband, Frédéric Henry, decided that people who visit the museum would need a place to eat.

Neither had an extensive background in the restaurant industry, and while Frédéric had grown up with crepes as a common part

By JOHN CALLAHAN // Photos provided

Crepes Paulette began life as a food truck and now boasts two brick-and-mortars.

of French cuisine, he had very little experience in actually making them. Fortunately, these factors did not turn out to be serious obstacles, and the first iteration of Crepes Paulette opened in 2010.

“We self-taught and figured out how to make crepes in a handheld form because I didn’t like the idea of serving things on a plate out of a food truck,” Paula said, “and it worked.

“We were the first gourmet food truck in Bentonville, and I believe we were the first one that actually had a brand. First we started only at the farmers market and the events on Bentonville Square. Then we found a location right next to the ice skating rink, Lawrence Plaza, and we parked there for about 10 years. We weren’t a very mobile food truck.”

The first Crepes Paulette brick-and-mortar location opened in 2016 at the corner of Main and Eighth streets in Bentonville, not far from the city’s square. The food truck shut down due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but the Eighth Street location weathered the storm. Once the worst of the pandemic had passed, Paula and Frédéric opened the Fayetteville location.

“We have a very welcoming environment, very casual, and we really want to continue with that,” Paula said. “We’re not fancy, despite the fact that we do French crepes, which a lot of people may have an idea in their head about. We’re very much fast-casual and have always been geared toward that direction.”

The Crepes Paulette menu is largely divided between sweet crepes in an authentic

French style or savory crepes made with naturally gluten-free buckwheat for a Southern twist, and all are still in a hand-held form. There is also a selection of sweet and savory filling options available on either type of crepe, as well as a variety of sippable soups.

“The most popular [menu item] is one that’s called la Classic, and it’s what you’d find in France: just an egg, ham and cheese crepe,” Paula said. “When people come in for the first time and they don’t know what to order, it’s always what we recommend.

“I would say our most popular crepes after that are very Americanized versions like la Rancher, which is chicken, cheddar, bacon and ranch dressing, then, oddly, the Thai crepe, which has a really amazing peanut sauce that is our own invention, along with chicken, cabbage and fresh cilantro.”

In terms of sweet crepes, Nutella strawberry is always the top choice. Paula’s personal favorite item on the menu is la Chopper, which was inspired by the Bikes, Blues & BBQ festival in Rogers and features chicken, cheddar, cabbage and Arkansauce, a combination of barbecue sauce and mayonnaise. Paula, a vegetarian, swaps the chicken for pecans.

“I really love how people are surprised by [the restaurant],” she said. “Most people have an idea of crepes as a fancy, sit-down meal folded on a plate. We’ve managed to change that but keep the quality in it. I can’t say enough good things about the Bentonville community. There were a few lean years

when we first started because no one had experience with food trucks in the area, so there was a ramping-up period of getting people to come, but then it really felt like people who came became very loyal from the very beginning. They would come out when it was 10 degrees in the winter.

“We had a lot of loyal customers from the food truck who then became loyal customers at the restaurant. I think the fact that we’re fast-casual has also led to us being a good option for the biking community. We’ve just been really lucky to be in Bentonville. Our longtime customers have watched us as we’ve grown; they know that we’re doing it on our own. We’re independent, and they have supported us in that and appreciate the fact that we’re still trying to be quality-driven and unique.”

For a similarly unique but casual experience even closer to the square, Bentonville visitors might consider Oven & Tap. Established by Arkansas native Luke Wetzel in 2015, the restaurant is named for its wood-fired oven and long tap wall, and the establishment bears a heavy influence from Wetzel’s culinary experiences in California.

“I learned to cook on a woodfired oven in California, and I almost made up my mind right then and there that this is what we were going to do. I just love managing the fire, and I love the way it interacts with the food,” Wetzel said. “The first thing to go into our space on Main Street once we cleared the space out was this huge oven we had built in California. We had it parked in the middle, so it is certainly the heart of the restaurant, and we

Oven & Tap provides Italian dishes with Southern flair.

Oven & Tap is named for its wood-fired oven and wall of drink taps.

treat it that way. We still to this day explore different things to do with it beyond pizza. We love pizza. It’s definitely the meat of our menu, but we’re always exploring how to prepare vegetables, roast different local meats and things like that.

“[Our style] is Italian-principle cooking with a Southern flair. We have a running joke of cooking like a nonna, which is an Italian grandmother, and folding in some of our Southern heritage and things that happen here in Arkansas.”

During his time in California, Wetzel spent several years working for celebrated chef and restaurateur Alice Waters, a pioneer of seasonal and simple cooking, at Chez Panisse. It was those principles of cooking that Wetzel was most eager to bring back to northwest Arkansas, and Oven & Tap’s menu reflects that dedication. Ingredients are sourced locally whenever possible, often from the Bentonville Farmers Market, and even those that cannot be found locally are still sourced seasonally.

“Instead of writing a menu and sourcing the ingredients, we call the farmers and coordinate with them to understand what the area

is providing us, and then we write a menu,” Wetzel said. “It’s something we love, and it’s a challenge, but it also makes our lives easy because all of our friends and partners grow amazing vegetables or are raising beautiful livestock. For example, Sean and Carol Bansley raise organic Berkshire pigs a couple hours from Bentonville, and we’ve been partners with them since day one.”

Due to this seasonal nature of ingredients, much of the menu changes every few months. Still, there are some menu items that can reliably be found year-round. Though the toppings may change, pizza made with wild yeast captured from the local area is the main event, and pork meatballs are also a permanent feature. For appetizers, edamame is almost always available, thanks to Arkansas’s massive soy crop, and it is roasted in the oven with rosemary, salt and lemon.

The restaurant’s titular tap wall has no fewer than 16 taps, which primarily pour local and regional craft beers, though a few are dedicated to house-made small-batch cocktails. Oven & Tap also curates a small wine list, the offerings on which are carefully selected to match the current menu items.

“Bentonville and northwest Arkansas are amazing places to own a business,” Wetzel said. “Being able to be a part of this amazing conversation that’s developing around food and beverage and being part of the growth is amazing. We’re always looking for opportunities to share more experiences.

“Oven & Tap is so near and dear to my heart that you might only ever see Oven & Tap where it exists today in those walls, but there could be other concepts in the future for sure, just to be a part of the growth, share more

of the story of food and explore new things.”

Those looking to both eat and stay right at the heart of the action in downtown Bentonville can find The Hive in the 21c Museum Hotel, less than a block away from the square itself. Amidst the huge repository of art that bedecks the museum hotel’s walls, visitors can experience cuisine that is no less artful.

“When The Hive started, it was kind of right at the beginning of the boom here in Bentonville, but there weren’t really a lot of options for fresh vegetables, nicely roasted protein, that sort of thing,” said Micah Klasky, executive chef. “The goal was just to make delicious Southern food that was approachable and, ideally, familiar, yet new. We really want to pull from a lot of the influences in the region. Bentonville has a great amount of diversity, whether it be Asian, Indian or [Pacific] Islander, and there’s a lot of influence you can pull from respectfully and incorporate into a menu.”

Klasky said he hopes to serve food without pretense, cultivating a dining room that feels welcoming and a menu that allows anyone to find something they know and feel comfortable ordering. At the same time, those well-known dishes take on local and global influences to, hopefully, introduce patrons to something new.

“I don’t want you to just come in and know exactly what you’re going to order,” Klasky said. “Ideally, you’re going to look at the menu and have a hard time making a choice.”

The Hive is another restaurant that places a strong emphasis on local and seasonal ingredients whenever possible, which, again, results in a menu that changes not based on the calendar date, but on what local farmers

The Hive works to serve food that is familiar, yet novel.

Local and seasonal ingredients are front and center at The Hive.

can provide. There are a few constants: steak, a hog chop provided by the aforementioned Bansleys Berkshire Ridge Farm, chicken from Across the Creek Farm, and pasta and seafood options that are always on the menu.

Likewise, the kitchen is willing and able to accommodate diners’ dietary needs, working around allergies and always providing at least one vegan option, which Klasky said has been much appreciated by the community.

“The culture that has built into this restaurant is one that I have yet to find elsewhere,” Klasky said. “Every single member of the team is passionate about food. Whenever you can build a kitchen of people who genuinely care and are interested and want to get better, there’s no better feeling. I’m not the only person who has been at this restaurant for over 10 years.

“There is something about this place. People come, and people stay, I think, because they recognize that we’re going to take care of each other, we’re going to make great food, and we’re going to have a good time while we do it.”

The city’s center has more unique eateries to offer, among the newest of which is Lady Slipper, a speakeasy-like concept by Ropeswing Hospitality Group, an organization created to help drive the revitalization of the Bentonville community, especially downtown.

“[Ropeswing] started with the idea of how do we do better with the community? How do we make it where people want to be here? They started with restaurants and, ultimately, came to what we have now, which is a really thriving area with a ton of restaurants and a

really good organic community,” said Matt Boring, director of operations and a chef by trade. “Lady Slipper was created in response to the growing need for high-end hospitality offerings in downtown Bentonville and also for a late-night or after-party venue.”

Lady Slipper was set to launch in 2020, but the pandemic halted the process just as it approached completion. The establishment officially opened in late 2022 in a corner of the historic Massey Hotel building, enhancing an already jam-packed area of town with a distinct vibe all its own.

“The original concept, which we’ve held true to, is that when you walk in, it’s supposed to be a place that tells a story,” Boring said. “It’s also supposed to have a lot of talking points.”

Lady Slipper patrons first pass through the patio constructed of colorful handmade tiles, each with a different pattern to create a tapestry-like blend of varied colors. Further accenting the patio area are large hanging plants and glass globe lights that complement the industrial-style brick of the old hotel walls. Inside the restaurant, the brick

Artwork, ambiance and a killer menu await Lady Slipper diners.

Lady Slipper is known for its speakeasy vibes and sharable dishes.

walls contrast with the patterned ceiling and crystal light fixtures and artwork, such as the massive Kehinde Wiley painting St. George and the Dragon. All the elements work together to bring a warm and comfortable feeling to the industrial structure.

“Every time I come in here, I’ll look around and see something different,” Boring said. “I love to sit in different locations so I can get the perspective of a guest. There’s artwork on just about every piece of the wall, and when I talked about telling a story, we intentionally went with a wood floor, for example. Most restaurants don’t do that because wood floors get scratched or stained, but we want the scratches. We want the stains because we want it to look like there’s a story to be told. When you look at the countertops, most people will do something that’s not very porous; we chose marble, and you can see glass rings from where it has been stained, and that was also intentional to make it look weathered.”

Arturo Solis, executive chef, has been with Ropeswing since the earliest days of

the concept. Under his expert guidance, the restaurant’s menu changes every six to eight months. Most menu items are intended to be shareable, which creates an eclectic food experience with multiple dishes, rather than a single entree. Solis’ style is globally inspired by influences as far afield as Spain and France to those much closer to home, such as from Louisiana, Texas and the unique styles of Arkansas itself.

“The feedback has been overwhelmingly positive,” Boring said. “I’m super grateful to the community for accepting this type of concept because I would say that as a whole, bars and restaurants aren’t designed for the public to mess them up. Floors are concrete and polished, chairs are steel and hard so you can’t

Culinary influences from across the U.S. and around the world are on the menu at Lady Slipper.

break them. We have wooden chairs, wooden floors, leather and banquette seating. All of those things can absolutely be ruined, but it’s to go after a different personality than what is already existing here, which is I think one reason why it’s so successful.”

Rafael Rios, Yeyo’s

The son of migrant farmers in California, Rafael Rios is a self-made success story. After arriving in northwest Arkansas in 2006 he farmed in the area until opening his first food truck six years later. Almost exclusively self-taught in the kitchen, Rios now has two James Beard Award nominations to his credit and his restaurant, Yeyo’s, is the talk of the town.

AY About You: Has the dream always been to be in the restaurant business and be a chef?

Rafael Rios: The dream came to me later in my life after realizing that I would do something good to make people happy through food. After I left the Army, I realized that was

the next step for serving people, which has been my goal my entire life.

AY: Where did you receive your culinary training?

Rios: Most recently attending culinary school online in Boulder, Colo., through Escoffier. Most of my training, though, throughout my life has been in the home kitchens of my grandma and mom. In my military career I was in kitchens in Germany, Afghanistan — anywhere the military took me.

AY: How would you describe the cuisine at your restaurant?

Rios: It is basically Mexico on a plate. We have all the regions of Mexico covered in our menu. From the south and the methods of the Yucatan to a very specific mole from Oaxaca. We have many different versions of barbacoa by region and a lot of influence from my home state of Michoacan, basically a fusion of Oaxaca and Michoacan, for the most part. I believe that the added value of Yeyo’s being the first, that I know of, farm-to-table Mexican restaurant in the region sets us apart. Our reception in Bentonville has been wonderful.

AY: For someone who’s never visited your restaurant and wants to try it, what menu item would you say best sums you up?

Rios: I believe they should order our enmoladas. Enmoladas are made with mole negro. It’s one of the moles of Mexico. There’s nine of them, and in my opinion, mole negro is the one that is going to showcase a process. It’s going to give the taste of all the ingredients and demonstrate our legacy of flavor, the process and history. It is something that everyone should have when they come visit our restaurant.

Yeyo’s

801 Southeast Eighth St., Suite 41, Bentonville 479-657-6954

yeyosnwa.com

BENTONVILLE STAR CHEF

It’s Kinda Made for You

Dubbed “a new capital of cool” by the Wall Street Journal in 2023, Bentonville, Arkansas, is everything you want and nothing you’d expect. Mouthwatering local cuisine, mountain biking dreams, and a vibrant cultural scene give you big-city vibes amid the gorgeous backdrop of the Ozarks. Explore street art, savor globally-inspired flavors by joining our foodie revolution, or spend your days pumping adrenaline on hiking and biking trails. VisitBentonville.com

Mo’ show

Bentonville scene alive with museums

By SARAH COLEMAN // Photos provided

Bentonville is known throughout the nation for numerous reasons, whether for being the site of Walmart’s corporate headquarters, the city’s spirited dedication to becoming a bike-riding haven or the world-renowned Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art. It is undeniable Bentonville has a lot to offer to visitors and for residents alike.

21C MUSEUM HOTEL BENTONVILLE

Located on the northeast corner of the Bentonville Square, 21c Museum Hotel stands out not only as a boutique hotel that houses The Hive restaurant, but also as a contemporary art museum.

For guests traveling to Bentonville for the first time, 21c provides an atmosphere unlike any other within walking distance of Crystal Bridges, the Scott Family Amazeum, excellent downtown restaurants and access points for mountain biking trails.

“Our location is one of our best features. Downtown Bentonville and Bentonville in general is a bustling and burgeoning place with a ton of new growth and exciting things to do,” said Claire Thompson, general manager, “Our specific location is very walkable for those who want to enjoy the restaurants, bars, the museums, bike trails such as Slaughter Pen trail head and more.”

In fact, guests who come for the mountain biking trails may find the hotel’s bike valet is an added perk to their stay, Thompson said.

“You can literally jump on your bike outside the front door and get on one of the more popular routes within northwest Arkansas,” she added. “When you stay at 21c, you have the benefit of staying at a place that is outside of the standard hotel experience. You get to enjoy a lot more that exists within the walls of the hotel itself.”

The contemporary art museum is a thoughtful space that has been put together with the guidance of curators on the 21c brand team. The museum is open not only to those staying on site, but also to the public.

21c Museum Hotel is known for fun, contemporary exhibits.

In February, 21c installed a new exhibit, “Fragile Figures” that includes featured artist Yvette Mayorga, a Chicago-based multimedia artist. This display will showcase the world, from microsystems at work to macro forces, and will include environmental, social, cultural and political beings in time.

According to Thompson, 21c offers public tours at 5 p.m. every Thursday to those who want an in-depth walkthrough of “Fragile Figures” with 21c’s museum manager.

While Thompson expects to see many mountain bikers and gravel riders throughout the warmer months, she is particularly grateful for the growing local events that have made Bentonville a work and travel destination, as well as a great place to live.

“I feel like collectively, the city of Bentonville, the chamber, the visitor’s bureau and all of the entities have done a really good job of developing exciting things to do throughout the year,” Thompson said. “I would say Bentonville is becoming a summer family destination, a place where people can bring their kids from all over and enjoy the many things to do in the entire northwest Arkansas area.”

MUSEUM OF NATIVE AMERICAN HISTORY

The Museum of Native American History was originally established as the Museum of Native American Artifacts and was founded

by David Bogle, a registered member of the Cherokee Nation. Bogle was born and raised in Bentonville, and in founding MONAH, he found a space to house more than 10,000 Native American artifacts, including both items from his private collection and several collections donated and on loan to the museum.

According to its vision, MONAH exists to advance the understanding of human experience across indigenous cultures and provide a space that fosters the explorative imagination of all who visit. After walking into the museum, guests can see galleries set in chronological order, allowing for the education and understanding of the lifestyle, hardships, successes and inspiration behind the Native American experience.

Because land acknowledgement is of the utmost importance to those at MONAH, they recognize that the museum sits on the ancestral lands of the Quapaw, Caddo and Osage people. The museum’s official land acknowledgement statement also includes a promise to show respect to indigenous people who occupied this land in the past and further acknowledges the ties the tribes had with the land in spirit while honoring the legacy indigenous people continue to build.

Director Jazlyn Sanderson said those who have never been to MONAH should be prepared to have their socks knocked off. While

many people are impressed by the quality of art and artifacts in the museum, Sanderson said visitors are equally impressed by the quantity of them, as well.

“We try to tell the entire history of the Americas in a very broad way. Our collection begins in the paleo period, where guests can see some of the earliest tools that man created in both North and South America,” Sanderson said. “From there, guests can work their way through history and learn more about the late historic era.”

As the museum’s layout tells the chronological story, visitors find themselves looping through the area, discovering famous artifacts such as the Sweetwater Biface, one of the thinnest known blades ever found.

Sanderson said by highlighting contemporary indigenous artists, as well, MONAH is able to showcase beautiful artwork and jewelry, giving the visitors an overall glimpse into the minds of indigenous people. Not only does this make for a great experience for adults, but it is a very hands-on experience for children, as well.

“Kids really love it here,” Sanderson said. ”We have field trips often, and outside of that, we have a constant flow of families visiting.”

As part of an effort to create a truly immersive experience, MONAH offers audio tour wands, which work similarly to phones.

Indigenous people from Arkansas and beyond are the focus of the Museum of Native American History.

These wands allow for children to type in the numbers and receive more information about the exhibit without having to read about it. Within the interactive exhibits, there is an arrowhead hunt area where kids younger than 15 can receive an arrowhead for free every time they visit.

“It’s a lot of fun,” Sanderson said. “We give them the tools they need to go on a successful hunt, and they always get super surprised and excited to find an arrowhead.”

MONAH is an exception when it comes to telling Native American history because the museum aims to tell the entire story of all the Americas, which hardly any other museum tries to do.

“We highlight a lot of Arkansas history from the entire state, and we feature artwork from indigenous people that first settled in this area, from the Mississippi River all the way down to the southeast with the Caddo to up here with the Osage,” Sanderson said. “ A trip to the museum brings so much in terms of broadening the perspective, and guests always seem super blown away by what they learn. There’s so much to learn, and I love being able to be a part of that journey.”

CRYSTAL BRIDGES MUSEUM OF AMERICAN ART AND THE MOMENTARY

Nestled in the Ozark landscape, Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art is not only a world-renowned museum that celebrates the American spirit but also a destination that has elevated Bentonville. Founded by philanthropist and arts patron Alice Walton, Crystal Bridges is a public nonprofit charitable organization and a space that is welcoming to all, made accessible by free admission.

By providing exceptional experiences and exhibitions, Crystal Bridges is more than just a museum and has continued to shape the arts in northwest Arkansas and throughout the entire region.

“Crystal Bridges isn’t just a museum. It’s a classroom, a sanctuary, a platform for storytellers and diverse perspectives. Most of all, it is a place to connect with co-workers, friends and family,” said Rod Bigelow, executive director and chief diversity and inclusion officer. “Community is at the forefront of what we do here. We are constantly working to create opportunities for our community members to come together and utilize the museum’s resources, from inviting diverse, local voices to consult and collaborate in exhibitions and programs to hosting community circle discussions that feature multiple perspectives and unique stories co-led by local artists, leaders, organizations and experts in our region.”

Bigelow said Crystal Bridges believes great American art belongs to everyone. From the light and water to the vast trails and grounds at Crystal Bridges, the geography is full, both literally and figuratively.

“All [those elements] create an opportunity for people from all over to experience art in a way they never had before,” Bigelow said.

Since its opening in 2011, Crystal Bridges has been able to welcome more than 11 million visitors and is looking forward to continuing in its expansion of access to art, architecture and nature. Currently, Crystal Bridges is in the middle of a 100,000-square-foot expansion that will double its footprint, creating even more space for art, educational programming, outdoor play and community engagement.

This year, the museum has a lot to offer for those near and far from Bentonville. “Exquisite

Creatures,” a dialogue with art, nature and science by Christomer Marley, will be on display, and the museum will host an artist and a naturalist.

Marley’s exhibit shows a reflection on humanity’s intimate relationship with nature and will reveal that intricate beauty through three dimensional works of art. Each work is composed of animal, mineral and plant specimens and is arranged in a precise, geometric composition. “Exquisite Creatures” will be open in the temporary exhibition gallery from March 16 to July 29.

Other notable events this year include “Space Makers: Indigenous Expression and a New American Art,” which will examine the mid-century American art movement heavily influenced by Native American Works.

Both indoor and outdoor artwork make Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art one of the most popular attractions in Arkansas.

“North Forest Outdoor Lights: Klip Collective” will also be introduced as an immersive nighttime light-and-sound experience in the North Forest.

In addition to all of these experiences, “Knowing the West,” a traveling exhibition featuring Native American and non-Native American artists, will be on display, encouraging reflection on the diverse people who have contributed to art and life in the western United States. Bigelow said the museum is also working on an installation in collaboration with the Arkansas Coalition of Marshallese that will feature art and stories from their community.

The Momentary, Crystal Bridges’ satellite location, will launch three photography-centric exhibitions this year. The lineup includes Kristine Potter’s “Dark Waters,” a recent collection of seductive black and white photography that explores the Southern Gothic genre; Awol Erizku’s “Mystic Parallax,” a reimagining of African American and African visual culture adapted from new books co-published with Aperture; and “Best in Show: Pets in Contemporary Photography,” an installation by Fotografiska Museum in New York City that explores the role furry and feathered friends play in people’s lives.

Bigelow also suggests guests attend one of the Momentary’s many musical performances because each concert and festival offers something new for concert-goers. With a year-round concert schedule packed with a wide range of artists, guests can celebrate both emerging and longstanding artists. According to Bigelow, all the concerts are incredible, and seeing live music at the Momentary is something everyone should experience.

“There’s always so much to do in both spaces. The Momentary has quickly become a premier music venue here in NWA. We’ve hosted many stellar performances, and we’re just getting started,” Bigelow said. “We have multi-day festivals, intimate indoor concerts, indie, Tejano, hip-hop, roots, Grammy-Award-winners and rising stars. Music runs deep in everything that we do at the Momentary.”

Outside of live music, Bigelow encourages everyone to visit the Momentary, which offers something for everyone, from immersive visual art experiences and dance parties and fantastic experiences at the infamous Tower Bar.

“There is a distinctive vibe that guests love, whether they’re laying out on the green or experiencing an intimate show in the RØDE House. We are thrilled to offer a space for the community to gather, a space that continues to explore ways to connect communities with exciting and engaging music, art and food,” Bigelow said.

While there are a lot of new things to be celebrated at both Crystal Bridges and the Momentary, there are several suggestions for those visiting for the first time.

“If guests are traveling from out of town,

is known for both its art exhibits and its musical performances.

they can easily spend more than one full day to experience everything there is to offer at both Crystal Bridges and the Momentary,” Bigelow said. “We suggest visiting our expansive art galleries and experience the trails located on the grounds.”

In its entirety, the museum’s collection includes five centuries of American masterworks, beginning in early America and spanning to present day. The museum is enhanced by its temporary exhibitions, which showcase art not found in its permanent collections. The trails encompassing 120 acres of the Ozarks have become a must-see part of the museum of experience, as well. A rare Frank-LloydWright-designed house has been located on the grounds since 2015 and is preserved.

“Over five miles of trails wind through the museum’s site, giving guests access to natural springs, streams, geographical features, and many native plants and animals,” Bigelow said. “Designed to spark the imagination, the trails help guests form connections to the land and its history, as well as enjoy outdoor artworks.”

Programming at Crystal Bridges and the Momentary include family-friendly events, hands-on artmaking, tours, concerts and more throughout the year. The learning and engagement team hosts several family days at the museum, as well as drop-in artmaking experiences, artist mentorship opportunities, summer camps, school tours and games.

SCOTT FAMILY AMAZEUM

Located near the grounds of Crystal Bridges, the Scott Family Amazeum encompasses 50,000 square feet of exhibit and learning spaces, all aimed toward enhancing family involvement, while encouraging curiosity and discovery through hands-on activities.

Completely interactive, the Amazeum

includes several exhibitions by way of people and industries that have created Arkansas culture and worked to sustain it. In addition to the 3M Tinkering Hub and the Nickelodeon Play Lab, exhibits also include General Mills Lift, Load & Haul, Walmart Market, Nature Valley Amazements, Hershey’s Lab, and more.

“Whether you have two hours to spend or an entire day, you can get a lot out of the Amazeum’s experiences. I recommend checking out the 3M Tinkering Hub, which is for people to do hands-on tinkering and is a little more in-depth than some of the other exhibitions,” said Holland Hayden, senior marketing and communications manager, who added that the tinkering, adding that the tinkering hub has different themes every few weeks.

According to Hayden, the Nickelodeon Play Lab is also an excellent place to get creative, and to calm down, the cloud theater offers a quiet area. Wherever kids explore, they can have fun working together to complete a project with the General Mills Lift, Load & Haul. The Walmart Market also allows for increased creativity, as it provides a space for children to pretend to make sandwiches, go shopping and check people out.

Not only is the Amazeum an excellent place for young ones to explore, but it also reinvigorates childhood curiosity in all of its guests.

“I feel that as we grow older, we sometimes lose a little bit of that curiosity. We tend to just accept things as they are, and we don’t continue to ask questions,” Hayden said. “When you’re at the Amazeum, it entices you to ask questions and to look deeper at things and to be curious. That is so important for people to do, and you get to have a lot of fun while you’re here.”

Hayden said there is something for every-

The Momentary, Crystal Bridges’ satellite location,

one at the Amazeum, allowing adults to be a kid again and families can enjoy spending time with each other. The Amazeum continues to grow and offers new exhibits and events to be enjoyed throughout the year. It recently unveiled “Moon to Mars,” an interactive space-themed exhibition, which will be open through May 6.

“‘Moon to Mars’ was built with collaboration from NASA’s deep-space exploration system from the Johnson Space Center [in Houston]. It’s a fun exhibition for anybody who enjoys space, from those hoping to be a future astronaut to anyone interested in engineering,” Hayden said. “There are so many fun pieces to it, and all of them are interactive. You get to learn a lot, and it’s cool because it’s not everyday that you get to pretend you’re in space.”

The exhibit also allows for guests to design and build their own rocket and includes an Orion spacecraft and a moon rover.

In April, the Amazeum will host its singular fundraiser for the year, the UnGala, which has a goal to raise $150,000.

“The UnGala is not a regular gala, but a cool one. We encourage people to wear comfy clothes and jeans. It’s adults-only and a handson experience with bounce houses, moltenmaking and a lot of other experiences people have yet to try,” Hayden said.

As a nonprofit organization, the Amazeum has received a lot of funding, which has

BENTONVILLE EVENTS

In addition to dining, galleries and outdoor attractions, Bentonville is big on community. Build your visit around one of these major events and join in the fun.

NEW YEAR’S EVE

This event debuted in January and has proved a smashing success for grownups looking to ring in the new year. To be held at The Ledger, this 21-and-older event attracts hundreds, offering music and food to accompany the Big Countdown.

FIRST FRIDAY

Family fun is the order of the day at First Friday, which takes place April through October. The Bentonville Square will be jampacked with immersive activities that are fun for the whole family. Drop by for lunch, then stick around for the start of the festivities at 3 p.m.

FARMERS MARKET

The showpiece Bentonville Farmers Market features more than 100 local growers and artisans displaying wares on the square. Tens of thousands of people attend the April-to-October season, making the market Arkansas’ top market as named by America’s Farmers’ Market Celebration and the American Farmland Trust.

allowed it to keep $12 admission. According to Hayden, it is because of some amazing grants and donations that the museum is able to continue to create an accessible space to explore science, technology, engineering, art and math. The Amazeum also offers its priceless nights program most Wednesday nights to allow for greater accessibility.

“We’re encouraging our students, our young children, in NWA to learn more about STEAM and to fall in love with education, as it only helps the community and the state as a whole,” Hayden said.

No matter the age, Hayden encouraged everyone to visit the Amazeum at least once and said it truly is a museum experience unlike any other. Whether it be for an event such as the pre-eclipse party on April 7 or for other programming, the Amazeum serves the community as a resource and as a creativity hub.

Year’s

CHRISTMAS EXTRAVAGANZA

Bentonville does it big during the holidays, from lighting the square with more than 30 miles of lights to the annual Christmas parade and other special events held from Thanksgiving weekend through January. It is truly the place to be in Arkansas to celebrate the season.

For complete details on these events, or to see what else is going on during the year, visit downtownbentonville.org.

The Scott Family Amazeum provides interactive experiences for children and, on the night of the UnGala fundraiser, adults.

New

Eve

Christmas Extravaganza

First Friday

IN-HOME CARE

Conway Regional Home Health

NEUROLOGIST

Tim Freyaldenhoven, MD, Conway Regional Neuroscience Center

CARDIOLOGY CLINIC

Conway Regional Cardiovascular Clinic

CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER

Matt Troup

CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER

Bill Pack

CUSTOMER SERVICE

Conway Regional Health System

FAMILY PRACTICE

Conway Regional Health System

FITNESS CENTER/GYM

Conway Regional Health & Fitness Center

FOOT & ANKLE SURGERY

James Head, MD, Conway Orthopedic & Sports Medicine Center

FUNDRAISER

Arkansas Duck Derby

GASTROENTEROLOGY CLINIC

Conway Regional Gastroenterology Center

HAND SURGERY

Bryan Head, MD, Conway Orthopedic & Sports Medicine Center

HEALTH COACH

Hunter Little, Conway Regional Health & Fitness Center

HOSPITAL

Conway Regional Health System

Keith Schluterman, MD, Conway Regional Neuroscience Center

NEUROSURGEON

Regan Gallaher, MD, Conway Regional Neuroscience Center

NURSE PRACTITIONER

Rhonda Dixon, APRN

OB-GYN CLINIC

Conway Regional Renaissance Women’s Center

ORTHOPEDIC GROUP

Conway Orthopedic & Sports Medicine Center

ORTHOPEDIST

Tom Roberts, MD, Conway Regional Health System

OVERALL COMPANY

Conway Regional Health System

PAIN CENTER

Conway Regional Advanced Pain Management Center

PAIN SPECIALIST

Mikio Ranahan, MD, Conway Regional Advanced Pain Management Center

PERSONAL TRAINER

Erika Setzler, Conway Regional Health & Fitness Center

PHYSICAL THERAPY CLINIC

Conway Regional Therapy Clinics

PHYSICIAN ASSISTANT

Brooke Money, PA, Conway Regional Renaissance Women’s Center

PLACE TO HAVE A BABY

Conway Regional Health System

RADIOLOGY CLINIC

Conway Regional Imaging Center

REHABILITATION HOSPITAL

Conway Regional Rehabilitation Hospital

SPORTS MEDICINE CLINIC

Conway Orthopedic & Sports Medicine Center

SURGEON

Anthony Manning, MD, Conway Regional Surgical Associates

Michael Stanton, MD, Conway Regional Surgical Associates

SURGEON (LOWER EXTREMITY)

James Head, MD, Conway Orthopedic & Sports Medicine Center

SURGEON (UPPER EXTREMITY)

Jay Howell, MD, Conway Orthopedic & Sports Medicine Center

AY About You is proud to present the 2024 edition of Ask the Experts

Ask the Experts

Now, more than ever, it can be hard to find the facts behind life’s most pressing issues, the answers to all of our questions. One website says this, but another says the opposite. One false step and all the flowers are dead, the faucet’s leaking — and we still haven’t solved the mystery of “what’s for dinner”. Fortunately, we’ve gathered dozens of Arkansas’ influential and knowledgeable leaders and asked them the questions that you want answered. From health care to homebuilding and finances to cosmetic surgery, we’ve got the answers and insights from those who know best — experts.

PLASTIC SURGEON

with Zachary Young,M.D.

ARKANSAS PLASTIC SURGERY

What sets you and Arkansas Plastic Surgery apart?

At Arkansas Plastic Surgery, we take pride in individualized patient care. Surgery is stressful for many people, so we want to make sure the patient knows what to expect and feels at home with our staff.

What are some of the biggest misconceptions people have about plastic surgery?

The biggest misconception is that cosmetic surgeons are plastic surgeons. It takes at least six years of surgical training to become a plastic surgeon, and it is often as much as 8 to 10 years, depending on the training pathway. Cosmetic surgeons have not had the same rigorous training and testing. The easiest way for a patient to determine if their surgeon is a plastic surgeon is to ask if they are board certified by the American Society of Plastic Surgery. If they offer other credentials, they are not a plastic surgeon, and the patient should look more closely at their training.

What are the most common reasons someone might have plastic surgery?

Procedures generally fall into two categories. The first is reconstructive procedures addressing issues such as breast cancer, enlarged breasts or skin cancer. Most people think of the second category, and that is related to improving physical appearance. Typical surgeries for the latter patient include breast augmentation, breast lifts, liposuction, tummy tuck, thigh lifts, arm lifts, face lifts, eye lid surgery or a combination of those procedures.

ARKANSAS AESTHETICS

QA & with Katherine Thomas, R.N.

What are the most popular treatments that you provide?

Neurotoxins (Botox, Dysport) and dermal fillers.

Generally, how long is the recovery time after one of your procedures?

After a neurotoxin treatment, there isn’t any recovery or downtime at all. Fillers are more invasive, and you can have bruising or swelling, but recovery is patient dependent. It could be a few days or a few weeks, depending on the area of treatment.

How often do I need to return for treatments?

My patients usually come in every eight to 10 weeks for a neurotoxin maintenance treatment. This way, the neurotoxin stays in your system and will keep your muscles relaxed. It’s really the only way these treatments are effective. If you go in every three to four months when your wrinkles have returned, you are basically starting from square one.

In my opinion, the reason you are getting a neurotoxin is to prevent or correct skin damage that you have (wrinkles at rest). The only way to do this is to stay in a maintenance phase. Keep in mind, you don’t have to be frozen; we just want your muscles not to work so hard that they crease your skin.

Filler patients usually come in every three months for a touch-up. As the filler disintegrates, we add a layer on top to keep the filler in place.

When trying to decide where to go for your aesthetic needs, keep this in mind: You want to go to a provider that specializes in facial aesthetic medicine. We are the only aesthetic practice in the southeast with a sole focus on neurotoxins and dermal fillers at all three of our locations. We don’t offer many different services for a reason. We don’t want to be good at many different treatments; we want to be the best in the treatments we do every day.

QA & with Ronak Soni, M.D.

BOARD-CERTIFIED CARDIOLOGIST

CONWAY REGIONAL CARDIOVASCULAR CLINIC

What is the best way to prevent cardiovascular disease?

The best way to prevent cardiovascular disease is to identify risk factors and manage those with your primary care provider and cardiologist. Even if someone does not have symptoms of heart disease, it is essential to have annual screenings and find problems early.

What are the most important risk factors for cardiovascular disease that can be managed?

Risk factors that can be managed on an individual level include seeing a primary care provider regularly, stopping smoking, managing diabetes and blood pressure, maintaining a healthy weight, getting the recommended amount of sleep each night, and creating environments of minimal stress.

What kind of exercise is the most effective for heart health?

Aerobic exercise is the best type of exercise when keeping a healthy lifestyle for your heart. Everyday activites such as household chores, gardening and walking your dog are small ways to stay active and improve heart health.

What are common symptoms of a heart attack?

The main sign of a heart attack is chest discomfort and pressure, usually in the center of the chest. Other symptoms can include neck discomfort, arm pain, cold sweats, nausea, vomiting and shortness of breath.

How important is it to visit a physician?

It is very important to see your primary care provider regularly so they can spot warning signs and manage risk factors before you develop heart disease.

What should I do if I think I may be having a heart attack?

A fast response by health care professionals is essential for the patient’s survival and quality of life. Anyone experiencing heart attack symptoms should call 911 immediately. Most emergency responders are equipped with mobile communication technology that can transmit electrocardiograms from the ambulance directly to the emergency room. Once the EKG is sent to the ER, the heart team will be onsite when the patient arrives. I am

proud to work at Conway Regional, where the heart and stroke teams have achieved the American Heart Association’s gold standard awards and are among the fastest rapid response teams in the state.

QA & with Dawn Hughes, M.D.

MATERNAL-FETAL MEDICINE SPECIALIST

CONWAY REGIONAL MATERNAL-FETAL MEDICINE CENTER OF ARKANSAS

What qualities are most important in your specialty of medicine?

Empathy and meticuluosness. In dealing with high-risk pregnancies, the details are important. It is such an honor to be entrusted with the care of someone’s unborn child.The field of MFM demands thoroughness in order to ensure the best plan of care.

When does a maternal-fetal medicine specialist become part of a family’s pregnancy plan?

This is usually determined by the patient’s OB-GYN prior to or during pregnancy and is based on a patient’s medical and family history. Our patients include mothers who are older than 35, those who have health conditions that could complicate pregnancy (such as hypertension, diabetes, etc.) or those who have had high-risk pregnancies in the past. We also take care of unborn babies with issues such as structural abnormalities, genetic differences and growth restriction.

Are there certain warning signs that women should be aware of during pregnancy?

One of the confusing and often frustrating aspects of pregnancy is that many symptoms can be totally normal or a warning sign of a potential complication. It almost always takes a complete clinical evaluation to tell the difference. Because of that, it is best to discuss any concerns with an OB-GYN or MFM specialist.

What is the most surprising thing you have learned about maternal-fetal medicine?

I didn’t realize how much my practice would change my outlook on life. Learning everything that can go wrong in a pregnancy gave me a profound appreciation for when everything goes right. After a hard day at work, I find myself marveling at my own children and the miracles that they are.

What is the key to your success?

I define my success by my ability to find balance and joy in the things I love most: my work and my family. I had to learn to let go of other people’s expectations and focus on what is most important to me.

QA & with James Head, M.D.

ORTHOPEDIC SURGEON—FOOT AND ANKLE SPECIALIST

CONWAY ORTHOPEDIC & SPORTS MEDICINE CENTER

What are the most prevalent conditions you deal with?

I see patients with essentially all conditions involving the lower extremities. This includes treating everything from ingrown toenails to patients requiring complex reconstructive surgery. Some of those [ailments] are: bunions, diabetic ulcers, hammer toes, sports injuries, broken bones and tendonitis.

Can you discuss some of the improvements that have been made in orthopedic surgery since you began your practice and how they benefit patients?

The biggest innovation since starting my practice is percutaneous/minimally invasive surgery. This means using very small incisions, resulting in quicker healing with fewer complications. Before, we were using larger incisions and more hardware. Minimally invasive surgery can be used for correcting bunions, hammer toes, flat feet and many other procedures, including ankle fusion, Achilles repair and ankle fractures.

Do you have any advice for the public related to orthopedic care?

One of the best ways to avoid injury is to stay fit. Exercise is the best thing you can do for your health.

When should someone visit an orthopedic surgeon?

When you have persistent pain with activity that limits your ability to do the things you enjoy.

What do you enjoy the most about being a surgeon?

The most rewarding part of my job is helping someone who is either critically injured or crippled with pain overcome their condition and return to a pain-free lifestyle.

A&

with Charlotte Potts

Are your insurance packages one size fits all, or can you tailor packages based on specific needs?

State Farm’s insurance policies are definitely not one size fits all. Each family has different risks and different amounts they stand to lose. We tailor policy contracts to provide coverage for what customers need or want. 17200

with Bradley Wright LEAFGUARD OF ARKANSAS

Why is it important to have properly functioning gutters?

The reason to install gutters on your home is to move water away from your foundation. If water collects around the home, it can cause several problems. For gutters to effectively move the water, they need to be designed for the home and clear of debris.

What are some common mistakes that people make when selecting insurance coverage or a provider?

The biggest mistake we see people make is selecting the cheapest policy available. The old saying is true: “You get what you pay for.” It’s fine to select a less expensive policy when all other variables are equal, but they usually aren’t. The liability portion of a policy is what protects people’s assets if they are sued. Choosing the lowest amount protects them the least. My team and I try to explain exactly how someone’s policy responds and what the limits are when a claim has to be made.

What makes your agency different?

My team and I strive to be true risk managers for our customers. Whatever a family’s risks may be, we want to help them understand how to offset those risks. We also educate customers on how their policies work for them and where their potential gaps may be. We strive to become referable and stay referable. We have a genuine love for others and do our best to be trustworthy members of the communities that we serve. We’d like to thank each of our current customers, future customers and friends for allowing us to serve them and their families. We look forward to doing so for many more years.

GUTTERS

What should homeowners look for when replacing gutters?

You want to get custom gutters for your home. They are made on site, so there are not several pieces with multiple seams that can cause problems.You want gutters that are the right size to handle the water coming off of your roof, and you need the right amount of downspouts in the right places.

What solutions does LeafGuard offer?

The LeafGuard gutter system is the only one-piece, seamless, clog-free gutter system available. It is custom designed for your home and comes with a lifetime clog-free warranty, which allows the gutter to keep working without continual maintenance. LeafGuard of Arkansas uses only employee installers that have been trained on the LeafGuard gutter system to ensure the best install for your home.

Why should customers trust LeafGuard?

LeafGuard of Arkansas is a local, family-owned company. As the exclusive authorized dealer for the LeafGuard gutter system, we have been helping Arkansans protect their homes for more than 20 years.

Sakura, sake and sumo

Spa City to be imbued with Japanese flavor

first weekend of March

By MARK CARTER AND SARAH COLEMAN

Hot Springs keeps finding new ways to stand out in a crowded landscape of tourist attractions and destination events. The city is already home to highcaliber thoroughbred horse racing at what was once known as Oaklawn Park, from which Arkansas Derby winners have gone on to win multiple legs of horse racing’s Grand Slam. In 2015, American Pharoah became the first Triple Crown winner in 37 years.

These days, a full casino and luxury hotel and spa overlook the racetrack, and the attraction now known as Oaklawn Racing Casino Resort attracts hundreds of thousands to the Spa City each spring.

A highlight is Hot Springs National Park, from which flow the thermal hot springs that put the little Ouachita Mountain city on the map in the first place. Beautiful bathhouses representing varied architectural styles welcome visitors to relax in the thermal spring water that gave the city its name and purportedly has healing properties. Visitors to Hot Springs will also find fine dining, museums unlike any to be found elsewhere, the World’s Shortest St. Patrick’s Day Parade, internationally renowned mountain bike trails and, of course, bountiful lakes offering up even more opportunities to recreate outdoors.

The first weekend of March, however, Hot Springs will shine a little brighter than usual. The city’s eclectic menu of things to see, do and taste — the ponies, the lakes, the pizza at Deluca’s Pizza and everything else that makes the Spa City so unique — will be imbued with a distinct Japanese flavor. Cherry blossoms — better known as sakura in Japan and east Asia where they are common — sake and sumo are headed to the Ouachitas.

The fourth annual American Craft Sake Festival from the Sake Brewers Association of North America runs through March 3 at the Bridge Street Live! Entertainment District in downtown Hot Springs, where local brewer Origami Sake will serve as host for the first time. As part of the Craft Sake Fest, the North American Sake Sommelier of the Year competition will take place, marking the first time the event recognizing the world’s top sake steward will be held in the United States.

The seventh annual Arkansas Cherry Blossom Festival, held in recognition of Hot Springs’ Japanese sister city, Hanamaki, and presented by the Hot Springs National Park Sister City Foundation, will take place 12:30 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. March 3 at Bank OZK Arena and the Hot Springs Convention Center.

Exhibition sumo wrestling will follow at 6 p.m. inside the arena and include some of Japan’s top professionals squaring off against three local business leaders: Heather Baker, president and publisher of AY Media Group; Don Gooch, regional director of community banks for Arvest Bank in Hot Springs; and Hot Springs native, radio personality and part-time actor Roger Scott of 103.7 the Buzz.

Mary Zunich, executive director of the Hot Springs National Park Sister City Foundation, said any one of these events would make for a big weekend in Hot Springs, but all of them taking place at the same time will make for an even better experience.

“Sake and sumo are both new to a lot of people, and having them together makes for a very rare opportunity,” she said. “They are both unique in nature and the proximity of having all three of these events take place at the same time makes for an absolutely amazing event.”

Hot sake

Hot Springs hosting the American Craft Sake Festival is a big enough event in and of itself, but adding the Sake Sommelier of the Year competition makes it a really big deal in the sake community. Sake industry officials, brewers and lovers from across the country and even beyond are expected to convene on Hot Springs for the festival.

Maggie Culp, community manager for Origami Sake, said the festival represents the largest gathering of the North American sake industry each year. Unlike previous events, Culp said the Craft Sake Festival is “going big” in 2024.

“We are honored to be connected to the Hot Springs sister city program, which is the host of the Arkansas Cherry Blossom Festival,” she said. “Together with the Visit Hot Springs, we felt that sumo would add a fun flair to the weekend and bring in even more visitors to Hot Springs for the weekend.

“There will be a ticketed sake-tasting area for $45 and unlimited sake samples, and the Bridge Street Entertainment District will be full of food trucks and live entertainment to enjoy, as well as the sake-tasting

Sake lovers can learn all about the libation at the American Craft Sake Festival in Hot Springs.

tent, so bring a lawn chair and come listen to Tragikly White while enjoying some craft sake.”

Origami Sake quietly emerged onto the national sake radar since its launch in 2022, when co-founder Ben Bell envisioned Arkansas, which produces almost half of the U.S. rice harvest, as the Napa Valley of sake. The first weekend of March could go a long way toward turning that vision into reality. Origami purchases its rice from Isbell Farms, located just outside of England in Lonoke County.

“Origami Sake is the first and only sake brewery in Arkansas, using rice grown only about 80 miles from the brewery,” Culp said. “The Isbell family has been growing sake rice for about 15 years, and the majority of brewers [in the U.S.] purchase their sake rice from them. We use Hot Springs water from our onsite well that is perfect for brewing sake.”

The festival will feature sake from 14 of the top breweries in North America, including more than 30 different varieties of the beverage. The SBANA People’s Choice Sake Tasting Competition will crown the best sake of the day, while seminars will educate sake newcomers about brewing techniques, styles and culture. Tours of the Origami farm, mill and brewery will be available, and interested attendees can attend a Wine & Spirit Education Trust global certification level 1 course. Other attractions include food trucks, vendors and artisans and an exclusive welcome party with sponsors, brewers and VIPs to kick things off.

The Sake Sommelier of the Year competition is in its 12th year, organized by the Sake Sommelier Association and the Sake Brewer’s Association of North America. The competition will entail some of the continent’s best sake sommeliers testing their skills. Like their wine counterparts, sake sommeliers are an integral part of the

fine dining experience, ensuring that food and spirits work in harmony.

The competition previously took place in Europe and Asia and will make its North American debut in Hot Springs.

Festival tickets are $45 online and $55 at the door, and VIP tickets are $150. Tickets give holders access to unlimited sake samples at the tasting tent, as well as a commemorative glass.

“The American Craft Sake Festival has grown, thankfully, each year in the number of attendees and participation,” Culp said. “As the category of sake grows, so does the fest.”

Zunich said city officials attended last year’s sake fest in Charlottesville, Va., with the Origami contingent and successfully pitched Hot Springs to the brewers’ association.

“It encourages a lot of interest in both festivals and having these events back to back creates a great way to celebrate sake,” she said. “The goal of Origami Sake is to make Arkansas the Napa Valley of Sake, and this only helps with that.”

Sumo under the sakura

The Arkansas Cherry Blossom Festival has grown each year since its first free festival in 2021. Last year, it attracted more than 2,500 attendees to join in celebrating Japanese culture. Since 1993, Hot Springs has been the sister city of Hanamaki, a city of approximately 95,000 located in the mountainous north of Japan’s main Honshu Island.

The festival will include cultural demonstrations, exhibits, dances, traditional Japanese carnival games, workshops, lectures, an anime cosplay contest, a haiku contest and musical performances that include taiko drums.

Admission is free, and the event is family friendly. This year’s event, however, will stand out for one thing: sumo.

“We take a trip every September for our sister-city exchange,” Zunich said. “We were able to go to Tokyo and see sumo in person, and I remember really enjoying it and knowing that we needed to bring sumo to Arkansas. Through this, we were very excited to connect with USA Sumo, and during this event, we are actually able to bring the world’s largest sumo wrestler to Hot Springs.”

That wrestler, Hiroki, is 6-4 and weighs 580 pounds. He was featured in the recent fourth installment of the John Wick movie franchise. Other sumo wrestlers visiting Hot Spring include Ramy, 6-4 and 500 pounds, and the relatively slight Mendee, 5-10 and 330 pounds.

“This is the first sumo event we have ever had in Hot Springs, and

Along with sake from Origami Sake, a variety of Japanese arts and culture will be on display at the Cherry Blossom Festival in Hot Springs.

we are excited to bring this experience to this region,” Zunich said.

General admission tickets for the sumo exhibition are $30 or $15 for youth 12 and under, and floor seating is $50.

The Cherry Blossom Festival started off several years ago as a fundraiser for the sister-city student exchange program, which has seen hundreds of students, teachers and host families participate. As it turns out, Hanamaki and Hot Springs have more in common than student exchange.

“Hanamaki is a small, rural city a long way from big metropolitan areas,” Zunich said. “Like us, they also have bathhouses and people who travel to the thermal baths from all over. It is a beautiful rural area with a mountainous backdrop similar to us, although our mountains aren’t quite as high. Hanamaki resembles the true heart of Japan, and we are fortunate to have them as our ongoing sister city connection.

“This is part of the Sister Cities International, established in 1955 by President [Dwight] Eisenhour as a way to create peopleto-people, city-to-city connections with others. This is separate from a government connection. The program has thrived and flourished. Although not every student can travel to Japan, and not every family is able to be a host family, we have been able to help Hot Springs experience that culture.”

Zunich believes the Cherry Blossom Festival serves a purpose that extends far beyond hosting a local event.

“Sharing culture is so important, especially in today’s world, where there is so much focus on differences between people,” she said. “When you get to know about a culture different from yours, you can truly see how much in common you have with each other. When we get to know the people of Japan, we can see that we share so much in common, from wanting a peaceful world to enjoying

“

“It encourages a lot of interest in both festivals, and having these events back to back creates a great way to celebrate sake.”

— Mary Zunich, Hot Springs National Park Sister City Foundation

meals with family and enjoying time together.”

The first weekend of March will be something to remember, Zunich said.

“It will be unlike any other weekend in Hot Springs,” she said. “March is already so action packed, but these events will kick off the month, as we will continue to have the eclipse, the state high school basketball playoffs and the World’s Shortest St. Patty’s Day Parade. This is absolutely one of the many weekends to be in Hot Springs. We have fun events all year long in the region, but this goes beyond the state of Arkansas with sake, sakura and sumo. To have all of this here in Hot Springs is something to celebrate.”

Sumo wrestlers Hiroki, from left, Ramy and Mendee will display their skills during the Arkansas Cherry Blossom Festival in Hot Springs.

Northwest Arkansas dance school keeps Irish traditions moving

Dance Life’s a

By Kelli Reep // Photos provided

There is an Irish saying about friendship that goes, “There are good ships, and there are wood ships, ships that sail the sea, but the best ships are friendships. May they always be.” For Rince Arkansas Academy of Irish Dance in Fayetteville, this maxim particularly applies to the students and supporters of the dance art form in northwest Arkansas.

Ana Ayala Barker, a Mexican-American who was introduced to Irish dance in Fort Smith as a junior high school student, is the owner and director of Rince (pronounced RIHN’-kah, the Irish word for dance) Arkansas.

“I was 14, and some classmates had just moved to Fort Smith from Ohio. They did an Irish dance at school, and their mother told us that if we were interested in learning it, they would start a class,” she said. “I had never done dance before, but I had done gymnastics. At that time, I was quitting gymnastics, so I basically went from gymnastics to Irish dance. From that moment I watched my friend dance, I thought it was so cool and wanted to try it. I’ve been an Irish dancer ever since.”

“The greatest thing about Irish dance is it is a community. A lot of the tradition we were taught and we teach now is straight from Ireland,” Barker said. “There are a lot of dances you learn that are very cultural and very historic and have stayed the same throughout the years from the very beginning, but then there’s also a lot of change that has come about because the form has borrowed things from other forms of dancing.

“Combining the athleticism and the choreography today, Irish dance can get complicated. If you watch River Dance or Lord of the Dance, you’ll see a little bit more showy stuff taking elements from tap and things like that, but Irish dance still maintains a lot of its roots, including the tradition of not moving your arms and always dancing to Irish tunes.”

The greatest thing about Irish dance is it is a community. A lot of the tradition we were taught and we teach now is straight from Ireland.

“

The class, which was held once a week for anyone who wanted to join, sublet space from a local dance studio. The students and teachers became fast friends, and as the class grew, the group began looking for a certified Irish dance teacher, eventually finding one in Julia McCafferty. McCafferty founded McCafferty Academy of Irish Dance in Little Rock and held the recognized teacher qualification for Irish dance, Teagascóir Coimisiún Le Rinci Gaelacha.

— Ana Ayala Barker; owner and director of Rince Arkansas

There are several theories to explain why Irish dancers do not move their arms, even though no one knows the real reason. One is that a group was made to dance for Queen Elizabeth I during a period of English suppression (Irish culture was outlawed entirely in the 14th century), and in defiance, they refused to raise their arms to show they did not enjoy dancing for her or the people of England.

Another theory has to do with venue. Dancing behind bars in pubs while keeping their upper bodies stiff allegedly kept the English overlords unaware they were dancing. Still another theory states that it was not the English but local clergy the dancers were trying to fool because the Catholic Church allegedly disapproved of aspects of Irish dance.

“There’s a lot of talk about the reasons the arms aren’t used in traditional Irish dance, but there’s nothing specific or that’s proven,” Barker said.

Rince Arkansas Academy of Irish Dance in Fayetteville teaches traditional Irish dances to students.

Regardless of the reason, Irish dance demands its dancers be dedicated not only to tradition but to commitment, as well.

“People can come to Irish dance at any age, but most people begin when they are 5 or 6,” Barker said. “I started kind of late as a young teenager, but I’ve also seen people who have started later as adults. It depends on what you’re trying to get out of it. If you want to be competitive, starting at a younger age can be an advantage. If you’re learning it for the culture and the love and passion to just move your body, then you can start at any age.”

Barker said the Irish dance academy always accepts students and just started with dancers brand new to the art form in January.

“Our youngest just turned 3,” she said. “Her mom was an Irish dancer who is still taking classes. We have advanced dancers in our classes who have been with us since they were 3 or 4 years old, and they are in college now. Before the [COVID-19] pandemic, we had an adult class, but we haven’t started that class again. However, we do allow adults to join the beginner class if they like.”

Barker said among her students at Rince Arkansas, there are five families who have at least one parent who was born in Ireland who moved to northwest Arkansas to attend college or got a job and have built a life there.

“In addition to these first-generation Irish-Americans, we have families who dance with us who have Irish roots,” Barker said. “They might be fourth generation or so, but they still celebrate their culture.”

Part of Irish dance is the competitions, or feis (pronounced FESH). Barker and her team of students are preparing for the Arkansas State Championship

“We’re something that people are always surprised to see when we’re around town, dancing. We’re here and love to partner with the community. We’re always accepting new dancers, and we’re always looking for ways to make more friends.

— Ana Ayala Barker; owner and director of Rince Arkansas

& Feis, which takes place in November.

“It’s always the Veterans Day weekend, and this year, it will be Nov. 9 to 10 at the Fort Smith Convention Center,” Barker said. “We have people who come from all our neighboring states and beyond, including Texas, Oklahoma, Missouri, Kansas, Tennessee. One year, we had a dancer fly all the way from Alaska to compete. Dancers come in from Florida, Virginia and Wisconsin too.”

The fascination of Irish dance is far reaching, and Barker’s own story of how she became committed to it is compelling.

“I’ve had a little bit more diversity in my Irish dance because I moved to Florida when I was in high school and started dancing with a different teacher there,” she said. “She had more availability. Her classes were every day, whereas the classes in Arkansas were once a week, based on the teacher’s schedule. I started doing dance three or four days a week and progressed really, really fast. During the two years I was in Florida, I moved into the championship level of Irish dance, participating in competitions. Then I moved back to attend the University of Arkansas [in Fayetteville] and returned to McCafferty School of Irish Dance.

“I am Irish a tiny bit. My ancestry.com report says I’m about seven percent Irish, but I was born in Mexico and came to the United States when I was 8. Irish dance was the thing I got into and just loved doing. Nowadays, there’s so much more Irish dance — there are 10 or so Irish dance academies in Mexico, which is kind of crazy. Mexico is a big country, and a lot of academies there have relationships with academies in the United States. It’s crazy how much Irish dance has grown globally.”

Barker, who has a bachelor’s degree in advertising and public relations and a master’s in adult lifelong education, works for the University of Arkansas in higher education by day and as

Rince Arkansas competes in the Arkansas State Championship & Feis in November.

the director of Rince Arkansas on nights and weekends. The academy’s logo, in fact, is an homage to the U of A.

“It’s an Irish boar,” she said. “As an alum, I wanted to give a nod to my school. I’m a huge Razorback fan.”

While taking on two incredibly taxing careers, Barker dreams of bigger things the academy could one day accomplish.

“I have giant dreams of opening an Irish cultural center here, where it would include music, dance, language, art and culture,” she said. “A broader cultural center would allow us to combine with Ballet Folklorico that the Hispanic community has in northwest Arkansas. We could include island dances from our Filipino communities. My hope would be to have a place where anyone could show off whatever their cultural art forms may be.”

Ballet Folklorico means “dances of the people,” and it encompasses several traditional dances from different regions of Mexico. The art form has been practiced for centuries and is based on ceremonial dances of indigenous people, which makes it akin to the history and culture of Irish dance.

As for Barker and the Rince Arkansas Academy of Irish Dance, the focus continues to be on introducing Irish dance to the community and celebrating its history and culture throughout the year.

“We’re always busy around St. Patrick’s Day, of course,” Barker said. “This year, we have partnered with the Fayetteville Public Library again and will be performing in their beautiful new space. Their stage is awesome and such a great place to dance now. Then we will be dancing at the art walk in downtown Rogers and have plans to also celebrate in Bentonville. We also dance at a lot of senior centers, assisted living facilities and schools.”

Barker said in addition to having a tight-knit teaching team and students, the academy is part of a community of families who share a common love for Irish dance, history and culture.

“I think we are a hidden gem in northwest Arkansas,” she said. “We’re something that people are always surprised to see when we’re around town, dancing. We’re here and love to partner with the community. We’re always accepting new dancers, and we’re always looking for ways to make more friends.”

Rince Arkansas participates in a number of community events each year.

Chase the SUN

The solar eclipse is almost here, and Arkansas is ready to party

By Kenneth Heard

On April 8, more than one million people are expected to flock to Arkansas, filling hotels and campsites, crowding restaurants and jamming roads like those seen in movies about a pending apocalypse.

People will gawk skyward as the moon passes in front of the sun, plunging the area into darkness in what astronomists call a “once in a lifetime event.” The solar eclipse begins in Mazatlan, Mexico, and heads northeast to Newfoundland in Canada, and totality will cut through the heart of Arkansas from Texarkana to Jonesboro.

In all, portions of 14 U.S. states will see the sun completely covered by the moon. The path of totality ranges a little more than 100 miles wide. Arkansans outside the path of totality will see at least 94 percent of the sun obliterated as the moon passes in front.

The moon’s shadow should cross into the state by around 12:30 p.m., and totality will start around 1:45 p.m.

It is the first total solar eclipse in the state since 1918, and city officials, chamber of commerce delegates and tourism representatives in the shadow’s path have been planning for the event for more than a year, all for about three to four minutes of near darkness.

It will not get totally dark, scientists say. Instead, when the moon covers the sun, it will appear as a night with a full moon out due to the sun’s corona. It will be short lived because the shadow’s path crosses the earth at a speed of about 1,500 miles per hour.

In Russellville, a town NASA scientists deem as one of the top five spots in the U.S. to watch the eclipse, tourism director Christie Graham has been preparing for the eclipse for 18 months. The eclipse’s totality, the time when the moon perfectly blots out the sun, will be 4 minutes and 11 seconds.

About 170,000 people will travel to Pope County, doubling the county’s population.

how many will show up on April 8. The town is one of the first in Arkansas to see the eclipse, and it will experience the longest time of totality in the state at 4 minutes and 18.7 seconds. The eclipse begins there at 12:29 p.m., and the totality starts at 1:46 p.m.

“It’s going to be a pretty big deal,” said Jane Whisenhunt, Gillham city treasurer. “We don’t know what to expect here.”

She said food trucks and vendors have already reserved spaces in the town’s park on U.S. 71, and hotels in nearby DeQueen and across the Oklahoma state line are already sold out.

Schools and businesses in the area will be closed to avoid adding to the predicted traffic congestion. The eclipse will end around 3:30 p.m., coinciding with the school’s general dismissal time. Many schools across the state will be closed that day.

The solar eclipse begins in Mazatlan, Mexico, and heads northeast to Newfoundland in Canada, and totality will cut through the heart of Arkansas from Texarkana to Jonesboro.

“We’re ready,” Graham said. “We’ve rented 200 porta potties.”

It will be a stressful time for city leaders. Those in the path of totality — a swath 100 to 123 miles wide — have prepared for traffic issues, medical emergencies, the potential for crime and other mayhem. Conversely, it is also a time to showcase their towns’ amenities, scenery and hospitality.

“We are, in a sense, hosts to our guests who come here to see this,” said Bill Solleder, director of marketing for Visit Hot Springs. “We hope to make a good impression.”

Many cities have planned multiday festivals around the eclipse, which occurs on a Monday, in an effort to keep people around for a while. Solleder said he expects about 100,000 people will arrive in Hot Springs by the Saturday before April 8.

“We’re taking this seriously,” he said.

In Gillham, a Sevier County town of 166, officials do not know

This eclipse will be better than most, scientists say. The moon’s perigee, the point at which the moon is the closest to the earth at 222,979 miles, occurs on April 7. That will cause the moon to fit perfectly over the sun, darkening the sun’s brightness and allowing for the “ring of fire” halo corona around the moon’s edges.

“It’s a Goldilocks thing,” said Darcy Howard, a member of the Central Arkansas Astronomical Society and part of the society’s eclipse outreach education team. “It’s a perfect fit.”

Although eclipses like the one in April are somewhat rare, theoretically a solar eclipse occurs once every month. When a new moon orbits around the earth on its elliptical path, it does pass in front of the sun. Most times, though, the shadow it creates does not hit the earth and instead extends into space.

Because of the moon’s elliptical orbit, at two points of each month, it is either at its farthest (apogee) or closest (perigee) to the earth. On April 8, the new moon will be at its largest appearance, hence the more than average width of the path of totality. The

magnitude of a solar eclipse is a fraction of the diameter of the sun covered by the moon. This eclipse’s magnitude is 1.0566.

“It’s the true meaning of awe,” Howard said. “We spend a lifetime with certain patterns, and when things change, it’s amazing.

“In ancient times, it was terrifying,” she said. “People now know what they’ll see. They’ll travel all over to see it.”

Howard observed a total solar eclipse in Hopkinsville, Ky., in 2017.

Carl Freyaldenhoven, who is also on the Central Arkansas Astronomical Society’s eclipse outreach team, hopes for better success during April’s eclipse than the one he tried to see in 2017. Back then, he and others drove to St. Joseph, Mo., to watch the eclipse. It rained, and clouds obscured the sun.

“I didn’t have a Plan B,” he said.

He has seen total solar eclipses in Mexico in 1991 and in Greenville, N.C., in 1970.

“You should have additional backup plans just in case it rains,” he said.

The National Weather Service cannot give a confident forecast for April 8. Because of the constant varying weather patterns, the Weather Service is pressed to give accurate predictions for five days in advance. April in Arkansas, of course, could bring springtime rains.

Joe Goudsward, a meteorologist at the National Weather Service in North Little Rock, said after researching years of climatology records for April 8, he found there is a 60 percent chance of clear skies for that day.

“That’s the best we can offer,” Goudsward said. “We looked at decades of weather reports for April 8 and found that about 60 percent of the time, there’s been clear visibility for that day.”

He said cumulus clouds, thick, rain-producing clouds, are often prevalent in spring and can produce afternoon showers, which would hinder eclipse viewers because the moon will begin slowly passing in front of the sun at around 12:30 p.m.

Interestingly, if there are stratus clouds — wispy, thin clouds —

Towns such as Russellville and Hot Springs are preparing for an influx of tourists during the eclipse.

when the eclipse begins — they could dissipate when the temperature begins dropping as the sun is covered. As the skies darken, other phenomena will kick in. The atmosphere will cool, frogs will begin croaking like they do during evenings, birds will roost, certain flowers such as tulips, will close and nocturnal animals will rouse. State records indicate there have been two total solar eclipses over Arkansas in the past.

The first occurred on Nov. 30, 1834, when the area was known as Arkansas Territory. Then, the eclipse entered the state where Fayetteville is today and exited where Helena-West Helena is now. The maximum totality happened in what is now Prairie County at 2 minutes and 1.8 seconds.

The state’s second eclipse happened on June 8, 1918. The moon’s shadow entered Arkansas near Mena and crossed diagonally over the state, exiting at Eudora. Because the moon was four days past its perigee, the eclipse’s shadow was only 55 miles wide. Little Rock had a partial eclipse of 98 percent that day.

Unfortunately, clouds covered most of the state, obscuring the view. Still, it did get dark. A report of the event in the Arkansas Democrat noted the results:

“However, the effects of the eclipse were noticeable at the time of totality at 6:36 p.m.,” the account read. “It was too dark to read a newspaper outdoors, and it was necessary to turn on lights in the homes and street cars.”

The state also saw a partial eclipse on Aug. 21, 2017, and one last October.

The upcoming April show is considered a major event because totality can last twice as long as in 2017, depending upon the location. Also, the sun is nearing solar maximum, the most active it will be during its 11-year solar cycle. The sun’s corona will be huge, scientists say, and the “ring of fire” — the rays of sunlight that flare behind the moon during totality — will be awe-inspiring.

All of that will attract scientists, students, eclipse chasers and anyone else interested in astronomical oddities to Arkansas. Those wishing to get married during the eclipse will find their way to Russellville’s Elope at the Eclipse mass wedding. Named one of the most unique events held in conjunction with the eclipse, Graham said 150 couples have thus far signed up to tie the knot in a celestial ceremony. The festival is free, and couples need only to bring a wedding license. Decorations, flowers, cake and fruit drinks will be provided.

“We’re trying our best,” Graham said of presenting things to do in Russellville during the eclipse.

Leaders met for months in preparation, anticipating the rush of folks to the Pope County town. CNN, CBS, ABC and the Weather Channel have all indicated a desire to show live video feeds of the event from Russellville. NASA will livestream the eclipse and will present a feed of the eclipse as seen from the International Space Station on monitors in Russellville. They will also fly a C-130 Hercules aircraft over Pope County and send video of the eclipse from the air in case clouds may hinder the view. PBS is also creating a documentary on how Russellville officials got ready for the eclipse.

As the skies darken, other phenomena will kick in. The atmosphere will cool, frogs will begin croaking like they do during evenings, birds will roost, certain flowers, such as tulips, will close and nocturnal animals will rouse.

Russellville is in a prime spot for viewers. Interstate 40 runs east and west through the town, and Arkansas 7 provides a north and south thoroughfare to the area.

In an 18-page report, the Arkansas Department of Transportation predicted major congestion of traffic on Interstate 30 between Benton and Little Rock and U.S. 70 between Hot Springs and Benton. Arkansas 7, which stretches through Russellville to Hot Springs, is also expected to have heavy traffic.

“We want to showcase the town,” Graham said. “We want to show people that there are lots of things to do in Russellville. We want them to come back.”

In addition to planning festivals, Graham and others have also worked with emergency personnel to prepare for most eventualities. They’ve developed alternative traffic routes for emergency vehicles and have advised restaurants, hotels, businesses and other amenities to stock up well before the weekend before the eclipse to ensure owners do not run out of supplies.

Graham has met with city leaders in Hopkinsville, Ky., and Casper, Wyo., two towns that have experienced total solar eclipses in the past, to get ideas on what to expect.

“The big traffic will be coming on Saturday [April 6]. We feel like we’re prepared and safe for that,” Graham said. “Yes, it’s four minutes [of totality], but we’re really prepared for four or five days. I’d rather be over-prepared than under-prepared.”

Solleder said he experienced several “aha moments” over the past year and a half while preparing for the eclipse in Hot Springs.

First, after the 2017 partial eclipse occurred in the state, Solleder posted on the city’s Facebook page about the 2024 total eclipse. Within two hours, 70,000 people joined the page.

“That was a big whoop moment,” he said. “It was seven years in the future with no advertising, and we got that many interested. It was the first time I saw people express interest in a celestial event.”

Later, Solleder met with Casper, Wyo., officials, like Graham did, to see how the town handled the onslaught of visitors. Solleder recalled looking at a world map in a Casper building that featured push pins representing where people came from to watch the eclipse there. He said scores of pins were poked into Europe.

“It was astounding,” he said.

Then, Forbes and The Atlantic magazines listed Hot Springs as one of the better places to watch the eclipse because of the hotels, the Oaklawn Racing Casino Resort, the lakes and restaurants.

“We started taking the event really seriously,” Solleder said.

The town’s police, fire and medical services were already prepared for dealing with crowds. Each spring, thousands flock to Hot Springs for horse racing, and the hotels and spas draw even more people yearly.

“We’ve got 4,000 hotel rooms in Hot Springs,” he said. “We’ll be able

to accommodate them.

Already, the town’s bed and breakfasts have sold out, along with campgrounds on Lake Ouachita. Hot Springs National Park is one of only two national parks that will see the eclipse in April, Solleder said, so additional rangers will come to Hot Springs to help with crowds.

The total length of time between when the moon first crosses over the sun and when it leaves it later will be three and a half hours, he added.

“This is good for business,” he said. “Our town thrives on tourism, and now we’re getting more people to come here.”

Freyaldenhoven said he plans to watch the eclipse in Russellville with his brother.

“I owe it to him,” he said. “I took him with me to St. Joseph, Mo., in 2017 when it rained.”

Howard said she will see the eclipse across the Arkansas River in Dardanelle.

Both urged viewers to wear eclipse glasses during the lead up to totality. People can remove the glasses when the moon completely covers the sun, but then must put them back on when totality is over, they said. Staring at the sun without protective eyewear is dangerous and can cause permanent damage.

The next solar eclipse will happen on Aug. 12, 2026, when totality can be visible from Greenland, Iceland and Spain. Another one is set for March 30, 2033, in Alaska. If Arkansans miss this one, there is a second opportunity in the state two decades from now. A solar eclipse will occur in the state on Aug. 12, 2045. The path of that one will cross the state from the northwest to the southeast — an exact opposite trek of this April’s path.

That one will also cross over Russellville.

“I’ll be retired by then,” Graham said, “but with this one in April, we’re writing the handbook on how others will deal with it in 2045.”

ARKANSAS’ WASHINGTON MONUMENT

March has arrived, finally. We managed to survive this winter’s brutal arctic blast and the ensuing plague of potholes. The annual Super Bowl extravaganza has come and gone. With spring only days away, maybe it is time for a little break.

My suggestion? A day trip to see Arkansas’ own Washington Monument. It is located about two hours from central Arkansas near the town of Earle in Crittenden County, and it is also the inspiration for two of Carroll Cloar’s most recognized works of art.

First though, some background information on this special place. Arkansas’ Washington Monument has nothing to do with that 555-foot-tall marble obelisk some 900 miles to the east towering over the District of Columbia. Ours, perhaps more fittingly called a memorial, honors George Berry Washington, an African American born to slaves on Christmas Day in 1864.

Washington became a prominent landowner in northeast Arkansas, an unusual achievement for African Americans in those days. Beginning with a 40-acre tract in Crittenden County that he bought for $200 in 1893, he eventually acquired more than 1,100 acres in the region. Historic tax records provide an indication of

By JOE DAVID RICE // Photos by JOE DAVID RICE

his prosperity: In addition to his real estate, Washington owned cattle, hogs, horses, mules, several wagons or carriages, and an expensive watch. He purchased his first car in 1917 and then bought another one eight years later.

Among his land holdings were the Chatfield Plantation, Marriman Place, Harding Place, Dunning Place and Main Place near the junction of Gibson Bayou and the Tyronza River, where the Washington family lived in a one-story home. In addition to the sharecroppers who farmed much of his property, he also employed dozens of farmhands to work the rest. The enterprise also claimed a commissary, a cotton gin, tenant houses and a number of outbuildings — none of which are around these days.

Given his affluence, it is no surprise that Washington’s activities ranged well beyond agriculture to include involvement with a chapter of the Masons. Not only did he provide land for a local church and cemetery; he preached regularly at two area congregations.

Complaining about stomach problems, Washington collapsed shortly after noon on Aug. 30, 1928. Suffering from “acute gastritis,” he was dead by 3 p.m. He was buried the following Sunday on a small mound near Main Place.

Hard times soon fell on the county, and the Washington estate was not spared. His heirs lost the accumulated property to foreclosure. Before that happened, however, his family built a splendid funerary shrine to mark Washington’s final resting place. Two intricate columns, each

36 inches tall, showcase the entrance to the 25-by-25-foot gravesite. In the middle of the area is a stunningly beautiful marble statue of an angel, roughly five feet tall and standing atop a six-foot marble pedestal. The base of the monument includes a Masonic symbol and these words:

REV. GEORGE B. WASHINGTON

DEC. 25, 1864

AUG. 30, 1928

HALLELLUJAH! TIS DONE.

I BELIEVE IN THE SON.

I AM SAVED BY THE BLOOD OF THE CRUCIFIED ONE.

Almost a century after it was built, the magnificent memorial still stands. Although overgrown with weeds and surrounded by a soybean field, its story remains a fascinating footnote in the Arkansas Delta. The monument was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1994.

A mile or so north of Washington’s grave was a community known as Gibson Bayou, and that is where the Cloar family resided. Carroll, one of the Cloar boys, was a sickly child and often turned to art, drawing sketches and caricatures from his imagination. As a youth, he honed his budding artistic talent using a “How to Draw in Twelve Easy Lessons” mail-order course from Sears, Roebuck & Co.. Later on, while attending Southwestern, now Rhodes College, in Memphis, Tenn., he took painting classes at the Memphis Art Academy.

Following his college graduation in 1934, Cloar and several of his college buddies were hired as musicians by the Holland America Line for cruises to Europe, and Cloar was the designated drummer. He, of course, had never played a drum in his life. There is no record of any complaints from the ship’s guests.

Cloar found himself in New York in 1936, hoping to pursue a career in Manhattan as a cartoonist. When that did not pan out, he considered becoming a singer and even auditioned, unsuccessfully, for the Major Bowes Amateur Hour, a radio talent show that eventually became The Original Amateur Hour, hosted by Ted Mack, on television.

A four-year stint at the Art Students League in New York helped Cloar sharpen his creative abilities and, benefitting from exposure to a diverse range of artistic techniques, styles and movements in the vibrant big-city atmosphere, he gradually began to develop his unique way of looking at the world. He often based his images on sepia-toned photographs from his family album or even pictures purchased at flea markets.

Critics were not sure how to categorize his art. Was Cloar a realist, a romantic realist, a folky realist, or a magic realist? No matter; his work caught the attention of some influential folks and, in 1940, he received a coveted MacDowell Traveling Fellowship that gave him the financial resources to travel the southwestern United States and portions of Mexico.

hurt. A one-man show in 1955 at a major New York City gallery introduced Cloar’s work to a group of influential collectors: Nelson and Laurance Rockefeller, Billy Wilder, Dinah Shore, Shelley Winters and Jack Lemmon. Major institutions such as the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, the Whitney Museum of American Art, the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Museum of Modern Art soon featured paintings by Cloar in their collections.

Leaving New York in 1955, Cloar made Memphis his permanent home. There, he produced hundreds of works over the next three-plus decades. After fighting cancer for years, Cloar died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound on April 10, 1993. Cremated, his ashes were spread across the Cloar family’s original homeplace near Earle.

Back to Washington’s burial site: When he reached high school age, Cloar walked past the angel statue time and again while attending classes in Earle. There is no doubt that the image of that angel soaring above the landscape had a lasting impact on the young man.

As an artist, he painted it twice, something Cloar seldom did. In 1957, he produced Angel in a Thorn Patch, considered by some art critics to be Cloar’s masterpiece. To capture his personal vision of the memorial, he relied on an extensive collection of photographs, from which he made a number of preliminary sketches and drawings. Bathed in light and surrounded by a field of menacing thorns, the angel glows against a winter sky.

Then, in 1988, Cloar completed a second rendering of the Washington gravesite, titled Angel in the Field. It captures a hard-working trio of

This sabbatical was interrupted by World War II. Sent to the Mariana Islands in the western Pacific Ocean after joining the army, Cloar used his artistic gifts to boost the morale of his fellow soldiers by painting pin-up girls on the fuselages of bombers.

Following the war, Cloar was awarded a fellowship from the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation, which enabled him to return to Mexico and to visit Central and South America. It was during that time that, in his words, “I first saw color in action.”

Cloar’s art continued to gain public attention, and a four-page spread in a 1948 issue of Life magazine titled “Backwoods Boyhood” did not

farmhands picking cotton on an autumn day with the heavenly spirit looking over them.

Both paintings are in private collections and are not available for public viewing, but the next best thing — personally inspecting the angel hovering over Washington’s grave — is readily available. To get there, simply take Arkansas 149 north from Earle, where, about 3 miles north of the city limits, the site is plainly visible on the east side of the road. A short distance to the north is the historic Gibson Bayou Church and Cemetery, which was established in 1865. Members of the Cloar family can be found among the graves.

Members of the family of painter Carroll Cloar, who painted the George Berry Washington monument, opposite, are buried at the Gibson Bayou Church and Cemetery north of Earle.

Red Carpet Recovery Gala expands substance abuse services A New Hope

When Justin Buck, executive director of Wolfe Street Foundation in Little Rock, first sat down with Rebecca Pittillo, president of the Blue & You Foundation for a Healthier Arkansas, and Curtis Barnett, president and CEO of Arkansas Blue Cross and Blue Shield, for a chat about Wolfe Street’s idea for treating juvenile substance abuse disorder, he carried with him the usual retinue of facts and figures.

Nothing he brought to the meeting, however, had the impact of an off-the-cuff comment he gave in response to one of Pittillo’s questions.

“I said, ‘There’s been an alarming rise in youth death from overdoses. There’s been an alarming rise in youth substance use and a cultural normalization of youth substance abuse,” Buck said, “and Rebecca said, ‘Well where do these young people go to get help?’

By Dwain Hebda // Photos provided

“I said, ‘Unfortunately, unless you have a whole lot of money, there is not a place to get help. The best place that you could be if you’re a young person with substance use disorder in Arkansas is in Division of Youth Services custody — essentially, be in prison.’”

Pittillo remembers the moment precisely, the numbing shock of Buck’s statement followed by an almost immediate resolve to be part of the solution.

“I remember so clearly sitting in my office, and when he said that, it just, it took me aback,” she said. “I sat there for a second and tried to catch my breath. Tears were in my eyes. I mean it’s just not okay. Our kids deserve better in the state of Arkansas.

“I said to Justin, ‘What do you need to get this done?’”

Today, thanks to investment and support by both the Blue & You Foundation and Arkansas Blue Cross and Blue Shield, Wolfe Street Foundation has taken the first bold steps toward creating a better Arkansas for children and youth caught in the web of

addiction. The Blue & You Foundation funded three years of Wolfe Street’s new community youth recovery program and has seeded other related community initiatives to provide a comprehensive framework for dealing with the issue.

“The most important thing to me is not only are they helping us launch [our program] but they funded a whole system of care for young people,” Buck said. “They funded [the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences in Little Rock] and Children’s Hospital [in Little Rock] to launch an out-patient clinical treatment program for young people with substance use disorders. They funded Immerse Arkansas to provide more trauma-informed therapy resources for young people. They funded the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention to work on that part of this problem, and they also have funded further studies to make sure we’re implementing the right solutions.”

In step with the foundation’s work, Arkansas Blue Cross and Blue Shield took on the equally ambitious task of spearheading initiatives to foster a culture of support and understanding for individuals in recovery and those struggling with mental health conditions. Under Barnett’s leadership, the company quickly became a national model for providing innovative approaches to improve behavioral health awareness, access and outcomes for the members and communities it serves.

“Arkansas Blue Cross Blue Shield has stepped up in an intentional, collaborative manner,” Buck said. “Among the things the company has done is they have hired a team of peer recovery support specialists to serve their members. [Behavioral health] is an issue that has not always gotten a lot of attention, but [the company] has shown a lot of leadership and intentionality.”

For their commitment, the organization is awarding Barnett and Pittillo the Wolfe Street Foundation Recovery Leadership Award, which will be presented at the 2024 Red Carpet Recovery Gala on April 25. The event, slated for the Venue at Westwind in North Little Rock, will feature Arkansas native and former Razorback and NFL running back Darren McFadden as keynote speaker.

“The gala is a really great way for us to recognize what these organizations are doing for the recovery community,” Buck said. “More than that, it’s about honoring the leadership of Rebecca and Curtis, who have really brought their organizations into a solution space in behavioral health. Without that leadership, I don’t know if there would be that kind of focus and attention showing us the way to a collaborative solution space.”

If all politics is local, as the saying goes, then all philanthropy

COMEBACK

is personal, and that concept readily applies to the 2024 honorees. Both talked about their individual connection to the issue of behavioral health in the community and how it was forged by the most intimate experiences possible.

“I have a close family member who has struggled with behavioral health issues, including addiction, so our family has experienced firsthand the impact of this terrible disease,” Barnett said. “We’ve witnessed how addiction can change someone you know, love and have cared for their entire life into someone you hardly recognize.

“It takes them to people, places and experiences they never would have chosen otherwise, and it takes a tremendous toll on the emotional and physical health of not only the person who is struggling, but the entire family, especially the person who is closest to them, who then becomes a caregiver.”

Barnett said living that experience revealed not only the difficulties of addiction itself but the profound impact treatment can have to help reset lives and put families back together. He also noted how far out of reach life-saving treatment is for many families, if only because of the stigma and shame that keeps them from asking for help.

“More than 90 percent of adults with a substance use disorder started their drug use in adolescence.”

— Rebecca Pittillo

“Like so many families who have embarked upon the recovery journey, we dove in and learned as much as we could about addiction and talked to as many people as possible who were dealing with similar situations,” Barnett said. “In

Unleashing the Warrior Within: Darren McFadden's battle for triumph and unyielding pursuit of freedom

addition to our own experiences, we read every article, every book and watched every show we could find. We’ve learned how nearly every family in America has been affected by addiction and how compassion, care, research, treatment and recovery are too often withheld due to stigma and fear.

“[Addiction] is too often not discussed openly or honestly. It’s still whispered about with derision and scorn. Those suffering often come to believe they’re less deserving of care. Left untreated, addiction has significant, dire consequences, and for too many people, that leads to death or incarceration.”

Barnett said the lessons he learned in his personal life have shaped his mentality as a corporate leader, which has led to the multiple ways employees of Arkansas Blue Cross and Blue Shield can seek help as needed.

“The majority of adults, 61 percent, are battling addiction in the workplace. This means employers are uniquely positioned to make a difference by supporting employees in recovery,” he said. “When it comes to behavioral health, Arkansas Blue Cross has tried to set a good example and lead by fostering an environment that encourages openness, honesty, safety and security and that provides helpful resources.

“Some fairly inexpensive yet impactful actions we have taken include offering an employee assistance program; educating our employees on what our health plan and other benefit programs cover related to treatment of behavioral health conditions; training our managers on how to recognize and help employees deal with behavioral health issues; addressing stigma in the workplace by normalizing the conversation and letting employees know they are supported; and communicating to employees about crisis and community resources that are available.”

Pittillo’s experience with behavioral health has endured a parent’s worst possible nightmare. In October 2020, she and her husband lost their 16-year-old son, Isaac, to suicide, an incident she remembers not only for the incredible pain and sorrow it caused, but for its lack of overt warning signs.

“We did not recognize the incredibly vague warning signs, Nor did any of the many other trusted adults and friends in Isaac’s life,” she said. “When the unthinkable happened, I was in complete shock and looking for answers, but when we realized there were no answers to be found, we found peace in acceptance and purpose in helping others.

“Because of this tragedy and my own personal mental health struggles brought on by losing Isaac, I’ve become an advocate for mental health and behavioral health care. If sharing our story and working in the mental health space prevents even one more parent from experiencing what we have, it is worth every minute I spend sharing.”

Pittillo has translated her commitment into tangible action, directing millions in grants through the Blue & You Foundation to create or improve mechanisms in the community that address behavioral health issues. Her work represents the latest chapter in the foundation’s stellar history of supporting health improvement programs; to date, the Blue & You Foundation has awarded over $62 million to more than 3,000 health improvement programs that reach all 75 counties in Arkansas.

“In 2021, we funded the first $5.3 million Blue & You Foundation Behavioral Health grants by working with trusted partners around the state to find solutions,” Pittillo said. “The first round of large behavioral health grants was dedicated to three significant areas of impact: early intervention, improving access and integration of behavioral health care, and normalizing the conversation on mental health.

“Since 2021, we have seen significant progress in the state because of programs like UAMS AR ConnectNow, Arkansas Children’s HealthySteps, [National Alliance on Mental Illness] Clubs and NAMI on Campus, and UAMS Trauma Resource Initiative for Schools.”

Pittillo said these efforts brought other community needs to light, including that of youth and adolescents, in the specific areas of trauma, substance use disorder and suicide prevention.

“In 2022, we began focusing entirely on behavioral health needs in one of our grant cycles,” she said. “Now each year, we award up to $1 million in grants focused on behavioral health. This past year, $557,000 was specifically targeted to substance use treatment and recovery projects. These projects include transitional housing, virtual substance use recovery programs and addiction treatment clinical programs.”

One of the recipients of these grants, Wolfe Street Foundation, represents an important bulwark for helping individuals and families of all ages cope with the plague of addiction. It is a problem that is only getting worse and, thanks to high-powered

Darren McFadden

opioids such as oxycontin and fentanyl, more deadly.

According to the National Center for Drug Abuse Statistics, nearly 97,000 people a year die from drug overdoses in the United States and more than 7 in 10 of those deaths involve opioids.

Arkansas Department of Health reported that as of March 2023, Calhoun County led the state in overdose deaths per 100,000 individuals at 38. In all, eight counties registered 30 or more deaths per 100,000 residents, the other seven being Poinsett at 36; Garland at 34; Sharp at 32; and Ashley, Clark, Clay and Pulaski counties at 30.

The picture is even more sobering when broken down by age demographics, Buck said.

“A research study came out from UAMS showing almost 10 percent of sixth graders are using alcohol and other substances on a regular basis,” he said. “That number only climbs as they approach graduation, up to closer to 20 percent. Yet the whole community has been really at a loss and struggling for what to do for these young people because there’s not an affordable, accessible treatment option.”

Wolfe Street’s new youth treatment options expand its regular suite of services for people seeking help with substance use disorder. This includes a highly successful peer recovery support specialist program, which trains individuals in recovery to help others navigate the process of getting help.

The organization has also been a leader in addressing another gap in community services, that of recovery housing, and combined, these two programs have greatly improved patients’ chances for sustained sobriety.

“If you just go to treatment, and that’s the only resource you have, it’s better than nothing, but only 15 percent of those individuals will sustain their recovery for a year,” Buck said. “What we found with peer support is that goes up to 57 percent. Then, when you layer on good, supportive recovery housing with those resources, that goes up to 71 or 72 percent.

“Our housing program has grown from eight beds to 32 beds over the past year. We’ve also attained national certification, and we’re working with other ethical providers to make that national standard an expectation if you’re going to be providing recovery housing. It’s the difference between heads in beds, flop houses and focused programming that we know works to help people transition back from active addiction into a supportive place where they can sustain their recovery.”

All of Wolfe Street Foundation’s programs benefit from proceeds from the Red Carpet Recovery Gala and combine to create a better system for addressing needs within the community by reducing stigmas and boosting access to treatment for those who need it. That alone, Barnett said, is reason enough to attend the gala in support of friends, neighbors and even complete strangers, thus improving Arkansas for all.

“Studies find employees in recovery have equal or lower health care costs, absenteeism and job turnover compared to employees who never report a substance use disorder,” Barnett said. “Someone who is in recovery has been humbled by the disease and life’s circumstances, but they’re not defeated, and they’re certainly not

“The majority of adults, 61 percent, are battling addiction in the workplace. This means employers are uniquely positioned to make a difference by supporting employees in recovery”

— Curtis Barnett

weak. Often, they emerge from recovery as authentic, resilient, empathetic and inspiring. I don’t know of any employer that doesn’t desire those traits in an employee.”

“More than 90 percent of adults with a substance use disorder started their drug use in adolescence,” Pittillo said. “By addressing substance use in today’s adolescents, we can build a more resilient population with coping skills that will not only carry them into adulthood, but may also be shared with their own children in hopes of breaking the cycle. That is a long-term goal, but one I will work to see in my lifetime.”

Red Carpet Recovery Gala

Benefiting Wolfe Street Foundation

6 p.m. April 25

The Venue at Westwind, North Little Rock wolfestreet.org

Rebecca Pittillo

Curtis Barnett

NE W SPECIAL IZED INPATIEN T PRO GR AM DE SIGNED JUST FOR WOMEN

SPECIAL IZED IEN T PRO GR AM DE SIGNED FOR WOMEN

Since 1983, The BridgeWay has provided behavioral healthcare services to our surrounding communities. Our programs are designed to give each patient individualized care to help manage their symptoms, resolve problems, recognize life stressors and effectively cope with their condition.

Our programs can include:

• Medical and psychological evaluation

Meeting the needs of our community

Meeting the needs of our community women by prov iding a ca r ing, suppor t ive, st r uctu red env iron ment to help add ress past exper iences a nd

healthcare services to our surrounding communities. Our programs are designed to give each patient individualized care to help manage their symptoms, resolve problems, recognize life stressors and effectively cope with their condition.

Meeting the needs of our community

women by prov iding a ca r ing, suppor t ive, st r uctu red env iron ment to help add ress past exper iences a nd

• Individualized treatment plan

• 24-hour nursing care

• Medication management and education (as needed)

• Structured daily clinical program

Our programs can include:

women by prov iding a ca r ing, suppor t ive, st r uctu red env iron ment to help add ress past exper iences a nd

• Medical and psychological evaluation

• Individualized treatment plan

• 24-hour nursing care

• Medication management and education (as needed)

• Structured daily clinical program

• Group and family therapy

• Scheduled visitation

We offer a va r iet y of featu res specia lly designed w it h women in m ind Treat ment ca n include a r t, music, a romat herapy, jou r na ling a nd yoga The indiv idua lized t reat ment pla n ca n include assessment, stabilizat ion, focused t reat ment inter vent ions (t rauma-infor med ca re a nd solut ion-focused t herapy) a nd help w it h establishing lin ks to outside com mun it y resou rces so

We offer a va r iet y of featu res specia lly designed w it h women in m ind Treat ment ca n include a r t, music, a romat herapy, jou r na ling a nd yoga The indiv idua lized t reat ment pla n ca n include assessment stabilizat ion focused t reat ment inter vent ions (t rauma-infor med ca re a nd solut ion-focused t herapy) a nd help w it h establishing lin ks to outside com mun it y resou rces so

• Group and family therapy

• Scheduled visitation

• Recreational therapy

We offer a va r iet y of featu res specia lly designed w it h women in m ind Treat ment ca n include a r t, music, a romat herapy, jou r na ling a nd yoga The indiv idua lized t reat ment pla n ca n include assessment, stabilizat ion, focused t reat ment inter vent ions (t rauma-infor med ca re a nd solut ion-focused t herapy) a nd help w it h establishing lin ks to outside com mun it y resou rces so

• Recreational therapy

• Coping and life-skill training

• Discharge planning

• Coping and life-skill training

• Discharge planning

We can help treat:

We can help treat:

• Acute menta l hea lt h issues, including mood a nd a n x iet y disorders

We can help treat:

• Acute menta l hea lt h issues, including mood a nd a n x iet y disorders

We are here for you. Learn more at thebridgeway.com.

• Trauma (sexua l, physica l a nd emot iona l abuse)

• Acute menta l hea lt h issues, including mood a nd a n x iet y disorders

• Trauma (sexua l, physica l a nd emot iona l abuse)

We are here for you. Learn more at thebridgeway.com.

• Trauma (sexua l, physica l a nd emot iona l abuse)

• Low self-esteem a nd body image

• Relat ionship issues

• Low self-esteem a nd body image

• Low self-esteem a nd body image

• Relat ionship issues

• Relat ionship issues

• Postpa r tum depression

• PTSD

• Postpa r tum depression

• Borderline persona lit y disorder

• PTSD

• Self-ha r m

• Postpa r tum depression

• PTSD

• Borderline persona lit y disorder

• Borderline persona lit y disorder

• Self-ha r m

21 Bridgeway Road • North Little Rock, AR 72113 800-245-0011 or 800-274-3439 • thebridgeway.com

• Self-ha r m

W e c an b e th e answ er you have b ee n look ing fo r. If you o r som eone you k no w n eeds help , we ar e her e. Call 800-245-0011 tod ay o r v is it thebridgeway.com.

W e c an b e th e answ er you have b ee n look ing fo r If you o r som eone you k no w n eeds help , we ar e her e. Call 800-245-0011 tod ay o r v is it thebridgeway.com

W e c an b e th e answ er you have b ee n look ing fo r. If you o r som eone you k no w n eeds help , we ar e her e Call 800-245-0011 tod ay o r v is it thebridgeway.com.

21 Bridgeway Road • North Little Rock, AR 72113 800-245-0011 or 800-274-3439 • thebridgeway.com

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 Wolfe Street Foundation does amazing work to help change lives, repair families and reshape communities through recovery. We are proud to support their tireless commitment and appreciate their recognition of Curtis Barnett, President and CEO of Arkansas Blue Cross and Blue Shield, and Rebecca Pittillo, President of the Blue & You Foundation for a Healthier Arkansas, as recipients of this year's Recovery Leadership Awards.

HappyCampers

Little Rock’s Camp Aldersgate puts exceptional campers front and center

By TODD TRAUB // Photos provided

Camp,sweetcamp

Elizabeth Glasbrenner went to summer camp as a child, but such youthoriented fun did not seem to be in the cards for her daughter, Grace, who has special needs.

“She’s physically able to do stuff, but because someone has to be with her full time, it really limits her ability to go out and do things on her own,” Elizabeth said.

Grace has a rare disorder that manifests itself in 100-plus seizures a day, and the attention she requires puts traditional summer camps out of reach. She is not alone; there are thousands of children in the U.S. with special needs or medical diagnoses that prohibit them from pursuing the hiking, canoeing, ziplining and other summer camp experiences that most kids safely enjoy each year.

Elizabeth herself can recall going to Camp Ozark in Mt. Ida as a child.

“I’m 50 now,” she said. “It was back in the old days, but it sure was fun.”

Such an experience seemed impossible for Grace until the family learned of Camp Aldersgate in Little Rock. Suddenly Grace, now 18, was returning home and boasting about her archery skills.

“That would never occur to us to give her a bow and arrow at home,” Elizabeth said.

Founded in 1947, Camp Aldersgate strives to provide barriers-free outdoor

experiences that celebrates, respects and engages campers at a place designed just for them.

“What the kids know is they’re in a magical place where they are the star of the show,” Camp Aldersgate CEO Sonya Murphy said.

Elizabeth said Grace’s condition cognitively places her more on the level of 5-or 6-year-olds and that she literally cannot be left alone because of the seizures. Camp Aldersgate, however, exists specifically for kids like Grace, those who may have developmental issues or ongoing medical conditions that require extra attention, care and support.

“I believe this is her third year [attending],” Elizabeth said. “I wish she had been going longer. I wish I had known about it, which is one of the reasons I got involved.”

Elizabeth became so involved that she joined the Camp Aldersgate board of directors and currently serves as president.

“I just took over in January, so it’s new,” said Elizabeth, who has sat on the board for close to three years, almost as long as Grace has been a Camp Aldersgate camper. “It’s really a more strategic role — how to think strategically and build more recognition.”

The Camp Aldersgate location off Kanis Road near Baptist Health Medical Center, was originally 100-plus acres of turkey farm. A group of women from the Little Rock Methodist Council purchased the property, which was used for interracial fellowship, church meetings, and youth and senior citizen programming. In 1971, noted physician Kelsy Caplinger put together the first summer medical camp for 12 kids with asthma.

Through its partnership with MedCamps of Arkansas, Camp Aldersgate has grown and last year hosted 271 summer campers and 100 first-time campers from 40 counties and eight states and had an annual weekend camp attendance of 230. The camp is one of eight in Arkansas accredited by the American Camp Association and is the only accredited camp in the state designed for children with special needs.

Not only does Camp Aldersgate offer its campers safe summer fun, Elizabeth said, it provides a respite for parents, as well. Having a child with special needs means there is not much time off for parents and siblings who help provide care. Having a place where a child feels safe while having fun is invaluable and provides plenty of parental peace of mind.

“Even if it’s just 48 hours,” Elizabeth said. “I didn’t even realize until she went. I didn’t realize, No. 1, how badly we needed it and, No. 2, how badly she needed it.”

Grace attends the weekend camps and the summer Kota Camps for individuals with intellectual, developmental and/or physical disabilities. Elizabeth described it as sort of a “catch-all camp” for “all the kids that don’t fit in the other disability classes.”

Fun with friends

Camp Aldersgate in Little Rock provides summer-camp experiences to children, teens and young adults with special needs.

“It’s a much more one-on-one type camp [with] one-on-one care,” she said.

The Kota Camps only scratch the surface of what Camp Aldersgate has to offer. Camp Aldersgate has programming for children ages 6 to 18 and young adults ages 19 to 35. Along with the two Kota and weekend camps, Camp Aldersgate features residential summer camps. The weeklong experiences for campers with specific medical issues include Muscular Dystrophy Camp; Spinal Disorders Camp; Cardiac, Arthritis, Kidney, Bleeding Disorders and Oncology, or CAKBO, Camp; Audiology Camp, also known as AIM-HI Camp; and Diabetes Camp.

The camps give children with such difficulties a chance to share experiences and forge friendships, just like at traditional summer camps, in a safe and secure environment that includes on-call medical care.

“Our mission is to create lifechanging experiences for individuals with special needs,” said Luke Nipper, director of programs. “What that means to me is we’re trying to make experiences that they won’t forget and that will be meaningful for years and that they want to come back and do it again.”

A wide variety of activities is available at Camp Aldersgate.

that allowed her to return to the fold, Nipper said.

“I don’t know if there was a dry eye in the room that night,” she added.

The camps have educational components, for which counselors and trained medical personnel help children to learn how to interact with peers during a camp for those with hearing loss at AIM-HI or to how to manage their blood sugar levels at Diabetes Camp. The instruction is designed to provide kids with knowledge they can use as they move into higher grades and throughout their lives, Nipper said.

“That’s one of the things that sets us apart from other camps. It not only give them that fun experience, but there’s also this education piece that helps them beyond the summer and into the school years,” Nipper said.

“Our mission is to create life-changing experiences for individuals with special needs.”

At the Kota Camps, children are encouraged to bring a sibling or friend, and the young adult camps — which also provide for those with physical, intellectual and/or developmental disabilities — are devised to maintain the Camp Aldersgate experience beyond age 18, when participants would otherwise lose the connection and support they built at the camps.

— Luke Nipper, Director of Programs

“Basically, a lot of our campers were aging out,” Nipper said. “In a lot of cases, they went up to 18. They aged out and were like, ‘Well, I guess I don’t get to go to camp anymore.”

At the Northwest Arkansas Camp, a new program of centrally located Camp Aldersgate, a young woman who had aged out after attending camp for 12 years expressed her gratitude for the youth camp

The weekend camps are themed. January’s theme was Construction and Crafts; February’s theme was Global Excursion, during which kids learned about different cultures and countries; Game Show Palooza is the theme for the March Young Adult Camp; April’s theme will be Earth Advocates; and the spring Kota Camp theme will be Circus.

“We realize that our participants make forever memories and friendships,” Murphy said. “Quite frankly, some of our children are not the children who are invited to the sleepover or the birthday party, not because of any discrimination, but because medically, they’re not equipped to stay the night in a residential home.”

Camp Aldersgate’s more than 100 acres feature a six-acre private lake, wooded trails, lodging for 124 in seven comfortably equipped cabins and the health care center, a swimming pool and a heated pool with beach entry, an open-air pavilion, a playground, a 1947 carousel, a 150-capacity indoor activity center, and a 12,000-square-foot activity center that has a dining hall, two classrooms and large porches for outdoor activities.

Campers can zipline, swim, fish, take aim at the archery range, canoe, learn about nature and more. Everything is accessible, including a treehouse that was designed in 2003 as a project of the University of

Arkansas Fay Jones School of Architecture in Fayetteville.

Camp Aldersgate partners with Arkansas Children’s to provide a nurs ing staff that is available around the clock and has doctors, mostly from the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences in Little Rock, on call.

“Doctors might know some of the patients and provide a familiar face,” Nipper said.

Additionally, Camp Aldersgate can link to a computer system that provides campers’ medical information if needed.

“All of [Grace’s] medical records and everything are viewable from camp, and that made us feel really good, knowing they’re just down the road,” Elizabeth said. “Usually, if they have to call us, it’s just one phone call, and they’re just checking the environment to see if she’s doing what she needs to be doing.”

Camp Aldersgate provides for a wide range of physical, intellectual and developmental conditions.

it and they understand the people that we serve, then the lights come on,” Murphy said.

As a nonprofit, Camp Aldersgate relies heavily on fundraising to support its mission. The camp has two annual events, Aldersgate After Dark, which is geared toward adults, and the family-friendly fish fry.

“It’s crucial to us to have these events, as they account for 15 percent of our operating fundraising dollars,” said Bobbi McDaniel, director of development, who added that the fundraising money can be targeted toward whatever Camp Aldersgate leadership deems most necessary, be it scholarships or operating expenses, to name two examples. Grant money, by contrast, comes with specific spending parameters.

The fish fry occurs in October. Last year’s event included activities such as disc golf, a bird feeder project, a fishing derby for attendees ages 4 to 18, a toddler duck pond for ages 4 and younger, and a petting zoo.

“Fish Fry is our very family-friendly, very community-focused event,” McDaniel said. “It’s on a Sunday with kids’ activities, free flow through campus. It’s a very camp-focused activity so that everyone can kind of experience some of the [same] things as our kids who are here for camp experience.”

The next Aldersgate After Dark will occur April 26, and the theme is Le Cirque. The event will feature the feats, fashion and food of the French Circus. Aldersgate After Dark starts with cocktails and hors d’oeuvres against the backdrop of the vintage carousel.

Traditionally, Aldersgate After Dark has been a destination event, and past themes have offered a taste of places such as Italy, Africa or Asia and featured food and activities that reflect the cultures of each place.

The fundraising goal for Aldersgate After Dark is $170,000, and the fish fry goal is $100,000. As important as the money is, the events serve the equally important purpose of showcasing the camps by bringing people on campus to raise awareness about the camp’s mission, facilities and programs.

“Once we get people on campus and they see what we do and how we do

“As far as funding, I think it’s a big impact,” Nipper said, “and also, the sense of community that it brings and just the awareness it helps spread about living with disabilities and providing opportunities for individuals who couldn’t go to camp somewhere else.”

This proved especially true when the COVID-19 pandemic began, and many camps were not able to survive the constraints and nonoperational periods brought on by the virus. It turns out Camp Aldersgate is known beyond the state’s borders, partially due to its partnership with the national Muscular Dystrophy Association.

“Many people think of us as just a camp in central Arkansas, but our reach is quite far,” McDaniel said, recounting a story of two families from Tennessee who joined forces for a road trip to Camp Aldersgate.

“Their camp had not been able to reopen because of COVID, so they were really happy they found us,” she said. “It was two families that carpooled to bring their kids in for the week.”

However, it does not take a pandemic to limit options for the parents of special needs children. For those who want their kids to experience the same childhood joy they felt during their own summer-camp experiences despite the challenges they face, Camp Aldersgate is frequently the only option.

That was certainly true for Elizabeth and Grace, the aspiring archer who hit a bull’s eye when she found Camp Aldersgate and has grown in her confidence and independence since she began attending.

“There is not a single recreational facility that has been willing to accept her except for Aldersgate,” Elizabeth said.

Meet the Healers

Arkansas is blessed with a wide range of health care professionals, state-of-the-art hospitals and specialty clinics to serve every need. From large health systems that treat the public from before birth to end of life to myriad medical warriors for all stages in between, the quality of life in the Natural State is owed in no small way to the skill and dedication of our resident medical professionals.

On the following pages, AY About You profiles some of the outstanding medical facilities to be had here in Arkansas. Each one offers cutting edge care thanks to the latest in medical technology and the most qualified, experienced and caring personnel to be had anywhere. In an era where many services are delivered impersonally, it is comforting to know Arkansas’ most critical industries — that of health, wellness and medical care — stand at the ready to serve the needs of families in communities from one end of the state to the other.

HOSPITALS SPECIALTY CLINICS and

ADVANCED PHYSICAL THERAPY

Little Rock, North Little Rock and Benton

Advanced Physical Therapy was founded in 2006. It was one of the first private, outpatient physical therapy clinics to provide pelvic health services to central Arkansas and to educate members of the community in all seasons of life that their issues are common, but not normal.

In the almost two decades since, the company has expanded exponentially while retaining the same passion and dedication to patient wellness. Today, with the addition of orthopedic and lymphatic therapy, the exceptional therapists at Advanced Physical Therapy advocate for holistic care, educating patients about their health and bodies and providing best practices that lead to a healthy, pain-free life.

The practice is staffed by a growing team of experts with the highest credentials in physical and occupational therapy, personal training and sportspecific therapy. Advanced Physical Therapy has multiple clinics in the central Arkansas area, but they all share one purpose: to make a positive impact on the health and wellbeing of each patient who walks through the doors. Patients may turn to Advanced Physical Therapy when they have a specific ailment, but when they leave, they are equipped with the tools and techniques needed to maintain both a healthy body and mind.

Staff

Members of the Advanced Physical Therapy team prioritize relationships above all else. They listen to patients’ ambitions and aspirations with intention, and they build connections to help heal holistically. APT clinicians specialize in a variety of areas, including sports-specific screens from the Titleist Performance Institute, which is geared towards golfers; OnBaseU for athletes focused on throwing and hitting; and medical bike fits for cyclists.

Reach

Advanced Physical Therapy has grown to include five locations across central Arkansas, allowing its experienced therapists to serve even more people. At every location, APT prioritizes cleanliness and employs the most up-to-date features. Current locations include three in Little Rock — on Rodney Parham, at the CARTI Cancer Center and in the SoMa District — and one each in North Little Rock and Benton.

Services

Patients should note that one does not need a referral to see a physical therapist. APT takes all major insurances, and most, including Medicare, will cover therapy without a referral. The APT team verifies benefits for patients so that there are no surprises on the cost of their services. In addition to general orthopedic pre-hab and rehab, APT clinicians can treat for issues such as:

• Vertigo

• Headaches

• Jaw pain

• LSVT BIG for individuals with Parkinson’s Disease

• Bowel, bladder and sexual dysfunction

• Pediatric pelvic health

• Individuals undergoing or recovering from breast cancer treatment

• Lymphedema/lipedema

Community

As the Center of Whole Health, Advanced Physical Therapy partners with a variety of providers, including medical doctors, counselors, nutritionists and more, to provide patients with the most holistic and well-rounded care. The APT team also constantly seeks opportunities to give back, educate and support, whether that means putting therapists on the sidelines for sports teams, educating hospitals and providers about the benefits of therapy or contributing to different organizations.

HOSPITALS

SPECIALTY CLINICS and

ARKANSAS SURGICAL HOSPITAL

North Little Rock

Arkansas Surgical Hospital was founded by surgeons seeking a more direct and rewarding experience for their patients. The hospital continues to be physician-owned, meaning surgeons are the decision-makers. That allows them to control their patients’ care at a greater level and have direct input over the best course of treatment. The surgeons at Arkansas Surgical Hospital have extensive experience, and their specialties range from orthopedic and spine treatments to breast oncology and interventional pain management. No matter how involved a procedure is or what area of the body is affected, the goal of every surgeon is to help patients improve their quality of life so they can get back to doing the things they love.

The hospital’s focus on quality extends to every aspect of patient care to ensure optimal surgical care and a seamless recovery experience. Arkansas Surgical Hospital is one of the only five-star hospitals in the state, and in addition to the expertise of staff and surgeons, patients consistently rate the hospital highly for its overall patient experience. Arkansas Surgical Hospital also operates specialty clinics in Hot Springs Village and Russellville, and physicians see patients in clinics across the state. The team at Arkansas Surgical Hospital takes pride in a disciplined focus on safety and comfort, and every surgeon, nurse and staff member is committed to providing the best care for patients and their families.

The staff

Arkansas Surgical Hospital was established by physicians in 2005. This physician-owned model fosters unparalleled control over patient care, ensuring a disciplined focus on safety and surgical outcomes. Patients benefit from personalized attention and comprehensive expertise in surgical interventions. Arkansas Surgical Hospital also has an exceptional team of dedicated professionals, who are drawn to the hospital’s supportive environment, patientcentered approach and commitment to employee wellbeing.

The facility

With 41 private patient suites and 13 operating rooms, the facility at Arkansas Surgical Hospital is meticulously designed for optimal surgical experiences and post-operative care. Private suites, catered room service and spaces for loved ones to rest all complement the outstanding level of surgical and nursing care that patients receive in the hospital’s stateof-the-art operating rooms.

The services

Arkansas Surgical Hospital specializes in orthopedic and spine care, offering advanced surgical interventions and expert treatment, as well as diagnostic procedures. Surgical care also extends to other service lines, such as interventional pain management and breast oncology. In addition to its surgical options for back pain, the hospital has a team of physicians who specialize in providing non-surgical solutions such as epidural injections, nerve blocks, radiofrequency ablation and other advanced procedures.

The patient experience

Ranking in the top five percent nationwide for patient experience, Arkansas Surgical Hospital excels in every aspect of patient care. From the expertise of its physicians to the nurturing environment provided by its staff, the hospital prioritizes the comfort and satisfaction of patients and their families, ensuring a superior journey to recovery.

HOSPITALS SPECIALTY CLINICS and

BAPTIST HEALTH MEDICAL CENTER

Conway

Baptist Health Medical Center-Conway serves patients of Faulkner County and surrounding areas with Christian compassion and personal concern. The hospital provides unwavering support during life’s most challenging times and serves as a reliable partner for all the happy moments. Baptist Health is committed to being a trusted partner for life to its patients.

As the Conway community has grown, so has Baptist Health, eager to help meet the ever-evolving needs of those who have entrusted its healing ministry with their care. Baptist is the recipient of the American Heart Association’s Get with the Guidelines Stroke Gold Plus Award, in addition to being designated as an Arkansas Stroke Ready Hospital by the Arkansas Department of Health.

Baptist Health’s reach extends far beyond the hospital walls too. Baptist Health provides health screenings, immunizations and health education locally. Also nearby are Baptist Health Rehabilitation Institute-Conway, a medical office building, and Baptist Health Surgical and Specialty ClinicConway, which allow patients and providers convenient access to additional health care services.

From hernia repair and gallbladder removal to trauma treatment and wound care, Baptist Health Surgical and Specialty Clinic-Conway offers a range of surgical procedures close to home and provided by some of central Arkansas’ most exceptional physicians.

The staff

Baptist Health is recognized by Newsweek as one of America’s Greatest Workplaces, including in these categories: Job Starters, Parents & Families, Diversity, and Women. For more information about clinical and non-clinical career opportunities at Baptist Health, visit baptisthealthcareers.com.

The facility

Baptist Health Medical Center’s emergency department is a level 3 trauma center, which means it has demonstrated the ability to provide advanced trauma life support prior to the transfer of patients to a higher-level trauma center.

The services

Baptist Health is the only hospital in Faulkner County accredited as Baby-Friendly. The recognition is part of a global program that encourages and recognizes hospitals and birthing centers offering an optimal level of care for breastfeeding mothers and their babies. Baptist was also named by the Leapfrog Group as one of the best hospitals in the U.S. for maternity care. Other areas of care include:

• Cardiology

• Urology

• Surgery

• Orthopedics

• Women’s health

• Rehabilitation

• Pediatrics

The technology

Baptist Health continues to invest in technologies to help Faulkner County residents receive the best possible care. For example, the hospital was the first in Arkansas to offer Inspire for patients with obstructive sleep apnea and utilize the Stryker Pivot Guardian Distraction System for hip arthroscopy.

HOSPITALS SPECIALTY CLINICS and

CONWAY REGIONAL HEALTH SYSTEM

North-Central Arkansas and the River Valley

Conway Regional Health System provides complete health care services to an eight-county service area that includes Cleburne, Conway, Faulkner, Johnson, Perry, Pope, Van Buren and Yell counties. Centered on a 180-bed acute care medical center, the health system provides patients with a variety of services, including heart health, orthopedic care, neuro-spine surgery, gastroenterology services, women’s health, surgery and rehabilitation. Conway Regional operates an expansive physician enterprise, including 10 primary care clinics and 17 specialty clinics. Ad-

ditionally, the health system operates a rehabilitation hospital and a 70,000-square-foot health and fitness center. In 2019, Conway Regional announced a management agreement with the Dardanelle Hospital, which has since been renamed the Dardanelle Regional Medical Center. From state-of-the-art therapy centers to specialized care services, Conway Regional provides high-quality, compassionate care. Serving as more than just a hospital or clinic, Conway Regional aims to be a trusted partner in an individual’s journey toward optimal health and wellness.

Graduate medical education

Conway Regional established a graduate medical education program in 2019 to combat physician shortages in Arkansas. Serving as the sponsoring institution for family medicine and internal medicine programs, these residencies blend innovation with traditional practices, offering minor surgeries, obstetrics/gynecology, pediatrics and specialty care training. Mentorship and collaboration are emphasized, fostering team-based care in inpatient and ambulatory settings. Conway Regional’s goal is to inspire a patient-centered approach among graduates, driving them to improve lives throughout their medical careers.

Labor and delivery

Conway Regional is home to a 16-bed labor and delivery unit that welcomes 1,800 babies a year. Along with this growing service, Conway Regional Maternal-Fetal Medicine Center of Arkansas provides high-quality, compassionate care for women with pregnancy complications. Services include targeted ultrasounds, genetic screening, prenatal consultations, high-risk pregnancy management, diabetes care and more. Conway Regional was also the first hospital in Arkansas to partner with Arkansas Children’s Hospital Nursery Alliance, allowing more babies to receive care closer to home.

Bariatric care

Conway Regional pioneered central Arkansas’ first-ever DaVinci bariatric program for those seeking a weight loss alternative. In 2024, Conway Regional received the Medical Excellence Award for best bariatric surgery in the market from CareChex. Individuals interested in the Conway Regional Bariatric Program are invited to a bariatric surgery interest seminar. Once on a path to bariatric surgery, patients have access to a bariatric support group through a Facebook community of likeminded others who have gone through bariatric surgery or are about to.

Athletic training

Conway Regional is deeply rooted in community schools, with 14 athletic trainers providing services at local high schools and universities. Conway Regional also extends its services to student athletes across central Arkansas by offering annual physicals for the upcoming year. In the past year, more than 1,475 events were medically covered by Conway Regional athletic trainers. Athletics trainers held more than 5,600 rehabilitation sessions with local students and had more than 2,640 patient education sessions to keep student athletes safe and performing to their full potential.

HOSPITALS

SPECIALTY CLINICS and

HEATHMAN FAMILY DENTAL AND THE DENTAL CLINIC AT STUTTGART

Little Rock and Stuttgart

Dr. Montgomery “Monty” Heathman is a second generation dentist following in the footsteps of his father, the late Dr. N.D. “Dwight” Heathman. He has been in practice for 24 years, and he has been practicing in the Little Rock and Stuttgart areas for more than 14 years. He has a true passion for both the art and the science of dentistry. In 2023, Heathman brought on a new associate dentist, Nikki Donaldson. Donaldson is an excellent clinician and has been a tremen-

dous asset to Heathman and his team.

Both Heathman Family Dental and the Dental Clinic at Stuttgart offer the latest technology and dental care techniques in state-of-the-art facilities. Heathman and his staff understand the trust patients have in the clinics, and they take the time to develop relationships within the communities they serve. Every member of the Heathman team is committed to serving with care, compassion and skill.

The staff

Heathman Family Dental and the Dental Clinic at Stuttgart have established a well-tenured team on both the administrative and clinical sides. Each team member shares Heathman’s commitment to excellence. The clinics take emergencies anytime, and a member of the Heathman team can be reached 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

The facility

Heathman’s modern clinics epitomize both form and function. Thanks to the recent acquisition of a CT scanner, the clinics are able to provide 3D imaging of teeth in order to facilitate a more advanced level of diagnosis and treatment planning than traditional X-rays. Floor-to-ceiling windows in the patient operatories allow for views of the natural surroundings and wildlife, as well, creating an enjoyable experience that is more relaxing.

The services

Patients see Heathman and his team for all manner of dental needs, and many come from all over the country for smile makeovers. Nitrous oxide and other medications are available to manage dental anxiety. The clinics also offer cosmetic Botox and dermal fillers, in addition to therapeutic Botox used to treat temporomandibular joint, or TMJ, disorders. Other services include:

• Preventative care (cleaning, X-rays and exams)

• Tooth-colored fillings

• All-ceramic crowns

• Implant restorations

• Veneers

• Extractions

• All-on-four implant dentures

• Root canals

• Full-mouth smile reconstruction

The partnerships

Heathman Family Dental and the Dental Clinic at Stuttgart work to make dental care as accessible as possible. The clinics are partnered with many insurance companies which equates to discounted fees, in addition to being Medicaid providers in Stuttgart. The clinics are also providers for patients receiving care through ARcare and the Ryan White Program. In the future, Heathman is looking to expand his practice even further by adding clinics in underserved areas.

HOSPITALS SPECIALTY CLINICS and

THE SURGERY CENTER AT THE VALLEY

Little Rock

Located on Rodney Parham Road in Little Rock, The Surgery Center at the Valley is the pinnacle of ophthalmological surgical care. The center, which is an extension of McFarland Eye Care, provides a unique experience for its patients and team due to their physical size and their commitment to the details of exceptional patient care.

At the core of the Surgery Center at the Valley is a seasoned surgical support team with an unrivaled depth of knowledge and dedication to excellence. The center’s guiding philosophy is simple and effective: every decision is based on what is the very best thing for the patient. The Surgery Center at the Valley is about more than conducting surgeries; it’s about changing lives.

The staff

The experienced surgical team keeps surgeons moving while embodying care in every interaction.

All surgeons are ophthalmology-focused and include:

• Dr. Brita Rook: pediatrics and adult strabismus

• Dr. Byron Wilkes: oculofacial plastics

• Dr. Donald Gauldin: cataracts

• Dr. Evan Newbolt: cataracts

• Dr. James Hoffmann: cataracts

• Dr. Jonathan Casciano: cornea and cataracts

The facility

The surgery center features four operating rooms, two procedure rooms, expansive pre- and post-op areas, and a comfortable, spacious waiting area to ensure an unmatched experience for patients, caregivers and surgical teams.

The partnerships

As an extension of McFarland Eye Care, the center provides an integrated experience for patients. The nature and capacity of the center also allows McFarland’s to partner with other ophthalmologists in the area to extend surgical care to more patients.

The technology

The Surgery Center at the Valley is equipped for cuttingedge, laser-assisted eye surgery which provides more accurate results and better patient outcomes. The team invests in technology, equipment and materials, including the highest quality lenses, that are proven to enhance patient care.

HOSPITALS SPECIALTY CLINICS and

UNIVERSITY OF ARKANSAS FOR MEDICAL SCIENCES

The University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences is the state’s only health sciences university and combines cutting-edge clinical care, groundbreaking research and topnotch education for the health care workforce of the future. UAMS includes UAMS Health, a statewide health system that encompasses all of UAMS’ clinical enterprises. UAMS is the only adult level 1 trauma center in the state. It is the state’s largest public employer and has more than 12,000 employees, including 1,200 physicians who provide care to patients at UAMS, its regional campuses around the state, as well as Arkansas Children’s, the VA Medical Center and Baptist Health.

UAMS Health is a leader in cancer care, orthopaedic care, adult heart care, neurology, neurosurgery, urology, organ transplants, family care, geriatrics and more. The university has received some of the highest ratings in the country for its treatment of heart failure, pneumonia, respiratory failure and brain surgery and has been recognized nationwide as a leader for its kidney and liver transplant programs. UAMS Health strives to ensure Arkansans have access to the best care close to home.

Orthopaedic and spine care

The Orthopaedic & Spine Hospital at UAMS is the most specialized of its kind in Arkansas, offering patients access to the latest technology and most innovative care delivered by UAMS Health’s premier team of orthopaedic, spine and pain management experts who are focused on reducing pain, improving mobility, and most importantly, getting our patients back to living their lives.

Urology

Neurosurgery

UAMS neurosurgeons perform research and multiple clinical trials and work to be the leaders of simple and complex surgeries not available at other hospitals in Arkansas. More physicians refer patients to UAMS for neurosurgical procedures than elsewhere in the state. UAMS neurosurgeons come from diverse backgrounds and have a range of expertise in a variety of subspecialties, including:

• General neurosurgery

• Neurosurgical oncology — specializing in brain tumors and spine tumors

• Vascular neurosurgery

• Functional neurosurgery for chronic pain, movement disorders and seizures

• Neurosurgery for the spine

• Neurotrauma

Cancer care

The UAMS Winthrop P. Rockefeller Cancer Institute’s new Radiation Oncology Center offers the most sophisticated, cutting-edge radiation delivery technology available in the United States, providing advanced radiation treatments to children and adults with cancer. The center also houses the Proton Center of Arkansas, a collaboration between UAMS, Arkansas Children’s, Baptist Health and Proton International. Proton therapy uses positively charged proton particles to destroy tumors, often in hard-to-reach areas, with greater precision and significantly less damage to healthy organs and tissues than other treatments. Patients who receive proton therapy have fewer and less severe side effects than conventional X-ray radiation.

The UAMS Health Urology Center, located in Premier Medical Plaza at 10915 Rodney Parham Road in west Little Rock, offers specialized treatment for complex kidney stones, reconstruction of the urinary system and men’s health care, specifically for erectile dysfunction, along with top-quality routine urology services. UAMS urologists provide cancer care and comprehensive state-of-the-art urologic care using endoscopic, robotic, laparoscopic and open surgery techniques.

HOSPITALS

SPECIALTY CLINICS and

WRIGHT PLASTIC SURGERY & MED SPA

Little Rock

Wright Plastic Surgery & Med Spa is known for its expertise, premier patient experience and the delivery of refined, natural-looking results. Under the leadership of board-certified plastic surgeon Dr. Eric Wright, the clinic’s team of aesthetic experts utilizes cutting-edge, non-surgical treatments to enhance patients’ beauty, wellness and confidence. Wright has extensive training in face and body rejuvenation, and he is sought after by patients all over the country for his breast augmentation and revision procedures. As a member of the American Society for

Plastic Surgeons, Wright is dedicated to achieving excellence in both form and function to give patients renewed body confidence and a higher quality of life. From aesthetic and reconstructive surgery to injectables and advanced skin rejuvenation, Wright Plastic Surgery’s measured, customized approach is delivered with kindness, compassion and care. The clinic has received numerous recognitions for its work, such as being named in AY About You’s “Best Of” for best plastic surgeon, nurse injector, esthetician and medical spa for multiple years.

The staff

Wright has helped patients look and feel their best for more than a decade now, and his team has more than 50 years of combined experience in the medical and aesthetics industries.

• Paige Kelly, R.N.

• Maegan Whitehead, licensed esthetician

• Kacie Stephens, patient care coordinator

• Julie Blair, patient records coordinator

• Lacy McMahon, front desk coordinator

• Ciarra Allen, insurance coordinator

• Eva Barlogie, physician’s assistant

The facility

Wright Plastic Surgery recently opened its clinic location in west Little Rock, which has additional space and upgrades to better serve patients. In line with the practice’s slogan, “Your Beauty, Our Expertise,” the new and improved location offers a variety of non-surgical treatments to enhance patients’ wellness and confidence, including recently added IV nutrient infusions.

Innovative services

Wright enjoys performing a range of aesthetic plastic surgeries and specializes in breast reconstruction surgeries. He is also one of the few surgeons in Arkansas to offer migraine surgery. Migraine surgery is a relatively new procedure that consists of releasing various nerves around the eyes and face to prevent chronic pain. While training at Massachusetts General Hospital, Wright was able to learn from some of the growing field’s top experts.

The technology

Wright uses the latest technology in the operating room and in the office. In the surgical setting, Wright uses VASERlipo and Renuvion for body contouring and treating saggy skin. Wright Plastic Surgery was the first in Arkansas to use Ellacor Micro-Coring, a nonsurgical technology that removes sagging skin from the face and neck. The practice also offers Aveli as an innovative cellulite solution for women of all ages who want to treat cellulite.

Disruptions to a child’s endocrine system, which regulates hormones, can lead to diabetes, obesity, stunted growth or other related conditions. The nationally-ranked pediatric Diabetes and Endocrinology team of experts addresses the physical conditions as well as the mental and emotional issues triggered by those conditions. The care provided by Arkansas Children’s supports the whole child and the family or caregivers to make children better today and healthier tomorrow.

Little Rock Athletic Club goes big

on pickleball with new facility

Heeding the call of its membership, Little Rock Athletic Club cut the ribbon on a gorgeous new pickleball facility in March, an ambitious project for the popular game in Arkansas.

“At the club, we have what we consider four pillars of business: tennis, swimming, family and fitness,” said Frank Lawrence, CEO of Little Rock Athletic Centers. “We think pickleball will become our fifth pillar of business. We think it’s a significant offering to our membership and potential membership. It’s probably the thing I’ve been most excited about in 30 years at the club.”

The new standalone facility brings online 22,000 square feet of courts and other space on the Athletic Club campus. The new structure offers eight indoor courts and four outdoor courts, as well as social areas, Lawrence said.

“It’s the first indoor facility in central Arkansas dedicated solely to pickleball, that I’m aware of,” he said. “It features a cushioned court surface that’s a little easier on the body. It also offers a very specific social area inside the court where people can be a part of the action, as well as restrooms and a players’ lounge area. The outdoor area also has a great viewing and recreation area around the outdoor courts.”

The planning for the new facility goes back to the COVID-19 pandemic when members began approaching LRAC management about installing pickleball courts. At first the club shared use of its

existing tennis courts with temporary striping, but the runaway popularity of pickleball soon made it clear that a more ambitious solution was needed.

“I can remember it vividly. It was in December 2021. It was a Friday night, and I was going to a Christmas party,” Lawrence said. “The event was right by the Country Club of Little Rock, which had just built some pickleball courts. It was 8 o’clock at night, and I started hearing, ‘dink, dink, dink.’ It was people playing pickleball.

“That was proof of concept for me. I was like, OK, that solidifies that we’re going to build a facility and really dedicate resources toward this sport.”

Little Rock Athletic Club broke ground on the project in April. Fennell Purifoy was the architect, Joe White & Associates was the engineering firm, and Dave Grundfest Construction Co. built the facility. Lawrence said the $3.2 million price tag is an investment in the future of the club and provides an amenity that can be used and enjoyed by a wide demographic within the membership.

“Pickleball is unique in that it appeals to so many people, ages and abilities,” he said. “We have members playing who are brand new to the sport, and we have members who compete at a high level. The sport began with older athletes and has since become younger and younger. The average age of athletes nationally is now people in their late 30s.

“I think you will continue to see the sport grow by getting younger and younger, as well as older and older. It’s really cool that it spans from 5-year-olds up to 85-year-olds playing, and we’re delighted to be able to provide this new facility for their enjoyment.”

Frank Lawrence

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.

Arkansas’ First Proton Center

Inspiring hope for children and adults with cancer

If you’ve been diagnosed with cancer, you no longer have to leave the state for proton therapy, a soughtafter form of radiation treatment known for its success against solid tumors. Proton therapy is so powerful and precise that it kills your cancer with less damage to your body’s healthy tissues and organs - all so you can be “healthy you” again after the cancer is gone.

UAMS.Health/AdvancedURL

The Proton Center of Arkansas is a collaboration of UAMS Health, Arkansas Children’s, Baptist Health and Proton International and is one of only 43 proton centers in the U.S.

people

Hey, friends!

Server finds new career, family behind the bar

By AY STAFF // Photo provided

When the housing market crashed in 2006, it took Laura Dean’s million-dollar Realtor status with it and put the Garfield native at a career crossroads.

“Olive Garden had opened in Rogers, and I was like, you know what? I think I can do that because I can sell things,” she said.

She found the job suited her servant-first mentality and gregarious nature, even during periods when the restaurant was slammed.

“I’m the kind of person who likes repetition but I can’t sit still,” she said. “I liked the chaos behind food service where something is always the same, yet always different.”

Dean would join Jose’s Bar & Grill in Tontitown in 2018 and quickly developed a long list of regulars using the same friendly-forward techniques that made her a star server at Olive Garden.

“My go-to line when I see people walk through the door is, ‘Hey friends! How are you?’” she said. “I don’t know who they are necessarily, but automatically, I believe they’re my friends. It makes a difference.

‘hey, friends’ came in. If you’re going to sit here and hang out with me while I do my job, we’ve got to be friends.”

Dean said on days she begins to feel stressed or her enthusiasm starts to dip, she has a couple of sure-fire ways to reset her energy.

“You get a lot of hangry folks who come in, and you can literally take them from, ‘I’m having an absolutely terrible day,’ to ‘I’m having a fantastic day because I came in.’”

Dean was soon promoted to bar manager. She said while the transition to the new job employed many of the same skills as tableside, some things took a little getting used to.

“The only difference between a server and a bartender is the guests are directly in front of you the entire time they are there,” she said. “There’s no walking away and waiting on other guests. You are the face of their day. They’re communicating with you and being your patron and watching everything. You are under the microscope their entire visit.”

Given this fact, Dean fell back on something an early mentor taught her as the cardinal rule of foodservice: leave personal drama at the door.

“If you’re in a good mood and you’re having fun, then your bar patrons are going to be in a good mood and having fun,” she said. “That’s where

“I have a toddler, and he’s 3,” she said. “We watch a lot of the PBS shows, and one of the shows, [Rosie’s Rules, says], ‘Breathe in, breathe out, wiggle about, now I’m ready to figure this out.’ When something is stressful or I need a reset, I grab my big yellow coffee cup that one of my favorite regulars gave me, and I’ll physically breathe in, breathe out and do a little wiggle and be ready to figure my life out.”

After years of customer encounters, Dean said regulars have become friends outside of work. For their part, her regulars are not shy about expressing their feelings for their favorite server.

“In 2020, we found out that I was pregnant with my miracle baby,” she said. “My regulars, a lot of whom have followed me from restaurant to restaurant, threw me a baby shower. My baby shower took up half of our restaurant here in Tontitown, and it took three vehicles to get all the diapers they gave me home.”

One might think having such a close relationship eases the pressure of delivering a flawless dining experience, but Dean said it is just the opposite. She said the love and friendship she is shown by her regulars, as well as the commitment she feels to first-timers, drives her to perform with every shift.

“At the end of the day, it’s just beer and tacos, but every day is also a new adventure because you have no idea what’s going to walk through your front door,” she said. “It might be grandma’s 80th birthday or a tiny tot’s third birthday, and they need you to put the sombrero on and sing the happy birthday song.

“We even have folks come in after a funeral, and they’re like, ‘This was mom’s favorite place to eat, and we’re here to honor her.’ You want to make them feel good in a situation like that and honor her not by crying but by having a good time like we always do.”

Laura Dean

Not his first rodeo

Experience pays off for Cypress Social server

By AY STAFF

Though relatively new to the central Arkansas market, after just three years on staff at Cypress Social in North Little Rock, John Marshall has quickly risen to one of the most-recognized and best-regarded servers in the area. However, as the Michigan native pointed out, it did not happen overnight.

“I’ve been in the food-service industry since I was 16, and I’m now 27,” he said. “I have a passion for hospitality. I’ve never been able to walk away from it. I enjoy creating experiences for guests and being there through their happy days and their sad days.”

Upon landing in Little Rock four years ago, Marshall did not know the local food scene but knew he had a role to play in it. He applied to Petit & Keet in Little Rock, which shares ownership with Cypress Social, and before he knew it, he was on a shift at the acclaimed North Little Rock eatery. Marshall fell right in with Arkansas crowds, bringing with him a well-honed set of server skills.

“It’s apparent pretty quickly when I greet a table what kind of service they’re looking for me to provide, whether they want me to be more silent and just provide service or if they want me to be more interactive,” he said. “Upon greeting, if I’m getting a vibe that’s a little negative, I try to get food in front of them as fast as possible. I assume that they may be hangry. From there, it’s just providing great service and feeling out what’s going on through the meal.”

Asked what made him good at his job, Marshall said it starts with the professional manner in which he perceives his role.

“I don’t look at it as having a job; I look at it as running a small business,” he said. “The restaurant provides me with a product, and I sell that product, and some of that product is myself. For me, good service here is good service anywhere. My service doesn’t necessarily have to adapt. It’s product knowledge. It’s picking up on social cues. It’s being a natural talker, and it’s being a leader.”

In his relatively short period of time in Arkansas, Marshall has already built a list of dedicated regulars, some of whom have expressed their appreciation for him in remarkable ways.

“We get many celebrations here at Cypress, from anniversaries to birthdays,” he said. “A couple weeks ago one of my regulars, her husband had actually passed away, and she specifically came to eat with me because she said I always brought them happiness. I thought that was really cool.”

Cypress Social management has also taken note of Marshall’s refined skill set and promoted him to a front-of-house manager, for which he leads staff meetings to keep servers attuned to changes in the menu and reinforce other details. Marshall’s role also gives him responsibilities for training new employees, and when asked what the cardinal rule for any

server is, he did not miss a beat.

“The first thing is how you greet your table,” he said. “Your body language, a smile, being ready to work, your uniform looking nice — all of those first impressions make a huge difference on your guests.”

As for his own repertoire, Marshall said restaurant management does a good job of providing him and his fellow servers with the information needed to do their jobs to the fullest. He said he combines those tools with his own experience to help round out his skill set, and he is not shy about borrowing good service techniques wherever he witnesses it.

“I absolutely critique when I go out to eat,” he said. “Even having been in the industry as long as I have been, it’s all evolution. Just because I’ve done it forever and I’m good at it doesn’t mean there’s not new things for me to learn or look at.”

Marshall said he has toyed with the idea of one day opening his own restaurant but said that would be a very long-term goal, if it happens at all. For now, he is very happy doing what he is doing.

“It makes you feel fantastic,” he said. “It’s one thing to just give great service, but it’s another to make somebody’s day, whether they were in a good mood or bad mood to start. That’s where I feel I set the bar a little different. I don’t provide service; I create an experience. If I get to turn somebody’s attitude around, even if it’s just one person, I feel great about it.”

John Marshall

people

From one Post

to the next

Server extraordinaire at Deluca’s Pizza transitions to general manager

By EILEEN BEARD // Photo by JAMIE LEE

Heather Post was an elementary school teacher for nine years. On weekdays, she taught art to students in kindergarten through sixth grade, showing little ones how to paint with their fingers and more advanced students how to draw self-portraits. It was a challenging and rewarding career, but not her only one. Post, a longtime server at Deluca’s Pizza in Hot Springs and a perennial favorite among guests there, wound up working weekends at the restaurant for a stint that would span her entire teaching career.

It is easy to imagine the similarities between corralling a classroom full of distracted children and catering to a busy restaurant full of hungry customers. Many lessons she learned as a teacher translated to serving, and skills she picked up as a server often applied to teaching. It was a symbiotic relationship that ultimately prepared her for her newest role, Deluca’s general manager.

A native of Hot Springs, Post began her service career at Mountain Harbor Resort & Spa at Lake Ouachita when she was 18 years old. She did not merely survive her first day there; she took the first step toward a lifelong career in the service industry.

“My gosh, my first day serving, I was terrified,” she said. “I was thinking, ‘What if I spill something on someone?’”

Before long, Post became the actual poster child for the Mountain Harbor Resort, appearing on a billboard for the restaurant holding a club sandwich. She continued to work summers at Mountain Harbor while she earned her teaching degree from Henderson State University in Arkadelphia.

Post developed her outgoing personality during those summers at the restaurant.

“I had to learn how to read people and find a way to relate to them,” Post said. “Waiting tables got me out of my comfort zone initially, but now it is my comfort zone.”

Post credits the resort for her excellent customer service skills too. Like all accomplished servers, she learned to have good manners in the face of bad ones.

“The resort is renowned for their hospitality. They required full staff training every year,” Post said. “They watched us closely, employed secret shoppers and really helped hone our skills in hospitality.”

After seven years at Mountain Harbor Resort, Post left to teach full time with some hospitality tools in her belt.

“Even as a teacher, I could be having a really crappy day, but I don’t want to make my kids have a crappy day. You have to be able to act,” she said.

In 2014, Post started picking up weekend shifts at Deluca’s Pizza, leaving school to go home and “change hats” as she put it. Coming into the restaurant was like putting on a different persona, shifting from teaching kids to entertaining adults. Some days, the physical demands of the job took a toll on her.

“You walk miles and miles,” she said. “It’s a little hard on the back, especially as you get older. Good shoes are key.”

Post was nothing if not a hard worker, and she held on to her full-

time job and her side gig for years, but when Anthony Valinoti, the owner, asked her to become general manager, she had a tough decision to make.

“I fell in love with the story of the restaurant, and I watched it grow,” she said. “Having a hand in a growing business like that, you get an emotional attachment to it.”

In 2021, Post officially transitioned from weekend warrior to general manager, turning her side gig into a full-time job and replacing her kindergarten pupils with waitstaff. In her new position, Post benefits from the leadership skills she acquired as a teacher and shares her customer service experience with her staff. One of Post’s first pieces of advice to new servers is to leave their baggage at the door.

“I’ve dealt with thousands of people at this point, and I’ve seen it all,” she said. “The first rude customer I ever dealt with, I wanted to go outside and dig a hole and cry in it. After so many years, it just doesn’t shake me.”

“You could be having a horrible day, but you should never let the customer see that. In return, if a customer is having a bad day, don’t let that personally affect you.”

As a server, Post developed a strong eye for detail, making a note of which customers took Splenda with their iced teas and which customers always liked extra sauce with their focaccia sticks. When customers returned, she would try to pick up the conversation where they left it on the last visit.

“It’s important — getting to know people and making them feel remembered, recognized and appreciated,” she said.

As general manager, back-office work such as taking inventory, scheduling and ordering supplies is new to Post, and the thing she really misses in her new role and about being a server in general are the relationships she built with her repeat customers. That is why, when the restaurant is open, you can still find her on the dining room floor, just like old times. She said she likes to keep an eye on the place and ensure her staff provides the same level of service she would provide if she was serving.

“Removing myself from that position and handing them off to a different server was kind of bittersweet,” she said. “I’m not necessarily taking orders, but I do still run food to people and fill in wherever they need me. People ask me for a beer as I walk by and then say, ‘Oh, wait, you’re not our server.’ I say, ‘Yes I am. I’m everyone’s server’.”

Like many before her, Post did not set out to make serving a career. Unlike many before her, she intends to stay put for a very long time.

“Anthony and I have talked about my future,” she said. “I definitely plan on always being involved with Deluca’s. It’s a huge part of my life and my heart.”

Heather Post

in a

A familiar face Classic Place

Trio’s fixture has seen a little of everything during serving career

AY STAFF

During roughly 30 years as a server, Wayne Pyland has seen a little bit of everything and worked for some of the most iconic restaurants in Little Rock. For most of that time, he has been a fixture at legendary Trio’s in Little Rock, where customers, ownership and staff alike are like family.

“I love this job, and I love my customers,” he said. “It’s nice to know they love me back.”

Born in Germany to a military family, his parents moved Pyland and his three brothers to Arkansas when Pyland was 12. He was introduced to the food service industry at an early age.

“The hospitality industry is what I did when I was in high school, bussing and helping people,” he said. “It’s rewarding for somebody to come in, sit down, have a good dinner, eat some good food and keep coming back. I enjoyed being a part of that, greeting people and saying, ‘Oh, hey, Ms. So-and-So. Good to see you again’.”

During his career, Pyland honed his chops in some of Little Rock’s best-loved and longest-lived establishments, including the Faded Rose, Cajun’s Wharf and Sonny Williams’ Steak Room, to name a few. Trio’s, however, represents the largest portion of his service career, and it is where he has established a large stable of regulars, a roster that grows seemingly with each passing shift.

“Some of them come in day and night,” he said. “A lot of the guys think this is an older-ladies-type place, but we have a Kobe burger with French fries that are awesome, and we have one of the best Reubens in town with homemade Thousand Island or the spicy brown mustard, so we get a lot more men in here now. Capi [Peck, owner], swore for years we would never have a burger on the menu. Then we did it for a special every now and then on Saturday, but now there is a burger on the menu, and people love that.”

The close connection Pyland and his fellow longtime servers have forged over the years proved bona fide during the COVID-19 pandemic. He said even when the restaurant was shut down, customers went to great lengths to take care of servers and help ensure Trio’s survived the crisis.

“The way we were handling it is we did curb service. We did family packs of chicken spaghetti, family packs of shrimp enchiladas and chicken enchiladas,” he said. “We would do anything to go, basically.

“We labeled all of the parking spots, and we wore our masks, and three of us servers would be running it out there. The tips that we would get — customers were leaving $50, $100. We’d take all that tip money and divide it between us and the kitchen.”

Pyland said a second big challenge — the aftermath of last spring’s tornadoes that damaged the building — was another crisis through which the staff banded together.

“While they were doing the repairs, [the servers] were talking, and we thought, ‘Why don’t we sell gift certificates? We can get on the phone and do that,’” he said. “We can sit on the phone all day and call people. We were closed seven and a half weeks, but when we opened back up, the

Wayne Pyland

doors were swinging. We were so busy, and it didn’t stop.”

At age 65, Pyland has no immediate plans to hang up his apron, and for that, he credits the nurturing, team-oriented work environment crafted by the restaurant’s ownership, which has given him rein to serve customers to the utmost.

“When you work at a restaurant and you’re carrying that food to the table and it doesn’t look quite right, there are some kitchens where you can’t say, ‘That filet is overcooked,’ or ‘That piece of quiche is very brown.’ Here, that’s not an issue. As a team, we’ve built up that rapport,” he said. “That’s something I try to get across to new employees, as well. We have a server here now who, when she came in, I thought, ‘She’ll be alright. She knows what it takes. She’s just young, and we’ve got to show her and give her a chance.’”

When the lights came on for another dinner service, Pyland looked around a dining room that is akin to a second home and thought about the patrons he treats like houseguests.

“It’s a little bit more fast paced during the day,” he said. “Some of the older ladies are in, having a glass of wine, or some of the Junior Leaguers come in from playing tennis. You know, they’re sticking around and having fun.

“At night, it’s relaxed, but when this place gets going, it’s loud. It’s fun, for sure. The atmosphere is great, and it’s great being a part of it. To me, it’s family.”

By

// Photo by Dwain Hebda

people

A lifetime of service

Pantry West boasts one of Little Rock’s best

By EILEEN BEARD // Photo by JAMIE LEE

David Timberlake has a boyish smile and sounds sweeter than a high school student trying to talk his way out of detention. The veteran bar manager and server at Pantry West in Little Rock has worked more than two decades in the restaurant business. He has earned the right to become one of those grizzled old hands who barks at customers or completely ignores them, someone who people tolerate because he practically chopped down the first tree to build the place. He is not that guy.

“My favorite part of the job is building relationships with my customers. Some of my very best friends are people I’ve met because I was their server or bartender,” Timberlake said. “I’ve traveled the world with some.”

Timberlake began working at the Pantry 13 years ago. The restaurant, which has locations in west Little Rock and the Hillcrest area of Little Rock, has earned local and national acclaim for its rustic European cuisine, including Czech, Hungarian, German and northern Italian dishes.

Timberlake himself has been recognized by the Arkansas Democrat Gazette, the Arkansas Times and AY About You for his excellent bartending and service. He is obviously doing something right.

“I work for the best restaurateur in the city,” he said. “[Owner] Tomas Bohm really takes care of us.”

Timberlake grew up on a small farm outside of Bald Knob, just an hour northeast of Little Rock.

“My family was pretty poor, but we always had fresh food because we had a big garden,” he said. “My mother and my grandmother were both good cooks, probably because they had to be.”

His appreciation for good food began at home, but his introduction to food service came during high school in the kitchen of a local restaurant. When he graduated, Timberlake wanted to try his luck in the big city.

After he moved to Little Rock, Timberlake trained to become a massage therapist and practiced for more than a year, but a chance encounter with Kathy Webb and Nancy Tesmer, then-owners of bygone Lilly’s Dim Sum Then Some, lured him back to the restaurant industry.

“A couple of weeks later, I went to apply and started the next day,” he said.

Little Rock was meant to be his first stop on the way to someplace bigger, but family ties and the fast friendships he formed there changed his mind.

“I met so many good people here, and it just became home,” he said.

The hustle and bustle of waiting tables at a busy restaurant helped satisfy Timberlake’s hankering for big city life. He stayed at Lilly’s for three years before moving on to Boscoe’s Restaurant & Brewing Co. and eventually to SO Restaurant-Bar, where he met his future boss, Bohm, who was the general manager there. When Bohm left to open his own restaurant, Timberlake followed.

“He was the only person I wanted to work for. I talked to him, and I became a part of the Pantry,” he said, adding that he was the very first server Bohm hired.

Timberlake said he is proud of the food at Pantry West and the restaurant’s niche corner of central Arkansas’ culinary landscape. One of his duties as a server is to talk newcomers through foreign items on the menu. If they ask, he tells them his personal favorites are the lasagna al forno, the fish and frites, and the roasted pork shoulder served with potato dumplings, braised red cabbage and pork au jus.

Located just off Interstate 430, Pantry West attracts many out-of-town guests. Timberlake said he enjoys exchanging stories and recommendations with passers-through, some of whom are surprised to find dishes on the menu they have not enjoyed for years.

“We get people who say, ‘I haven’t eaten this kind of food since I visited Germany a decade ago,’ or ‘since I served in the military overseas,’” Timberlake said.

Timberlake is not just a server at Pantry West; he is also the bar manager. Some nights, he pulls double duty, mixing drinks for other servers while he waits on his own tables. Only a seasoned vet would be fast enough to literally and metaphorically juggle that many plates (and glasses).

Timberlake’s favorite drink at the Pantry West is a seasonal special called the Floating Origami, a cocktail made with bourbon, apricot liqueur, aperitivo and Peychaud’s bitters with a float of Origami Sake from Hot Springs on top.

If a patron is lucky enough to be seated at one of his tables, they will no doubt quickly notice how polite Timberlake is. When he was still a neophyte, he picked up rules of etiquette from his peers.

David Timberlake

“I grew up in a small town,” Timberlake said. “I didn’t go to cotillion.”

He quickly learned the proper way to set a table, but he also learned to open doors for patrons and lend a hand to women walking up and down the stairs. His advice to new servers is twofold:

“Trust your instincts, and just be yourself,” he said. “People can tell if you try to fake it.”

Loving the food and having the patience of a saint and a great memory do not hurt either.

“I don’t write a whole lot down,” he said. “I make more mistakes when I do. I can’t read my own penmanship sometimes.”

Over the years, Timberlake has seen many young servers come and go. They start waiting tables in college and go on to become nurses, doctors and lawyers. As for himself, he does not have plans to leave the service industry anytime soon.

“My job is really to create an atmosphere for people to enjoy themselves,” he said. “There’s no better place to lift people up than in the service industry.”

Timberlake plans to travel to Europe soon and eat as much local food as he can find there. His first stop will likely be the Czech Republic, the place of origin for many of Pantry West’s dishes and the homeland of Bohm. At home and abroad, Timberlake prefers patronizing small, independent restaurants more than chains.

“I always like to ask customers’ suggestions for trips or restaurants,” Timberlake said. “If they’re eating at the Pantry and they’re regulars, I trust their judgment.”

Welcome home

Server at the Terrace treats every guest like family

By AY STAFF // Photo provided

In an era rife with overhype, it is nice to know there are hidden gems in every community, still waiting to be discovered. In Little Rock, one of those gems is The Terrace Mediterranean Kitchen, a place situated in a corner of an office building that practically demands a decoder ring to find.

However, those who know go, both for an intimate meal and literal white tablecloth service from the close-knit cadre of servers. Foremost among the friendly and knowledgeable waitstaff is Thomas Williams, who is as well known as The Terrace’s signature sangria and just as heartwarming.

“I’ve been here with the Terrace for 17 years, and I’ve been with the [ownership] family for 22 years,” he said. “I’ve been with Mr. [Jerry] Barakat at Jasmine’s and Arthur’s [Prime Steakhouse] and a couple of other restaurants. We had Gaucho’s [Grill]. I’ve been here with them a long time. It’s been a long, wonderful journey, and the family has been absolutely fantastic.”

A native of Camden and a veteran of the U.S. Army, Williams is a force of nature, bubbling with enthusiasm and humor. Quick with a laugh and even quicker with a hug, he personifies never meeting a stranger, something he said is key to his success in the food service business.

“My grandmother always told me, ‘Be a blessing and not a blockage. Be a bright spot, not a blind spot. People need to know that you care,’” he said. “I mean, I care about your experience. I care about your time here with me. This is a small place. We don’t have any time to stand on pretension.”

Williams discovered his life’s work by happenstance. While living in the Pacific Northwest for a time, he got a job as a short-order cook at an IHOP, where he treated the eggs and bacon like Michelin-star entrees.

“I seasoned my food. I didn’t know I wasn’t supposed to do that. Some of the people were saying, ‘OMG, these are the best eggs. Who’s making the French toast? Who’s doing the steaks?’” he said. “The manager was like, ‘Thomas, everybody wants to meet the person cooking the food.’ I was like, ‘OK.’

“When I went out there, I saw some people who didn’t have coffee or water, and I started getting it for them. They were like, ‘Take this $20 as a tip. You’re better than the server we had.’”

Even with that feedback, Williams resisted the pull of being a server because of a long-held shyness, something one has a hard time picturing about him today.

“I know. Who could believe it?” he said. “In the military, I had authority because I had rank, and you had to listen to me. In civilian life, you don’t have to listen to me at all. You can shut me off. You can call me all

kinds of things, and I was so afraid of having my feelings hurt and offending other people. Plus, I was a fat kid growing up, so I was not very forward, and I was really shy about talking to people. I didn’t want to be seen.”

All of that is ancient history now. Williams works the room like a stage, and the genuine care and concern he has for the experience of every single guest is palpable, even half an hour before the first diner arrives. In fact, the only thing that clouds his sunny disposition is the thought of the mistreatment of a customer, be it by an apathetic coworker or a disrespectful fellow patron.

“The first thing I say to [a new employee] when they first come in — ‘If you don’t like people, this is not the job for you,’” he said. “It’s not hyperbole. If you’re not a servant, if you don’t have a servant’s heart, please, this is not the place for you. I’m not the arbiter of what’s going to come in, but I am the gatekeeper. If you are not going to be able to keep the gate, you’re going to have to go. So sorry, but you’re not going to offend my customers because this is my family.

“That said, we want anybody that wants to be a part of this to come in. If you want to eat here, please come in. If you want to just have a drink, please come in. If you want to be a troublemaker or a problemmaker please, by all means, don’t come here. I will expel you quickly. I am security around here, and I will dismiss you in a minute. You’re not going to come here and be offensive. I’m so sorry. If that’s what you want to do, please, take that drama and trauma to your mama because we don’t have that here. No sir.”

Williams said while thick skin is sometimes necessary while serving the public, he never lets one negative encounter detract from what he sees as a heaven-sent responsibility to improve the lives of others through the gift of hospitality.

“Believe it or not, I tell you what, you just roll with the punches,” he said. “Everyone comes in with their own agenda. When we had the mask mandate, it was absolutely brutal. I was called everything but a child of God. You can’t take those things to heart. You really can’t. In this industry, oh my gosh, people are going to say what they’re going to say.

“Well, that has nothing to do with the cost of tea in China. If I listened to everything that everybody said about me, I would never be where I am today. I’m not mandated by any one person or anyone’s idea of what I’m supposed to be or what I’m supposed to do. This is a job that I love, and I’m going to bring me to the occasion. I don’t have any expectations of what you’ve gone through before. My whole thing is to make this visit a better occasion. God is good.”

Thomas Williams

Yakkety-yak (Todd is back)

Weatherman drama comes to a close as Todd

Yakoubian returns to living rooms

By DWAIN HEBDA //

SPARKMAN

Photo by LORI

Meteorologist Todd Yakoubian is preparing to join KARK Channel 4 in Little Rock.

Todd Yakoubian stepped out of the vehicle and took a long, panoramic view of the neighborhood war zone left in the wake of last year’s Little Rock tornadoes. He had seen this devastation before — the decapitated trees, the pried-off rooftops, the eviscerated cars weeping broken glass — but this was different.

Just a few hours before, in the midst of warning people on air about the approaching maelstrom and then reporting on the hellscape of devastation that followed, the longtime weatherman received a message from his sister: “Mom’s house destroyed.” Bettye Yakoubian, a shining light in her son’s life, had died just a little more than a month before, and with three words, Todd felt anew the paralyzing pain of her loss.

Now, he stood and saw with his own eyes the shattered remnants of his childhood home, staring back silent and dark. The winds had subsided, and the night sky was clear, but inside of him, the storm still raged.

“As a meteorologist, it’s extremely rare to be directly affected by a tornado,” he said. “I remember getting into the neighborhood, which was difficult to do. I went first to my mom’s house because my whole family was there, trying to clean up. That was my childhood home. That whole part of the house that I grew up in was destroyed.

“When you’re directly impacted, like I was on March 31, there are very few meteorologists that are working TV that have gone through it, and I hope nobody has to go through that.”

situation that you know is going to be potentially deadly. It’s not just a tornado which mesmerizes us; it’s a tornado that mesmerizes us that changes lives forever.”

Yakoubian shared these painful memories during a zoom call from his home office, a photo of his mother peeking over his shoulder. It has been months since his bombshell announcement that he would leave KATV Channel 7 in Little Rock, where the graduate of Catholic High School for Boys in Little Rock spent the entirety of his time in the local market and the vast majority of his career in meteorology. Other than the March 31 twisters themselves, the news of his leaving was easily the year’s top weather story in Arkansas, judging from the public’s reaction, especially since contractual obligations forbade Yakoubian from saying what was coming next. As a result, the social media rumor engine ran on nitrous oxide for weeks.

“The response has been so overwhelming, and those are the only words that I can say to describe it,” Yakoubian told AY About You about the hubbub for a September exclusive. “That’s all I can come up with. I never thought that it would get that much attention. I thought people would have interest, but I did not think that it would go to the level that it has.”

“

“This feels right. I love what they’re doing over at Channel 4, and I am honored and proud to be a part of that team. They are an incredible group of journalists and meteorologists.”

That night and in the weeks that followed, Yakoubian visited the devastated neighborhoods in his hometown, talking to people in the process of putting their lives together, one dumpster of rubble and one reclaimed family memento at a time. With nearly two decades on the air in Little Rock, weather disasters came with the job — the Mayflower and Vilonia tornado on April 2014 and the Super Tuesday tornado outbreak on Feb. 5, 2008, to name a couple — but he was still taken aback by the homeowners who stopped to thank him, asked for a hug and credited him with saving their lives.

— Todd Yakoubian

With his noncompete clause in the rearview, Yakoubian can now talk freely about joining NBC affiliate and rival station KARK Channel 4 in Little Rock, not that it probably surprised a lot of people by the time it became official. Starting in October, his new station dropped plenty of hints as to what was coming in cheeky commercials and billboards. One ad gave away stuffed plush yaks, one boldy proclaimed “The Yak is Back,” and still another decoded the onscreen YAK acronym as, “You Already Know.”

For Yakoubian, the ability to finally tell people what is next in his career is like being able to breathe freely again.

“I wanted to tell people I had a period of time where I cannot be on the air,” he said. “A six-month noncompete is what it was; in broadcasting, there are a lot of noncompete agreements that are a year or two. I think those are excessive. I think six months is more reasonable — maybe a little excessive, but it is what it is.

You warned us, some said. You saved us, others added.

“I’ve met and gotten to know the people that have been directly affected. When you see the pain that it causes these families, it changes everything,” he said. “They’re in the driveway. They’re helpless. There is nothing they can do. Everything they have is in that house, and much of it is destroyed in the blink of an eye.

“When you go out and meet the people afterward and you see and listen to them and you put yourself into their shoes and look at the world through their eyes, it puts everything into perspective when you go into covering a tornado

“I wanted to tell people I’ll be off the air for six months, and I’m going to enjoy not being on the air for a little while and relaxing, doing my thing, spending time with family. I’m going to stay on social media and enjoy that six-month period. Then, when I get back on the air, I’m going to do things even bigger and better.”

On the topic of why he left in the first place, Yakoubian played it cagier.

“I saw the opportunity for personal growth,” he said. “The management at KARK understood my passion for the weather. They understand my vision for covering Arkansas weather. That’s what they saw in me, and what I saw in them was a newsroom and a news organization that produced high-quality newscasts that covered Arkansas the way that I envision Arkansas should be covered. We share all that same vision, and we hit it off from day one.

“They also backed me 100 percent, and they are giving me the tools

“

“You’re the reason why I have a job. You’re watching. I’ve always been thankful for that.’

— Todd Yakoubian

and the ability and the freedom to be successful. I am incredibly appreciative to the management at KARK; from day one, when we both came together, it was like, this feels really good. This feels right. I love what they’re doing over at Channel 4, and I am honored and proud to be a part of that team. They are an incredible group of journalists and meteorologists.”

One thing that was never in the cards, and Yakoubian hammered away at this point, was leaving Little Rock.

“I never said that I was leaving Arkansas, but people thought I was leaving Arkansas,” he said. “This is my home. I was born and raised here. My family’s here.”

In fact, it is the height of irony that the home in which he was raised was destroyed by a storm, given the fact it was also the place where his fascination for weather was born. Just as Moses first heard God through a burning bush, 6-year-old Todd Yakoubian heard the language of meteorology through a flaming tree.

“There was a thunderstorm, and there was a huge tree outside my bedroom, and it got struck by lightning,” he said. “The electricity surged into the house, and the baseboards in my bedroom started smoldering. There was never a real fire, but there was smoke coming from the floor and the baseboard. My parents would always say, ‘We think that’s what “sparked” his interest.’”

Yakoubian’s parents indulged their son, yielding TV time to his obsession with the Weather Channel and buying him books on meteorology.

“I have pictures of me as a kid doing dorky things with the weather,” he said. “I’ve got video of me in 1985, after I won ‘Color of the Weather’ on Channel 4 with Tom Bonner, who was the chief meteorologist. Back then, you’d go to McDonald’s and get a sheet and draw a

picture and send it in. They would show one every night of the winner, and I won one night. That’s the first time I was on Channel 4; Tom Bonner called me ‘Todd Yak-OO-bian.’ ”

His parents also bought him a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration weather radio, the official accoutrement for serious weather enthusiasts, or “geeks,” as Yakoubian described himself.

“In high school, I was not a troublemaker, but there was snow in the forecast one time, and I wanted to be on top of the situation all day while I was in school,” he said, “so I hid the NOAA weather radio in my backpack, and I knew the times that the forecast would be updated. I was in English class, and I had the NOAA weather radio on, and I laid my head down on top of my backpack on the desk for a little while so I could hear it. I had the volume on very low so I could get that updated forecast.

“This was at Catholic High School, and the principal, Father [George] Tribou, walked by and saw me. I don’t know how he figured out what I was doing. I didn’t really get into trouble. He just shook his head like, ‘No, don’t do that.’ I thought I was going to get detention or something, but I think he felt so sorry for me that he didn’t punish me.”

Yakoubian enrolled in the University of Oklahoma, where he had his first tornado encounter in a short-lived stint as a storm chaser. It was an assignment he eagerly accepted and one that very nearly ended in disaster.

“It was probably the most stupid thing I’ve ever done. I really didn’t know what I was doing back then,” he said. “When I arrived at the University of Oklahoma, we didn’t have the internet, it was in its very beginning stages, so when you went storm chasing, we had big maps and the NOAA weather radio. That’s all you had.

“I went storm chasing the day that Van Buren, Ark., got hit by a tornado in 1996. I was in southwest Oklahoma with a storm chaser friend of mine. We were on a tornado-warned storm, and we saw the rotation. We saw the wall cloud, and then it just dissipated. It fell apart, so we thought it was over. Little did we know it had reformed directly over our heads, and when you’re driving down the road, you’re not looking straight up into the sky; you’re looking ahead. I was driving, I looked off into a field to my right, and all of a sudden, I saw all this stuff getting sucked up off the field, and [the tornado] was coming right at the car.”

The two students barely had time to duck and cover before the storm was upon them, pushing the car to the side of the road.

“I slammed on the breaks. My ears popped, and I heard a rush of wind,” he said. “I pulled my head back up, and I looked to my left and saw it going in the field the other direction. It was not a strong tornado, but it was a tornado, and I was in it, and it scared the living daylights out of me.”

Another weather event that has always held special fascination for Yakoubian is snow, which might explain his excitement for his first job out of college, having graduated

Meteorologist Todd Yakoubian first became interested in weather during his childhood.

Heather Baker, president and publisher of AY Media Group, holds a stuffed yak commemorating Todd Yakoubian’s move to KARK Channel 4. The meteorologist guided Arkansans through all kinds of weather during his tenure at KATV Channel 7.

from Mississippi State University. The young Arkie was hired by station KAPIX in Missoula, Mont., and arrived during a historic winter.

“I remember driving up there in late December 1996, and they had just received a record amount of snow in western Montana,” he said. “It was the snowiest winter on record — 111 inches of snow that month. I remember going down the road, and it was like a bobsled tunnel where the snow was piled up so high on the sides of the roads, it felt like you were in a tunnel.

“I got to the place where I was staying that I had rented out, and I remember turning on the TV, watching the news, and there were all these roofs collapsing. It was such a massive snowstorm with three feet of snow in a couple of days. I loved working up there; I had my weekends off, and I snow skied, and I would trout fish every weekend I could. As a Southern boy, people thought it was funny that I got excited when it snowed because it’s like rain to them.”

The next stop was WRCB, the NBC affiliate station in Chattanooga, Tenn., where Yakoubian spent six years and met the love of his life, his wife, Andria. It was also there that Yakoubian began to yearn for home and, with his wife’s blessing, began to scour the Arkansas market for jobs.

“I applied at every single TV station and got turned down by every single TV station,” he said. “Then Channel 7 had an opening, and I contacted Ned Perme, and he and I hit it off. I owe it to Ned pushing management hard to hire me.”

The rest of the story is largely history. Over the next 18 years, Yakoubian became one of the most well-known and best-liked local TV personalities. More than that, he was in-

herently trusted by viewers, especially during times of violent storms. He said he always felt the enormity of that responsibility.

“When you get into TV, you become a public figure after a little while. It’s just part of the whole thing, and I’m grateful for all that,” he said. “When people come up to me, they’ll say, ‘I didn’t want to bother you.’ I’m like, ‘You’re not bothering me. You’re the reason why I’m here. You’re the reason why I have a job. You’re watching. I’ve always been thankful for that.’

Yakoubian’s professional sabbatical allowed him to tinker around in unusual ways, including procuring a snow machine by which he created unique experiences in his backyard for friends and neighbors.

“I found a guy that makes snow machines. His product was actually part of a Showcase Showdown on The Price is Right many years ago,” he said. “I found him online and said, ‘I’ve got to reach out to this guy.’ I studied the art of snowmaking and the science of snowmaking, and it’s not that hard to do. It is the exact same thing the ski resorts do when they’re building a base but on a much smaller scale. All it requires is a garden hose and a couple of electric outlets.”

“I contacted him. He set me up with a snowmachine, and I made snow. I had days of snowmaking. If the conditions are right, I can make close to a foot of snow in a 24-hour period. The kids and all their friends have snow parties, and it is just like the real thing. My wife makes hot chocolate. The kids are cold, but they don’t care. Their parents bring them over, and there’s nothing in the front yard, and my backyard’s full of snow, and they’re having a snowball fight. It’s what we do. The kids love it.”

He also had time to ponder what his career has thus far taught him and how much he still wants to accomplish. Not unlike his old neighborhood, his is an existence for which last spring’s storms was the dividing line between how he saw what was and how he approaches what shall be. At writing, he does not know the exact date of his first broadcast, but as that inevitability approaches, he feels a strange crackling energy, like lightning under his feet. He cannot wait for the camera to come on.

“I just want my first broadcast at KARK to be as if my last broadcast was yesterday. I just want to pick up right where I left off and do what I was doing,” he said. “If I say the wrong call letters, it’s simply out of force of habit. It means absolutely nothing except my brain has been programmed for 18 years. In the past six months I’ve been reprogramming myself. It’s a different station, but that’s the only difference as far as my passion for the weather and my dedication to the weather.

“After March 31, things changed for me dramatically. I wouldn’t call it ‘celebrity,’ but something changed that day with the viewers and everybody that followed me. I can’t put my finger on it. My wife says, ‘Something happened that day that took you to a different level.’ To me, I was just doing what I’m supposed to do — warn people — but it hit close to home, and I’m thankful that people trusted me. I wish it didn’t ever happen, that tornado, but it did something, and I’m incredibly thankful for it.”

Over the years, Yakoubian has been a trusted source of news during weather events such as thunderstorms and tornadoes.

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.

SHERWOOD

245 Indian Bay Drive

Sherwood, AR 72120

Phone: 501.834.9960 Fax: 501.834.5644

This side of SEVEN

– By Jason Pederson

SHAME, SHAME, SHAME

If you have forgotten or never heard the name Justine Sacco, she would be thrilled.

Sacco will be remembered (by those who remember such things) as one of the earliest to experience life-altering consequences following a thoughtless or poorly worded post on social media. In late 2013, Sacco was taking a business trip when she shared a 12word message with her 170 followers on what was then Twitter: “Going to Africa. Hope I don’t get AIDS. Just kidding. I’m white!”

She boarded her 11-hour flight, and while she slept, her tweet went viral. One of her followers shared the tweet with a journalist, who retweeted it to his 15,000 followers. Smoke turned into a fire, and that fire turned into an inferno. By the time Sacco’s plane landed, she had been fired by her employer, and because her flight was so long, millions of people knew her fate before she did.

The social media mob had ruled against Sacco. She was a racist and deserved to be ruined, it said. No one cared what she was trying to say in her tweet, and no one asked. No one except British journalist and author Jon Ronson, who interviewed Sacco for his book, So You’ve Been Publicly Shamed.

“It was a joke about a situation that exists,” Sacco said in Ronson’s book. “It was a joke about a dire situation that does exist in post-apart-

heid South Africa that we don’t pay attention to. It was completely outrageous commentary on the disproportionate AIDS statistics. I wasn’t trying to raise awareness of AIDS or piss off the world or ruin my life. Living in America puts us in a bubble when it comes to what is going on in the world. I was making fun of that bubble.”

The problem was no one was laughing. Social media has a wonderful sense of humor until the torches are lit, and after a subject is consumed and destroyed, the search for a new target begins. There is not usually an appetite to revisit past outrage.

So You’ve Been Publicly Shamed by Jon Ronson details stories of public shaming.

“I’m 30 years old,” Sacco told Ronson. “I had a great career. If I don’t have a plan, if I don’t start making steps to reclaim my identity and remind myself of who I am on a daily basis, then I might lose myself. I’m single, so it’s not like I can date because we Google everyone we might date, so that’s been taken away from me too. How am I going to meet new people? What are they going to think of me?”

Ronson’s book is filled with such accounts. None of them are from Arkansas, but that does not mean there are not any examples here at home.

In 2018, Katina Jones was three weeks away from graduating from the Little Rock Police Academy when she was fired because of a Facebook post she had made eight years earlier, when she was 16. Jones had posted the lyrics to one of rapper Lil’ Wayne’s songs, which included a racial slur. Jones is Black, as is Lil’ Wayne, but the LRPD had no wiggle room since a white recruit, Brandon Schiefelbein, had just been fired for the same offense.

Schiefelbein had quoted comedian Kevin Hart in a Facebook post he made in 2013, when he was 19. The Little Rock Black Police Officers Association had demanded his firing after another recruit, Brandon Gurley, brought attention to Scheifelbein’s post. Then Gurley, who is Black, was fired, in part for doing the exact same thing — using racial slurs on Facebook years earlier.

Scheifelbein and Jones sued the LRPD and were awarded $25,000 each in a settlement (minus attorney’s fees) plus a notation in their files that each left due to resignation, rather than being fired.

Those examples involved Facebook posts that remained visible for years. Snapchat posts, or stories, are supposed to disappear in 24 hours, but stories can be screenshotted, saved and circulated. Jobs can still be lost. I have seen it happen.

I am not immune to stupid social media moments. Months before Sacco’s tweet and ill-fated flight, I made a misstep on Twitter, now X, of my own. When the wife of then-Razorback football coach Bret Bielema posted “#karma” after a loss by her husband’s former team, the Wisconsin Badgers, I took to Twitter. “Jen Bielema uses one word to describe a controversial Wisconsin loss: karma. Here are a few words: unnecessary, classless, move on. #WPS”

In my eyes, the Bielemas were in Arkansas now and should not be concerned with past grievances, but in the

eyes of many rabid Arkansas fans, I had called the first lady of Razorback football classless. Soon there was a torrent of tweets calling for KATV to fire me and calling for a station boycott. By the end of the day, Mike Waddell, senior associate athletic director at the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville, had called Channel 7’s general manager, Mark Rose. A short time later, I issued an apology on the platform, and as quickly as it had spun up, the social media storm subsided.

That is exactly what the late Jerry Digman told me would happen. I ran into Digman, a retired Arkansas State Trooper who I got to know when I worked in south Arkansas, right after I realized I was being targeted on social media. He could see I was troubled and asked what was wrong. I told him, and he chuckled.

“Once upon a time, I worked security detail for the Clintons when Bill was governor,” he said. “I don’t remember what the fuss was, but something was creating negative waves, and I asked Hillary if she was OK. She said, ‘Jerry, in three months, nobody will remember what this was all about. All they will remember is Bill and Hillary Clinton. Don’t sweat it. Things will be fine.’”

That night, I told my wife, Mary Carol, about what had transpired. She reminded me that the Bible has a lot to say about judging others. Matthew 7:1 is a good fit for the brave new world with 140-character limits and where it is so easy to share thoughts without thinking, stating, “Do not judge, so that you will not be judged.”

The goal of the people who attacked me, attacked Sacco and attack anyone who shares a controversial or stupid opinion is to shame them. You offered up a bad take, and you should be ashamed, they say. In fact, your employer should be ashamed that you work for them. Your family should be ashamed that you belong to them. Trust me, when you are the target of what is or at least feels like an online avalanche — shame, anxiety, dread, regret, confusion, fear — you feel it all.

Let me wrap up this shameful article with a few suggestions:

Be proactive. Examine and clean up your social media accounts.

Be kind online. Anonymity allows people to be cruel without consequence. There are many examples in Ronson’s book of individuals who could not handle the online onslaught and sadly chose to end, rather than rebuild, their lives.

Disregard. If nameless snipers are taking shots at you in cyberspace, ignore them (easier said than done, I know).

Disconnect. If you or your children are constantly checking social media to see what others are posting and saying, practice the discipline of daily periods of disconnecting.

Anchor yourself. Jobs can be lost and relationships can end, so build your identity around something with more permanency, something that can be taken out of schools, can be taken out of context, but cannot be taken out of you.”

JASON PEDERSON

For two decades, Jason Pederson served as KATV-Channel 7’s Seven On Your Side reporter. Now on the other “side” of his awardwinning time on the news, he now serves as deputy chief of community engagement for the Arkansas Department of Human Services. His perspective-filled and thought-provoking column, “This Side of Seven,” publishes exclusively in AY About You magazine monthly.

Columnist Jason Pederson’s social media shaming came in response to a post by Jen Bielema, wife of then-Razorback football coach Bret Bielema.

Lakewood Health and Rehab

offers skilled professional care in a supportive and compassionate atmosphere.

Lakewood Health and Rehab, LLC.

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. Call us to today to schedule your tour!

IN-HOUSE SPECIALTY SERVICES

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!

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

Lakewood Health & Rehab 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

Lakewood Health & Rehab 2323 McCain Blvd. North Little Rock

501.791.2323

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!

of The murders Mary Lee

By SARAH RUSSELL

In July 1981, a grand jury voted not to indict Mary Lee Orsini in the March murder of her husband, Ron. Crowding into her home to celebrate, the media and friends sipped cold champagne while Mary Lee remained in a hot clutch with some man. Clearly the widow had made short work of her grief.

The day after Ron’s body was found, the stranger arrived at her doorstep to help, he said. He was uniquely qualified; years earlier, Oklahoma police officers had found his third wife dead in their bed by overdose or strangulation — medical experts differed on the cause of death.

Jurors struggled too: First there was a mistrial, and then he was acquitted. Later moving to North Little Rock, that man, Dr. Charles Wulz, opened a veterinary clinic. Ironically, Ron had just done some work there.

A year later — March 1982 — Mary Lee still intrigued Wulz and the media. She told the latter she was writing a book, which held a smidgen of truth. As dependably as a daytime series, she churned out stories about threatening calls, attempted break-ins and stalking. That is right — Ron’s killer or killers were now after her, she said.

She was busy plotting her next chapter in life too. Friends, including a media gal pal, heard tales of a secret affair with Jim Guy Tucker, a married politician running for governor against Bill Clinton. In actuality, Tucker had to be briefed on who the woman was, and when she showed up at his campaign headquarters, ostensibly to volunteer, she was nicely shown the door.

Another tale was that her lover was her former attorney Bill McArthur, but Mary Lee Orsini was actually too late on that one. Years earlier, a feisty little Cajun named Alice had chosen him to be her husband, and for that, he was grateful. Without fail, Alice beat the heck out of him in sports, teased her golden boy about staying in line, and reminded him he worked for criminals.

McArthur preferred to keep a professional distance with his clients, and even though the widow Orsini kept showing up at his office, their

part two

business was finished, other than her unpaid legal fees. It was not all for naught, though; Orsini made good use of her new friendship with his assistant, who was enthralled by her stories of danger.

She also seemed to have another new friendship. At the time of her husband’s death, a tipster had insisted that Eugene “Yankee” Hall was involved. A middleman who dealt in stolen goods, Hall was not known for violence, Orsini had not reacted to his name during questioning, and his alibi checked out. Nevertheless, a year later, Hall was also in the widow’s bed.

Then one day, Orsini showed up at McArthur’s office, hysterical and covered in shards of glass. A man pulled up beside her car and shot at her, she alleged. McArthur called the North Little Rock Police Department, but, still focused as they were on solving her husband’s murder, the only thing the detectives wanted to hear from the raving “victim” was a confession. All she wanted to give them, on the other hand, was a year’s worth of unsubstantiated tales designed to draw attention away from herself. They passed.

With reluctance, McArthur called Tommy Robinson, Pulaski County Sheriff, who had a thirst for two things: becoming Arkansas governor and using the media to achieve that goal. Openly hostile to other law enforcement agencies, the sheriff did not like McArthur either, the latter having successfully defended two officers Robinson was found to have unjustly fired. However, Robinson jumped at the chance to snap up Orsini’s case, knowing she would be quite a media asset.

Soon, Alice McArthur would need the police, as well. On May 21, her car exploded when she turned on the ignition. As bomb jobs go, it was badly done, sparing her life, but fear had moved in with the McArthurs. It seemed unfathomable that Alice, a stay-at-home mom, was the target, and she firmly refused all pleas to go back to Louisiana for her safety. No, she said, she would not leave Bill. The McArthurs took precautions, and it began to look like they might be past the threat. Then, on July 2, Alice McArthur opened her front door for the last time.

Neighbors saw a man delivering flowers, but he brought death.

Though quick to respond, Little Rock police were stunned to find the Pulaski County Sheriff’s Department — Tommy Robinson’s team — already inside the home. Tempers flared when an LRPD officer accused a PCSD officer of tampering with evidence, namely a bouquet.

Hall’s fingerprints were on it. Larry McClendon, his ex-prison buddy, was supposed to have taken the bouquet with him after he killed Alice. The murder weapon belonged to Wulz. He never denied owning it, and it was not a crime to not report a missing gun. When questioned, Hall said Mary Lee stole it, or at least, that is what she told him, he said.

Why had the sheriff’s department had been on the scene at all, much less first? A possible conspiracy between Orsini and Robinson began to foment when it was revealed that Orsini did not have the payoff promised Hall and McClendon. If Robinson captured or killed the two men as they fled the scene of the murder of a prominent attorney’s wife, it would be a media coup. Many could see how Orsini and Robinson colluding together could benefit them both.

Those questions simmered even as headlines soon blared that Robinson had both suspects— McClendon and Hall— in his custody. However, Robinson could not make the evidence against Orsini disappear, political usefulness or not. She was remanded to his custody, though it seemed a mere technicality because the media soon discovered Orsini would routinely answer their calls to Robinson’s office.

Just as Orsini had manipulated Hall in the bedroom, Robinson conned him in the jailhouse. Assured that Robinson would pardon him when he became governor, Hall agreed to a plea deal, assuming that at the very least, he would parole out at some point. Only after he took the plea did Hall realize his was a life sentence with no possibility of parole.

McClendon, meanwhile, initially showed better instincts, stonewall ing Robinson and taking his chances in the courtroom. The gambit did not pay off ultimately, however, and Alice’s murderer was handed a 20year sentence.

On October 4, 1982, Orsini’s trial for her role in Alice’s murder be gan. Wulz testified in her defense, but in the year since Ron’s death, many others who supported her began to question just who this woman really was. The jurors seemed to have had no doubt, however, and the prosecution got their conviction in just four days.

Orsini ran one more Hail Mary play, insisting that Bill McArthur was not only her lover but also her co-conspirator in the murder of his wife. No one knows why she was so eager to hand Robinson a chance at payback to his attorney foil. Maybe she too thought Robinson would return the favor with a pardon after he was elected governor.

Either way, Robinson apparently thought he smelled blood in the water and arrested McArthur, only to have prosecutors drop the charges in mid-January 1983. Robinson whipped up the press with charges of cro nyism while he plotted his next move. During the Super Bowl halftime — with the media out in full force — Robinson very publicly rearrest ed McArthur. In February, McArthur was again cleared, after which time he sued Robinson for false arrest, winning a considerably sized settlement.

McArthur was not the only one unafraid of a fight. Tena ciously, the detectives of the North Little Rock Po lice Department had searched for the evidence need

ed in Ron Orsini’s murder case. A year after her conviction on Alice McArthur’s murder, prosecutors had what they needed to bring Mary Lee Orsini to trial. Jurors found her guilty of her husband’s murder, but in June 1985, the Arkansas Supreme Court overturned her conviction on a technicality. A retrial was possible, but by then everyone — media included — was weary of her, and she was left alone to serve out the life sentence handed down for the Alice McArthur murder.

As for the rest of the reluctant players in her long drama, Bill McArthur put his life back together as best he could in the wake of his wife’s death. Robinson became a three-term U.S. Congressman most notable for being the leader among legislators in writing bad checks. He was never elected governor. Hall died in prison.

Wulz later described Orsini’s life as a detective book you could not put away, something crime authors hoped was true. Her story morphed into three books: Mary Lee Orsini: Mother and Murderer by Timothy Avants; Widow’s Web by Gene Lyons; and Murder in Little Rock by Jan Meins.

Despite that much being written about Orsini, there are still questions. Both Alice McArthur and Ron Orsini were killed by a single bullet fired at the same angle. Was Hall involved in Ron’s murder, as the tipster suggested, or was Mary Lee the shooter? Money appeared to be the motive in the first case, but why kill Alice? Mary Lee ultimately told her fellow prisoners Bill McArthur was never her lover after all. He was, she said, totally unaware of her in the sexual sense.

Inevitably, Orsini found her way back into the spotlight. Every Christmas, the prisoners put on a holiday performance, and in that, she played the role of the angel. At the age of 55, Orsini died of a heart attack, and despite her earthly audition as an angel, it is unlikely that she made the final cut. She was, after all, poison dressed up in high heels.

Waterfalls

By Joe David Rice

Just what is it about waterfalls? Why do we find these natural curiosities so compelling? Why do we line up at observation points across the globe to take picture after picture of these geologic marvels? Do not look here for definitive answers, but here are a few thoughts I’m willing to share.

First off, the very spectacle of water tumbling pell-mell over a rocky ledge is exciting. The noise, the energy, the spray all make for invigorating experiences. Waterfalls provide a tangible reminder that our earth is not static, but ever-changing.

Waterfalls are refreshing, too, in the most literal sense of that word. They are cool, clean and smell like spring. The Madison Avenue wizards who craft commercials certainly recognize this, placing them in advertisements for everything from shampoo to cigarettes to resorts. I have sat in on tourism-oriented focus groups in several states, and it is amazing how waterfalls resonate with the traveling public.

Also, I suspect there is something subliminal going on with waterfalls. There is a distant connection between these cataracts and the days when civilization was not so far advanced, when we were much closer to these earthly processes in our daily lives.

Finally, there is a mystique associated with waterfalls that often ties in with suggestions of romance. After all, Niagara Falls was America’s honeymoon destination of choice for decades.

County: Do not let the gravel road worry you; the falls can even be viewed from one’s car.

4) Haw Creek Falls off Arkansas 123 in Pope County: Located next to an Ozark National Forest campground bearing the same name, the cascades are easy to reach.

5) Little Missouri Falls off Arkansas 369, north of Langley in Pike County: A special place in the Ouachita National Forest, the falls require a short walk.

Here in Arkansas, we are blessed with a surprising assortment of waterfalls, although their splendor varies considerably by season. Given the nature of the Arkansas climate, winter and spring months offer the best opportunities for enjoying these wonders. When countless billions of leaves in the Ouachitas and Ozarks are fully developed in late spring and summer, little rainfall is left for runoff because much of it is siphoned away by thirsty root systems and returned to the air via the transpiration process. Once-awesome waterfalls become mere trickles.

While Arkansas does not possess anything that can match Niagara or Yosemite Falls in sheer power or volume, we have a nice array of more intimate, less threatening cascades. Although some are hidden away in remote wilderness areas, many are within reach of those willing to expend even a little effort. Here is a baker’s dozen list of my favorites, ranked by ease of access:

1) Natural Dam Falls, west off Arkansas 59 in Crawford County: An exposed ledge blocking Lee Creek creates a picturesque drop which can be viewed from one’s vehicle.

2) Marble Falls, east off Arkansas 7 in Newton County: The pretty sight is visible from the right of way along this scenic highway.

3) Falling Water Falls next to Forest Service Road 1204 in Searcy

Cedar Falls

6) Bridal Veil Falls off Arkansas 107 south of Heber Springs in Cleburne County: Visit this site for a tall and picturesque drop.

7) Cossatot Falls north of US 278 between Umpire and Wickes in Howard County: When the stream is rolling, the falls are truly a remarkable sight.

8) Kings River Falls off Arkansas 16 north of Boston Madison County: An easy hike leads to a very photogenic cascade.

9) Eden Falls on the Lost Valley Trail at the Buffalo National River in Newton County: There is a bit of walk required — a little over a mile — but the trail is easy and well-marked, and the falls are impressive, especially when frozen.

10) Cedar Falls at Petit Jean State Park in Conway County: To see one of the most photographed waterfalls in the state, choose from the easy view from the overlook or the up-close-and-wet option via the steep trail leading to the base of the falls.

11) Hemmed-In Hollow Falls in the Ponca Wilderness by the Buffalo National River in Newton County: Accessible via canoe or several trails in the Ponca and Compton vicinity, this is easily the tallest waterfall in the state at 209 feet.

12) Twin Falls at Devil’s Fork off Arkansas 16, north of Ben Hur in Newton County: Park at the Richland Creek Campground and head upstream. Visitors will cross into Newton County about a mile into the hike. It is not for the timid, but this long and challenging hike has a big payoff in what may be the prettiest waterfalls in the state. The falls are roughly a quarter of a mile upstream from the confluence of Devil’s Fork and Richland Creek.

13) Richland Falls off Arkansas 16, north of Ben Hur in Newton County: An impressive drop spanning Richland Creek, this scenic spot is a short distance beyond the junction of Richland Creek and Devil’s Fork referenced above. The trip requires a demanding, all-day hike that may be worth the time and trouble.

For complete details on these and others, consult the Arkansas Waterfalls Guidebook by writer and photographer Tim Ernst. After determining a destination, readers can grab a camera and walking stick, and head for the hills.

Joe David Rice, former tourism director of the Arkansas Department of Parks, Heritage and Tourism, wrote 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 — a story 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.com and the University of Arkansas Press.

The Original Toughman Contest is set to return late summer

August 2 & 3 2024

FOR TICKETS OR ADVERTISING/SPONSORSHIP PACKAGES: 501-912-5218

Amr Ismail, MD

Conway Regional Multispecialty Clinic

More Specialists

High-Quality Pulmonology Care

Amr Ismail, MD, is a practicing pulmonologist at the Conway Regional Multispecialty Clinic with experience in diagnosis and treatment of conditions that affect the lungs, such as asthma, COPD, sleep apnea, and pneumonia. Conway Regional is also proud to offer an endobronchial ultrasound bronchoscopy procedure used to diagnose different types of lung disorders, inflammation, infections, and cancer.

Visit ConwayRegional.org to learn more.