Santa’s Arkansas workshop
State’s artists, craftsmen, cooks make unique Christmas gifts easy to find.
Arkansas is like Santa Claus. Santa knows what everybody wants, and Arkansas has something for everybody.
Unlike Christmas elves, the state’s artists, craftsmen and cooks, wine- and merrymakers are easy to find. December’s events include a sockload of places to find and make unique gifts:
The Arkansas Craft Guild Christmas Showcase. More than 100 artists display their wares from jewelry and pottery to soap and candles, Friday through Dec. 6 at the Statehouse Convention Center, Little Rock. Details at arkansascraftguild.org. Call (870) 269-4120.
Hot Springs Gallery Walk. Most galleries are open with music and refreshments until 9 p.m. Friday, Hot Springs. Details at hotsprings.org. Call (501) 3212835.
The Little Craft Fair. It’s a big show of small crafts — jewelry, toys, ornaments, cookies — and dozens of crafters Friday and Saturday at Fayetteville Town Center, downtown Fayetteville. Details at thelittlecraftshow.com.
Holiday Art Sale — paintings, photography and crafts from a dozen artists, Friday through Dec. 6 at Studio 545, Fayetteville. Details at theholidayartsale.com. Call (479) 442-6541.
Historic Handmade Holidays old-time ornament making, 1-4 p.m. Saturday at Parkin Archeological State Park northeast of Forrest City. Details at arkansas.com. Call (870) 7552500.
Holiday Candle Making Workshop, 8-11 a.m. Dec. 12 at Davidsonville Historic State Park near Pocahontas. Details at arkansas.com. Call (870) 892-4708.
Basket Weaving, 9 a.m.-4 p.m. Dec. 12 at Toltec Mounds Archeological State Park near Scott. Details at arkansas.com. Call (501) 961-9442.
What to give the person who has everything? — a basket to keep it in.
SANTA’S HAUL IS NOT ALL FROM THE MALL
The new Outlets of Little Rock mall expands by dozens of stores the possibilities of shopping-mall selections amid the
dazzle of show windows. But sometimes, the perfect gift is waiting to be found elsewhere, outside the glow of Rudolph’s red-tag sale, such as:
Plantation Agriculture Museum, Scott, near Little Rock. The museum’s Holiday Crafts Open House, 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Dec. 19, bags gift shop discounts along with make-and-take crafts including old-time cotton boll angels and gilded walnut tree ornaments. Call (501) 961-1409.
The Arkansas Arts Center, Little Rock. Besides the Museum Shop’s array of art-related gift ideas, Santa could choose to give art lessons or Children’s Theatre tickets. Details at arkansasartscenter.org. Call (501) 372-4000.
The art center’s annual Collectors Show and Sale is through Jan. 3, and the next Children’s Theatre show, The Gingerbread Man, is Friday through Dec. 20.
Historic Arkansas Museum, Little Rock. Santa makes history with the Museum Store’s array of quilts, crafts and Arkansas-made snacks. Details at historicarkansas.org. Call (501) 324-9351.
Heifer International. Donations to this Little Rockbased charity go to provide livestock to needy families around the world. Heifer’s online Christmas catalog varies from $20 to give a flock of chicks in someone’s name, to $5,000 for the Gift Ark package that starts with two water buffalo and includes cows and bees. Details at heifer.org. Call (855) 948-6437.
River Market Books and Gifts in the Cox Creative Center, part of the Central Arkansas Library System’s campus, downtown Little Rock. Some of these “gently read” used books could pass for new, and who’s going to squeal on Santa for being thrifty? Details at cals.org. Call (501) 918-3093.
Museum of Discovery, Little Rock. The museum’s Explore Store is a lab of scienceand nature-oriented toys, games and experiments. Details at museumofdiscovery.org. Call (501) 396-7050.
Butler Center for Arkansas Studies, Little Rock. The center’s retail art gallery offers many a way to deck the walls. Details at butlercenter.org. Call (501) 320-5790.
The Clinton Museum Store, Little Rock — everything from $150 commemorative plates to “I Miss Bill” ball caps, all related to President Bill and Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton. Sales benefit the former Arkansas governor’s Clinton Foundation. Details at clintonmuseumstore.com. Call (501) 748-0400.
(In the interest of balanced political gift-giving, Republican candidate Donald Trump’s “Make America Great Again” caps are $25 at shop.donaldjtrump.com.)
Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, Bentonville. The museum store has books, art prints and jewelry, children’s books, puzzles — and a view of Louise Bourgeois’ giant spider sculpture, Maman, crouching in the courtyard just outside the shop. Details at crystalbridges.org. Call (479) 657-2310.
U.S. Marshals Museum, Fort Smith. The actual museum is yet to come, but Rooster Cogburn could shop with true grit online for T-shirts that show a frontier lawman with a wanted poster. Details at shop.usmarshalsmuseum.org.
Mid-America Science Museum, Hot Springs. This museum’s gift shop is the place to find a Nikola Tesla doll in honor of the inventor of the Tesla coil, the snap-and-crackle star exhibit of the Tesla Theatre. Details at midamericamuseum.org. Call (501) 767-3461.
The Daisy Airgun Museum, Rogers. While remembering when Daisys were made in Rogers, the museum also sells exactly what Ralphie wants from Santa in A Christmas Story: a genuine Red Ryder “cowboy carbine.” Details at daisymuseum.com. Call (479) 986-6873.
And Ralphie’s worried mom can find a selection of shooter’s safety glasses.
SANTA GOES BY THE BOOK AND BY THE LOOK
Some gift ideas look like Christmas, and some look like hams, wine bottles, books and comic books, but all of these come from Arkansas:
The 2015 Arkansas State Capitol holiday ornament. Available at the State Capitol Gift Shop or through the secretary of state’s office, this year’s $19.50 tree decoration shows the state flag. Ornaments from years past go back to 2004, a front view of the Capitol. Details at sos. arkansas.gov. Call (501) 6823593.
Barbecue sauce. Arkansas has practically as many different world’s best barbecue joints as spatters on a grill king’s apron, and it’s a shabby shack that doesn’t offer its signature sauce to go in a bottle.
Whole Hog Cafe — with locations around the state, including Little Rock, Fort Smith and Bentonville — ups the game with a six-pack of difference sauces, from No. 1 sweet classic to No. 6 mustard and vinegar, and not counting the seriously hot Volcano sauce they keep behind the counter. Details at wholehogcafe.com. Call (501) 664-5025.
McClard’s Bar-B-Q , Hot Springs, not only pours on the barbecue sauce, but also salsa and pepper sauce by the 12-bottle case. Details at mcclards.com. Call (501) 6239665.
The Modern Arkansas Table by Emily Van Zandt and Arshia Khan (Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, Arkansas Life). The state’s top chefs dish out their best recipes.
Oxford American magazine’s Georgia music issue, with a 25-song CD, is due on newsstands Tuesday. Based at the University of Central Arkansas in Conway, and with its South on Main restaurant in Little Rock, Oxford American covers the South like cream gravy.
The Incorruptibles. Little Rock novelist John Hornor Jacobs started writing stories set in Arkansas, only to wind up a literary luminary in England as a fantasy novelist. Jacobs’ The Incorruptibles was published by the British press, Gollancz, in 2014, ahead of the book’s American release.
So now, while the Colonies catch up on the first adventures of mercenaries Fisk and Shoe, the British already have cracked on to the sequel, Foreign Devils. (A “brutal, beautiful tale,” according to the London newspaper, Daily Mail.)
Arkansas Rice Depot, Little Rock. Sales of packaged rice pilaf, hoppin’ John and bean soup mix support this charity’s hunger relief program. Details at ricedepot.org. Call (501) 565-8855.
Wild Stars. Comics shop owner Michael Tierney not only sells the latest adventures of Batman, he writes and publishes his own line of comics — Wild Stars, a 40-year (so far) saga of “UFOs and Space Gods,” available at Collector’s Edition Comics in North Little Rock and The Comic Book Store in Little Rock. Details at thewildstars.com. Call (501) 227-9777.
New and recent at the usual book outlets for Arkansas comics fans:
Creating Comics as Journalism, Memoir and Nonfiction (Routledge) by Randy Duncan, Michael Ray Taylor and David Stoddard of Henderson State University in Arkadelphia.
Miles Taylor and the Golden Cape (Simon & Schuster) by Robert Venditti, illustrated by Dusty Higgins of Little Rock.
Funnybooks: The Improbable Glories of the Best American Comic Books (University of California) by Michael Barrier of Little Rock.
Diamonds. Dig up a chunk of ice that lasts forever at Crater of Diamonds State Park near Murfreesboro. Details at craterofdiamondsstatepark.com. Call (870) 285-3113.
Paul Simon sang about diamonds in the soles of his shoes, so why not diamonds in a Christmas sock?
SANTA’S VINTAGE VINEYARDS
Christmas is all about tradition, and some of Arkansas’ gift possibilities go back years and decades:
Arkansas wine. The state’s wine trail is mostly around Altus, where pioneering immigrants Jacob Post and Johann Wiederkehr put down roots — of grapevines, that is — in the 1800s, and people have been tasting and taking home Arkansas wines ever since.
More information is available at Wiederkehr Wine Cellars, wiederkehrwines.com, (479) 468-9463; and Post Familie Vineyards and Winery, postfamilie.com, (800) 275-8423.
The trail winds on to include the Mount Bethel and Chateau aux Arc wineries near Altus, Cowie Winery near Paris, Movie House Winery in Morrilton, Keels Creek Winery in Eureka Springs, Tontitown Winery, and more to uncork.
Juanita’s Candy Kitchen, Arkadelphia. Sure sign of a popular candy: They sell it by the bucket. The original Juanita started making her peanut, pecan and cashew brittles in 1974. Details at juanitascandykitchen.com. Call (870) 246-8542.
Burge’s smoked ham and turkey, Little Rock and Lewisville (south of Hope). Started 53 years ago with a smokehouse in Lewisville, today’s Burge’s website offers a 16-page catalog that extends to baby back ribs, smoked duck and the makings of a Southern breakfast. Details at smokedturkeys.com. Call (800) 921-4292.
Cotham’s hamburger seasoning from the restaurants in Scott and Little Rock. The old-time Cotham’s in Scott is the original home to the aptly named Hubcap Burger. The seasoning comes in a slim, 6.5-ounce jar. Details at cothams.com. Call (501) 961-9284.
Diamond Bear Brewing Co., North Little Rock. Besides beer, they sell glassware, T-shirts, caps, growlers and tap handles at the headquarters of this 15-year-old quaff. Details at diamondbear.com. Call (501) 708-2337.
Diamond Bear tapped a taste for craft beer in Arkansas, and the keg party goes on to include a foamy round of Lost 40, Stone’s Throw, Core, Saddlebock and a toast to more other brews than Santa could list and check twice.
Just possibly, the old boy would welcome a beer in place of milk with his cookie on Christmas Eve.
SANTA’S MOUSE STIRS
Today’s Santa not only knows how to slip down a chimney, he can enter a website, besides — and bag goodies including these:
Petitjeanmeats.com. Petit Jean is a longtime grocery store brand in Arkansas, but the Morrilton company’s website offers more than any meat counter this side of the North Pole — sausage and bacon samplers, and the $144.99 Ultimate Gift Box that includes half a spiral ham.
Etsy.com. The site specializes in handmade and craft goods, including Razorback Hog tree ornaments, fingernail decals and T-shirts with a map of Arkansas labeled, “Home.”
Amazon.com. Besides Arkansas-shaped cutting boards and Razorbacks T-shirts, the site offers a children’s book, Santa Claus Is Coming to Arkansas by Steve Smallman and Robert Dunn.
After all, Amazon’s idea of using airborne drones for package delivery is just what Santa has been doing all along, only with flying reindeer.