Some trends that matter

It was a year that saw me return to full-time newspaper work after more than two decades away. That meant more time to travel the state in search of stories. I talked to people in every section of Arkansas, drove down highways I hadn’t been on in years, read local newspapers, listened to small-town radio stations, ate in long-forgotten restaurants and eavesdropped on conversations at adjacent tables in an attempt to determine what topics Arkansans were talking about in 2017.

I discerned several trends that, if they continue, will make Arkansas a better place to live. These trends weren’t the result of anything politicians at the local, state or federal levels did. They weren’t projects that the Arkansas Economic Development Commission announced. They didn’t make the front page of this newspaper. They were the result of the hard work of people across the state who were determined to make their communities better.

Here are four of those trends:

A FOCUS ON DOWNTOWN

For too long Arkansas was a place filled with communities that neglected their downtowns as businesses moved “out on the highway” or “out to the interstate.”

The small independent retailers that had been the heart of Main Street fell victim to big-box stores. Across Arkansas, there’s a refreshing interest in historic central business districts.

Hot Springs leads the way with almost 40 businesses having opened downtown in 2017. For the first time in more than half a century, construction is taking place across from Bathhouse Row. Additional announcements should follow in 2018. The key will be if Al Rajabi, the new owner of the Arlington Hotel, moves forward with a planned $30 million renovation of the landmark facility. If done well, a spruced-up Arlington might induce other developers to renovate large empty structures such as the Medical Arts Building, the Velda Rose Hotel and the Howe/DeSoto Hotel. With the only downtown business district in the country that’s intertwined with a national park, I believe Hot Springs has more untapped potential than any city its size in the country.

Progress downtown isn’t limited to the Spa City. I spent two days in northwest Arkansas with Daniel Hintz, the consultant I call the City Whisperer, exploring the amazing things happening in that corner of the state. Bentonville is becoming a national draw for those interested in the arts and dining out. There also are exciting things happening in downtown Fayetteville, Springdale, Rogers and Siloam Springs. It’s encouraging in a region where past growth too often was synonymous with suburban sprawl.

In the northeast quadrant of the state, Jonesboro has rediscovered its downtown as retailers, restaurateurs and others escape the traffic nightmares of Red Wolf Boulevard. The college towns of Arkadelphia, Batesville, Conway and Magnolia have developed charming downtown districts filled with shops and restaurants. Even Pine Bluff, long the poster child for neglected downtown districts, has projects on the drawing board that could prove transformative.

In Little Rock, downtown redevelopment holds the greatest economic promise in a city that has been relatively stagnant for years. The challenge for the capital city is to avoid developers who make grandiose announcements and then let empty buildings stay that way (Little Rock has a long sordid history of placing its hopes in developers who don’t follow through) and to get the Little Rock Police Department to battle the aggressive panhandling that hinders downtown revitalization efforts.

A RENEWED EMPHASIS ON CONSERVATION

Some of the top Arkansas heroes of the 20th century were people who organized efforts to preserve our state’s beauty and natural resources; people such as Dr. Neil Compton of Bentonville, the founder of the Ozark Society who led the fight to prevent a dam on the Buffalo River, and Dr. Rex Hancock of Stuttgart, who led the battle to prevent channelization of the Cache River.

Public concern about commercial hog-growing operations in the Buffalo River watershed appears to have ignited a new era of environmental activism in Arkansas, and that’s a good thing. Arkansas has become a Republican state politically. Let’s hope the new breed of Republican will be in the mode of the late Gov. Winthrop Rockefeller and the late U.S. Rep. John Paul Hammerschmidt when it comes to conservation. We should expect nothing less in a place that bills itself the Natural State.

AN INCREASED INTEREST IN ARKANSAS HISTORY AND TRADITIONS

I’ve long wished that Arkansans would exhibit the kind of fierce native pride that Texans have. I may get my wish. I see more people flying Arkansas flags and keep hearing stories about how tradition-rich Arkansas events such as the Hope Watermelon Festival, the Bradley County Pink Tomato Festival and the Wings Over the Prairie Festival at Stuttgart are seeing a resurgence in interest.

Hats off to Tom Dillard (whose columns on Arkansas history run in this section each Sunday) for founding the online Encyclopedia of Arkansas History & Culture years ago, and to Guy Lancaster and his staff at the Butler Center for Arkansas Studies for continuing to expand the encyclopedia’s offerings. It has sparked this interest in all things Arkansas. It even appears that something that seemed on its way to extinction just a year ago—the grand tradition of the University of Arkansas playing some football games in Little Rock—may now survive.

A DEEPER APPRECIATION OF TRADITIONAL ARKANSAS FOODS AND COOKING STYLES

Raise a toast to the Department of Arkansas Heritage for establishing the Arkansas Food Hall of Fame to celebrate a food tradition that too often has been ignored. In restaurants across the state, young chefs are insisting on locally produced vegetables, fruits, meats and cheeses while finding uses for heritage products such as the Arkansas Black apple. It’s more than a fad. I expect the demand for local food products to increase in 2018.