Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Springdale Buzz
Onyx will be jewel of renovated building
Northwest Arkansans must truly love their coffee.
It feels like every week I am writing about a new cafe opening in the region — or an old one celebrating an anniversary.
Onyx Coffee Lab, headquartered in Rogers, announced this week in a news release that it will open a new location in the historic First Security Bank building located in downtown Springdale.
The release says that the coffee shop will occupy a portion of the 46,000 square feet of space located at 112 W. Emma Ave. The multiuse building will include retail, restaurant, residential and office spaces.
Construction on the new cafe will begin Sept. 1, according to the news release.
A $3 million renovation will provide the building with modern amenities while maintaining its mid-century modern charm and significant role in Springdale’s history, the release states.
Onyx Coffee Lab co-founders Jon and Andrea Allen are both Springdale natives. The two have opened Onyx locations in Bentonville, Fayetteville and Rogers.
“We knew that we wanted to bring a location to Springdale and decided that now is the time for Onyx to open in downtown Springdale,” says Andrea Allen. “Emma Avenue is always buzzing with activity, and we felt it was the perfect time to return to our roots.”
The focus at this Onyx location will be chocolate, according to the release. The entire bean-to-bar production facility will be fully open to customers inside the cafe to learn more about roasting cacao and the craft and art of developing single-origin chocolates from around the world.
Holy cacao, Batman! Coffee and chocolate? Now that’s a dynamic duo.
Black Apple Bash
Black Apple Hard Cider announced in a Facebook post that it’s back for a third year to take over the streets of downtown Springdale to celebrate its birthday festivities.
In various social media posts, the local brewery has invited the public to join them for its annual Black Apple Birthday Bash from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday.
Start the day off “crawling” through downtown Springdale with a Black Apple Day Passport. Each participating location will have a little something fun for you in order to get a signature or stamp before moving on to the next destination, according to the brewery’s social media accounts.
The first 50 to complete all the tasks gets a limited Black Apple Bash commemorative shirt.
You can now pick up your Black Apple Bash Passport at participating locations. Check or follow the brewery’s social media pages for more information.
Participation is free, and quite frankly, it might just be the most fun you can have on a Sunday.
Chicken Fry
The Arkansas River Valley’s Mount Nebo State Park has played host to the Mount Nebo Chicken Fry in Dardanelle since 1948.
Spanning from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m on Aug. 19, Tyson’s award-winning cooks and volunteers will prepare chicken strips, smoked chicken and all the fixins, according to the event’s Facebook page.
Folks are encouraged to bring lawn chairs and spend the day enjoying the food, live music and other events happening at the chicken fry, according to the Dardanelle Chamber of Commerce’s website.
Well, my interest is certainly beaked.
And now for something not totally food related that I thought was worth mentioning…
Mr. Burger site
If you aren’t aware by now, the former Mr. Burger site off Garland Avenue in Fayetteville was demolished not long ago.
As reported by the Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette’s own Stacy Ryburn earlier this week, a majority of planning commissioners supported some variances to city code for a planned Road Runner gas station on a portion of the former drive-in restaurant site.
“I understand a gas station is going to need these variances, but I believe there are a lot of other things that could be here,” Commissioner Mary Madden said.