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October FEATURES
Views like this—the “Nars,” near Woolum—are abundant on our state’s thru-hiking trails. Photo and cover photo by Jeff Rose
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I N T H E P I NE S
THE ROAD LE SS TRAVE LE D
A Hot Springs photographer returns to his roots, only to find a place battered by time and economic forces— which is precisely what he’d been looking for
Thru-hiking is an exercise in immersion. It’s the brink, the limit. But most of all, it’s ready and waiting in our own backyard—you just need to take the first step
By Jordan P. Hickey Photography by Robbie Brindley
By Johnny Carrol Sain Photography by Jeff Rose
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October VOLUME 10, NO. 2
Front Porch
Life/Style
Table
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OPEN HOUSE Making the most of a home’s valley views
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30
HOW TO Keeping your succulents alive and well
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WELLNESS Grab a mat and take your yoga practice al fresco
86 CRAVINGS A moveable feast at the Main Street Food Truck Festival
FIVE THINGS FIRST
Rosanne Cash comes home, beer history, things that go boo in the night, a second life for theaters and spending the UA’s money
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PERSON OF INTEREST
Jennifer Gerber on films and festivals
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BIG DAM PHOTO
The speed of light
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FIRST TASTE Petit & Keet
88 THE FEED This month’s foodie forecast
Dispatches 49
FROM LITTLE ROCK Overcoming fears at the fair
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FROM BENTONVILLE Finding home, finally
Venture 91
WISH YOU WERE HERE
This is your next weekend getaway, trust us
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CULTURALIST Japanese bunnies and Harry Potter at the Symphony
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HOMETOWN Ding Dong
Dumas
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ONE TAKE Beauty in the
ordinary
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“I had asked Louis over to have a glass of wine one night, and he brought a bottle. Four or five bottles later, I just asked, Why don’t we do a restaurant together?” p. 81 OCTOBER 2017
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Editor’s Letter
S
o what if it was back up to 90 degrees two days later?
For one perfect moment in mid-September, it wasn’t. “Ooooh,” my toddler said as we opened the door to find a brisk breeze and a slight chill. “It’s cozy weather.” Later that evening, after a three-hour drive north with the Arkansas Life staff for an overnight stay at the Kings River Deck House (page 91), I pulled my well-loved green fleece out of my overnight bag. On the deck, Arshia squealed as she snapped a photo of a few red-tinged leaves peering out from the tangle of green. Wyndham gathered wood for the fire pit. A glass of red wine in hand, I stared into the clearest night sky I can remember seeing. Fall. Finally. It’s undoubtedly our finest season here in Arkansas—and, I’d argue, just about anywhere. For me, it’s also a season of renewal, which could be a bit of back-to-school nostalgia or just a response to the Earth’s pre-winter slowdown. The days are growing shorter, and
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Early fall in the Ozarks: cool enough to wear your cozy clothes, warm enough to wade into the crystal-clear Kings River.
it’s time to shed our summer idleness and make the most of them. It’s time to turn outward. Get moving. Try something new. And our cover story, “Over the River and Thru the Woods” (page 68), offers an opportunity and a challenge: conquering our state’s thru-hiking (aka long-distance hiking) trails. It may seem intimidating, long-distance hiking. There’s the gear, the preparation, the blisters, the bugs—to me, until working on this feature, it always seemed … overwhelming. Even unattainable. But now I know a 78-year-old they call Nimblewill Nomad (page 78) who disappears into the woods for months at a time with little more than a pair of trekking poles, a journal and a 6-pound pack. And he’d tell you that all it takes to get started is putting one foot in front of the other, whether it’s cozy weather or not.
Curiosities we discovered at the Kings River Deck House Carole King’s Tapestry is at its best on vinyl Trump: The Board Game, circa 1989, is a real and true thing Even grocery store banana-nut muffins taste divine with that view A three-fifths majority of the staff knows every single lyric to Tenacious D’s “Tribute” There’s no better way to start your day than with your toes in an Ozark stream
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Ark ans a s Lif e NATURALLY CURIOUS
EDITORIAL
“Bug spray. I want no part EEEBBFC EDITOR KATIE BRIDGES of the chiggers and ticks and CREATIVE DIRECTOR EMMA DEVINE other creepy-crawlies lurking SENIOR EDITOR JORDAN P. HICKEY around these parts.” ASSOCIATE EDITOR WYNDHAM WYETH —Katie Bridges PHOTOGRAPHER
ARSHIA KHAN
HBBBBeeeeeee “My top priority would be an ultralight Therm-A-Rest air SETH ELI BARLOW KATE COUGH mattress. I learned how vital TERRI ELDERS MARIAM MAKATSARIA being comfortable enough to JOHNNY CARROL SAIN sleep is when I bicycled from MELISSA TUCKER CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHERS Colorado to Missouri in 8 ROBBIE BRINDLEY 1/2 days some years ago.” BRANDON MARKIN COPY EDITOR
KAREN LASKEY
CONTRIBUTING WRITERS
“A baggie of Medjool dates. They are delicious, portable and full of life-saving energy, which I will need because I’m terrible at wilderness-ing.”
EEF>
RETT PEEK JEFF ROSE DYLAN YARBROUGH
—Karen Laskey
CONTRIBUTING ARTISTS
NIKKI DAWES
—Melissa Tucker
ADVERTISING SPECIAL SECTIONS MANAGER
WENDY MILLER
DIGITAL MARKETING MANAGER
KRISTIN BROWN
ADVERTISING ACCOUNT EXECUTIVE
OCTOBER 2017
SARAH DECLERK EMILY EDMISTEN LINDA GARNER-BUNCH CODY GRAVES SPENCER GRIFFIN LEANNE HUNTER
ADVERTORIAL DESIGNER
ADVERTISING DESIGNER
WESS DANIELS
ADVERTISING PHOTOGRAPHERS
WILLIAM HARVEY MATT JOHNSON Arkansas Life is published 12 times yearly by Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, Inc. PUBLISHER
WALTER E. HUSSMAN JR.
PRESIDENT/GENERAL MANAGER V.P./ADVERTISING V.P./CIRCULATION
—Wess Daniels
LYNN HAMILTON
SCOTT STINE
LARRY GRAHAM
NICHE PUBLICATIONS DIRECTOR
STACI MILLER FRANKLIN
RETAIL ADVERTISING DIRECTOR NICHE SALES DIRECTOR
dBBBBe “Retractable fishing pole. Most of the small creeks you cross on those trails don’t get fished very often, so they’re a nice place to cast a line.”
MARKETING & EVENTS DIRECTOR CIRCULATION MANAGER
ASHLEY FRAZIER
SLOANE GRELEN AMANDA COPLEY
JOHN BURNETT
121 East Capitol Ave., Little Rock, AR 72201 501.918.4505 | www.arkansaslife.com For subscription inquiries, please call 501.918.4555 For advertising inquiries, please call 501.244.4334
EBBBBBFC
You’re about to attempt one of Arkansas’ three main thru-hiking trails. What’s the first thing you pack? -
TWEEDIE MAYS
ADVERTORIAL WRITERS
“A preset navigation device. Otherwise, I would be on the phone with search and rescue explaining that I’m next to a big rock on a dirt path by the tree with no leaves.” —Ashley Frazier
Price per issue: $4.95
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Contributors
DYLAN YARBROUGH
MARIAM MAKATSARIA
Photographer who shot this month’s One Take (page 104)
Former Arkansas Life associate editor who wrote “Fancy Plants” (page 30) and “Namaste Outside” (page 33)
The moment you knew you wanted to be a photographer? I didn’t take photography seriously until the first time I saw Alec Soth’s series Sleeping by the Mississippi in 2013.
Longest that you’ve ever kept a house plant alive? I’ve had my oyster plant for about four years—and I’ve hauled it along with me to three states with completely different climates.
What catches your eye—like, every time? The simple things. I don’t like to romanticize life. I find beauty in subjects most people would overlook or take for granted.
NIKKI DAWES Graphic artist for the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette and freelance illustrator who illustrated “A la Cart” (page 86) and "You Need Only to Be Still" (page 52)
Favorite plant you’ve grown in Cali? My fiance, the amateur botanist, has been growing an orchard of exotic fig trees on our patio.
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California writer who relives getting “Hammered” on page 49
The biggest challenge of using Polaroid film? The color and tonal range in a Polaroid print can be fairly muted. It helps to look for scenes with dynamic lighting.
First step of any illustration? To stare blankly into the abyss and hope inspiration strikes in a timely manner.
Biggest gardening challenge? Discouraging my basil from bolting in the California heat is a nightmare. When basil flowers, its leaves become inedible—which means no caprese for dinner.
TERRI ELDERS
One thing people might not notice about the illustration? That it has been done digitally. I use a lot of digital brushes that mimic traditional media closely, such as chalk pastels and watercolor.
Very first memory of the fair? As a child I remember wondering if cotton candy was really made of cotton. They wouldn’t call it that if it wasn’t true, would they?
Strangest thing you’ve ever been asked to illustrate? I just recently illustrated a cheese wheel doing Tom Cruise’s famous scene from Risky Business. I laughed the entire time.
Preferred carnival diversion? When my son was little, he spent hours playing skee ball. Once, he even chose a lava lamp as a prize for me. Any plans for future adrenaline-fueled endeavors? Ever since The 5th Dimension made “Up, Up and Away,” 50 years ago, I’ve wanted to soar in a hot air balloon. Maybe my next birthday?
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MATHER LODGE, PETIT JEAN STATE PARK
QUEEN WILHELMINA STATE PARK
THE LODGE AT MOUNT MAGAZINE STATE PARK
DEGRAY LAKE RESORT STATE PARK
LAKE FORT SMITH STATE PARK
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OZARK FOLK CENTER STATE PARK
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WHAT YOU’LL BE TALKING ABOUT THIS MONTH
13 FIVE THINGS FIRST 21 PERSON OF INTEREST 22 BIG DAM PHOTO
FIVE THINGS FIRST
LAND OF PLENTY Rosanne Cash pays tribute to her father, and to the place that raised him
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H The 2017 Johnny Cash Heritage Festival will be held Oct. 19-21 in Dyess, featuring performances from Rosanne Cash, Kris Kristofferson, Joanne & Tommy Cash and Buddy Jewel. For more information, visit johnnycashheritagefestival.com.
THE TIES THAT BIND
“THE SUNKEN LANDS” Lyrics by Rosanne Cash Music by John Leventhal
Rosanne Cash on returning to her father’s boyhood home to perform the music it inspired
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Rosanne Cash takes the stage at the inaugural Johnny Cash Heritage Festival in Dyess this month, it’ll be in the very field where her father picked cotton as a child, adjacent to The Man in Black’s boyhood home. But when Rosanne started writing her song “The Sunken Lands,” named for the area of the Arkansas Delta surrounding Dyess, it wasn’t so much her father’s experience she was inspired by. It was her grandmother’s. We spoke to Rosanne ahead of her performance to find out how the song came to be, and what it will feel like to perform the tune on the land that inspired it. —ww
Five cans of paint and the empty fields And the dust reveals The children cry; the work never ends There’s not a single friend
hen
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Who will hold her hand In the sunken lands? The mud and tears melt the cotton bolls It’s a heavy toll Oooh oh His words are cruel and they sting like fire Like the devil’s choir Oooh oh But who will hold her hand In the sunken lands? The river rises and she sails away She could never stay Oooh oh Now her work is done in the sunken lands There’s five empty cans Arkansas Life
PHOTOGRAPHY BY CLAY PATRICK MCBRIDE
“T
he hero of the song is my g r a n d m o t h e r, Carrie Cash, who raised seven
children and picked cotton. She and my grandfather moved to the Sunken Lands in 1935—my dad was 3 years old—and were one of 500 families who had applied to receive a cottage and 40 acres and a mule and seed for planting, as part of the Works Progress Administration. You visit your parents’ childhood home, and it’s a bit like time travel, you know? And I particularly started wondering about my grandmother and thinking about her life and how hard her life was, and trying to find what it is in me that's as tenacious as she was. So there were a lot of layers of resonance for me—family, ancestry, the very geography, the music that came out of that part of the country, and also the history of the New Deal and the Works Progress Administration. The record The River & The Thread is full of geography and haunted places and places that connect to my own ancestry. In the past 3 1/2 years since the album’s been out, I’ve played the song “Money Road” in Mississippi at Dockery Farms just off Money Road, and I’ve played “When the Master Calls the Roll” in Virginia, and that song is set in the Civil War in Virginia. But I have not played “The Sunken Lands” in Dyess, and I think that is kind of the ultimate. It’s coming full circle. It’s the first song we wrote for the album. It’s one of the things that inspired the album, going there. So to finally bring it back for the first time—to play music in that field and play that song, I mean, that’s a kind of perfection, isn’t it?"
FIVE THINGS FIRST
TIME IN A BOTTLE
In a state where temperance all but dried us to the bone, the present-day brewing scene has proved both a cultural and economic boon. Scores of breweries. Millions of dollars. Lots of hangovers. Those have been the fruits of our sudsy renaissance. But it wasn’t always like this. For those who’ve ever wondered about the provenance of their pints, Brian Sorensen, a beer columnist with the Fayetteville Flyer, has charted the history of Arkansas brewing from its humble roots in the mid-1800s through the present day, profiling those good establishments that’ve driven us to drink. Here, a six pack of fun facts. —jph
A new book about Arkansas brews hops through history
The first piece of equipment purchased for Vino’s Brewpub in Little Rock? A 30-gallon kettle picked 1 up at auction from the Arkansas Department of Correction’s Cummins Unit in nearby Lee County.
On Nov. 17, 1901, the Arkansas Gazette described Little Rock Brewing & Ice Co.’s ale as “simply perfection. 2 It cannot be surpassed. It is not only pleasant, but wholesome, and is just the beverage for family use.”
Anyone who’s ever chanced to meet Stone’s Throw Brewing’s owner, Ian Beard, can probably say one 3 thing: Super interesting dude. But did you know the other partners in this Little Rock brewery include an architect, a private investigator and a pilot?
According to 19th-century records from the Supreme Court of Arkansas, Fort Smith brewer Joseph Noble “slept in the brewery, not, it seems, for want of room in his house, but 4 on account of the business, and because he did not live pleasantly with his wife.”
“Rose Schweikhart believes Superior Bathhouse is the only brewery in the world using thermal water to 5 brew,” Sorenson writes of the Hot Springs outfit. “The water comes into the building at 144 degrees and is potable, contains very little minerals and is essentially a blank canvas.”
Does beer make you smart? No idea. But Prestonrose Farm & Brewing Co. owners Liz and Mike Preston 6 were once a molecular biologist and a nuclear chemist, respectively. Just sayin’.
“ ARKANSAS BEER: AN INTOXICATING HISTORY BY BRIAN SORENSEN IS AVAILABLE FROM ARCADIA PUBLISHING. OCTOBER 2017
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ARE YOU AFRAID OF THE DARK(ANSAS)? Think you can handle all the spooky this state can throw at you? Let’s find out.
10/1 Download a walking map of the ghost town once known as Peppersauce Bottoms, which got its colorful nickname from the piquant moonshine once tossed back in the shanty taverns just east of Calico Rock. Then wander amid the 23 abandoned buildings, making sure to linger near the boarded-up funeral parlor.
+3 (Calico Rock; calicorocket. org/ghosttown)
10/7 Head over to the Arkansas Paranormal Expo and listen in as paranormal researchers Adrian and Tina Scalf discuss hauntings they’ve experienced at two of their Fort Smith homes. Rethink that creak in the attic.
+3 (Little Rock; arkansasparanormalexpo.com)
10/10 Watch the dead come to life at Mount Holly Cemetery’s annual Tales of the Crypt event, when actors from Parkview High School’s drama program take on the personas of those buried below. At night by candlelight.
+3 (Little Rock; mounthollycemetery.org)
10/13 Take the Crescent Hotel ghost tour—a 75-minute hunt for hotel haunts like “the ghost in the morgue” and the lady sporting Victorian lingerie in Room 3500—and then sleep with one eye open in your own guest room. (Bonus: It’s also Bluegrass Weekend, which isn’t scary.)
+10 (Eureka Springs; crescent-hotel.com)
10/14 Ever seen The Descent, that British horror flick about a spelunking expedition gone wrong? It’s pretty creepy. Ever seen The Descent on the big screen while underground in a cave, where, y’know, a spelunking expedition could very well go wrong? Ummm ...
+10 (Sulphur Springs; facebook. com/OldSpanishTreasureCave)
SPOOK US Know a good Arkansas ghost story? Been privy to something extra spooky? Share with us by using the hashtag #mydarkansaslife, and we’ll round ’em up for the website.
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FIVE THINGS FIRST
10/21
10/19
Voodoo dolls, an electric chair, Edgar Allen Poe’s inkwell, a family of taxidermied albino animals—all kinds of supernormal stuff’s on view at Maxwell Blade’s Odditorium and Curiosities Museum. Come for a peek at the mounted two-headed calf. Stay for the magic show.
Read up on the legend of the Dover Lights, then head to the hillside overlooking Big Piney Creek, just north of Dover. Try to explain away the mysterious flashes folks claim light up the valley at night. (P.S. It’s the darkest sky of the month.)
+3 (Hot Springs; maxwellblade.com)
+3 10/28 Take your oh-so rational fear of pitch-black woods up a notch at Devil’s Den State Park, where you’ll take a nighttime hike while listening to a haunted tale set in the park. Which just so happens to be smack in the middle of pretty much nowhere—it ain’t called Devil’s Den for nothing.
10/27 Get spooked on a boat in the middle of lake during the Haunted Waters Lake Tour at Lake Fort Smith. You’ll cruise the darkened waters, hear Ozark ghost stories and try your darnedest not to abandon ship.
+5
+5
(West Fork; arkansasstateparks.com/devilsden)
(Mountainburg; arkansasstateparks.com/lakefortsmith)
KEY 10/28
55-40: You are definitely not afraid of the Darkansas. Or, like, anything, apparently. Can we trickor-treat at your house??
Dine with the hosts (and ghosts) of The Allen House—known, in certain circles, as Arkansas’ most haunted residence—then spend time touring the Queen-Anne manse. (Read up on the house’s history in owner Mark Spencer’s A Haunted Love Story: The Ghosts of the Allen House.)
39-24: You are marginally afraid of the Darkansas. You’re likely the kind who checks into the Crescent … and then checks out two hours later. We don’t blame you. WE ARE YOU.
+10 (facebook.com/theallenhousemonticello)
23-0: You’re pretty much afraid of the Darkansas, friend. Put on your big-girl pants, and try again. OCTOBER 2017
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RIALTO THEATRE, EL DORADO
EBBBBBFD
Added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1986,the Rialto is set to become one of the principal anchors of downtown El Dorado’s new Murphy Arts District. Although the theater will be part of “Phase II,” the prospect of a $32 million renovation and programming that includes film festivals, traveling Broadway shows and the South Arkansas Symphony ought to be well worth the wait. THE MALCO THEATRE, HOT SPRINGS As of this writing, the theater is nearly ready to reopen, having undergone renovations for the better part of the past year. The effort is being led by magician Maxwell Blade, who purchased the theater in August 2016. (He’d previously shared the building with the Hot Springs Documentary Film Festival from 1996 until 2008.) The theater, which was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2010, will now be used for film screenings and Blade’s magic act.
RAISING THE CURTAIN These days, life’s returning to abandoned “movie palaces,” proving that, yes, the show must go on
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owadays, it’s not so easy to picture. Bleached by the sun, their colors faded, the people gone, the places once appropriately dubbed movie palaces are now largely lost, casualties several times over of the Great Depression, television, drive-in theaters, white flight and desegregation. Nowadays, in long-languishing downtowns, there’s not much to speak of worth anchoring. For a number of years, however, not long after the turn of the 20th century, movie palaces were all the rage, their rise paired with the advent of moving pictures and the decline of vaudeville. Between 1914 and 1920, for example, some 4,000 theaters were raised all across the country, their facades adorned heavy with overdone, cake-batter decor specifically directed toward the lower class. As Janna Jones writes in The Southern Movie Palace: Rise, Fall and Resurrection, “The 1920s movie palace design was regarded by critics as clownish; just garish enough to wow the aesthetically uneducated.” However, as Jones goes on to say, with renewed interest from preservationists in recent years—especially since the National Trust for Historic Preservation listed “Historic American Movie Theaters, Nationwide” as the most endangered historic place for the year 2001—this has changed. What’s more, as developers all across the country have increasingly turned their sights on downtowns—something discussed at length at a two-day summit hosted at the Winthrop Rockefeller Institute on Petit Jean Mountain in August—the once faded movie palace has again become the anchor and measure of local development, giving life again as the show goes on. —jph 18
THE APOLLO ON EMMA, SPRINGDALE After declining through the 1970s as the then-owner turned to X-rated films to stay afloat, the theater was closed in 1975 (obscenity charges followed as well). Efforts to use the space in the ’80s and ’90s were short-lived. The theater closed in 1995. Threatened with demolition in 2014, the theater was saved when Springdale natives Tom Lundstrum and Brian Moore purchased the building. After years of renovation, the space reopened as an events venue in August. RIALTO COMMUNITY ARTS CENTER, MORRILTON A full renovation was completed in 2000, and the Rialto reopened as a community arts center. For the past 17 years, the Rialto has hosted live events, becoming a central hub for the community.
Arkansas Life
ALEXANDER CALDER, ALUMINUM LEAVES, RED POST, 1941. PAINTED SHEET METAL, 60 3/4 X 40 3/4 X 42 1/2 IN. THE LIPMAN FAMILY FOUNDATION; LONG-TERM LOAN TO THE WHITNEY MUSEUM OF AMERICAN ART, NEW YORK T.1996.7. © 2017 CALDER FOUNDATION, NEW YORK / ARTISTS RIGHTS SOCIETY (ARS), NEW YORK. PHOTOGRAPH BY BRIAN KELLEY. ; ENTRANCE TO CRYSTAL BRIDGES, WITH YIELD, STAINLESS STEEL SCULPTURE BY ROXY PAINE; PHOTOGRAPHY BY DERO SANFORD. COURTESY OF CRYSTAL BRIDGES MUSEUM OF AMERICAN ART.
FIVE THINGS FIRST
FIRST CHAIR From 1950 to 1952, around the same time he designed the Fine Arts Center, Ed Stone partnered with fellow native son Sen. William Fulbright to produce a line of furniture that melded Stone’s modern aesthetic with the Fulbright family’s carpentry skills. We recently spotted a Stone-Fulbright bench on 1stdibs.com for the low, low price of $6,800. Chump change, no? Wouldn’t it be nice to see Stone’s building filled with his furniture?
PUNCH LIST
TENURE TRACK Artist Nick Cave is currently a professor at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. He’s also going to be the first to exhibit at The Momentary, the CBMAA-affiliated contemporary arts space in Bentonville. Think he'd be up for a visiting lectureship? For, y'know, the right price? Couldn't hurt to ask ...
$120 million is a lot of moolah, U of A School of Art. We’ll help you spend it.
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e have no doubt that, as University of Arkansas Chancellor John Steinmetz said in a press release announcing the Walton Family Foundation’s recent $120 million gift, “the newly endowed School of Art will transform the university and region into an international hub for the study of art.” After all, having received the largest amount of funding ever given to a U.S. university to support or establish a school of art, annnnd having a cozy relationship with Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, how could it not? While we’re excited about the new curriculum, we’re ecstatic that the Edward Durell Stonedesigned Fine Arts Center will be getting a much overdue reno. And since $120 million is sure to go a long way, here are some of our recommendations for the school’s reno. —kb
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CALDER THOSE HOGS Fun fact: The university owns seven site-specific mobiles by Alexander Calder, thanks to Stone’s relationship with the legendary artist. Why not add a few more Calders to the collection? This piece is currently being exhibited at The Whitney, but we’re sure they could be talked out of it. Also: It’s red.
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AMERICAN AS AN APPLE TREE The Fine Arts Center, in its current iteration, is built around a courtyard green space. Since one of the stated focuses of the new School of Art will be the study of American art, why don’t we take a page out of Crystal Bridges’ playbook and “plant” a big ol’ Roxy Paine sculpture in the middle of said green space?
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PERSON OF INTEREST
JENNIFER GERBER The Hot Springs Documentary Film Festival’s interim executive director steps into the spotlight By wyndham wyeth | Photography by john david pittman
ON FINDING FILM “When I first started film school, I think my family was very confused. They were like, You’re not a film person. But I’m a storyteller. So, I just found a way to do that with people in a way that’s really powerful.”
“If you’d asked me a year ago if I was to be doing this, I wouldn't have imagined it,” says Jennifer Gerber. After all, the Spa City native had spent more than 10 years working as a director in Chicago, New York and Los Angeles before returning home in 2013, immersing herself in the Arkansas film scene and teaching everything from production to screenwriting at the University of Central Arkansas. (Her first feature film, The Revival, which she produced alongside her students at UCA, debuted earlier this year in LA.) Turns out she’s a pretty quick study, though—this year’s Hot Springs Documentary Film Festival is slated to feature more world premieres than it ever has before, with appearances from industry legends such as Werner Herzog and Kathleen Turner. “The whole job just feels like I’m building all these cool experiences that I just can’t wait to share,” she says. “It’s almost like you go Christmas shopping, and you get that amazing gift for somebody, and you just can’t wait until you actually get to give it to them.”
ON FINDING HER ROOTS “At Columbia University, I started—honestly, for the first time—reconnecting to my roots because they’re very focused on writing personal stories that only you can tell. I was the only one from Arkansas, so I had something to talk about that no one else did.” ON STEPPING INTO HER NEW ROLE “I love it for the same reasons that I love making movies in Arkansas, which is there are really special and talented people here, and I get to show off the talent of this state to people that are coming.”
LIGHTNING ROUND: FAVORITE DOCUMENTARY? WERNER HERZOG’S GRIZZLY MAN GUILTY PLEASURE FILM? STRICTLY BALLROOM. WHENEVER I NEED TO FEEL GOOD, I PUT THAT MOVIE ON. DREAM ACTOR YOU’D LOVE TO WORK WITH? KATHY BATES
ON WORLD PREMIERES “There’s nothing like getting to screen a movie that’s never been screened before. There’s just something very special [about that]. And for filmmakers, it’s the first time to see it with an audience that’s not their own friends and family. You only get that once.”
DIRECTOR YOU’D MOST LIKE TO HAVE DINNER WITH? DARREN ARONOFSKY FAVORITE THEATER SNACK? MILK DUDS! THAT’S MY THING BECAUSE I FEEL LIKE THEY LAST THE WHOLE MOVIE.
< Join Jennifer at the 26th annual Hot Spring’s Documentary Film Festival Oct. 6-15, hosted by the historic Arlington Resort Hotel & Spa in downtown Hot Springs. OCTOBER 2017
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BIG DAM PHOTO
IF YOU'RE NOT FIRST ... Photography by Brandon Markin
Frozen in time here, the race car circling the hard-packed dirt oval at the I-30 Speedway in southwest Little Rock is rendered inert—captured, if you will. The photographer’s shutter locks in place the rays of sunlight as they flare over the lens while the horizon and treeline in the background are cemented in a blur. But despite the stillness, the image feels alive, characterized by an overwhelming sense of speed. You can practically feel the vibration of the air as the car zooms by, almost smell the mix of gasoline, rubber and dirt on the air. The driver is seen in silhouette while their opponents are lost outside the frame. It’s impossible to say who’ll get there first. —ww OCTOBER 2017
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LIVING WELL IN THE NATURAL STATE
25 OPEN HOUSE 30 HOW TO 33 WELLNESS
OPEN HOUSE
IN PLAIN VIEW The Taggart Design Group designs a dream home on a dream lot, high above the pines of Pinnacle Valley By Katie Bridges Photography by Rett Peek
CALLING THIS A TREEHOUSE WOULDNâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;T BE FAR FROM THE TRUTH.
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The two-sided fireplace just looks like concrete— it’s actually a faux finish applied by Phinality Designs.
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ou can see it peeking through the pines. As you turn off Pinnacle Valley Road, winding up the hillside to the top of the ridge, it starts to reveal itself: a sweeping view of the River Valley below, and Pinnacle Mountain beyond. Up and up and up you climb, pinching yourself that you’re still in Little Rock and not, like, in the Sierras.
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Arkansas Life
OPEN HOUSE
That sounds like an exaggeration. It’s not. It was the view that sold homeowners Kevin and Dana Compton on the lot, and the view that dictated every aspect of the home’s design, says architect Burt Taggart Sr. (Well, that and the lot’s 200foot drop, he’ll tell you with a grin.) The Comptons’ only requirement? “A curved roof,” Dana says, casting a glance up at the barrel vault ceiling, some 16 feet above. To her right, silent behind a floor-to-ceiling wall of glass, a 20-foot waterfall cascades down sculptural rectangles of concrete and stone; to her left, the snaking spine of the Arkansas River and rolling green hills far as the eye can see. Walking through the space, through the airy open-concept main floor and down the stairs to the darker, moodier family room and guest quarters, your eye is continually drawn to those hills, or to that water feature out front. In each room, the view is the first thing noticed, thanks in no small part to the minimalist palette and carefully considered furnishings chosen by Burt’s daughter, interior designer Whitney Phelps. It was the first project the two had worked on together, and their collaboration shows—the interior finishes pick up where the bones of the place leave off, and both work in concert to bring the outdoors in. The palette is creams and grays and honey-toned woods, but green surrounds you, a blanket of color. “It’s not something that says, Take a look at me,” Burt says of the design as he stands near the wall of windows, arms crossed across his chest, taking it all in. “But when you’re in the space, things that didn’t stand out begin to start standing out. It’s not like it doesn’t have a lot going on—it’s just that it’s not screaming at you. It’s quiet.” OCTOBER 2017
THE MAIN LIVING SPACE “The idea was to use a limited material palette, because what we were trying to do was create this seamless kind of environment,” Burt says of the main level, which includes the master suite and an open-concept living/dining/kitchen space. Sculptural forms—the curved ceiling, the faux-concrete fireplace—play off the space’s spareness, as do the curated furnishings. A handful of eye-catching signature pieces, such as the Pierre Paulin ribbon chair and the onyx geode dining table, catch the eye without taking away from the focal point: the view. In the kitchen, riff-cut oak cabinets and minimalist quartz counters were chosen, as Burt says, for their “quietness.”
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“It weighs a ton,” says designer Whitney Phelps of the geode dining table. And she means that literally. “It’s so beautiful I didn’t want to put chairs around it!”
Arkansas Life
THE MASTER SUITE
RESOURCES ARCHITECT: Taggart Design Group CONTRACTOR: Taggart Design & Build CONSTRUCTION SUPERVISOR: Paul Word INTERIOR DESIGNER: Whitney Phelps LANDSCAPE ARCHITECT: Frank Riggins STRUCTURAL ENGINEER: Glenn Lewis
The limited material palette continues in the master suite, where elements from the exterior work their way inside, as with the sustainably sourced red grandis wood in the bathroom. The riff-cut oak carries over from the kitchen into the bathroom and even onto the master bed, which Burt designed specifically for the space. Grays and whites were chosen for the linens and furnishings so as not to interrupt the flow or distract from the view. “I was so wanting to respect my dad’s architecture,” Whitney says. “I wanted it to be pretty, but be a complement to nature.”
ROOFING: Riley Hayes WINDOWS: Staley Glass FLOORING: Gabriel Zlibut CARPENTRY: Harlan Glover CABINETRY: Claflin Custom Cabinets COUNTERTOPS: Inside Effects FIREPLACE TEXTURE: Phinality Design LIGHT FIXTURES: Light Innovations
“Thinking back, I must have been inspired by Crystal Bridges,” says Dana of the curved roof she requested. OCTOBER 2017
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OPEN HOUSE
THE DOWNSTAIRS “Both the waterfall and the view take on a different feel 10 feet down,” Burt says, referring to the lower level’s family room and guest suites. It’s a darker, moodier space, one that enjoys a sweeping view of the water feature. The family room also functions as a movie room, with an attached wet bar and room-darkening shades. Windows in both guest rooms frame the valley views. “We captured every view we could,” Burt says.
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FIDDLE-LEAF FIG The fiddle-leaf fig’s claim to fame might be its lush, violin-shaped leaves, but it’s also the fact that this humble tree tends to thrive indoors. “But it’s really finicky,” says Shannon. “It’s the one that I have people come in with most questions about.” Overeager customers tend to water the plant too much, which leads to death by root rot. “If you have a saucer that sits under the pot, elevate the pot with rocks,” Shannon says, explaining that it’ll help water seep out of the drainage holes easily. Not only will that help water drain faster, she says, but it’ll also create ambient humidity perfect for tropical plants.
JADE This stout, miniature-treelike plant is a succulent, which means that it’s a sturdy, water-storing varietal that is—bonus!—easy to care for. “That’s one of my favorite plants,” Shannon says, noting that when the jade’s fleshy, shiny leaves start to lose their luster, she knows it’s time to water her other succulents. Because jade plants love keeping their feet dry, it’s important not to go crazy with the watering can. To whip up a fast-draining soil mixture the plant would thrive in, Shannon takes a block of coconut fiber and lets it soak in water. When the block expands to five times its size, she cuts it with perlite and some rocks. “Perlite acts as air pockets within the soil,” she says. “That way, the soil doesn’t get too compact and crush the roots and stay wet. It lets it dry out.”
HOW TO
FANCY PLANTS Although October is a far cry from ‘winter’ in Arkansas, it’s still time to turn over a new leaf and focus on our indoor gardens
HAWORTHIA These slow-growing succulent clusters are excellent accent plants, primarily because they’re small and unfussy. Growing in a rosette form, their leaves are thick, fleshy and striped with pearllike dots. “People think that they need the brightest light possible, but they can actually get sunburned,” Shannon says. “So they are pretty good indoor plants behind a window when they are not getting scorched.” Much like other succulents, they demand a fastdraining soil mixed with sand, and ample time between waterings.
By Mariam Makatsaria | Photography by Arshia Khan
A
ll it takes is a scroll through Instagram or a perusal of Pinterest to know that indoor plants are The Thing these days. Walls of air plants. Succulent centerpieces. Enough fiddle-leaf figs to fill a forest. Sadly, though, many a good plant has withered and died in the hands of a rookie botanist striving to be au courant. Plants are often tucked away in dark corners, potted in the wrong soil mixtures or simply overwatered. Which is why, to help us pick the right (read: hardest to kill) plants for our indoor gardens, we turned to one of the best in the business. Shannon Tipton, co-owner of Electric Ghost—a purveyor of a pretty incredible collection of tropical plants, succulents and cacti, among other things—shares some of her tips and tricks for welcoming our new roommates into comfortable, cozy homes. Because when it comes to thumbs, they don’t get greener than hers. OCTOBER 2017
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MONSTERA Growing long and tall stalks, monsteras, often called “Swiss cheese plants,” can be striking—a pop of the tropics in a living room— and their bloom is theatrical. Over the course of two days, when new buds appear, they unfurl in a spiral form into leaves and change color from lime to dark green. The trick with monsteras is to give them just the right amount of water. They are fond of light and even produce a fruit shaped like an ear of corn. “It takes a lot of light to get them to produce that,” says Shannon. “It’s possible, but difficult.”
DEVIL’S IVY The Devil’s Ivy, with its heartshaped leaves and vinelike stems, is a smart fellow. It can be trained to climb walls and wrap around things such as curtain rods. And because these plants are suckers for humidity, Pinterest-ers have been using Devil’s Ivy to decorate showers—a trend called “green bathrooms.” Although the plants are shade lovers, it all boils down to preference. “If you grow them in bright, indirect light, they become a little more yellow,” she says. “Leaving them in low light, they get more of a dark-green color.”
BROMELIADS Among indoor plants that produce a colorful, dramatic flower is the bromeliad, whose sword-shaped leaves fan out around a central tube. (In its natural habitat, the bromeliad uses its tube as a cup to collect rainwater.) When its bloom cycle comes to an end, the mother plant wilts and dies, but not without leaving behind offsets for us to propagate. Since plants like bromeliads absorb oxygen through their leaves, spraying them with water helps wash away dust, creates ambient humidity and keeps them cozy. Arkansas Life
EBBBBBBC INSIDE SCOOP Tips from Shannon on keeping houseplants happy WATERING “I put my finger in the soil, and if it feels dr y and powder y, then I water the plant. For tropicals, it’s about a knuckle deep. For cacti and succulents, about two knuckles. Make sure to cut back water during their dormant period in the fall and winter. Since they’re not growing as much, they’re not using as much water, so they tend to sit in it more. Also, I like to fill up my water pitcher 24 hours before I need to water and let it sit out overnight so the chlorine evaporates.” CHOOSING SOIL “I go with soil from a garden center; then I just cut it with some things that I like—different barks, mulches, perlites. They allow for a better drainage. Since the plants are inside, you want to make sure the soil has adequate time to dr y out between waterings. You don’t want the roots to sit in moist soil.” POTTING “Getting a pot without drainage holes is just setting yourself up for failure. A lot of the times, if [the pots] are ceramic, you can drill your own holes. Also, since repotting can be traumatizing, when picking a pot, make sure the plant will have enough room to grow. Add about 2 inches to the circumference of the plant.” FERTILIZING “You don’t want to fertilize until spring and summer. We use Superthrive for our cacti and succulents, as well as Jump Start, which you can get at Good Earth.” ADJUSTING “A lot of plants have an adjustment period. This is especially true with the fiddle-leaf fig. When they buy one and bring it home, people think they’ve killed it immediately. But it’s really just adjusting! It takes about three months to adjust to your schedule, your humidity and your light.”
Electric Ghost’s Shannon Tipton? She’s Little Rock’s resident houseplant whisperer.
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Arkansas Life
WELLNESS
NAMASTE OUTSIDE Because it’s too beautiful this season to be stuck in the studio By Mariam Makatsaria | Photography by Jeff Rose
FOR EARLY RISERS (OR LATE NIGHTERS)
Fayettechill’s Yoga Adventure Series with Yoga Deza | Oct. 6 & Nov. 4 We can’t think of a better time to salute the sun than when it peeks its head out from the horizon at the break of dawn. After a short hike along Devil’s Den’s Yellow Rock Trail on Oct. 6, the folks behind Yoga Deza will lead you in an hour-long class on an overlook. Not a morning person? Opt for the moonrise class held under a starlit sky on the evening of the full “Beaver Moon” on Nov. 4. (fayettechill.com)
FOR YOGA ON CLOUD WINE
Vinyasa & Vino with Yoga Story at Ramo d’Olivo | Oct. 26
F
or the 20 years she’s been practicing yoga, Stephani Jungmeyer hasn’t shied away from the elements. She’s taught in the rain. She’s watched two dozen yogis bend into downdogs before lightning alerted her of an approaching storm. Forehead coated with a sheen of sweat, she’s even led a class through a daunting sequence of 108 sun salutations on a sweltering midsummer afternoon. Sure, nature’s unpredictable and sometimes a little challenging, but Stephani says it provides a more comforting and less intimidating environment than an indoor studio space— especially for folks trying out yoga for the first time. “I love teaching classes outside because it helps people tune in to their bodies and nature more, instead of thinking about, Am I doing this correctly? Or Am I doing this pose as well as that person?” she says. When OCTOBER 2017
she’s not teaching at Trailside Yoga, a Fayetteville yoga studio she opened almost three years ago, Stephani takes full advantage of her Mount Sequoyah home’s deck, which faces the woods. A few days a week, she steps outside, unfurls her mat and sinks into a meditation. “It wakes up all of your senses. You breathe deeper, and you’re much more aware of the fresh air,” she says. “I get to hear the birds, the trees rustling.” Occasionally, she’ll even take her om into the wild and make the trip out to the Buffalo River. She’ll find a spot with a good view—of the limestone bluffs, the elk grazing in the field, the fall foliage reflecting off the water—and allow nature to lull her into a state of complete relaxation. But if you’re the kind of yogi who prefers to find your flow in the company of others, or someone who needs some hand-holding when it comes to poses, we’ve compiled a list of yoga classes taking place outdoors this leafpeeping season—perfect for getting in shape, or just getting your head together. Trailside Yoga hosts a variety of outdoor yoga sessions throughout the year, including several monthly classes at the Botanical Garden of the Ozarks, a Yoga Festival in May and a float trip called Yoga on the River in June. Check trailsideyoga.com for updates.
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When it comes to inner peace, there’s nothing that’ll help us find it faster than a glass of merlot after a rejuvenating Vinyasa (a style of yoga that relies on coordinating breath and movement). Hosted at Ramo d’Olivo’s wine garden in Bentonville, this Oct. 26 class is open to beginner, intermediate and advanced yogis who like to wine after unwinding. (yogastory.info)
FOR A SWEATFEST AT THE FOOT OF THE ATHENIAN ACROPOLIS (KINDA) Yoga at the U of A’s Greek Theater with YogaGypsy | Oct. 28
Realign your chakras at a replica of the Theatre of Dionysus, built in 1930 and gifted to the U of A that same year. Instructors from YogaGypsy will lead an hour-long class on Oct. 28, focusing on meditation and synchronizing breath and movement. We were assured it’s 100-percent beginner friendly—and also free. (yogagypsy.com)
FOR A WORKOUT WITH A VIEW
Yoga on the Mountain with Power Yoga Retreats | Nov. 10 & 12 Fayetteville-based Power Yoga Retreats hosts mat sessions in far-flung locales like Mexico and Costa Rica. And while those escapes sure sound enticing, Mount Magazine is an awful lot closer to home—and stunningly beautiful, to boot. Soaking in the bird’s-eye view of the valley from your mat is all you need to perfect the art of oneness. (poweryogaretreats.com)
Arkansas Life
S P E C I A L A DV E RT I S I N G S E C T I O N
SPECIAL ADVERTISING SECTION
DESIGNER PROF I L ES
SPECIAL ADVERTISING SECTION
DESIGNER PROFILES
WHITE GOAT
MORE THAN MORTAR Decor and design shop doubles as teaching studio
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hite Goat is more than just an interior-design and home-decor shop. While boasting eclectic decora-
tive items, furnishings and accessories, customers soon discover that White Goat is also an art studio and classroom where they can learn to bring life to pieces they already own.
But art isn’t the only thing on which owners Adam Smith and Allison Santos focus. Since Santos joined the store in 2016, they have thrived in the fun and artistic atmosphere they have created at White Goat. “I want customers to feel as if they are a friend of White Goat,” Smith says. “Our favorite part of this business is interacting with clients who love the uncommon approach to design. It’s important that they feel well attended to while visiting with one of us.” Among the unique items in the shop are Annie Sloan chalk paint, Hillhouse naturals fragrances, Zeugma lighting, Capri Blue candles and Jeffan
“I WANT CUSTOMERS TO FEEL AS IF THEY ARE A FRIEND OF WHITE GOAT.” — ADAM SMITH, CO-OWNER O F W H I T E G O AT
home products. Original art by local artists Lauren Meredith, Sandy Newberg, Shelley Gentry, Lauryn Smith, Carol Boswell, Vonda Rainey and others can be found in the store. Classes taught by highly skilled artists are offered through the website to learn the art of upcycling furniture, how to use chalk paint and other projects. Painting services are also offered for customers who want furniture painted and updated. White Goat is the ideal interior-design and home-decor shop for seasonal gifts while also offering superb items for babies and children, fabulous works of art, original pieces and even paint and supplies for that artist in the family that likes to create works of his or her own. The store even offers an abundance of lighting options to lift your cozy room to the next level with a luxurious table lamp. With unique pieces made of nearly any medium, customers can find what they are looking for, especially in the realm of furniture, accessories and art, at White Goat, and nowhere else.
ONE-OF-A-KIND PIECES WITH A COZY FEEL
F O R M O R E I N F O R M AT I O N , V I S I T W H I T E G O AT S T Y L E . C O M
SPECIAL ADVERTISING SECTION
DESIGNER PROFILES
ART OF DESIGN
PIECES THAT FIT Finding the right thing for every space
I
t’s all too common that a customer browses a store and finds “the piece,” yet it doesn’t fit anywhere.
While some fail to see the bigger picture, designer Sha Davari, owner of Art of Design, takes the time to match colors, styles and sizes of each piece specifically to the home of her client.
“I always try to get input from my clients on how they want to use the space,” Davari says. “I get feedback—they show me a few pictures of things they like; then I take my design plan from there.” Davari also assesses the clients’ needs through their lifestyle, such as if they have pets or children, and takes their day-to-day activities into consideration when choosing colors and fabrics. Davari prides herself on
“FURNITURE IS SO MUCH MORE THAN ‘I LIKE THIS PIECE.’ IT’S HOW ALL THE PIECES WORK IN THE ROOM TOGETHER.” — S H A D AVA R I , O W N E R O F ART OF DESIGN
only picking the items that are necessary and a perfect fit for the client’s space. “I won’t let [the client] buy the wrong thing,” she says. “Furniture is so much more than ‘I like this piece.’ It’s how all the pieces work in the room together. While you like a certain piece, if it doesn’t fit with how the room needs to work, it’s money not well spent.” Not only does she handle every detail of the room; her goal is to make her clients’ spaces feel beautiful, comfortable and functional. Davari does not have a design fee and only charges for installation. “When we come to do installation, the client gets to come home to a totally completed room,” she added. “They then can evaluate the space and feel comfortable about their purchases.” Art of Design is located at 2212 N. Cantrell Road in Little Rock.
SHA DAVARI, OWNER OF ART OF DESIGN, LOVES MIXING CLASSIC AND CONTEMPORARY PIECES
F O R M O R E I N F O R M AT I O N , V I S I T S H A D AVA R I . C O M
SPECIAL ADVERTISING SECTION
DESIGNER PROFILES
SANDY SUTTON’S DESIGN CENTER
A LIFETIME OF STYLE Hot Springs designer builds long-lasting relationships through work
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ith more than 32 years of professional experience, Sandy Sutton, the owner of Sandy Sutton’s Design
Center in Hot Springs, has built her business through the friendships she has made with her clients. Raised in an artistic environment that was filled with ballet, jazz and fashion, Sutton says she found herself drawn to the field of interior design. She says she enjoys working with a wide variety of clients who make each day different and exciting.
“I love that I’m never sitting at a desk doing paperwork,” she says. “I’m interacting, always.” Sutton’s business focuses on residential interior design, but she also does work in the commercial, hospitality and health care industries. To gain inspiration for a new client, Sutton says, it’s important to be a good listener and really understand who her clients are and what they want. “I want to give my clients a little more than they dreamed
I WANT TO GIVE MY CLIENTS MORE THAN THEY DREAMED THEY COULD HAVE. — SANDY SUTTON, OWNER OF SANDY SUTTON’S DESIGN CENTER
they could have,” she says. Sutton’s assistant designer, Kim Edmonds, has worked with Sutton for the past year. Edmonds uses computer rendering to help clients get an idea of what the space could look like, including wall colors, fabrics, rugs, furnishings and more. Sutton says the computer designs help relieve client stress and make the process much easier for clients. For her main design philosophy, Sutton said she wants her clients to “Dwell. Well.” This means her designs are based on purpose and function while still expressing the owner’s unique personality. Her style of design requires research, passion, knowledge and decades of experience, she says. Sutton says that what she enjoys most about her career is that it remains vibrant. Every day is different, and she can do her job for as long as she wants. “I’m grateful for every day,” she says.
BEAUTIFUL AND FUNCTIONAL HOME INTERIORS
F O R M O R E I N F O R M AT I O N , V I S I T S A N D Y S U T T O N D E S I G N S . C O M
SPECIAL ADVERTISING SECTION
DESIGNER PROFILES
OBSESSIONS INTERIORS
BEAUTIFUL ABODES Little Rock designer offers inspired designs, fantastic living spaces.
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or the home or the office, one interior designer has a desire to create beautiful spaces. Barbara Fryxell, the
owner of Obsessions Interiors in Little Rock, brings joy to her clients with hand-picked merchandise and a unique eye for interiors.
“I enjoy the challenge of creating an original setting for each room and each customer’s needs,” she says. In addition to her design services, Fryxell operates a retail location in west Little Rock at 14300 Cantrell Road. With more than 6,000 square feet, Obsessions Interiors contains a collection of items from across the United States. Whether a customer’s taste is causal, cutting-edge or traditional, the shop has
“I ENJOY THE CHALLENGE OF CREATING AN ORIGINAL SETTING FOR EACH ROOM AND THE CUSTOMER’S NEEDS.” — B A R B A R A F RY X E L L , O W N E R O F OBSESSIONS INTERIORS
unique merchandise that has been selected with an eye for style and quality. Items in the store are arranged in vignettes to show how they flow together. Obsessions Interiors also has an approval program, which allows customers to take the items home for three days to see how they fit with existing decor. From decorating a single room to a whole home, Fryxell and her staff listen to each customer’s needs to determine their priorities and style. Fryxell says she has built many relationships with customers over the years who have become dear friends. She says she is proud to be able to offer her services to the people of Arkansas. Starting in October, Obsessions Interiors will offer a wide range of Christmas ornaments, figurines and decorations, as well as custom-made wreaths and garlands.
BARBARA FRYXELL CREATES INSPIRED DESIGNS FOR HER CLIENTS.
F O R M O R E I N F O R M AT I O N , V I S I T W W W. O B S E S S I O N S I N T E R I O R S . C O M
SPECIAL ADVERTISING SECTION
DESIGNER PROFILES
EMBELLISH INTERIORS BY ALISA
MAKING BEAUTIFUL FUN Herron captures clients’ lifestyles, personalities
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ithin the past year, Alisa Herron, the owner of Embellish Interiors, has made a big change
and moved her store into The Heights. This change prompted Herron to focus more on her passion — her design ser vice. She decided to reinvent herself into Embellish Interiors by Alisa to capture that essence.
“My inspiration in design
trademark pieces, fabrics and
varies from job to job,” Herron
colors, Herron goes above and
says. “Whether it’s a coveted
beyond to ensure that her style
piece of art, a fabric or a color,
isn’t the only one reflected in
my goal in design is always
her work. In fact, Herron prides
to balance good design with
herself on being a chameleon
function and capture my client’s
designer, in a sense that no one
personality and lifestyle.”
can look at her work and think,
While some designers use
“I know who did that.” “My design services are turnkey — whether residential
“WHETHER IT’S A COVETED PIECE OF ART, A FABRIC OR A COLOR, MY GOAL IN DESIGN IS ALWAYS TO BALANCE GOOD DESIGN WITH FUNCTION AND CAPTURING MY CLIENT’S PERSONALITY AND LIFESTYLE.” — ALISA HERRON, OWNER OF EMBELLISH INTERIORS BY ALISA
or commercial,” Herron says. “I do everything from designing house plans, new construction and remodels.” She added that she also has a complete drapery workroom and an upholstery service. Herron travels from Las Vegas to New York, among other places, to provide unique pieces for her customers, as well as to find upstarts, craftsmen and artists. She also loves to support local talents within the state. “My goals are to grow my
ALISA HERRON, OWNER
design business, continue relationships with all my clients and make new friends here in The Heights,” Herron says.
F O R M O R E I N F O R M AT I O N , V I S I T M Y E M B E L L I S H . C O M
SPECIAL ADVERTISING SECTION
DESIGNER PROFILES
RESTRUCTURE DESIGN, INC
SIMPLY STUNNING Oates’ kitchen and bath designs offer elements for all
W
hen prospective customers walk into Restructure Design, Inc., owner Alissa Oates has a vision for
almost any kitchen and bathroom design. Her newly redesigned space provides a minimalistic showroom to keep the searching process exciting and not overstimulating.
“I want clients to enjoy the remodeling and design process,” Oates says. “I like to be interactive, but not overwhelming, so that clients look at the completed project and get excited about their new space and had a fun process getting there, but feel comfortable actually living their busy lives in their newly updated home and are confident in their selections.” Her showroom contains samples and displays so clients
“I LIKE TO BE INTERACTIVE, BUT NOT OVERWHELMING, SO THAT CLIENTS LOOK AT THE COMPLETED PROJECT AND GET EXCITED ABOUT THEIR NEW SPACE.” — A L I S S A O AT E S , O W N E R O F RESTRUCTURE DESIGN
can see and interact with the products they will purchase. With ample options available, Oates assists her clients by pulling together a complete design and giving them an overall vision and concept of the completed space. She also provides products and samples from all price points for the budget-conscious customer. “I take the client from start to finish, starting with the initial consultation, where I get inspiration for the client’s ‘design personality’ and the atmosphere of their space,” Oates says. “I then lay out the space to help visualize the new area we are designing and pick finishes and colors to complement it.” Once a design concept is finalized and the homeowners are ready to start the project, Oates assists her clients throughout the process by providing materials and assisting installers in carrying out her design. Oates recommends local contractors and subcontractors that she’s previously worked with to carry out any installation and construction the space may need. Restructure Design is located at 127 McNeely Circle, Suite B, in Hot Springs Village.
ALISSA OATES, OWNER AND DESIGNER F O R M O R E I N F O R M AT I O N , V I S I T R E S T R U C T U R E A R . C O M
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DISPATCHES
Maumelle, members of the group ranged in age from their early 20s to late 60s. We met monthly for game nights and to suggest weekend excursions we’d enjoy. We’d kayaked together on the Saline River, carpooled to listen to jazz at the annual Eureka Springs Jazz Fest and even scrabbled for gems at Crater of Diamonds State Park until we were nearly blinded by sweat. Now, on this balmy autumn evening, a dozen or so of us Friends had fanned out to wander through the midway of the Arkansas State Fair. Lisa and I, nibbling at our bubblegum-pink cotton candy, had paused in front of The Hammer. I turned to face Lisa. “Absolutely not,” I said, without hesitation. I looked away. We’d been standing in front of this contraption that resembled a Martian mutant robot long enough for me to recognize that a few of the topsy-turvy riders, pressed against the grills of the topmost cages, were upchucking. I’d backed up a few feet to ensure that I didn’t get spattered. The last time I’d agreed to climb aboard a thrill ride, back in the late ’70s, I’d earned a badge proclaiming, “I Survived the Tidal Wave.” However, after climbing down from that dizzying roller coaster at Santa Clara’s Great America theme park, I’d vowed never, not-in-this-lifetime-ever, to board such a hair-raising contraption again. “Please?” Lisa’s voice quavered. “My little brother always used to
DISPATCH FROM LITTLE ROCK
Hammered Facing one’s fears can be a stomach-turner—but in the end, it’s one heckuva ride By Terri Elders | Photography by brandon markin
“I still believe in Hope—mostly because there’s no such place as Fingers Crossed, Arkansas.” — Molly Ivins
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ill you go on this ride with me? Everyone else has turned me down,” Lisa said. The two of us belonged to a social club simply called Friends, noted for its adventuresome outings. Based in
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“Then, at the speed of light, they were hurled up and down, and round and round … upside down. After two minutes, they emerged staggering, as if they’d chugalugged a pint of moonshine. That had to be a long two minutes.” -
DISPATCHES
look forward to going on the scariest ride here every year. He was a real daredevil. Now he’s been deployed to Iraq. He asked if I’d go in his stead, to keep his string alive. I promised I would. I don’t want to break his heart. He’s always looked up to me, since I’m three years older. He’s only 19.” I’m a sucker for good-deed stories, especially when they involve favors for somebody who’s serving our country. But still … The Hammer? I couldn’t recall anybody ever calling me a daredevil. And now Lisa was handing me the old “Only you, Dick Daring” line. I wasn’t buying it. I turned back to her, wagging my head slowly from side to side, buying a little time. I wanted to make certain that my response sounded sympathetic, sincere and undisputedly certain. “Oh, Lisa. I’m so sorry,” I began. “I appreciate how much your brother must have enjoyed meeting the challenge each year. And what a thoughtful and sweet big sister you are. But couldn’t you just write and tell him you’d done it? There’s really no way he’d ever know.” “I’d know,” she answered. Now she was shaking her head side to side. “And that would be a lie.” To any bystander, we must have resembled a pair of puppets, with all the head wagging. Clearly, Lisa clung to a sturdier sense of ethics and a stronger commitment to filial devotion than I ever had. I’d always been noted for my pragmatism. I again paused for a moment, reflecting. I’ve done a lot of things outside my comfort zone. I’d gone back to school at 39 to earn a graduate degree, a master of social welfare degree from UCLA. After turning 50, I’d three times volunteered to serve with the Peace Corps in faraway countries. Why, OCTOBER 2017
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when I was only 8 years old, after some initial squawking, I’d accepted, and actually eaten, a helping of my Grandma Gertie’s squirrel stew. On a double-dog-dare, I’d even eaten armadillo at Macey’s Cafe in Belize City when I was a Peace Corps Volunteer there in 1988. Now that I thought about it, I only happened to be in an amusement zone in Little Rock on a muggy October evening in the first place because I’d dared to relocate to Arkansas after returning from a decade overseas. I’d arrived armed solely with a suitcase, a Motel 6 reservation and the knowledge that the state of Arkansas would accept my California social-work license. I’d gotten the notion in 1995 through a conversation I’d had when I’d been a Peace Corps Volunteer in the Republic of Seychelles, an Indian Ocean nation right above Madagascar. Two nurses at the Youth Health Centre who had just returned from the World Conference on Women in Beijing had been quizzing me about possible places to visit if they ever got to the United States. I’d wasted no effort in praising my homeland. “In Southern California,” I’d bragged, “there’s a lot more than just Disneyland. We can have breakfast at the beach, lunch in the mountains and dinner in the desert.” “But what about Little Rock?” they’d asked. “Little Rock? Oh, that’s in Arkansas. I’ve never been there.” “Why not? That’s where Hillary Clinton lived. We heard her speak at the conference. She made us think that women had achieved a lot in America and are being taken seriously back there.” I’d figured the time had come for me to get to know a little more about my own Arkansas Life
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country, including the South, which I’d never even visited. Now I was living in Little Rock, too, where women are taken seriously. I stole another glance at Lisa. She’d tossed her cotton-candy cone into a nearby trash bin and was languishing against a post, shoulders slumped, still mournfully gazing up at The Hammer. Then I thought about my son, Steve, now in his 30s. Nothing I’d ever done seemed to elicit much more from him than an indulgent smile. “Would you be blown away if I actually rolled over Niagara Falls in a barrel?” I’d asked him one day. He’d merely shrugged. I reminded him that I’d once allowed his father to talk me into traveling to the 102nd-floor observation deck of the Empire State Building in 40-mile-per-hour icy December winds. He’d nodded. I hadn’t heard a single “Wow.” I watched now as others approached The Hammer, two by two. Each couple got strapped side by side into a cage. Then, at the speed of light, they were hurled up and down, and round and round … upside down. After two minutes, they emerged staggering, as if they’d chugalugged a pint of moonshine. That had to be a long two minutes. Lisa wanted to keep a promise to her brother. I decided to settle for a far less noble goal: I wanted to impress my son. I took a deep breath. “OK,” I called out, “I’ll go.” Lisa brightened instantly, sprinting over to give me a hug. With that, the two of us proceeded to get hammered. Lisa squealed nonstop for two solid minutes like a Razorback cheerleader calling the hogs. I kept my eyes glued shut, unpeeling them only for one brief second to see if we really were upside down. We were. When I’d moved to Arkansas, I’d not known grits from granola. It took me a while to realize that when my new friends mentioned running off to Paris, London, Stuttgart or Bismarck over the weekend, they weren’t jet-setters. Those were all towns in Arkansas, a few hours’ drive away at most. I’d learned that when you worked up a taste for barbecue, you couldn’t go wrong at the White Pig Inn, just blocks from my studio apartment in North Little Rock. I’d learned that Arkansas boasted many famous natives, including Maya Angelou, Billy Bob Thornton and one of my favorite mystery writers, Grif Stockley. And now I’d learned that I could go for a ride on The Hammer and live to brag about it. We hadn’t fainted. We hadn’t gotten sick to our tummies. But once we reached the safety of stable ground, we both stood trembling for a good five minutes, sweat pouring down our faces. Finally, Lisa winked at me. “Well, what about celebrating with some pumpkin funnel cake before we find the group?” The next day, Lisa phoned to thank me again for accompanying her. “I sent a letter to my brother,” she said. “He’ll be so pleased.” “I emailed my son. I told him we went on The Hammer.” “Oh?” “He emailed back right away that he was astonished. That I must be dauntless.” Steve’s approving words had kept me smiling all that day. But just so you’ll know, I’ll never go on The Hammer again. Nor would I recommend it. Some things you do just once in a lifetime, no matter who it may impress.
Terri Elders, LCSW, has contributed to over a hundred anthologies, including multiple editions of Chicken Soup for the Soul. Her feature articles have appeared in local, national, and international periodicals. She blogs at atouchoftarragon.blogspot.com OCTOBER 2017
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You Need Only to Be Still Years after fleeing war-torn El Salvador and faced with deportation, one Bentonville family finds faith in its community By Kate Cough Illustration by Nikki Dawes
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efore Bentonville w a s Bentonville, it was Osage. For thousands of years, the native Osage made the prairies stretching from southeastern Kansas to Missouri’s Ozark plateaus their home, hunting buffalo and farming on territory that also dipped into northern Arkansas and Oklahoma. The first European settlers to arrive in the area named the town after its inhabitants. But in the early 1800s, as America’s newly minted residents migrated west, they forced the Osage onto reservations and renamed the town “Bentonville,” after U.S. Sen. Thomas Benton, a champion of Manifest Destiny. “It would seem,” wrote Benton in 1846, “that the White race alone received the divine command to subdue and replenish the earth.” A century later, in the spring of 1950, Sam and Bud Walton opened Walton’s 5 & 10 in downtown Bentonville. The plain white building with red letters and a striped awning is now The Walmart Museum, where visitors can browse black-and-white
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photos of the Walton brothers in their World War II uniforms, see a mismatched batch of Every Day Low Cost tiles and flip through pages of Walton’s original handwritten ledgers. Around midnight in 2001, in a Walmart not far from the original Walton’s 5 & 10, Amanda Aristondo was standing under the fluorescent lights, looking for medicine for her young daughter. Arkansas reminded Amanda of her native Guatemala—warm and green, with gentle mountains and acres of farmland—but with a crucial difference. “We felt safe.” The U.S. seemed like a haven in comparison to Guatemala, still recovering from a decadeslong civil war that officially ended in 1996. But living in the U.S. would present its own challenges, and nearly 15 years later, the Aristondos would find themselves embroiled in one of the country’s most contentious debates: immigration.
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n the churchyard across from her house on Finca Sebol, a young Amanda swept the dirt and added water to tamp down dust. Each morning, Amanda would gather neighborhood children to her makeshift lectern and teach the lessons and psalms she had learned the night before during the evening service she attended with her mother. “I don’t remember playing with Barbies,” Amanda laughs. “I remember playing with the Bible.” Amanda’s improvised Sunday school was on a Chiquita banana plantation in Guatemala near the border with Honduras. Her father worked for the company and raised his family there—Amanda was the last of six children, a blessing for her mother, who had been praying for another girl after a string of boys. If her prayers were answered, she promised, she would do “whatever she has to do to prepare the girl to serve the Lord.” Amanda was born smack in the middle of Guatemala’s gruesome civil war, which officially 52
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began in 1960. The seeds of the war were planted with the help of the U.S., which sent money, weapons and CIA officers to help Guatemalan President Jacobo Árbenz, who had been democratically elected in 1951. Decades passed, presidents came and went, and the civil war dragged on. Thousands of Guatemalans fled statesponsored death squads to neighboring countries and to the U.S., sparking the beginning of the sanctuary movement in the 1980s, a campaign spearheaded by religious organizations in the U.S. to provide refuge for those fleeing chaos in Central America. 1980 also saw the passage of the Refugee Act, which increased the number of refugees admitted to 50,000 from 17,400 and expanded eligibility for asylum to include “a well-founded fear of persecution.” Peace accords in Guatemala were officially signed in 1996, but two decades on, things haven’t improved much: The Northern Triangle countries of Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador consistently have the highest homicide rates in the world. According to the U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime, it was statistically more dangerous to be a civilian in Honduras between 2007 and 2012 than it was to be a civilian in Iraq in the midst of a war. And the area in Guatemala where the Aristondos lived, just north of the border it shares with Honduras, is considered one of the most dangerous areas of the country—a spot the International Crisis Group has dubbed the Corridor of Violence. Amanda eventually married and moved off Finca Sebol, although she stayed in the region to raise her own family. But the violence from the war’s remnants percolated, and she remembers her husband, José, coming home with stories of hearing shots fired and coming across a body not long after. José worked for PepsiCo, traveling extensively and managing money, something that put him at risk for extortion and murder. Amanda loved Guatemala—it was home—and the couple tried to raise their young daughters, Katherin Jazmin and Amanda Michelle, with as much normalcy as possible. But women in the country face particularly acute dangers, with some of the highest rates of femicide in the world, and these risks only became magnified as the girls grew older. Meanwhile, Amanda’s parents and five siblings fled to the United States, settling in Arkansas and California. Amanda and José didn’t want to leave their home, but they wanted a future for their girls, or OCTOBER 2017
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at least a measure of safety. So in 2001, the Aristondos applied for tourist visas, gathered their young daughters, packed two suitcases and boarded a plane to the U.S.
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hey stayed with family for a while, doing odd jobs—cleaning houses and mowing lawns—to get by. Eventually, Amanda found work as a nanny for three children whose mother was newly divorced. The family lived in Fayetteville, and Amanda, José, Katherin Jazmin and Amanda Michelle moved into the bottom floor of the house. “We were family. My girls and her kids were so close—sometimes they would come downstairs and sleep with us.” Amanda remembers vividly the first church service she attended after leaving Guatemala. She arrived late, and the congregation was already singing when she arrived—a missionary hymn, “I’ll Go Where You Want Me to Go.” It was the same hymn Amanda had sung at her last service in Guatemala. But if, by a still, small voice he calls to paths that I do not know, I’ll answer, dear Lord, with my hand in thine: I’ll go where you want me to go. When the Aristondos eventually settled in Bentonville, the Church of the Nazarene would be the family’s rock. Amanda rose to become a volunteer associate pastor, giving sermons in Spanish as part of the church’s Hispanic ministry. The church would be where the girls spent summers and weekends, where little Amanda Michelle played a drum set so large she could barely see over it and where the family would come for support when Katherin, an energetic soccer player, was diagnosed at 19 with a rare form of cancer. Bentonville’s churches—Episcopal and Catholic, Methodist and Baptist, an Islamic center, a Hindu temple, Presbyterian—are where the community comes together: Arkansans descended from European migrants and more recent arrivals from Mexico and Latin America, together in faith. Between 1990 and 2000, the state’s immigrant population grew a staggering 196 percent, according to a report by the Urban Institute, and during the period when the Aristondos arrived, the state’s Hispanic population was the fastestgrowing in the nation. Many migrants found work in construction during the housing boom or in the chicken-processing plants such as Tyson in Springdale. They OCTOBER 2017
took difficult jobs, often in remote places for low pay and long hours. “It’s hard work, and it’s hard to find folks to work in those places,” says Pastor Mark Snodgrass, who first met the Aristondos in 2011 through the church. But despite their socioeconomic and cultural differences, it’s faith, Snodgrass says, that brings Arkansans together. “It’s a story I never thought I would be in the middle of—but here I am.” Snodgrass pauses. “Unity doesn’t mean uniformity—it doesn’t mean we all look the same or even believe the same politically. Where else is someone who voted for Donald Trump going to go to a [U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement] office and hold a sign advocating for illegal immigrants? That only happens in the church.” But Snodgrass concedes that faith is not always enough. “Love of neighbor is so clear in Scripture, but sometimes this is at odds with policy.”
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he Aristondos lived without papers for eight years before they decided to file for asylum in 2009. Maybe if they hadn’t waited so long, Amanda muses, things would have turned out differently. “I didn’t know what to do. We were afraid,” she says. For three years, the Aristondos’ case wound its way through the regional courts. Asylees arriving in the United States have one year to apply for asylum, and those who apply late—like the Aristondos—must prove that they qualify for an exception, such as changed circumstances in the country of origin or serious illness, among others. The family’s case continued until Amanda and José were called before an immigration judge in Memphis in 2012. The couple appeared before the judge with their lawyer, who came from Miami to attend the hearing. A chronic nationwide shortage of immigration lawyers often means that families work remotely with attorneys based in major immigration hubs. Having an attorney is critical to being granted asylum—for those who apply but are not represented, 87 percent are denied, according to Syracuse University’s immigration database, TRAC. In the Memphis court where the Aristondos’ case was heard, immigration judges approved 53 percent of asylum cases in 2012—slightly higher than the nationwide average of 50 percent, according 54
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“We’re just gonna go, and we’re gonna pray—show that this family is loved and that they’re part of the community. We knew it would be risky—it’s a touchy issue— but we felt like it was the right thing to do.” NWA FASHION WEEK THE FALL SHOWS November 9-10
Drake Field | Fayetteville tickets at nwafw.com OCTOBER 2017
to TRAC. Asylum approval rates vary wildly across courts—2012 saw approval rates of 21 percent in Dallas and 83 percent in New York—partially due to “the differing composition of cases assigned to different immigration judges … For example, being represented in court, and the nationality of the asylum seeker, appears to often impact decision outcome. Decisions also appear to reflect in part the personal perspective the judge brings to the bench,” notes the TRAC database. The Aristondos ultimately lost their bid for asylum, but they were offered a reprieve in the form of a “stay of deportation”—officially encouraged to go back to Guatemala but allowed to stay in the U.S. Stays are issued at ICE’s discretion and must be renewed each year, but may be denied at any time and require that the recipient check in each year with immigration officers. A stay of deportation is “really more of a discretionary benefit, if you can even really call it a benefit,” says the Aristondos’ new attorney, Nathan Bogart. “Every year, you’re living in fear of something going wrong. You so much as step one toe out of line, it’s over. It’s hard to call it a benefit, although I think ICE would certainly call it that, and I certainly consider it a benefit in comparison to being deported.” Bogart met the Aristondos in 2016, after hearing of their case through Pastor Snodgrass’s wife, Lauren, who works with Canopy Northwest Arkansas, an organization that helps resettle and support the state’s refugee population. Coincidentally, Amanda had also been seeking out a new attorney closer to home and had already contacted Bogart’s firm. They met for the first time in November at his offices in Fayetteville. Bogart took over the case and filed for a stay of deportation, as the Aristondos’ former attorney had been doing for years. But ICE informed him, he says, that a stay had been filed in January, and it had been denied—and so had the one filed in January 2016. Amanda says she received a letter in December 2016 denying the stay—nearly 10 months after the 56
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actual denial issued by ICE, on Feb. 10, 2016. [Editor’s note: ICE did not respond to repeated requests for comment over the past few months.] Most stay-of-deportation denials are murky, says Bogart. You never really know why they occur, and ICE doesn’t have to tell you. But he says ICE indicated that because Katherin (who had been battling cancer) had recently turned 21, that perhaps the case for the Aristondos staying in the U.S. was not as sympathetic as it had been. The couple were told to check in at ICE offices on March 14, 2017. “We really were anticipating that they’d be taken into custody and taken away,” Bogart says.
FAYETTEVILLE, MARCH 2017
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nstead of eating breakfast the morning of their appointment with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement—they were fasting in preparation—the Aristondos prayed. Exodus 14:14: Ustedes quédense quietos, que el Señor presentará batalla por ustedes. [The Lord will fight for you; you need only to be still. ] Amanda had brushed off her brother’s pleas to prepare for deportation— she felt that God planned for her to stay in Arkansas, and preparing to leave would not show trust in him. But she knew it was a possibility. “After all the deportations, we knew what was coming. We started asking for prayers at church,” Amanda says. Some urged them to skip the check-in altogether, but she refused. “We have to do the right thing. We have to go to the appointment.” Amanda consoled herself with what she felt was God’s plan for her. “If he wants me to leave, you have to understand God’s will is best.” Still, her legs were shaking during the half-hour car ride to ICE headquarters in Fayetteville. “We can trust in the Lord,” Amanda mused, “but we’re humans.” Nathan Bogart, the Aristondos’ attorney and himself a practicing Mormon, was having a harder time having faith. “If ICE is telling me a stay has been removed and my client has to report on a certain day… I’m thinking, they’re done, they’re over. We’re out of any type of recourse whatsoever.” On an unseasonably chilly Tuesday in March, a crowd gathered in front of the ICE offices in Fayetteville, holding signs. The grass was still brown, biding time until spring.
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“People were calling and asking me, What should the sign say? What should I do?” says Pastor Snodgrass. He decided the church would support the family in the best way they knew how: “We’re just gonna go, and we’re gonna pray—show that this family is loved and that they’re part of the community. We knew it would be risky—it’s a touchy issue—but we felt like it was the right thing to do.” Snodgrass led the small crowd in prayer, Leviticus 19:33-34: When a foreigner resides among you in your land, do not mistreat them. The foreigner residing among you must be treated as your nativeborn. Love them as yourself, for you were foreigners in Egypt. The Aristondos entered the offices accompanied by Bogart and Pastor Snodgrass, and the crowd milled about, talking to the reporters who had gathered. A woman wrapped herself in a blanket to guard against the cold. A short time later, the family emerged. They hugged supporters. It was better than expected—the stay denial had not only been reversed, but both José and Amanda had been granted an Order of Supervision, allowing the couple to apply for employment authorization cards and work legally. This meant that Amanda could pursue a pastoral degree, something she’d been hoping to do. The couple would be able to drive Katherin to her remission checkups and attend her soccer games; they would be able to watch Amanda Michelle learn piano and attend her summer voice recitals. None of this, says Amanda, would have been possible without the support of the church. “It’s a beautiful church. It’s a place where you feel what church is about—no matter what race, color or language you speak.” That day, surrounded by friends at an ICE office in Northwest Arkansas thousands of miles from where she was born, Amanda says, “That made me feel so blessed. In my bones, I felt really strong.
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I wasn’t afraid anymore.” Since the appointment in March, Amanda says, the community’s reaction has been overwhelmingly positive: “Sometimes people will recognize us from the news and pay for our food when they see us eating outside. They come to the table; they say, We’ve been praying for you.” The family has been mostly going about their lives—spending time with their daughters, running summer services at the church, visiting the lake. The Aristondos have applied for work permits and are required to check in with ICE again in April 2018. The permits provide hope for more meaningful employment in the future—Amanda will be able to make a living as a pastor, something she currently does as volunteer work. But Amanda concedes that while the couple have struggled over the years, cleaning houses and mowing lawns to support their family, they’ve been able to give their girls a safe home and a chance at an education. “My girls didn’t have any idea of how we struggled, because we tried to keep them out of this so they can live their childhood,” says Amanda. “When my oldest was applying for college and she wanted to see the income, she cried. She said, I didn’t know. Sometimes they felt like they were rich.” Amanda laughs a little at the memory. “It’s a hard way to live, but God is so good.” Kate Cough is a journalist and photographer. She spent four seasons living aboard a sailboat on the coast of Maine, rode her bicycle (Isabella) from Portugal to Zanzibar and left medical school in 2015 to pursue her dream of becoming a journalist. She has an M.S. degree in Journalism from Columbia University.
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This is Dr. Suzanne Klimberg. As a renowned surgeon and researcher, she’s dedicated her entire professional career to the cause, treatment, and prevention of breast cancer. Her work has helped save thousands of patients. It’s one thing to be aware of breast cancer. It’s another to do something about it. Here’s to the heroes who prove they are much more than just the color pink. ACT. DONATE. REGISTER.
October 14, 2017 | Register today at KomenArkansas.org OCTOBER 2017
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By Jordan P. Hickey By Jordan P. Hickey Photography by Robbie Brindley Photography by Robbie Brindley
When the photographer Robbie Brindley returned to the town of Mountain Pine in early 2015, he found a changed place very different from the one he’d left a dozen years before. On the surface, there wasn’t much left—but he found what he’d been looking for OCTOBER 2017
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He wasn’t in the photos, though in retrospect I think he would have liked to have been.
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nstead, on the evening we met, the photographer Robbie Brindley, sitting across a booth from me at a Waffle House midway between Little Rock and Hot Springs, was drinking coffee, looking over the sheets of photo paper scattered across and smothering the laminated menus, telling me about the fading town came into sharper relief as the din of clattering silverware and people of Mountain Pine. eating breakfast food settled even further into the background. Owing to the blown-out quality of the photographs, the starkness Although the time he’d spent there had been relatively brief, of the black and white tones, the town felt very far, though in reality just seven years of grade school before his parents pulled him it was close, just west of Hot Springs, and the photos had been out to homeschool him, his memories of the place were clear. He taken just a year before. It was difficult to say whether the mood of remembered the first time he’d gone, bused out there for kindergarten the photos, the melancholy, was a product of the fluorescent lights from Hot Springs, smelling the smoke from the mill, seeing the train overhead or the images themselves. However, seeing the images pass so near the school yard that you could hit it with a football. collected on the table made me think that the town would have been There was smoke, there was fog, there were water sprinklers, there a gray place even if the photos had been made in color. was industry. It was during those years he’d There was no doubt a great deal to be said gotten into punk music and skateboarding. about the people who appeared there, and “They were working on their car when I He’d gotten his first kiss from a girl who, as he said a great deal about them, but for the walked up. I was like, Can I take y’all’s he described her, lived in a trailer with her moment, he was the focus, the vital element— photo? Like, explained myself. And crack-head brother and mother who’d been it was his story to tell. And as he remembered it was like, they didn’t care. He’s just married “like 20 times.” what it had been like to grow up there, what kind of nonchalant, things happen. And “It felt very American to me as a kid,” he it had been like to go back more than a dozen [the kids] weren’t like kids. They were tougher than kids.” said. “It was like, look at these people, like, very years later, the town and everything about it OCTOBER 2017
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blue collar—very tough, very quick to say f*ck you. They just did their thing and didn’t say anything about it.” That sense of awe, if you could call it that, only crystallized as the years went by, reaching a high point in 2006, when, after nearly 80 years, the mill that had for so long been the lifeblood and foundation of the town succumbed to the effects of a long economic decline and left the town. At the time, there were more than 300 people employed at the mill, most of whom, it seems fair to say, were drawn from the town, whose population now hovers around 770. As he saw it, this was a place that had lost everything, but yet when he looked at them he saw a group of people who had never allowed life to keep them down for long. “I didn’t realize I was in love with it, and I was,” he said. “When the mill left, I was like, This place does not feel like home anymore. I need to do something over there.” Then: “How’s your waffle?” On that February evening, the young man sitting across from me wore a blue jean jacket and white cowboy hat, an outfit that remains the only one I’ve seen him wear. He was 25, a young man, though he looked older— and acted even older still, prizing comfort to the point of intractability, describing himself as the sort of person who holds fast to what he knows and keeps a dishwashing job for three years. It seemed all the more remarkable, then, that he would have pushed himself to a place so far removed from his comfort zone. But he’d done so for a good reason. The reason he’d gone back to Mountain Pine after OCTOBER 2017
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having been gone for so many years was because he recognized in that place a quality he hoped to find in his own life: He wanted proof that it was possible to get up again after being knocked down. “At the time,” he said, “I was having a really hard time financially with my wife in school, and I’m working some shitty job, but I get to be a photographer, so that’s cool. And then I’ve got all these family problems, like my parents are about to lose their house because my dad got hurt, and they’re teetering on the edge. My grandma died and she had been living with my parents. My mom’s having a complete nervous breakdown, and I’m like, I don’t know how to deal with any of this.” Arkansas Life
With that, in early 2015, he went back. He spent several months worth of Saturdays walking the streets, throwing out an old football coach’s name and speaking for hours with people who were doing nothing, before asking if he could make their photos. They’d give him a queer look, eyeing the bulky medium format camera that looks nothing like the cameras we have nowadays—a relic that might’ve been used around the time the mill was first operating. It was loaded with enough film to shoot a family or so a day. In the evenings, he’d go home and work in the crawl space of the house he then shared with his wife. For hours on end, he’d work in that unventilated space, the chemicals crystallizing on his nose hairs which made for chemically smelling snot, all the time watching for copperheads. There was no controlling for temperature or humidity and the tub he was using was the wrong size, making for a frustrating and timeconsuming ordeal that often yielded disappointing results. “It felt like how I felt,” he said. “It felt and looked how I felt. Going out there, I was looking for peace and understanding of being in a bad situation. And when I got there, people are dealing with it like anybody would. Like, they’re drinking, talking, having a beer and hanging out with their friends when OCTOBER 2017
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“These were all taken in the black quarters. These are the same family. He (bottom left) was actually going to school in Conway. So, he was getting out. She (top left)—she’s pretty young. She wants to be a model in Atlanta. And she (bottom) was in the military for a long time. I think their grandparents worked at the mill, but they didn’t? Like, she joined the military. Like normal.”
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“I don’t remember his name. This is where I wish I would have had people with me. He was fishing, and I was taking his portrait, talking to him, and he owned a trucking company, and it went bankrupt when everything collapsed [in 2008]. And he’s just living there, his kids all moved away. Just fishes. I was like, this project is going to be terrible on my heart.”
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“This guy’s name is Jim. I do remember that. He was living in a trailer. I think he used to drive a log truck. He used to do something like that. And he was just living off his small pension, too. And he had his trailer paid off, but I don’t think he had insurance on it. Like, home owner’s insurance. And a tree fell on their trailer, right after they got it paid off. So, they were living in the trailer with the roof caved in and stuff, him and his wife. I took a photo of both of them, but it didn’t come out. … I talked to them for like five hours, him and his wife. He told me all about everything. It was beautiful.”
they can. But they’re just in a worse place than most people. It’s strange.” As he elaborated on the particulars of each photo, it became clear that he could tell these’s people’s stories—about arson and cancer and collapsed trailers and their children—but he didn’t know their names. They were photos of people he’d met by chance; they were proxies for his memories. As he spoke about them, I got the sense he hadn’t been terribly concerned with the outcome: He wasn’t writing anything down, and there were many, many failed photographs. The purpose of the photos wasn’t an invitation for the viewer to visit, nor, for that matter, a strictly documentary look at this community OCTOBER 2017
on the brink of becoming something else or fading away entirely. If anything, to see those images felt like seeing a reflection of who he was in those months. It was left unsaid, but I think he wanted to understand how this place that had lost so much, a place that he considered to have been so formative in his own self realization, a place that seemed in some ways to have mirrored his own difficulties, had managed to remain standing. And, along those same lines, he was looking to reconnect with a part of himself that might have been lost, too, when the mill left. For a time, it had been home. It had been more than a memory. As we parted ways, I wondered if it still was. 67
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Tales from our stateâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s three thru-hiking trails, and tips from those in the know on how to go the distance BY JOHNNY CARROL SAIN PHOTOGRAPHY BY JEFF ROSE
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hree hundred million years ago, continents collided and our uplands were born. The crushed and folded rock that became the Ouachitas formed peculiar east-west running ridges. A singular plateau lifted from below became the Ozarks, its individual peaks, ridges and valleys formed over eons by trickling water. These ranges are two sections of the only highland region between the Applalachians and the Rockies. Both offer stunning views, towering hardwoods and a diverse flora and fauna. But beyond the geology and ecology, there is a rare and breathtaking loneliness in the hills. A wild and primitive spirit resides in the shaded hollows and wind-blown bluffs. And the best, most intimate way to experience all that the mountains of Arkansas have to offer is on foot. Just you, maybe a few friends, and a quiet path through the woods.
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By Lauren Ray, Buffalo National River park ranger OCTOBER 2017
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GET PACKIN’ S T A R T I N G “ S M A L L ” Got five days? The 37-mile Buffalo River Trail might just be the perfect way to test your thru-hiking mettle DAY ONE
Leave your ride at Buffalo Outdoor Center and take a shuttle to the Boxley trailhead. You’ll have to cross the highway and Smith Creek. After a short uphill climb, enjoy views of Cave Mountain. From there, it’s another 6 to 7 miles to various backcountry campsites. DAY TWO
After breakfast, the trail will lead you to the old quarry, a big sinkhole and the Ponca low-water bridge. Make a side-trip here to the Jim Villines homestead. You’ll finally emerge at the Steel Creek Campground and get some welldeserved rest. You’ll have covered roughly 12.6 miles over the past two days. You’ll probably feel it. DAY THREE
Skeletons of dormant oak and hickory make way for sweeping, unobstructed views of the Buffalo River. The earthy aroma of leaf litter and traces of last night’s campfire smoke linger on your coat. No bugs. No snakes. No crowds. Just the solitude steeped in an eerie stillness found only in the winter Ozarks. Lured out of your den by the warmth of spring, you find the forest immersed in birdsong. Wildflowers such as crested iris, fire pink, blue phlox and golden aster line the edges of the trail. You might spot a morel mushroom or two. Nonnative ornamental blooms that seem out of place in a forested wilderness—jonquils, tiger lilies, zinnias—are often indicators of old homesites where pioneers of Buffalo River country put down roots long ago. You ponder their lives and the struggles they must have overcome in these rugged Ozark hills. Morning summer sun filters through a thick canopy and captures a thread of sparkling silk suspended across the trail. You walk right into it. Struggling to remove webbing from hair and eyelashes, you veer into a thicket of briars and poison ivy. It’s an hour past sunrise and already in the mid-80s with stifling humidity. Taking cues from native wildlife, you know what hours are best to avoid dehydration and heat exhaustion. Real hikers don spiderwebs in their hair. You take a breather and glance uphill. Almost there. A few minutes later, you’ve made it to the top of the hill and, seemingly, the top of the world. Hundreds of feet below, the Buffalo River makes a dramatic bend, its corridor shrouded in rusty hues of autumn. From the top of this lonesome bluff, you can see for miles. You feel the shifting winds whisk away regrets and worries along with fallen leaves. OCTOBER 2017
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After a spectacular sunrise (hopefully), you’ll climb to views of Roark and Big Bluffs, passing a large shale outcropping before descending to the edge of the Kyle’s Landing area. Make camp after an 8ish-mile day. DAY FOUR
Next morning, you’ll climb more hills (you are in the Ozarks, after all) and pass above Buzzard Bluff and across scenic Shop Creek before touring the Parker-Hickman Homestead and reaching the Erbie Campground. This is another 8-mile day, so make your last camp and enjoy the evening. DAY FIVE
Start early and you can get to the Cedar Grove day-use area for lunch. Then you’ll hit the Ozark Campground before arriving at the Pruitt trailhead after about 8.5 miles of hiking. Your vehicle should be waiting on you, courtesy of the Buffalo Outdoor Center’s shuttle valet. Arkansas Life
THE RHYTHM OF THE TRAIL HIGH
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On a long hike, the days have a rhythm and flow to them. My “to do” list became very simple and consisted of doing things that related to meeting basic needs while on the trail. On my third night, I wrote what was to be my “to do” list for the next eight days: Walk, eat, sleep, repeat. That pretty well summed it up, so I put my pencil and notepad away and began focusing on the trail, not on my thoughts about the trail. I let my mind fall into the natural rhythm of walking six to seven hours each day. After making camp, filtering water and preparing the evening meal, I let my mind flow back over the trail and enjoy the scenery once more without any obligation to write about it or learn from it. I began to enjoy the natural silent times around the campfire when OCTOBER 2017
Jim Warnock has been hiking the hills for 26 years and has journaled many adventures on his blog, ozarkmoutainhiker.com. He’s also written a book, Five-Star Trails: The Ozarks: 43 Spectacular Hikes in Arkansas and Missouri, offering directions and tips for exploring the Ozark Mountains on foot. Here, we excerpt Jim’s blog post on his thru-hike of the Ozark Highlands Trail in the winter of 2014.
no one felt obligated to speak. A story or comment might come out of the silence, but there was the luxury of time to really hear and think about what was said. By the time you sit around the campfire until 7 p.m., it’s been dark for almost two hours. Your body says, Hey, I’m getting cold. Why don’t you get in that warm sleeping bag and let me rest? I found that my body could use this extra time for repair and maintenance. The trail, combined with rest, added a new type of strength unlike what I had felt from typical daily workouts. “Wildman” Carl Ownby used to say he would find himself hiking slower as he approached the end of a long hike. He didn’t want it to end. I now understood what he meant. The climb, combined with my wish that the hike wouldn’t come to an end, made for a slow and reflective pace. I found myself wanting to continue on without stopping. I was firmly entrenched in the rhythm of the trail: Walk, eat, sleep, repeat. 72
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Not ready for a thru-hike on the Ozark Highlands Trail? Try these for a warm-up IF YOU HAVE A NIGHT
One of the best overnight hikes in the Ozarks is the Marinoni Scenic Area on the Ozark Highlands Trail. Begin at Indian Creek Canoe Landing on Arkansas Highway 215 near Cass and access the OHT via the Dawna Robinson Spur Trail. Follow the OHT for 5 miles to the Lick Branch Trailhead, camping in the center of the Marinoni on Briar Branch. IF YOU HAVE A WEEKEND
The Shores Lake-White Rock Mountain Loop makes a good weekend trip. Start at Shores Lake Campground near Mulberry and camp above the White Rock Cascade, about 2 miles into the the East Loop. Ascend 3.5 miles to White Rock Mountain for your second night, and enjoy a stunning sunset and sunrise from the bluff edge of the mountain. Hike back down about 7 miles to Shores Lake Campground on the East Loop Trail on your final day. IF YOU HAVE FOUR DAYS
A great four-day hike is found in the Hurricane Creek Wilderness Area. Begin at the Big Piney Trailhead between Hagarville and Pelsor, and take a leisurely pace, camping three nights along the route of the OHT that follows Hurricane Creek before climbing out at the Arkansas Highway 7 Trailhead, some 19.5 miles to the northeast. The never-dry Hurricane Creek is beautiful in all seasons. IF YOU HAVE A WEEK
Begin at Lake Fort Smith, and follow the OHT for 86 miles, ending at the Arkansas Highway 21 trailhead at Ozone Campground. Youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ll see some of the iconic scenery such as Spirits Creek and the Rock House that draws backpacking enthusiasts from all over the country. Lynn Hollow and Lewis Prong are beautiful areas that straddle the Arbaugh Trailhead, where you can drive a few dirt-road miles south to the Oark Cafe, a popular backroads restaurant. Be prepared for wet creek crossings, and carry food and a water filter, along with your other backpacking supplies.
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Breathtaking vistas await on the Ouachita Trail—just ask avidhiker-slash-nature-photographer Danny Owens
“I know when people hear the word ‘peak,’ they think of the Rocky Mountains, but there are some challenging sections here. These Ouachita Mountains are just smaller scale—that is, until you start climbing one. “I’ve been hiking the Ouachitas for 10 years, and I got more serious about it five years ago. I used to be a bird hunter, but the bobwhite quail population is down, and I just can’t bring myself to kill one with the numbers so low. Hiking the Ouachitas is kind of like an extension of bird hunting for me now. I take the dogs and enjoy watching them work on the trail. I’ve got an understanding wife who lets me escape with the dogs back into the wild whenever I want, and that’s most Saturdays. “Besides the experience of being back in nature, there’s also beautiful scenery on the Ouachita Trail. There’s Flatside Pinnacle, which is on a short spur trail off the Ouachita Trail and an easy climb when you consider how great the view is from the top. On a clear day, there are great views of other peaks in the area—Forked Mountain, Grindstone, Crystal Mountain. Forked Mountain is visible along several miles of the Ouachita Trail as it passes through the Flatside Wilderness Area. It’s probably the most photographed place in Perry County. It really stands out, similar to Pinnacle Mountain in Pulaski County. Near the Ouachita Pinnacle, the highest point in Garland County, there are fantastic views of Lake Ouachita only 200 feet off the trail. When I’m there, I stand on a bluff watching buzzards and hawks circling below, knowing only a few people have ever seen this view, and thinking how I took it all for granted when I was younger.” —As told to Johnny Carrol Sain OCTOBER 2017
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Bo Lea, president of Friends of the Ouachita Trail, schools us on preparing for a long-distance hike
DO YOUR DUE DILIGENCE
Preparing for a thru-hike starts with doing your homework regarding water availability, resupply points, shelters and terrain conditions. Research others who have completed the hike you’re about to take. A plan needs to be thorough but flexible, due to constantly changing conditions on the trail. GET IN SHAPE
Physical conditioning is very important for a long-distance hike. The only way you can get in condition for carrying 30 pounds or so 15 miles a day for a couple of weeks is to actually do it. Your job might not allow that, but you need to get as close as possible. It took me at least 100 miles on my two thru-hikes to start getting my trail legs. SETTLE INTO ROUTINE
While the actual hiking is a major part of the experience, you’re living completely out of your backpack. You’ve got to set up camp, cook food, clean up and prepare for bedtime. In the morning, you reverse this process. It usually takes a few days of getting into a routine to learn how to maximize your time. How you handle this part of your hike is an important element of a successful hike. KEEP IT LIGHT
Find balance between weight and comfort. Carrying too much weight has spoiled many hikes, but it’s important to remember that proper clothing, shelter and sleeping gear aren’t just for comfort. Today’s technology has some great lightweight options for cooking and water purification. TREAT YOUR FEET
Most long-distance hikers, especially those who are a little older, find that trekking poles (hiking sticks) are a great asset. These provide balance and assist in climbing hills while taking pressure off joints as you descend. One of the most important items for thru-hiking is proper footwear. Taking care of your feet is at the top of the list for successful thru-hiking. POWER THROUGH
Hiking long miles for 10 to 12 hours a day and doing it day after day will test your body. Rain, freezing temperatures and a wind chill in the single digits only adds to the difficulty. However, the mental side of hiking is as important as the physical effort. There are times when you are physically up to taking on the challenges of the trail but have a hard time thinking it’s worth it. If you are going to quit a hike, do it on a good day and not during the low of a tough day. More thru-hikes probably end as a result of the mental challenges rather than physical issues. But if you can power through, you’ll look back on those times of triumph with satisfaction, knowing you met the challenge.
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Taking the long road, the fast way
ON THE RECORD OCTOBER 2017
The oldest established stretch of the Ozark Highlands Trail bends, dips, submerges and climbs for 165 miles through what ’s arguably the most rugged terrain in Arkansas. Experts claim the entirety of the trail can be hiked in 10 to 14 days by experienced hikers. Last November, Jackson Spencer and Dylan McAlister did it in 4.5 days. They’d set off in pursuit of the speed record for unsupported thru-hike of the OHT. Dylan, a veteran hiker with miles of the OHT already under his belt, decided to join last-minute, but Jackson had been planning to tackle the record for a while. His motivation was twofold: to inspire the outdoor and hiking community in Arkansas, and to promote awareness of the OHT, which he hopes will eventually connect to the Ozark Trail in Missouri to create one of the longest marked hiking trails in the country. A northeast-Arkansas native, Jackson can best be described as an adventurer. He’s hiked across sections of Europe, the Appalachian Trail and various other trails in the U.S. “Of all my adventures, the ones by foot have been my favorite,” says Jackson. “Walking allows me to be fully immersed and grants me a view of the world at a slower pace.” “Slower pace,” though, is a relative term—4.5 days breaks down to roughly 36.6 miles and 16 hours of hiking per day. Jackson’s knee started “complaining” on the first day; by the second day, it was locked up. Meanwhile, Dylan had blisters on his feet and a bum knee as well. There were other challenges, too, like finding water. “Typically, you’d cross several running creeks a day,” Jackson says. “But we hadn’t seen much rain that month, and everywhere we stopped was either dry or stagnant. So we changed the schedule, accepted the fact that we’d have to carry extra water, relied on some luck,
and the expedition pressed on.” The most grueling aspect of a long-distance hike, however, is the mental perseverance necessary to see it to completion. “Hiking can be physically demanding,” Jackson says, “but if you don’t have the head and the heart to endure everything the trail is going to throw at you, she will eat your lunch. Being cold, wet, hungry, hurt and exhausted, and knowing we had miles and miles to cover before we could rest, made it difficult to push forward.” But push forward they did, thanks in no small part to the spirit of community they found out there, far from neighborhoods and towns. A jug of water left beside the trail was a godsend. “We assumed someone had left it for hikers because that section of the trail was particularly dry,” says Jackson. “At one of the hardest sections of the trail, we found a few cans of food, either left intentionally for us or by a previous hiker who’d decided to lighten his load. Either way, we ate it and felt wonderful.” All in all, Jackson says, the trip was one of his most difficult adventures. “I got to experience the full spectrum of the trail,” he says. “I saw her in dark and in light. I saw her hot and cold, dry and wet. I saw her smooth and well-blazed. I saw her rough and overgrown. I saw her for everything she was, and that’s what you get with any thru-hike—a very intimate relationship with the trail.” 76
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In the weeks leading up to his unsupported speed-record thru-hike of the Ozark Highlands Trail, Jackson Spencer fine-tuned his equipment needs and tested the system repeatedly for maximum efficiency. “The preparation is sometimes just as exciting as the hike,” he says, noting that it’s important to carefully think about each piece of gear you bring along. Here’s a rundown on what Jackson takes with him into the woods.
“I forego space and weight by sticking with this tent instead of a hammock or tarp tent, but I have a solid and reliable shelter. At the end of the day, that’s more important to me than a few ounces.”
“No questions here—Fits are my go-to sock. They’ve protected my feet on the Camino de Santiago and the Appalachian Trail.”
“I’m a big fan of Merino wool. It’ll keep you warm when it’s cold and cool when it’s warm. It also doesn’t hold onto odors as much, which can be a good thing when spending days out in the backcountry.”
“For a 32-degree bag, it’s super lightweight with great loft.”
This is the perfect watch for any hike. It has all your basic functions, along with a barometer, altimeter and compass. It will give you elevations, allow you to log multiple trips and keep you heading in the right direction. The only kicker is it doesn’t have GPS, but without it, you get a much longer battery life.”
“I became acquainted with this bad boy on the Appalachian Trail. This is the lightest, smallest, quickest-producing water filter I have ever seen or used.”
“Although these things are a pain to inflate at the end of a long, hard day, it’s way better than trying to sleep on solid ground. And compared to traditional rollup mats, this thing takes up a fraction of the space.”
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“The two main things I look for in trekking poles are an aluminum build and a flip-style locking mechanism—the Trail Backs have both. I believe trekking poles are the most underutilized hiking tool in the industry. People either use them incorrectly or forgo them all together, and I think it’s one of the biggest mistakes.”
“They’re lightweight and dry a lot faster than your traditional boot.”
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NIMBLE-ISMS Lessons to be gleaned from thru-hiking master Nimblewill Nomad
WHEN YOU READ this, 78-yearold Sunny Eberhart will be somewhere along Route 66. On foot. With a 6-pound pack on his back. It’s where he’s been since July 27, when he left Chicago and headed west for Santa Monica, California, with plans to walk the 2,300-mile stretch over the span of 124 days. Not that it should surprise anyone. After all, it’s the 25th such venture undertaken by the retired eye doctor, who spends the majority of his time thru-hiking our nation’s pre-eminent trails. He’s checked off the Appalachian Trail, the Continental Divide and the Pacific Crest Trail, becoming one of the few souls to complete what’s known as “The Triple Crown.” In recent years, he’s conquered the 1,900-mile Pony Express Trail, the 2,109-mile Oregon Trail and an unnamed whopper of a transcontinental trek that covered 3,524 miles and lasted the better part of six months. And in 2011, he became the f irst person to complete what’s now known as “The Triple O”: Missouri’s Ozark Trail combined with two of our state’s long-distance routes, the Ozark Highlands Trail and the Ouachita Trail. It almost broke him, that odyssey. Actually, it literally broke him—he fell on his 31st day on the trail, in the Sylamore section of the OHT, breaking his leg and requiring an eightweek break back at home. But he came back. He couldn’t not come back, he says. And in his journals from that 1,100-mile trek from Missouri’s Mark Twain National Forest to our Pinnacle Mountain, we can learn a little bit about the resilience of the man they call Nimblewill Nomad, and the trails he hopes will someday be joined together. Here’s an excerpt from his trail diary. OCTOBER 2017
JUNE 20, 2011
OHT: Matney Knob Trailhead
First stop this morning, the classic downtown mom-n-pop cafe in Mountain Home. They open at 7. These many years, for breakfast, I’ve come to settle for a short stack with a couple-three eggs, a surefire high-octane starter-upper. I head on south for the village of Norfork to get a few provisions before crossing the White River and trekking the road on up to Matney Knob Trailhead. Another neat little Ozark village, Norfork. And by golly, if the Hickory Pig ain’t open. Stopped in for a mouthwatering barbecue sandwich! On my hike out of Norfork, a fellow pulls off and stops on the shoulder. It’s Russell—wants to know where I’m headed, where I’ve been. Comes a somewhat quizzical expression to Russell’s face as I tell him about my just completed thru o’er the Ozark Trail, and my beginning of a thru down the Ozark Highlands. Late afternoon now, I reach Matney Trailhead, completing my connecting roadwalk of some 70 miles. Just a short hike, and I reach a fine overlook, a most-scenic vantage back down and across the White River. Waiting here patiently, in full hiker garb, pack up, sticks in hand—guess who? Oh yes, it’s Russell! He’s trekked the road up to the crossing to bring me two shiny red apples and to wish me well. “I’m gonna hike the Appalachian Trail when I retire. Can’t wait.” Ear-to-ear grin from Russell. Near dusk, I take water from Twin Creek, then make the climb up and across Arkansas Highway 341 to the high ridge above. A leaf-covered flat spot under the oak, enough light to pitch. Tick patrol, and this day’s done. JUNE 21, 2011
OHT: Cole Fork Creek
A fretful night, what with my body near-covered with chigger and tick welts. It’s slow-going breaking camp. Finally, I lift my pack and head out. Late morning, and while negotiating a particularly gnarly offcamber uphill, it happens. Of the thousands of consciously, carefully placed steps, it takes only one misstep to spell potential disaster, and I take it here. Through the high weeds and briers, and unable to see the tread, I step in a hole, lose my balance and go over the side. Everything follows except my right foot. As I try righting myself, the pain descends—gut-wrenching pain. I struggle back to my feet. Hobbling along now, my trekking poles functioning more as crutches, I agonize the reality of the situation: This trek is quickly coming to a halt. Aw, folks, I don’t know about this one. My right lower leg and ankle are a pitiful sight: blackened, swollen and sore. Sure, I’m old. Sure, my reflexes aren’t what they used to be. They’re problems I deal with constantly. But my passion and resolve have never, ever become the least diminished. Trust me, dear friends, this old intrepid will be back. He’ll be back to finish his thru-hike across these beautiful Ozark highlands. 78
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AUG. 13, 2011
OHT: Spring Creek Trailhead
At long last, I’m able to return to the trail. Last checkup, Doc Tim said my broken leg was completely healed. So Joyce has driven me back to Arkansas, to the Ozark Highlands National Recreation Trail, to Cripple Turkey Road in the Ozark National Forest, where my hike was interrupted nearly two months ago—pretty much back in the middle of nowhere. A little after 11, I’m pack-shouldered and moving out. Oh, does it feel good to be back on the trail again. Leg feels strong. Ankle feels good—think I’m gonna do OK. I’m in the Sylamore Section of the OHT. Plenty of rocks, some briers and a few ups and downs, but the trail is well marked, and I make good time. Pauses are for lunch, to circle around a very big timber rattler directly on the trail, and to photograph the many bluffs below that the trail follows. With recent rains, the smaller creeks and drainages are running, or at least contain numerous puddles, so finding adequate water proves no problem. By a bit after 6, I’ve reached Spring Creek Trailhead. From here, I’ve a full-day’s roadwalk down through the villages of Big Flat and Harriet, then on up Arkansas Highway 14 to the eastern terminus of the Maumee Section of the Buffalo River Trail. Spring Creek is down the road from the trailhead where I stop for water for the night. Then it’s up the road to the ridge just far enough to get a cell signal, and that’s it for this first day back. Gonna do OK, looks of it. FRIDAY, AUGUST 19, 2011
OHT: Big Piney
My hike today takes me into and through the Hurricane Creek Wilderness. Spectacular scenery. More incredibly rugged trail, rocks, boulders, more rocks and climb, climb, climb. Slow-going for sure. This is the first time I’ve got to keep really tight with the trail. There’s been no recent blazing through the wilderness, where nailed up blazes aren’t permitted. So, I must follow old faded painted-up blazes from days gone by. I manage to get off-trail time-to-time, but do find my way again. As I struggle along, lots of turkey and deer to keep me company. Hagarville Store is open till six. I’m in by 5:40. Mark and Alice both greet me with broad smiles. “Got to thinkin’ you weren’t going to make it,” says Mark. What a day, what a day! Alice makes two of the finest roast beef sandwiches I can recall. I’m invited to pitch in their yard for the night. Hey, one bar on my cell, oh yes! Just before dark Alice comes to check on me with a cooler full of ice and watermelon. It’s been a most amazing day, and I am so grateful for such blessings. AUG. 25, 2011
OHT: Lake Fort Smith State Park, then on down U.S. Highway 71 to Alma
The coolest of nights last night so far. Crawled into my sleeping bag early morning. With sunrise arriving later each morning, it’s harder to get out much before 7 anymore, but I do manage to break camp and hit the trail by 6:45. A really fine morning for hiking as I head out on the final 10 miles of the OHT. I’m cruisin’ through the remaining rocks. No time, seems I can see Lake Fort Smith through the trees. Milepost 5, 4, 3, 2. With just a little over a mile to go, I see the first hiker coming toward me. Haven’t met another soul on either of these trails the past 44 days. The backpacker greets me with, “Are you Nimblewill?” What a pleasure meeting Squeeze. He’s also an Ozark Hillbilly from near Lebanon. We share the most upbeat conversation. I arrive at Lake Fort Smith State Park a little before noon. Such a lavish and impressive setting. Nothing’s been spared in making it first class. The Visitor Center is absolutely the finest. I tarry the OCTOBER 2017
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81 FIRST TASTE 86 CRAVINGS 88 THE FEED
A GATHERING OF GOOD TASTE
FIRST TASTE
PETIT & KEET A history lesson with Little Rockâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s kings of culinary reinvention By Seth Eli Barlow Photography by Arshia Khan
NO NEED TO CAUSE A ROE. THIS CHARRED MISO SALMON CAN BE ALL YOURS
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s a child I, like many kids my age, found church services more than a little tedious. I wasn’t good at sitting through an episode of after-school TV, much less an early-morning sermon. Often enough, I would find myself flipping through the Bible, skimming the pages and looking for familiar names. It was then that I found what came to be one of my favorite parts of the book: the begats. restaurant’s name emblazoned in red across the front. If ever there were two names who begat the Little Rock restaurant scene as we know it, surely it’s those. I find Jim Keet, the man I’m there to meet, in the main dining room. He moved to Arkansas in 1975 to open the first Wendy’s franchise, though to most, he’s known for opening Taziki’s Mediterranean Cafe with his two sons. What started in 2008 with a single restaurant grew to more than 70 locations by the time Jim stepped down as CEO in 2016. In the soft golden light of morning, the dining room seems almost gilded, like a massive machine waiting to be switched on. What at first appear to be large-windowed walls reveal themselves to be full-length garage doors waiting to be rolled up on a Friday night. “We wanted to do something really special for the state,” Jim says. It’s a phrase he’ll say several times throughout our conversation. It’s clear that for him and his business partner, Louis Petit, Petit & Keet is not just a restaurant but a love letter to a state and a city that have given them so much. But to really understand how Petit & Keet came to be, you have to look all the way back to 1970s Little Rock. While the ’70s represented a decade of change across the country, for Little Rock, they marked the fastest increase in population the city had ever known. With a new influx of residents, local diners began to ask for more from the local dining scene. In 1975, they got their answer in the form of Jacques and Suzanne, a fine-dining restaurant located at the top of what is now Regions Bank tower in downtown Little Rock. When the restaurant opened, Louis Petit was hired from
These are the verses or chapters near the beginning of each book that serve as family tree, a genealogy spanning millennia, because apparently it was nothing to live for 800 years. My fascination with these verses was in part the names, the unusual coupling of consonants and vowels. Enos and Enoc. Mahaleleel and Methuselah. Herzon and Ram, who, for good measure, begat Amminadab, who begat Nahshon, who begat Salmon, of course. But more than just the names, I was fascinated by the tangible link between generations, the untold decisions and experiences that each father had left for his son, the way you see one man’s effect on history. It’s a similar feeling I have at 9 a.m. on a bright Friday morning standing in the west Little Rock parking lot of Petit & Keet, the OCTOBER 2017
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FIRST TASTE H Look familiar? Perhaps a small bit? The west Little Rock property was once home to Louis Petit’s Maison Louis.
his native Belgium to train the service staff and act as maître d’. When the restaurant closed in 1986, Louis went on to open his own restaurant, Maison Louis, on the same property where Petit & Keet now stands. Eventually, Louis would retire and leave Little Rock for Santa Rosa Beach, Florida, where he’d open up several successful restaurants with his sons. Though they had never worked together, in recent years, a friendship had developed between Louis and Jim, one that was bolstered when Jim and his family bought a home in nearby Destin. “I had asked Louis over to have a glass of wine one night, and he brought a bottle,” Jim tells me. “Four or five bottles later, I just asked, Why don’t we do a restaurant together?” That was four years ago. What took them so long? “We looked at so many locations, but when this became available,” he waves his hands around the room, “it was perfect.” The restaurant’s location, though seemingly out of the way, actually holds a significant place in Little Rock dining history. Not only had the site once been home to Maison Louis; it had previously been home to 1620 Restaurant (eventually renamed 1620 Savoy), an award-winning restaurant that first opened in 1990. As is so often the case in the restaurant world, what was initially planned as a simple renovation quickly turned into a massive retrofitting of the existing building, with massive outdoor patios, a sidewalk patio and game courts figuring into the restaurant’s final design. I’d eaten dinner there the night before, not knowing what to expect. There’s always a giddiness to visiting new restaurants. It’s almost like a blind date, not knowing what you’re in for, what to expect, how the restaurant’s personality will mesh with your own. Petit & Keet, however, is full of surprises. Walking through the restaurant, at every turn you’re met with a different ambiance and atmosphere. While the main dining room is chic and upscale, the bar is raucous and casual. Activity on the patio revolves around a central fire pit, ringed with oversized lounge furniture where guests can watch games of Baggo being played on the restaurant’s outdoor court. “A lot of this,” Jim says of the design, “came from us just wanting to give Little Rock a totally new experience. We started with a totally blank slate and thought about what we really wanted to accomplish.” Where we’re seated looks down on the dining room’s wine bar, a smaller, more private area where I’d been seated during my visit the night before. It’s the purview of Susie Long, Petit & Keet’s in-house wine guru and one of the few certified sommeliers working in the state. During my dinner, I’d put myself in her hands, letting her steer me where she wanted, letting her navigate the restaurant’s wine list. We’d given her a bit of an unexpected challenge: to pair six of the eight entrees with a single bottle. She didn’t hesitate. “You’ve ordered everything but beef,” she said as she refilled our water glasses, but you could tell that mentally she was scrolling through the dozens of wines she had on offer. “It’s an unusual pairing, but I’ve got a Napa Valley rosé that’s going to be perfect with your pork chop.” Not being one to challenge an expert, I said yes. The dinner was, in no uncertain terms, excellent. The menu is a contemporary blend of Southern-tinged staples, like a pork chop OCTOBER 2017
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PETIT & KEET 1620 MARKET ST., LITTLE ROCK (501) 319-7675; PETITANDKEET.COM BEST DISHES
Beer-steamed chorizo mussels, charred miso salmon, bone-in Berkshire pork chop, rice hoecakes with summer corn succotash KID-FRIENDLY?
It certainly could be, but that bottle of wine will taste better with a baby sitter at home with the little ones. RESERVATIONS?
Yes
PRICE RANGE
$17-$32 HOURS
Mon-Thurs: 4-10 p.m.; Fri-Sat, 4-11 p.m.
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FIRST TASTE
cooked pearly white and served on a bed of sweet potato and broccolini, or rice hoecakes served with a sweet corn succotash and banana-pepper butter. These are the recipes of Arkansas, flavors familiar to us from our heritage. But for every Southern staple, there is a dish that bears the hallmarks of modern fusion cuisine: fresh salmon is marinated in miso and a seafood pasta is bathed in a tomato beurre blanc and shavings of pecorino. One of the most surprising entrees, a seemingly out-ofplace lobster roll, demands attention, promising the allure of oceanside summers that even Arkansas’ most beautiful lakes can’t fulfill. And of course, it all worked perfectly with the rosé. Back in the dining room, the restaurant is beginning to come alive around us. Floors are being mopped, and delivery trucks are arriving outside. Before I leave, I ask Jim if he thinks he’ll end up franchising Petit & Keet. “Perhaps,” he says. “This is my 149th restaurant, and it’s the first one I’ve ever chosen to put my name on. I want this to stay iconic. … I don’t think there will ever be another Petit & Keet.” In a city the size of Little Rock, and in a restaurant culture as insular as Little Rock’s, I often think about the ways in which local chefs and restaurateurs and even their dishes are all related. So much of Little Rock’s culinary history can be traced back to Jacque and Suzanne’s, and the chefs that Louis Petit worked with there and in his later restaurants. In many cases, it was those chefs who trained the current crop of leading culinary trendsetters, a lineage of taste that has shaped the city’s palate in a way most will never know. In a way, eating at Petit & Keet, opened by some of Little Rock’s original food masterminds, is like eating a history that is only just now beginning to repeat itself. OCTOBER 2017
H Though it comprises clusters of smaller, more intimate spaces, Jim Keet and Louis Petit’s new restaurant feels seamless. Also, delicious.
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CRAVINGS
A LA CART 1.
BEVERAGE
Pineapple Paradise from Kyleigh’s Lemonade Stand If you weren’t already sold on that whole “pineapple-filled snow-cone” thing, consider this: Kyleigh is an adorable 7-year-old entrepreneur.
Nine blocks, 50 food trucks, 50,000 hungry folks: The Main Street Food Festival’s numbers alone are enough to overwhelm. What you need is a plan. Thus, to prepare for the Oct. 7 festival, we present to you our ideal progressive dinner, from pre-dinner snow cone to second dessert, and every delicious morsel in-between. By jordan p. hickey | illustration by nikki dawes
2.
APPETIZER
Elote from Las Elotes Maybe you’re not familiar with this lime-, hot-sauce- and cremadrenched Mexican street corn. But you should be.
3.
APPETIZER NO. 2
Chicken momos from Katmandu Momo Dear Three Fold: You know we love your dumplings. We’re there, like, all the time. But these? We think you’d approve.
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6.
7.
DESSERT
Apple-pie funnel cake from Delish Desserts This smothered nest of fried apple goodness? We say it tastes like America.
CHEESE, UM, PLATE
Sweet Little Muenster from Say Cheese Handcrafted Sandwiches We know, we know: Grilled cheese is not after-dinner cheese. But it should be.
4.
FIRST COURSE
Excaliburger from Excaliburger 5.
A recent Yelp reviewer wrote, “Go all in. Double meat. Bacon. All the way. Go. Right now. Find the truck.” Sometimes, you just need to listen to the people.
SECOND COURSE
Katsu chicken from Ocko’s Hibachi Island In the words of our creative director, hibachi grills are our jam. But this katsu chicken? That can be our jam, too.
MOVEABLE FEAST The Main Street Food Truck Festival will be held from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 7, along a six-block stretch of Main Street (and three blocks of Capitol Avenue) in Little Rock. Entrance is free. For a list of all participating trucks and vendors, visit mainstreetfoodtrucks.com.
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THE FEED WHAT’S COOKING
WINE
NOT … find your new favorite tipple at the Oct. 5 Festival of Wines (aka the state’s largest wine festival), where you can taste hundreds of pours and support the Arkansas Heart Association? Also: nibbles from faves like Ciao Baci and District Fare. (facebook. com/ahaarkansas)
BREAKFAST, LUNCH AND DINNER ... you can find us at the newly relocated Three Fold, whose expanded hours and menu (scrambled-egg-filled baozi!) are gonna keep this kitchen busy—and make this staff quiiiiite happy, all day long. (eat3fold.com)
HOPE
YOU’RE
HUNGRY … because all that cornbread isn’t going to eat itself. Snag a tasting ticket for the 7th annual Arkansas Cornbread Festival on Oct. 21 in Little Rock’s SoMa, and prepare to have your mind blown by the competitors’ creative takes on this Southern favorite. (arkansascornbreadfestival.com)
WE’RE FEELING SAUCY … thanks to Little Rock chocolatier Cocoa Belle, who’s crafted our new go-to sundae topper. Or fruit dipper. Or pancake smotherer. Oh, heck, just hand us the spoon, will ya? (cocoabellechocolates.com)
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BY FALL MEANS … head on over to Rebel Kettle for a taste of the finest season: Oktoberfest-style marzen, a fall saison, a chipotle porter (what?!) and, naturally, a pumpkin amber ale. (rebelkettle.com)
Arkansas Life
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Hunting is a popular pastime for many Arkansans, but one aspect of the sport can have life-long consequences. Research shows that more than 80 percent of hunters have permanent high-frequency hearing loss, which means they may have trouble hearing speech sounds. They may also have a ringing in their ears, called tinnitus. “Hunting is an exciting pursuit with big rewards, as long as you don’t damage your ears,” says Mary Chatelain, Au.D., owner of Pinnacle Hearing, which has locations in Little Rock and Camden.
“We are here to help the hunters of Arkansas continue to hear with different types of custom ear plugs that can protect against gunshot noise and also amplify natural sounds to help them hear and track game.” Chatelain said that when it comes to earplugs, one size does not fit all. Generic plugs will not offer the same level of protection as custom-fit hunter’s plugs. While some devices do limit what a hunter may hear, there are many that allow hunters to hear softer sounds while still protecting them from loud sounds such as firearm noise. By protecting hearing now, hunters will be able to enjoy the sounds of nature for years to come, she says.
Complimentary Hearing Screenings and a Custom Set $ of Hearing Protection
20 off
Offer is good through October 31, 2017
TIPS FOR PROTECTING HEARING PROTECT YOURSELF Always use hearing protection anytime you fire a gun. A variety of protection is available, but custom-fitted earplugs are the best option. SET THE SCENE Avoid shooting in reverberant environments. Outdoor firing ranges won’t have the echo effect that can be found in indoor ranges. BASELINE HEARING TEST Have a baseline hearing test performed. This will help your audiologist determine how much hearing loss you have developed in future exams. CUSTOM PROTECTION Get fitted for custom hearing protection. Every ear is different and a custom-fitted earplug will provide the best protection and comfort.
MARY CHATELAIN, AU.D. OCTOBER 2017
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MAKING THE MOST OF YOUR WEEKEND
91 WISH YOU WERE HERE 96 CULTURALIST 98 HOMETOWN
WISH YOU WERE HERE
SECRETâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;S OUT ... though, to be fair, we kinda wanted to keep the Kings River Deck House to ourselves By Katie Bridges Photography by Arshia Khan
THERE ARE ONLY GOOD MORNINGS WHEN YOU HAVE A VIEW LIKE THIS TO WAKE UP TO.
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S
ome stories, when they present themselves to us here at Arkansas Life, require some heady pros-and-cons-ing. Is it something we want to pursue? A story that should be told? That needs to be told? And are we the ones to tell it? bartender in the wet bar. I’m watching, knowing exactly what’s about to happen. Almost at once, they find their way into that majestic glass-walled living room and get their first peek at that view, then start scrambling for the sliding door, tumbling outside and sprinting to the deck’s railing. After listening to a chorus of are-youkidding-me’s, I give them the backstory. That river down there? That’s the Kings River, I tell them, and The Nature Conservancy owns, maintains and conserves 10.5 miles of it. I tell them that the house was built as a vacation home by a Houston oil family in 1970, who sold it to The Nature Conservancy in 2013, and that the proceeds from each stay go to support the Conservancy’s effort on the Kings. They nod, turning to face the house, turning back to take in the view. “I feel like a millionaire,” Wyndham says. Our stay unfolds, much like my stay the previous summer, in a series of Instagram-worthy moments. Cocktails on the deck. Burgers with a view. A hike at dusk. Ukulele jam sessions by the fire pit. The Milky Way and the brightest shooting star we’ve ever seen. As I’m wont to do, I snap a hundred pictures. This time, I post a few. Immediately the comments flood in. Where is this place? Um, where’s my invite? HOW DO I STAY HERE? I hesitate. Should I respond, knowing that if the world knows what’s at the end of that nondescript, unmarked gravel drive, I’ll have to share it? Or should I keep it to myself? Reluctantly, I make my decision. Secret’s out, folks. Have at it. Just make sure you save a room for me.
This is one of those stories. It’s a story that, for me, began in the summer of 2016, when my family and I pulled off of Arkansas Highway 21 near the Kings River, climbing up and up and along a ridge atop a forested county road and then, tentatively, down an unmarked gravel drive. “Is that … is that it?” I remember asking my husband, pointing a tentative finger at a low-slung, wood-sided house. In my mind, I was expecting grandeur—a house large enough to shelter the 16 family members I’d convinced to spend the weekend with us on—wait for it—5,200 riverfront acres owned by The Nature Conservancy. This? This wasn’t grand. We’ll just call it “rustic.” He shrugged and kept following the drive, which wound through the woods, eventually curling around the rural version of a cul-de-sac. On its fringes sat two glass-walled bungalows, partially concealed by greenery; at its apex, a modest-looking, though undoubtedly oversized, cabin. “That must be it,” I said, still somewhat puzzled. Big, it was. Grand, it wasn’t. Then I opened the door. What follows can only be likened to that moment on every reality TV show ever when the mishmash of folks who’ll be shacking up together arrive at the multimillion-dollar pad chosen for them by production, screaming like schoolgirls and scurrying up and down stairs and flinging themselves onto overstuffed beds. Because that was me in the rock-walled kitchen with its hibachi grill, butcherblock island and double fridges. In the dining room with its monstrous wooden table and seats for 14. In the two-story living room where there were no walls, only glass. And, my goodness, on the 2,000-square-foot deck, which had, hands down, the loveliest view I’ve ever beheld in all of Arkansas. Seriously. My first inclination? Get out the iPhone, open Instagram, go nuts. But then I thought better. If I share this, I thought, then people will know about this place. I put the phone back in my pocket.
“I
s that it?” Emma says from the passenger seat. I smile. Same story, one year later. Staff in tow, I’ve made the same turn off Arkansas 21 and down the same unmarked gravel drive. Same door opening, same reality-show montage: one’s shrieking from the kitchen, one’s climbing stairs two by two to the sleeping loft, one’s flipping on lights in a bedroom, one’s playing OCTOBER 2017
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WISH YOU WERE HERE
THE VIEW IS ALMOST INESCAPABLE—IT’S VISIBLE FROM THE DECK, FROM THE LIVING ROOM, FROM YOUR BED. MORNING COFFEE’S NEVER TASTED SO GOOD.
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KINGS RIVER DECK HOUSE Near Eureka Springs
Sleeps: 12 in the main house; four in each of the two bungalows (20 total) Amenities: Hiking trail, gourmet kitchen, six bathrooms, wood-burning fireplace, fire pit, grilling pavilion, record player, treasure trove of 1970s-era vinyl. Oh, and did we mention 5,200 acres? Rate: $950/night for main house and bungalows Info: kingsriverdeckhouse.org
THE NATURE CONSERVANCYâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;S 5,200 ACRES, AS FAR AS THE EYE CAN SEE.
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WISH YOU WERE HERE
SEE ALSO Listen, you’re not gonna want to leave. But if you do, here’s where to go KINGS RIVER DECK HOUSE TRAIL Just kidding—you don’t even have to leave for this one, since it’s on the property. Built by volunteers, this outand-back trail starts right behind the main house and switchbacks about a mile through the woods to a bluff overlooking river. Thing is, though, it’s a mile back up and out. Worth it? Yes.Pro-tip: Wear bug spray.
KINGS RIVER OUTFITTERS Renaissance man Ernie Kilman—half landscape painter, half river guide—is the man behind this canoe/kayak service just down the road from the deck house. For those who aren’t staying at the deck house, know this: Ernie’s got a trio of cabins and a campground on his scenic riverfront property. (8190 Arkansas Highway 221; kingsriveroutfitters.com)
LOCAL FLAVOR Trust us: Everything tastes better on that deck. But if you want a break from the kitchen, this Main Street eatery’s got a great wine list, an inventive menu and a to-die-for patio. If you’re in town on the weekend, sister restaurant Aquarius Taqueria offers Oaxacan-style Mexican food and—bonus!—mezcal margaritas. (71 S. Main St.; localflavorcafe.net) WITH AN ON-SITE 2-MILE HIKING TRAIL AND EASY ACCESS TO THE WATER, THERE’S NO SHORTAGE OF THINGS TO DO—THOUGH YOU MAY JUST WANT TO PARK YOURSELF AT THE HOUSE, AND BE.
OCTOBER 2017
SPARKY’S ROADHOUSE CAFE Worked up an appetite on the river, or the trail, or the lake? (Beaver Lake is nearby, BTW.) Sparky’s is A) relatively close, B) outrageously delicious, C) super quirky and D) OK with the fact that you’re, um, river-y. Our rec? The enchiladas. And get a chocolate milkshake while you’re at it. We won’t tell. (147 E. Van Buren; sparkysroadhouse.com)
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CULTURALIST WHERE TO BE THIS MONTH
10.7-8
... by the Arkansas Symphony Orchestra’s performance
of The Magical Music of Harry Potter at Little Rock’s Robinson Center. Bonus points if you don your round glasses and lightning-bolt scar—dressing up is encouraged! (arkansassymphony.org/magic)
10.6-15
THE SILVER SCREEN IN SPA CITY Twenty-six years in, the Hot Springs Documentary Film Festival shows no signs of slowing down. In fact, this year’s lineup might just be the best one yet. Need convincing? Here are a few of the events we’ve got our eyes on (dates ad times TBD): The world premiere of Laddie: The Man Behind the Movies by Amanda Ladd, presented by Oscar-nominated actress and honorary chair Kathleen Turner • A screening of 2005’s critically acclaimed Grizzly Man, presented by the director, Werner Herzog • The virtual reality lounge, where participants can take a seat, strap on a headset and experience a short film in full 360-degree perspective
10.22
BRUNO MARS AT NORTH LITTLE ROCK’S VERIZON ARENA OCTOBER 2017
• A screening of AETN’s Dream Land: Little Rock’s West 9th Street by Gabe Mayhan • A screening of The Favored Strawberry by the University of Arkansas’ Larry Foley and Dale Carpenter
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10.4-7
10.4
KING BISCUIT BLUES FESTIVAL IN HELENA
BAND OF HORSES AT LITTLE ROCK’S METROPLEX
10.5 PARKER MILLSAP AT LITTLE ROCK’S SOUTH ON MAIN
10.5 25TH ANNIVERSARY PARTY AT LITTLE ROCK’S DUNBAR GARDEN IN LITTLE ROCK
10.12-15 HILLBERRY: THE HARVEST MOON FESTIVAL IN EUREKA SPRINGS
10.26-29 CIRQUE DU SOLEIL’S CRYSTAL AT VERIZON ARENA IN NORTH LITTLE ROCK
10.6-12.31
APPRECIATE THE IRONY ... when darling meets disturbing in Japanese artist Momoyo Torimitsu’s installation Somehow I Don’t Feel Comfortable, a commentary on what the artist deems Japan’s “cuteness syndrome,” at the Fort Smith Regional Art Museum. (fsram.org)
10.14
10.24
... with best-selling author and humorist David Sedaris at Fayetteville’s Walton Arts Center. Trust us: He’s even funnier in person. (waltonartscenter.org) OCTOBER 2017
... with your tots at Bentonville’s Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art during its new CB Babies program, which introduces kiddos 3 months to 24 months to the collection before letting them loose for some creative sensory playtime. (crystalbridges.org) 97
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HOMETOWN
DINNER IN DUMAS
I
’m at the counter of SonF lour Baker y in downtown Dumas, aimless, but ready to explore, when the cashier says, “You don’t look familiar. Are you from around here?” Behind her head is a sign: “Enter as strangers, leave as friends.” I admit I’m a stranger and ask for recommendations. Her eyes light up, and she rattles off a list of places. “The gift shop next door, Ain’t That Funky, has some great stuff. And Miller’s Mud Mill has beautiful pottery. Very creative designs. You’ll love it.” Another local joins in, obviously delighted at the opportunity to guide this uninformed voyager: “Flowers and Gifts by William, across the street there, has a Christmas room year-round!” The cashier picks it up again: “If you’re here for dinner, you have to go to Taylor’s Steakhouse.” I nodded. I knew about Taylor’s but was otherwise unschooled in the offerings of Dumas. However, dry-aged steaks and chocolate bread pudding were the only words I really needed to hear. In my book, those menu items alone would qualify Dumas as destination dining. But I was pleasantly surprised to find more reasons to visit before dinnertime. From Little Rock, the drive takes about 90 minutes, if you go the speed limit (highly recommended) and is a comfortable four lanes of divided highway, running alongside endless fields of crops like corn and cotton. In town, navigation is easy as the main highways divide Dumas into quarters. The main strip
Steak with a side of Southern hospitality By Melissa Tucker Photography by Arshia Khan
“ENTER AS STRANGERS, LEAVE A FRIENDS” READS A SIGN AT DUMAS’ CUTE-AS-A-BUTTON SONFLOUR BAKERY.
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is split in half by train tracks, with silver farming silos towering just beyond the mostly monochromatic street. Colorful attractions like SonFlour Bakery and Ain’t That Funky gift shop stand out against the old beige storefronts of downtown. The bakery’s inviting glass storefront, lunch crowd and colorful interior draw the eye, while the adventurous menu will draw your appetite. After the catfish plate and shrimp basket, the third special on this Friday was “hushpuppies and cheese dip.” Rather than opt for one of the handful of ghost pepper cheese-topped menu items, I decided to go with the smokedchicken-bacon-ranch sandwich, and casually eavesdropped on the local conversations. Then, a list of recommendations from my new friends in one hand and a to-go brownie in the other, I wandered along Main Street, window-shopping and counting down the hours until dinner. In these Arkansas small towns, if you’re observant, you’ll quickly learn the colors and mascot of the high school football team. I visited on a Friday and had two big hints. The first was overhearing, “Oh, she’s not here. She took her daughter to dye her hair purple for the game tonight.” The second was a large rack devoted to gold and purple bobcat merch at Flowers and Gifts by William. The shop was like a mishmash of every gift store ever. It had baggies of jelly beans and chocolate covered peanuts, faux flowers and candles, Beanie Babies, scarves, headbands, you get the picture. And, just as I was told, it had a Christmas room with trees decorated year-round. I bought some souvenirs for the family and ended up showing pictures of my children to the delighted cashier because, as promised, we’re friends now. Arkansas Life
DUMAS POPULATION: 4,706 (2010 CENSUS) COUNTY: DESHA DRIVING DISTANCE FROM LITTLE ROCK: 87 MILES WHY YOU’RE GOING THERE: STEAK. CLAIM TO FAME: JEFF NICHOLS’ MUD WAS SHOT ON LOCATION IN AND AROUND TOWN. SEE ALSO: DING DONG DAYS, HELD OCT. 25-28.
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DING DING DING Must-sees and -dos in and around Dumas
TAYLOR’S STEAKHOUSE If you hadn’t already figured it out: We’re fans of this place. Because even an hour away, the siren song of those dry-aged ribeyes—which remain the finest we’ve ever had. Period—pulls us down at least once a month. Pro tip: Claim a serving of the bread pudding when you order your steak. They run out quickly. (14201 Arkansas Highway 54; (870) 382-5349)
YOU MIGHT BE IN TOWN FOR DINNER AT TAYLOR’S, BUT YOU CAN WORK UP AN APPETITE BEFOREHAND BY BROWSING THE WARES AT AIN’T THAT FUNKY (TOP) OR MILLER’S MUD MILL (ABOVE LEFT). AND IF YOU’RE FEELING PECKISH, SONFLOUR BAKERY (ABOVE) WON’T DISAPPOINT.
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FLOWERS AND GIFTS BY WILLIAM The kind of place where you can pick up something for just about any occasion, for just about anyone. Especially ones who love Christmas. (168 S. Main St.; (870) 382-5519)
AIN’T THAT FUNKY Specializing in locally made items like Wicked Mix and Lambrecht toffee, handmade metal-and-stone jewelry, the shop also has quirky clothes and football shirts. And a section for men’s grooming. (153 S. Main St.; (870) 382-0136) Arkansas Life
HOMETOWN
MILLER’S MUD MILL Artisan Gail Miller has been handcrafting stoneware for more than 35 years. Plates, mugs, square flower vases with stubby little feet, all with striking colors and subtle designs line the shelves. Nearly everything in the little shop wears a fine coat of dust from the pottery area in the back. (862 U.S. Highway 65 S.; facebook.com/millersmudmill)
THE SONFLOUR BAKERY More than a bakery, this local dining spot keeps Dumas fueled with housemade items like pork rinds and smoked meats, sandwiches, convenient dinnerready casseroles, and, of course, a revolving selection of creative brownies and cupcakes. (109 S. Main St.; facebook.com/TheSonFlourBakery)
DESHA COUNTY MUSEUM As parents, we’re always trying to show kids how great they have it. This museum replicates daily life in a 19th century south Arkansas farming community and should accomplish the task fairly quickly. (264 U.S. Highway 165 N.; deshacountyhistorical.org)
PICKENS COUNTRY STORE & RESTAURANT Plate lunches and pie after pie after pie are on offer at this old-school general store on what was once the Pickens Plantation, just south of town. Word is, the squash casserole’s among the best in the land. (122 Pickens Road, Pickens; (870) 382-5266)
ARKANSAS POST NATIONAL MEMORIAL About 17 miles from Dumas sits the original capital of the Arkansas territory. Pioneers set up camp here at the junction of two rivers as they arrived in the state. Today, the national site has walking trails, cannons, remnants of a garrison with bullet holes and a visitors center that details the battles fought and the many countries that have claimed ownership of the land there. (1741 Old Post Road, Gillett; nps.gov/arpo) OCTOBER 2017
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longest time savoring the moment. Out to, then down, Highway 71 now, it’s some 8 miles to Mountainburg BBQ. Just before heading in there for a burger and fries and most of the Coke in their fountain, I stop in the secondhand store next door. Need a new long-sleeve white shirt, and I’m in luck—100 percent cotton, and a monogrammed pocket no less. Back on the highway, and a bit past the interstate exit, a vehicle slows in the lane across. Oh yes, it’s Squeeze. He’s tracked me down to wish me well. Just great energy, Squeeze. Thanks! SEPT. 1, 2011
OT: Eagle Gap, then on to Tan-a-Hill Spring
Queen Wilhelmina Lodge is a great place. Sure glad I decided to stay—right decision! These Ouachita Mountains are tall and rock-rugged. Heading out this morning after crossing the scenic drive, the trail does a major bail-off, over a thousand feet in less than 4 miles—oh yes, rugged mountains! Where the trail drops to cross Big Creek, then again at Clear Creek, both have no running water, just stagnant pools. Sure glad I cameled up at the restaurant this morning and am carrying double my usual water: two 20-ounce bottles. At a tributary to Cedar Creek, I’m able to take water from a small pool there. Hopefully, I’ll find water at Tan-a-Hill Spring, some 24 miles from the lodge. Please, Lord, I’ll need water, lots of water to make the thousand-foot climb up and over Fourche Mountain tomorrow. A bit more friendly tread today, but still plenty of climbing and boulder fields. I’m totally beat and out of water when I finally reach the spring just before sunset. Oh my, the spring is wet. Nothing to brag about, just a 2-foot round, 3-inch deep pool between some tree roots. But tell you what, here’s the coolest, clearest, sweetest spring water I can recall drinking, ever! SEPT. 5, 2011
OT: Arkansas Highway 27, then on to Blue Mountain Shelter
Today should be an easy day, comparatively. The boulder fields have all but disappeared, the Ouachitas flattened some, making for much less vertical trail. Of course, there’ll be the ever-worrisome water-shortage problem associated with hiking these mountains in late summer, but I’ll deal OCTOBER 2017
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with that. At Irons Fork, and for the next 5 miles, am I dealt the most unbelievable trail. Problem? The four “B’s”: blowdowns, briers, brambles and brush. It’s impossible to stay upright, what with the extent of greenbrier and brush tangle. I fall countless times. In the process, and relying on my trekking poles to keep me from doing even more headers, I manage to bend them both very badly. Five hours, five—that’s how long it takes me to put this trail from hell behind me. The remainder of the day proves delightful. Finding just the right fork in a tree, I manage to pretty much straighten my mangled trekking poles. Ah, and glory be, there’ s abundant water in the North Fork, Ouachita River, where I camel up, then fill my bottles for the remainder of the day. Even with the slow-going midday and with a bunged-up right leg (from all the falls), I still manage to make it to Blue Mountain Shelter, just short of 25 for the day. SEPT. 9, 2011
OT: Pinnacle Mountain State Park, then on to Amtrak
I’m out at first light, with a light heart and a light pack, haulin’. Today’s trek turns to be a cruise—and I’m on cruise, from a wonderful feeling that’s welling up from deep within. I feel so privileged, so proud, to be the first to hike this Triple-O. I knock out the remainder of the Ouachita before noon. Ranger Ron, Pinnacle Mountain State Park, enthusiastically greets me. Genuinely excited, Ron listens intently as I relate my story about this journey, and its ending right here at his park. On the deck by the Visitor Center, I linger—deep, emotional feelings, reliving these past 60 days on the trail. What a blessing, to have been granted the grit and determination to endure against such adversity, such demoralizing setbacks. But here I am, at Pinnacle Mountain. And here, today, a bit of hiking history has been made, the first thru-hike linking all three O-Trails, the Ozark, the Ozark Highlands and the Ouachita. The catchy new title, “Triple-O,” as coined by my dear friend Gordon, will certainly become known far and wide. And it’s possible, just possible, that this Triple-O Trail could well become the premier trail of all trails throughout the Midwest. And so, dear friends, this journey is finally over. Thank you, Lord, for your safe keeping these many days. Such a blessing to this old man, such a blessing. OCTOBER 2017
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One Take
In which we gave a local photographer a Polaroid, eight frames of film, a theme and one take to get the shot.
THE EVERYDAY: A STUDY A lot of the photographers I follow, like Stephen Shore, they were kind of a response to that Ansel Adams movement, where everything had to be this grand beautiful thing. They kind of came back in the ’70s when color photography started, and they were like, No, it can be something mundane, it can be something out of your everyday life that usually goes unnoticed or taken for granted, and trying to find something beautiful in those ordinary scenes. I’m drawn to things that are just kind of out of place—they don’t really have to be pretty to be interesting to me. And with street photography, it’s all over the place. The photos can show a trace of something that someone’s left behind. As told to Jordan P. Hickey | Photographed By Dylan Yarbrough To see outtakes from this month’s One Take, visit arkansaslife.com.
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The Chancellor’s Concert Series Presents New York Classical Players
Familiar masterpieces, bold new commissions, and unexpected musical treasures. 7:30 p.m., Monday, Oct. 9 | Stella Boyle Smith Concert Hall | UA Little Rock Campus
General public tickets, $20. Free for UA Little Rock and UA-Pulaski Tech Faculty, Staff and Students; all other students, $5.
DEPARTMENT OF MUSIC UNIVERSITY OF ARKANSAS AT LITTLE ROCK
501.569.3294 | ualr.edu/music/box-office
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