AY About You April 2025

Wedding ISSUE

Fresh Ideas for Spring: Celebrate, Create, and Connect at CALS

April is Earth Month!

Go green with CALS and celebrate sustainability, creativity, and community. Join us for ecofriendly programs, hands-on activities, and resources to help you make a positive impact. Whether you’re exploring ways to reduce waste, upcycling materials, or discovering the power of nature through books and events, there’s something for everyone.

Rock Paper Run

April 6 | 7:30AM

In celebration of National Library Week, the Rock Paper Run 5K, hosted in partnership with the North Little Rock Public Library System, will take place on Sunday, April 6. This year’s course features a scenic loop, starting and ending at NLRPLS’s Argenta Branch and winding through the River Trail in Little Rock. The weeklong celebration will conclude with a special event at Laman Library on April 12. For details and registration, visit rockpaperrun.org.

Children’s Day at Maumelle Library

April 26 | 10:30AM

Join us for our 3rd Annual Children’s Day at Maumelle, featuring a hands-on DIY Foosball Table workshop led by artist Vicente Yañez. Children will have the opportunity to decorate their players, design their stadiums, and even customize the foosball itself before teaming up for friendly matches. All supplies will be provided while they last.

EXPLORE • EAT • STAY

There’s so much to explore in Searcy! From downtown events and foodie approved eats to holiday lights and a high quality of life, our “big small town” is your perfect place for a weekend – or a lifetime. Get started at experiencesearcy.com today.

Join us in Searcy May 2-4 for these great events!

• Cinco de Mayo Festival | May 2

• Rialto Film Festival | May 2-3

• World Championship Chocolate Gravy Cookoff | May 3

• Farmers’ Market Kickoff | May 3

• Pioneer Village Open House | May 3-4

Working toward student success at every opportunity make a note

If you love working with students, chart your career course with the Pulaski County Special School District (PCSSD). PCSSD is committed to finding highly qualified and dedicated staff to help provide excellent education to all. In addition to teachers and substitutes, schools across the District are always hiring for support staff positions, including bus drivers, student nutrition staff, para professionals, office staff, and more.

According to Dr. Yolaundra Williams, assistant superintendent for human resources at PCSSD, the District is studentcentered in every area of employment and offers a family-oriented work environment for all employees.

“Our schools and District offices provide supportive administration and provide an excellent benefits package,” says Williams. “We also employ a staff that mimics our student population so that students see themselves in every role within PCSSD.”

To help new teachers grow in the profession, PCSSD pairs novice teachers with a veteran mentor. This program helps new hires feel welcome and comfortable in the classroom through regular check-in

sessions over the course of their first three years with the District.

“Employees are surrounded by a supportive and informative team at our District office,” Dr. Williams adds. “If you work in the schools in any capacity, you’ll encounter encouraging school administrators and fellow staff members. Our parents are very engaged in our schools and we value their input and participation in student success.”

There are also plenty of other opportunities for growth within the District. Whether it’s a current support staff employee working toward becoming a teacher, a teacher advancing into a leadership role or growth within our support staff departments like student nutrition, maintenance and security.

JOB OPENINGS

There are current job openings for custodians, para professionals, teachers, bus drivers, and more. All job openings and the application can be found at www.pcssd.org/careers . Applications are reviewed by hiring managers before setting up interviews with an interview committee. If a person rises to the top, then they are recommended to the School Board for approval.

CAREER EXPO

PCSSD is hosting a career expo on Saturday, May 3, 2025 at Mills University Studies High School from 9:00 a.m. until 12:00 p.m. This is a great opportunity to learn more about the District and openings across all schools.

ABOUT PCSSD

Pulaski County Special School District spans more than 600 square miles in central Arkansas and requires highly skilled and passionate personnel to adapt educational policies and personalization to 25 schools. Every school is accredited by the Arkansas State Board of Education. PCSSD has served schools across Pulaski County since July 1927.

PCSSD is committed to creating a nationally recognized school district that assures that all students achieve at their maximum potential through collaborative, supportive and continuous efforts of all stakeholders.

“An ideal candidate to work with us in PCSSD would be one who is studentcentered, knowing that a student’s success should be the ultimate goal in our job,” Dr. Williams explains. “We also love to hire life-long learners and people who are datafocused—no matter your area of expertise.”

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Joe David Rice, born in Paragould and reared in Jonesboro, probably knows Arkansas as well as anyone alive. The former owner of an outfitting business on the Buffalo National River and the state’s former tourism director, his Arkansas Backstories is published by the Butler Center.

Chris Davis was born and raised in Sherwood but now resides in North Little Rock with his wife and son. When his son was born, his wife asked for a new camera to take pictures of their little one. From there, his love of photography grew, and he is proud to be one of the contributing photographers at AY About You magazine.

Margie Raimondo blends culinary skills with storytelling. She specializes in Mediterranean cooking classes that emphasize healthy eating and has authored two cookbooks: Mangiamo and Finding Your Path Additionally, she is a filmmaker. She produced the awardwinning documentary The Soul of Sicily

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

Todd Traub is a freelance writer with close to 35 years of experience in Arkansas journalism and publishing. An Air Force veteran and father of three grown children, he lives with his cat, Scout, in Cabot, where he is a world-class dabbler in cooking and exercise, a so-so trivia player and a wildly successful gatherer of books.

Jamie Lee is a freelance photographer originally from southwest Louisiana who now resides in Little Rock. With a strong focus on portrait, branding and food photography, she loves capturing people’s stories and cultures through the lens, helping businesses build their brands visually, and showcasing the local food scene and small businesses.

Justina Parker has a bachelor’s degree in interdisciplinary studies from Arkansas Tech University in Russellville and is the creator of We Belong, a blog that features women in leadership across Arkansas. She loves people’s stories of selfdiscovery and spending time with her two boys, and she has never met a dog or potato she did not like.

Erin Love is a freelance photographer from North Little Rock. She specializes in animal photography and has been taking photos since 2022. She loves capturing the beauty of animals, a subject she’s been passionate about her whole life. One of her favorite things is going to zoos and taking photos at a leisurely pace.

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A LEGENDARY ADVENTURE AWAITS

Many know David as the shepherd boy who became the most famous king of Israel, but his life was also bursting with unexpected adventure. From pasture to palace his ascent to the throne was filled with towering giants, wild animals, and Philistine soldiers. So, when the Sight & Sound Theatres ® creative teams set out to bring their production of DAVID to life on stage, they knew audiences were in for a legendary journey. But as they began to uncover more of David’s story, they quickly discovered that it did not matter if he was shepherding his flock or facing off with Philistines, through every victory and defeat David continued to persevere as a man after God’s heart.

For nearly fifty years, Sight & Sound Theatres has been best known for bringing the Bible to life in a truly immersive way. And this year’s debut of DAVID in Branson is set to be no exception! Taking nearly four years to create and produce, meticulous attention was given to every detail of this original

theatrical production. From a perfectly trained flock of sheep to intricately choreographed fight scenes, and interactive media on a state-of-the-art LED screen, audiences will be transported inside one of the Bible’s best-known stories.

At Sight & Sound, we are passionate about bringing the pages of Scripture to life on stage because of the way they inspire and encourage us in our own walks of faith. This summer, we invite you to gather your troops and join us on this journey from still waters to shadowed valleys. And as you witness praises rise and giants fall it is our hope that one message resounds from the stage: throughout our triumphs and failures God is with us, always.

DAVID is now playing live on stage through December at Sight & Sound Theatres in Branson, MO. For more information, visit sight-sound.com.

Our Favorite Season!

Arkansas is known for the beauty of its seasons, each in its own way, from the colors of springtime to the shimmering lakes of summer to the fall foliage and, of course, winter, lit up by the holidays.

There are also the “seasons between the seasons” — Buffalo River floating, Razorback football, Arkansas tomatoes to name three — that work their way into the calendar to accentuate the months as they roll along. Among these, wedding season has to rank at or near the very top of my list.

In this issue of AY About You, we salute this very special season in all of its glory and joy. Our focus on weddings showcases the best in dresses, bling, flowers, venues and just about everything else a couple needs to make their special day unforgettable.

Did you know you could plan a dream wedding at one of central Arkansas’ most historic locales? Check out our profile of Oaklawn in Hot Springs, which is now back in the wedding business. Talk about pulling out all the stops!

Also in this issue, we visit one of the best restaurants in the state, SŌ Restaurant & Bar in Little Rock. One of the foundations of fine dining in Arkansas, the team at SŌ is working towards landing a Michelin star and we would not bet against them. We also sit down with the good folks at Diamond Bear Brewing Co. in North Little Rock to discover what is happening with one of Arkansas’ oldest and best-loved craft beer brands.

Warmer weather also means special events, and AY has it covered, taking a look at the “wildly” popular Wild Wines at the Little Rock Zoo. We also preview the Taste of Little Rock at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock, an event showcasing some of the best food anywhere.

All this and plenty more where that came from as we emerge from the cold of winter and step into the gentle warmth of springtime. There is a lot to see and do, Arkansas, and you can count on us to keep you in step with all of it.

Thank you for picking up this issue, and as always, feel free to take us along on your adventures. We would love to hear what you are up to!

Heather Baker, President & Publisher hbaker@aymag.com

/ heatherbaker_ar

Where great smiles are

Providing the Best in Dental Care for Families throughout Little Rock and Stuttgart

We serve everyone from pediatric to seniors, we always welcome you with open arms. Whether you need a simple checkup and cleaning for the whole family, replacing missing teeth with dental implants, or wanting a new smile with veneers, you can trust our dental team to always deliver.

GENERAL

• Teeth Cleanings

• Oral Cancer Screenings

• Tooth Fillings

COSMETIC

• Teeth Whitening

• Veneers

• Dental Crowns

• Implants

DENTURES

• Partials

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Dr. Monty Heathman DDS

CONNECT

READER FEEDBACK INSTAGRAM

CAPERS RESTAURANT BIDS FAREWELL AFTER 28 YEARS IN LITTLE ROCK

Oh no! We had our wedding reception here almost 25 years ago… we will definitely have to make it in to say goodbye!

Traci Swincher Campbell

We’re going to miss you in the neighborhood. Have a lot of great memories & food at Capers that expands 20+ years. So sorry to see you go, best wishes to staff.

Donna Young Goss

RESTAURANT ROAD TRIP:

BEST COCKTAIL LOUNGE, LEFTY’S ON THE SQUARE

It is a great place to eat with a wonderful atmosphere and staff!

Monty Harrington

FAVORITE SERVERS: MAGGIE CORDELL

She’s waited on me almost every time we go there. She is so friendly and always has a smile.

Annice Dillon

FAVORITE SERVERS: RICARDO MORALES

Love Ricardo!! He’s the best…

Pat Cook

RESTAURANT ROAD TRIP:

BEST RESTAURANT WORTH THE DRIVE, HOOTS BBQ

The best food for miles around!!!

Dana Morris

HOT IN SPA CITY:

VALERIE BERTINELLI MAKES HER HOT SPRINGS DEBUT FOR PARADE

She’s a treasure.

Connie Evans Castleberry

RESTAURANT ROAD TRIP: BEST DESSERT, CHARLOTTE’S EATS & SWEETS

The best pies!!! Coconut is my favorite, but I don’t say no to any of them.

Vickie Ferrell Barrett TRENDING

AY’s Best of 2025

Chuy’s to spice up Conway with Tex-Mex faves!

Capers Restaurant bids farewell after 28 years in Little Rock

2025 Wye Mountain Daffodil Festival

Camp Aldersgate expands camp programs for young adults

Capers Restaurant bids farewell after 28 years in Little Rock

Craig Morgan bringing his ‘American Soundtrack’ to Oaklawn

Rock N Roll Sushi grows in Arkansas, starting with Jonesboro

Their first five years

90 percent of your child’s intellect, personality and social skills are developed by age 5. Research tells us the most effective learning happens through play and positive interactions with family and educators.

Family is your child’s first teacher

Your family creates positive interactions when you hold your child and talk to them, play and read to them. When you focus your attention on your child, you show them how important they are to you.

From their first days with you, your family has guided your child toward communication and understanding their world. Most families must return to work when their child is four months old. Families need a partner to continue the education they’ve begun and

Better Beginnings is administered by the Arkansas Department of Education.

90 percent of your child’s intellect, personality and social skills are developed by age 5.

Written by Kelli Hilburn, Better Beginnings Program Administrator

help their child get ready to start school at age five.

Help finding quality care

Better Beginnings connects families to quality early care and education providers that help prepare your child for kindergarten through positive experiences, research-based curriculum and learning through play.

Children should enjoy warm, positive interactions with other children and staff. Look for early care staff that responds to the

Scan the code to find your early care and education partner at Better Beginnings

needs of each child. Staff that plays with, talks to and reads to the children much like you do at home. The facility should provide active play areas indoors and outdoors, and areas for quiet play and rest.

Curriculum should be ageappropriate, and the program should have good processes for communication so families can extend their child’s learning progress at home.

Your quality early care and education partner

Click the orange banner at ARBetterBeginnings.com to find star-rated quality early care and education providers who can help your child start school with confidence.

Their first five years build the foundation for your child’s future. Give your child the best start with Better Beginnings quality early care and education providers.

5Top

you just can't miss!

BARKUS ON MAIN

April 6

SoMa — Little Rock

Little Rock’s largest Mardi Gras dog event is back. The “pawty” culminates in a parade at 2:30 p.m. The day will feature entertainment for two- and four-legged attendees, a beer garden, a hurricane station, gumbo, a crawfish boil, and plenty of beads.

TYLER CHILDERS: ON THE ROAD

April 6

Simmons Bank Arena — North Little Rock

See the “All Your’n” singer live with special guest Cory Branan. $1 of every ticket sale will go to benefit Hickman Holler Appalachian Relief Fund and REVERB.

TASTE OF LITTLE ROCK

April 8

Jack Stephens Center — Little Rock

The 20th annual Taste of Little Rock will raise funds for the University of Arkansas at Little Rock Alumni Association Scholarship Fund while introducing guests to some of the best food in the city from the finest restaurants in Little Rock.

ALL-STAR SUMO

April 11

Bank OZK Arena — Hot Springs

Gear up for an unforgettable night of power and athleticism at the AllStar Sumo event. The sumo exhibition kicks off the Arkansas Cherry Blossom Festival, providing a lively start to a weekend of celebrating Japanese culture.

WILD WINES

April 26

Little Rock Zoo — Little Rock

Wild Wines will feature a curated selection of fine food from central Arkansas’ top restaurants paired with hand-selected wines from O’Looney’s Wine & Liquor in Little Rock. Enjoy live music, animal encounters, and unforgettable food and wine.

tradition of HOMEBUILDING EXCELLENCE

By AY STAFF // Photos by LORI SPARKMAN

Homebuilder Randy Wiggins is helping transform Sherwood by developing neighborhoods filled with high-end custom homes.

With nearly four decades of experience in the homebuilding market and a long list of satisfied customers to boot, Randy Wiggins is one of the most skilled and respected builders in central Arkansas.

Since beginning his career, Wiggins has come to specialize in trendy, high-end homes and large, custom projects in a variety of styles.

As each completed individual project and a growing portfolio of residential developments attest, Wiggins is only getting better with time.

“It’s a complicated thing to take a bare piece of ground and do all the things you need to do to create a neighborhood out of nothing,” he said. “Because of that complexity, we’re one of just a few companies that do both development and homebuilding in central Arkansas.”

Wiggins is the developer behind the prestigious Miller’s Ridge Estates in Sherwood, located on Fern Ridge Road. The gated

community, which features breathtaking views and plenty of ground upon which to build, offers the best in peaceful, secluded living without sacrificing amenities or access to nearby shopping, schools and services. The development follows the company’s other successful projects, including Miller’s Pointe, Millers Glen and Austin Gardens in Sherwood.

“The development we’re offering right now, Miller’s Ridge Estates, is incredible,” Wiggins said. “We’re featuring estate lots there that are larger and more secluded, and people love them. It’s a truly beautiful neighborhood. You can see for 20 miles.”

Wiggins said ample lots are available in Miller’s Ridge Estates for other builders, investors and clients — with more lots to come in Phase 3 — making it the development of choice for discerning homeowners. The company has even made it easier to buy a home thanks to its onetime close feature whereby homebuyers can save $3,000 on closing costs by combining the land and construction loan into the mortgage.

Miller’s Ridge Estates reflects the skill and mastery the builder has amassed over nearly four decades in the local market. His handpicked team of skilled craftsmen, designers and vendors is unmatched, and he prioritizes honesty and transparency during every client interaction. That process results in homes of stunning beauty and unparalleled craftsmanship in which no two homes are the same.

Over the years, some of the state’s most talented designers have also lent their expertise to the company’s homes, including Tom Chandler and Martin Potter, who have applied their vision to art placement, symmetry and overall beauty.

Thinking outside the box is mandatory when it comes to designing one-of-a-kind homes to suit the dreams and vision of each client.

“Every team member demonstrates a lot of care and attention to detail,” Wiggins said.

“We apply that to the customer’s ideas to create beautiful, one-of-a-kind homes.”

One of the things that keeps Wiggins’ work fresh is his constant push to discover — and rediscover — new styles and influences.

“I’ve spent my entire life in the business of land development and custom homebuilding, and even today, I am motivated to learn something new,” he said.

A prime example is the mid-century home he is currently constructing.

“The mid-century style has piqued my imagination,” he said. “I would love to develop an area inspired by the midcentury modern style. Mid-century style was cool the first time around, and it is even more cool now.”

The design allows for open floor plans with clean lines, simple baseboards and more flair, Wiggins said. The midcentury home he is currently building, for instance, offers a linear gas fireplace with a remote to control the temperature and features colored LED accent lights. The sleek fireplace

“It’s a complicated thing to take a bare piece of ground and do all the things you need to do to create a neighborhood out of nothing. Because of that complexity, we’re one of just a few companies that do both development and homebuilding in central Arkansas.”

— Randy Wiggins, homebuilder

is just one of the technological wonders Wiggins is building into homes these days.

“Many smart features are available now, allowing access to locks and the garage door from one’s phone, as well as remotes for fireplaces, lights, temperature control and music,” he said.

Wiggins combines the technological elements with thoughtful design that caters to homeowners at all stages of life, such as handicap accessible features, roll-in showers, grip bars on the walls, wider doorways and no-step entry from garage into the home. Melding safety with style is a challenge he embraces, and he makes it look easy in the process.

“A custom-built luxury home is the sum of many complicated parts,” he said. “Many builders hesitate to step out of the proverbial box, but when you’re building custom homes, thinking and operating outside that box is mandatory.

“The thing that is most rewarding about what I do is I get to see a piece of ground transformed into someone’s favorite spot on earth, the place they want to build their custom home and spend time with their family and friends. I want to continue to develop beautiful neighborhoods of design- and technology-forward homes that deliver so much more than the client ever imagined.”

Stunning views are a hallmark of Miller’s Ridge Estates, where residents can find large, secluded lots amid a wooded setting.

exclusive Eats

Arkansas restaurants offer private dining spaces for any occasion

ABy MAK MILLARD

rkansans want for practically nothing when it comes to dining options of every flavor, style and locale. Some occasions, however, demand more than the usual table at one’s favorite restaurant. Celebrating milestones, impressing highbrow guests, or even reconnecting with out-of-town friends and family can compel discerning diners to seek out a little more exclusivity. Luckily, many top-tier eateries offer spaces where patrons can enjoy a night out away from the crowd.

Cheers in the Heights — Little Rock

“If you’re not a longtime-comer of Cheers, you would have no idea that we do have a private dining section in the back.”

Blaine Tanner, whose family owns the restaurant, said there is a certain hidden-gem quality to the private dining room. To access it, guests can either use the back entrance or take a VIP-style route through the kitchen and back-of-house areas. Enclosed, the room provides a more intimate setting for special occasions, but a garage door can open to create a lighter, open-air feel. The space is flexible enough to accommodate a variety of events and can seat up to 20 or accommodate 35 standing for a lighter-fare occasion with cocktails and hors d’oeuvres.

“There are a lot of people that want to just be able to find a location where they can have 10 to 12 people sit in a private area, have their own server, bartender, a little bit more upscale for that experience — anywhere between casual dining and graduations and celebrations,” Tanner said.

One unique offering comes thanks to the Tanners also owning Little Rock restaurants Samantha’s Tap Room & Wood Grill and the Oyster Bar. In working out the details of their event with restaurant-services provider Pinpoint Dining, patrons can inquire about bringing a favorite dish from one of the other establishments to a Cheers event.

“I’ve had people ask for prime rib from the Oyster Bar,” Tanner said. “I’ve had people ask for the lamb chops from Samantha’s. We’re happy to play as long as it’s within a realm that we can cook it to our perfection and know that it’s going to be good for the customer. We’re pretty much happy to try it.”

Cypress Social — North Little Rock

Already a popular spot for its out-of-the-way yet convenient location in North Little Rock, Cypress Social channels its singular atmosphere into even more exclusive settings with the Parlor and Lakeview Room.

“Our spaces transform to match your needs, from business meetings to birthday dinners to wedding celebrations,” said Stephanie Keet, president of marketing for JTJ Restaurants. “Many couples love hosting both their ceremony and reception here, up to 125 guests, creating a seamless experience with our fountain as a beautiful backdrop.”

The Parlor evokes the charm of a speakeasy with elegant and modern touches, while the larger Lakeview Room’s floor-to-ceiling windows offer views of the Cy-

Photos courtesy of Cheers in the Heights

Photo courtesy of Cypress Social

“Our full-venue option transforms Cypress Social into your personal event space with all the bells and whistles.”

— Stephanie Keet, marketing president, JTJ

Restaurants

Cache Restaurant — Little Rock

press Fountain outside and a private deck. The Parlor lends itself to intimate gatherings such as birthday and anniversary parties, and businesses can take advantage of the included smart TV in either space for presentations.

The Parlor is also a hit for bridal parties, Keet said, and easily transforms into a bride’s quarters with a private bathroom and floor-to-ceiling mirrors. The Lakeview Room is a goto for those looking to host larger groups and offers ample space for mixing and mingling during events such as corporate events and holiday gatherings. Guests looking for even more privacy can rent out the entire restaurant, as well.

“Our full-venue option transforms Cypress Social into your personal event space with all the bells and whistles,” Keet said, adding that the rental includes security, access from 8 a.m. to noon the following day, setup for tables and chairs, and dining essentials such as linens and glassware.

“We even let wedding parties use our grounds for photos outside regular hours,” she said.

Private parties are spoiled for choice at Cache Restaurant in Little Rock. From the glitz of the Bayou lounge and bar, hidden behind a painting, to intimate chef’s table options and a large upstairs event room, each option emphasizes luxury and functionality. Cache’s seven private dining spaces are suited to everything from intimate proposals to corporate training days and from cocktail hours to formal banquets.

“We’ve been told time and time again that stepping into Cache feels like being transported beyond Little Rock without ever leaving town,” said Courtney Wellborn, general manager. “Our private dining spaces take that feeling even further, offering an exclusive and immersive experience designed with sophistication and comfort in mind.”

Cache utilizes Pinpoint Dining for private party planning, in addition to a dedicated event manager. Set menus are available, but guests can also customize each menu to suit individual tastes and preferences. The expertise of Payne

Harding, executive chef and owner, allows Cache to accommodate dietary restrictions and special requests without compromising on taste or presentation.

“At Cache, private dining isn’t just about reserving a space,” Wellborn said. “It’s about creating an unforgettable experience tailored to your vision with a team dedicated to bringing it to life.”

Cache’s spaces offer ample audiovisual amenities coupled with scenic River Market views. Buying out the downstairs area also grants access to two private balconies for an additional open-air experience. As with any popular restaurant, early reservations are the easiest way to secure one’s ideal space.

“No matter the event, every private dining experience at Cache is marked by impeccable service, attention to detail and a setting that elevates any occasion into something truly memorable,” Wellborn said.

Trio’s — Little Rock

A fan favorite for its seasonal ingredients and rotating menu selections, Trio’s offers guests a more colorful option — literally.

“We sort of made a bold choice and went with colors that match the dining room of the restaurant,” said Stephanie Caruthers, managing partner. “It’s a bold orange and turquoise blue that we’ve gotten used to. When I tell people the room is orange, there are some raised eyebrows occasionally, but it works.”

Great for cocktail parties, the room is spacious without feeling massive. Small groups will not feel swallowed by the room, Caruthers said, but large gatherings will not feel crowded, either.

“The space is very versatile for configuring different kinds of events,” she said. “Whether it’s a presentation for a business such as a pharmaceutical company or a wealthmanagement company or a baby shower, a bridesmaids luncheon, rehearsal dinner or birthday party, so many types of events are hosted in our private dining room. We’ve been doing that for 20 years now.”

Private functions also have the exclusive attention of dedicated staff members scheduled to work the event. The Trio’s team ensures that from personnel to menu options, guests have a seamless experience unimpeded by the bustle of the main restaurant while still benefitting from its kitchen offerings.

“We have, I think, one of the best catering and hors d’ouvre menus in central Arkansas for sure,” Caruthers said. “[With] the service and the attention to detail that anyone would receive if they booked our private dining room, they would not be disappointed.”

“We’ve been told time and time again that stepping into Cache feels like being transported beyond Little Rock without ever leaving town,”

— Courtney Wellborn, general manager

Photos courtesy of Trio's

Photo by Heather Baker

Photo courtesy of Cache

The Capital Hotel — Little Rock

Those angling to wow out-of-town visitors or make a milestone meal into an unforgettable experience have few better wining-anddining options than the front porch of Little Rock. A downtown landmark, the Capital Hotel’s history as the luxurious haunt of movers and shakers gives it an aura unlike anything else the capital city can offer. As for what sets the space apart, David McWhorter, director of sales and marketing, preferred to let the structure speak for itself.

“Just look around,” he said.

Every detail evokes the elegance and stature of the hotel, from the coordinated colors

of the carpets and impressive columns to the glittering stained glass overhead. Aiming to live up to the ambience and give it shape are staff members and facilities dedicated to impressing guests with the highest caliber of service.

The Capital offers spacious meeting areas to accommodate groups of all sizes, and the mezzanine is an ideal spot to enjoy drinks while watching the city go by, but the wine cellar is a big draw for private parties, McWhorter said. The most prominent guests might make their way in through a secluded back door, while those looking to make an

entrance through the lobby can follow an engraved path of “CH” markers leading through the kitchen and down into the cool air of the space below.

A functioning wine cellar, the softly lit, brick-lined room makes it easy to imagine decisions made over dinner plates and deals wrapped up by the time dessert hits the table. Many a party has also found the versatile space ideal for rehearsal dinners, intimate proposals and elegant birthday and anniversary celebrations — and many more are keen to do the same, making it wise to reserve the space sooner rather than later.

Atlas — Fayetteville

Rooted in the city’s history while offering international intrigue, the timeless appeal of Atlas in Fayetteville has made it an increasingly popular space for private events. The seasonal menu promises “flavors, ingredients, textures and traditions from around the world” thanks to the wide-ranging culinary travels of executive chef and owner Elliot Hunt.

“The building is called the Ellis building,” said Brandon Rostek, general manager and partner. “It’s about 100 years old, originally built as a Packard car dealership. It’s been multiple businesses throughout the years. … We wanted to preserve the history of the building.”

Items from around the world complement the natural wood, worn brick, and original concrete floors and window frames. A wine wall offers a glimpse into the workings of the kitchen, and strategic division of the space gives it a cozy atmosphere and lessens the din at even the busiest hours.

A dedicated event coordinator works with private parties to ensure every detail is accounted for, Rostek said. Golden silk curtains from India in the private dining space are as functional as they are beautiful and can be drawn for additional privacy. Larger corporate events, cocktail and wedding parties fit nicely in the full space, which allows access to the patio.

“There’s a lot of stress that gets taken off your plate when you host any kind of event here because we do the food. We do the beverage program,” Rostek said. “The most many people have to worry about is if they want to bring in some decorations for the tables, and if they need to coordinate any additional things, we have someone that’s always available to answer any questions.”

“The building is called the Ellis building. It’s about 100 years old, originally built as a Packard car dealership. It’s been multiple businesses throughout the years.”

— Brandon Rostek, general manager and partner

Photo by Freckled Fox Photography

DONS Southern Social — Hot Springs

DONS Southern Social in Hot Springs takes the idea of reservations to a whole different level. Once booked, patrons receive a code and use it to access the restaurant through one of two entrances, either an art gallery on the Central Avenue side or a bright red phone booth on Market Street. If the code is a number, guests enter through the phone booth. An artist’s name unlocks the art gallery entrance.

DONS serves an upscale Southern dining experience with a classic Spa City twist, offering an updated, chic take on the Hot Springs of yore. The modern-industrial interior includes elements that pay tribute to nearby Lake Ouachita, and wrap-around windows allow for ample

“You get the speakeasy vibe, quality food that is fun and interesting, and we do whatever we can to make the overall experience enjoyable for everyone.”

— Josh Garland, owner and executive chef

downtown people-watching if one is so inclined.

“Private parties at DONS are quite the experience,” said Josh Garland, owner and executive chef. “You get the speakeasy vibe, quality food that is fun and interesting, and we do whatever we can to make the overall experience enjoyable for everyone.”

DONS can be rented out for private parties of up to 65, while the private dining room seats 10 for a more exclusive setting. In either case, guests can enjoy the restaurant’s unique flavor profile — Garland’s Southern cuisine is filtered through his nationwide experience and influences, and everything is made in-house daily.

Photos courtesy of the Capital Hotel

Photo courtesy of DONS Southern Social

brewery

Diamond Bear celebrates 25th anniversary with confidence in continued success Planning for VICTORY

By TODD TRAUB // Photos by JAMIE LEE

Make no mistake. Diamond Bear Brewing Co. is not planning to call it quits.

Russ Melton, the Malvern native who, with his wife, Sue, founded Arkansas’ first production brewery 25 years ago, has worked too hard making Diamond Bear a statewide beer brand to want to walk away now.

“‘What is the plan? Victory,’” said Melton, quoting Winston Churchill from his brewery office with his attentive “brew dog” Daisy, a 2-year old golden retriever, hovering nearby.

It is a plan Diamond Bear has been, and still is, happy to follow. Yes, Melton said, Diamond Bear has listed its property at 600 N. Broadway St. in North Little Rock, and yes, Melton, 67, has talked about being less active as he gets older. That has led to reports Melton was retiring, and the company was up for sale. There was even an auction on the books with a reserve, meaning that if Diamond Bear did not get a certain sized offer, it would not sell.

Melton said it is only the more than 15,000-square-foot property — complete with restaurant, brewhouse and patio — that has been for sale. Diamond Bear and its slate of craft beers will go on,

whether at the current location under a lease agreement (rather than outright ownership) or at some unnamed future location.

Ol’ Bart Southern Eats, which occupied Diamond Bear’s restaurant space in 2023 after the brewery got out of the food service business, has also reassured the public that it has no plans to shut down.

Inflation, a competitive craft beer market and other factors have led Diamond Bear to focus on the bottom line, Melton said, but Diamond Bear definitely does have a future.

“It’s had its ups and downs, but we’ve worked through that,” Melton said. “If you walked out front, you’d see the retail beer is stacked up, our retail sales are growing, retail beer to go. The restaurant has stabilized, and we think it will get better.”

Melton said all of the aforementioned activity has been simple economics, and what the company considers the better option to sell the property and lease it back and continue production that way.

could say we are a little bit trying to weather the storm of this craft beer downturn.”

If a buyer decided they wanted to build a luxury hotel or something on the site instead of leasing to Diamond Bear, Melton said the company would simply go elsewhere and keep the taps flowing.

“There’s no question I could find plenty of locations I could move it to,” he said.

So everyone got that straight? Beer drinkers statewide will still be able to enjoy Diamond Bear’s line of pale ales, lagers, India pale ales, porters, reds and root beer, which is what Melton intended when he opened Diamond Bear’s first location at Third and Cross streets in Little Rock in 2000.

“There weren’t a lot of people drinking

craft beer in Arkansas,” Melton said.

At that time, the industry was limited to very few outlets, including brew pubs Bosco’s and Vino’s, which he remembers visiting in Little Rock, and others in northwest Arkansas. Diamond Bear was the state’s only production craft brewery for some time.

“There was one in Fort Smith when I first started, but I think they closed,” Melton said.

At the same time, Melton said, it seemed one could not tell one big corporate beer brand from another, which is what lit the fuse on the craft beer explosion in the late 1990s and 2000, bringing a variety of new and distinctive brews onto the scene.

Melton himself developed an appreciation for the brewmaster’s art while in the Army. Serving in Germany as an M1 Abrams tank officer, he enjoyed the Bavarian styles so much that when he founded Diamond Bear, the company used the German Beer Purity Law.

“We finally crossed the Rubicon, so to speak,” he said. “About ’98, we started getting serious about it and spending some money.”

Diamond Bear hired a brewmaster, leased its space at Third and Cross, and began production Sept. 21, 2000. On Oct. 14, it sold its first beer to Flying Saucer Draught Emporium in Little Rock.

Melton continued to work for Michelin until 2014, the year Diamond Bear moved to North Little Rock.

“If you do the math, we were moonlighting,” Melton said of himself and Sue, who was a flight attendant at American Airlines.

Melton wanted to mimic the approach of legendary University of Arkansas coach and athletic director Frank Broyles, who grew the football program into a statewide entity. While on a trip to the Bahamas, Melton experienced the beer scene there and thought if they could have a national beer — by acclaim, Red Stripe — why couldn’t Arkansas have a state beer? Incorporating the diamond from Arkansas’ previous “Diamond State” nickname and the indigenous black bear, Melton set out to make Diamond Bear not just Little Rock’s beer but a brand for the entire state to enjoy.

Established by Bavaria’s Duke Wilhelm IV in 1516, the law states only water, hops, yeast and barley can be used when making beer.

After leaving the military, Melton went to work for Michelin in 1983 and, in 1989, was transferred from Kansas City, Kansas, to Dallas, where he and a friend, who was a homebrewing enthusiast, began discussing the idea of a brewery. The brewery may have been the friend’s idea, Melton said, but he dropped by the wayside while Melton, still with Michelin, forged ahead with the concept.

Diamond Bear products carry Arkansas-inspired names such as Pig Trail Porter; Presidential IPA and Two Term Double IPA (for former President Bill Clinton); Dogtown Brown, in honor of North Little Rock’s “Dogtown” nickname; and Big Rock Root Beer. There is also a line of Diamond seltzers. Newer beers include Blu Golden Lager, which is the renamed version of the award-winning Southern Blonde, and Little Red Strawberry Lager, formerly known as Strawberry Blonde. Bears prominently appear in can art and in marketing. The English-style Victory Pale Ale, for instance, is named for Winston Churchill and his resolute insistence on winning World War II without compromise. The late prime

Russ Melton

Ol’ Bart Southern Eats

minister is portrayed on the can in ursa form.

Diamond Bear beers have won numerous national and international awards. At the 2006 World Beer Cup, international judges named Diamond Bear Pale Ale the best “classic English-style pale ale” for the second consecutive year.

Joshua Johnson, head brewer, right, and his assistant, Daniel Shelton, help ensure Diamond Bear Brewing Co. in North Little Rock keeps producing its fan-favorite suds.

There have been changes, of course. In the early days, the bottled beers were brewed in Minnesota until Diamond Bear bought a bottling line from a Wisconsin company. Bottling was discontinued later in favor of cans due to the expense and persistent mechanical issues after the system was upgraded.

“It messed up a lot, and it was very expensive to repair, and we finally shut it down and switched to canning,” Melton said, noting that big breweries have the luxury of being able to both bottle and can.

In September 2022, Diamond Bear enjoyed the unique experience of serving as a movie location for the film Hellfire, as yet unreleased, which features Stephen Lang, Harvey Keitel and Dolph Lundgren. Melton cannot reveal many details of the action film but recalled how a staged fight in the kitchen alarmed Sue, who thought Diamond Bear employees were going at each other.

Other developments included, of course, the move to North Little Rock in 2014; the hiring and eventual departure of decorated brewmeister Charlie Kling, who trained his replacement, Joshua Johnson, and is now one of the owners, still helping out as a consultant; and Diamond Bear’s exit from the food game in 2023, when Ol’ Bart moved into the space.

“We thought, ‘Let somebody else run the restaurant as long as they were selling our beer,’” Melton said.

In 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic put the squeeze on what had become a competitive craft beer market. Melton noted that more than 2,000 breweries went out of business in two years, while Diamond Bear had to shut down its restaurant, compromising more than half of the revenue stream.

The craft beer industry still has not bounced all the way back, and Melton pointed out that the popularity of seltzers and other nontraditional libations has also cut into craft beer’s revenues.

“The beer market in general, or the craft beer market, it’s really in — I don’t want to use bad language — it’s stagnant,” Melton said. “Craft beers, the more expensive beers, because of inflation, [the market has] gone down.”

A basketball fan, Melton enjoys coaching his granddaughter’s second- and third-grade team and his grandson’s fourthand fifth-grade team. He said he would like to have more time to pursue those activities, as well as other pursuits, and envisions stepping back from Diamond Bear while still keeping a hand in and letting someone else handle the day-to-day stuff.

Someday.

Right now, as Diamond Bear celebrates its 25th anniversary and its place as Arkansas’ longest-running production brewery — and deals with a stagnant market and fights off rumors of a demise Melton does not ever see happening — he sounds like a guy who is not going anywhere just yet.

He talked about becoming more aggressive, putting out new products to be more competitive in the future and, with a nod to the Blu Golden can, to win. Diamond Bear cannot be everything to everybody, Melton said; he just wants it to continue to be what it always has been — Arkansas’ brewery.

“We think the brand has longevity,” Melton said. “I’ve designed the brand so it’s not wrapped around any silly theme or, specifically, a family or anything like that. It’s strictly designed as an Arkansas brewery.”

HOME LAST

atTExecutive chef at SŌ making the most of dream job

he life of a chef, especially one with the ambition and drive of Chef Joseph Salgueiro, can be an itinerant one. Salgueiro’s culinary journey took him from his native New York, where he worked in some of the most famous and highly regarded kitchens in the world, to Little Rock, where his career has played out in multiple establishments.

One of his stops was at a fledgling fine-dining restaurant in Little Rock’s Hillcrest neighborhood, a place where his big-city chops matched a clientele that literally hungered for the finer things they had experienced in other cities. When he left that gig, SŌ Restaurant & Bar might have seemed like yet another instructive step on a path he hoped would lead to his own restaurant someday.

In fact, his path proved to be a circular one. Salgueiro returned to his beloved SŌ as managing partner, owner and executive chef last fall. There, he found all the years of lost sleep and high-pressure shifts, hot kitchens and even hotter tempers, the sear and saute of imagining and dreaming dishes into reality coalesce into the role of his life, performed nightly, one plate at a time.

After nearly a quarter-century in Little Rock, Bronx-born Salgueiro has finally come home.

“I’ve got a funny story with the menu,” he said. “Sometimes I just get bored, and I’ll sit down, and I’ll do research and start creating menus and stuff like that. One day, I just decided, hey, I want to make a menu like if I had my own restaurant because that’s what I wanted to do at some point. I was going to call it Restaurant 52 and do fine dining. In fact, I had a friend of mine ask me, ‘Why would you call a restaurant 52?’ I said, ‘Because it’s taken me 52 years to open up a restaurant.’ It’s as basic as that.

“So I sat down, and I built this menu, and I just put it in a folder. The crazy part is a month later, I get approached about taking over this restaurant, and I’m like, ‘Man, I got the menu made.’”

Salgueiro’s career in food has frequently benefited from such fortuitous timing and began on a piece of sage advice.

“I originally was studying to become an artist,” he said. “My mother, at a young age, told me, ‘You know, by the time you get any type of recognition as an artist, you’ll probably be dead before your paintings are worth anything. Why don’t you just go into culinary because you love to cook, you’re always in the kitchen with Grandma

By DWAIN HEBDA // Photos by JAMIE LEE

Experiences of trying different foods and enjoying fine dining has grown the Arkansas palate immensely.

— Chef Joseph Salgueiro

Chef Joseph Salgueiro has brought his dream menu to life at SŌ Restaurant & Bar in Little Rock.

and your aunt.’

“My mom was working for a bank on Wall Street called U.S. Trust, and they were looking for someone after I graduated high school. Basically, we did corporate fine dining. We did a lot of high-end buffets for lunch.” As if preparing food to be eaten over multimillion-dollar deals was not pressure enough, Salgueiro augmented his early career with multiple jobs, each one filling in a corner of his stilldeveloping culinary knowledge. He quickly developed a reputation for outrunning his classically trained peers when it came to determination, work ethic and immersion in the craft.

“I was working on Wall Street during the day because that was a morning job. Then I worked for a French caterer on my days off,” he said. “I used to work at the Harvard Club as a waiter at night, and then on the weekends on Long Island, I did some waitering, also, out there for a caterer where we did, like, French service. It was so funny because back then, the waiters I worked with would complain about having to work so hard and this and that, and I’m like, ‘What are you guys talking about?’

“I guess you could say I’m a masochist for the industry. When I worked at the Four Seasons Restaurant in New York, we were doing 1,500 people a day in fine dining, and you got, like, five, six chefs yelling at you at one time, trying to get stuff out. We’d have people walking in the door, saying, ‘Hey, I want a tasting menu,” and now you’ve got to pull yourself off the line, make a whole new menu just for this customer. I mean, that’s what I’ve been used to. I guess it was basically just carved into me.”

Salgueiro would complete culinary school to lend classical training to the trial-by-fire kind and was in high demand in fine dining circles in New York — which makes his arrival in Arkansas in 2001 easily the most puzzling move of his entire story, even to Salgueiro himself.

“My grandfather retired here many years ago, and then my mother was here, and she was like, ‘You need to come to Arkansas. They’ve got fine-dining restaurants

and stuff like that,’” he said. “I was like, ‘Mom, do you realize where I’m at right now? I’m at the Four Seasons Restaurant. You just don’t walk into places like that. They’ve got two-, three-year waitlists of people who want to work here.

“We were doing all types of international foods. One of the two owners was from Switzerland, the other one from Tuscany. My executive sous chef, he was from Ecuador. I’ve met Tyra Banks, I got a picture with Robin Williams where he came into the kitchen. Madonna used to come to our restaurant just to eat our crab cakes. Bill Clinton came in when he was president, and it was crazy, all the security.”

The pull of family, especially given his grandfather’s failing health, led him away from all that, and when he thought it was time to return, he did not have the thousands of dollars necessary to secure housing in the New York real estate market. For the dream to continue, it would have to continue in Little Rock, and that it did. Over the next two decades he worked at the Capital Hotel, Cache Restaurant, the former Capriccio Grill in the then-Peabody Hotel and the bygone 1620 Savoy, among others. At each stop, he left the establishment better than he found it.

Yet for all that, his original intention for hiring on at SŌ had nothing to do with the kitchen.

“I used to DJ in New York. I used to do, like, house music, electronic dance music — stuff like that. That was like my side hobby gig,” he said. “One of the waiters that used to work with us at Capriccio got a job at SŌ when they were in the process of training and getting stuff going on. He says, ‘They’re going to have a lounge downstairs. They might need a DJ. You might want to, you know, pick up a gig or whatever.

“So I go to the managing partners at that time, and I talk to them and everything, and they’re like, ‘Well, this is not going to be that type of place that we’re going to need DJ stuff, but we heard that you’re a chef.’ That’s how the whole conversation started.”

Salgueiro’s most recent spin with SŌ was far more intentional than the first, and with his considerable skills at their peak, he brought a new confidence to the longtime neighborhood favorite. Leaning heavily into local ingredients — the origins of which are printed right on the menu — he quickly brought the level of food and service back up to exacting standards, much to the delight of local diners.

“My beef is coming from Wahrmund Farms [in Springfield, Arkansas]. Most of my lettuce and microgreens are coming from Arkansas Natural [in Malvern]. I just got in contact with Driftwood Farms [in Clinton], another local source for mushrooms and microgreens,” he said. “The sake I use to marinate the strip steak, I’m using Origami Sake from Hot Springs.”

Time has taken some of the brashness from the boy

from the Bronx but none of the ambition. In between discussing entrees and accumulating one of the most criminally underappreciated wine lists in the region, he unabashedly said his goal is for SŌ to earn a Michelin star. To some, that is like is saying they call the Hogs in Manhattan, but Chef is dead serious.

“Arkansas has a huge restaurant scene, and a lot of people here in Arkansas, especially the business travelers, they go out to eat at all these finedining restaurants wherever they’re traveling — New York, Chicago, Dallas, anything like that,” he said. “Their experiences of trying different foods and enjoying fine dining has grown the Arkansas palate immensely.

“The way that I title what we do is ‘Nu American’ cuisine because I’m using modern techniques in our cooking. There’s a lot of people who are coming into our restaurant, and they’re like, ‘There’s nowhere in any restaurant right now in Little Rock that’s doing what you’re doing,’ from the food to the wine — all of it. I’m not a cocky chef. I’m a quiet, humble kind of guy, but it’s like if you want to eat something exciting and different, you need to come to SŌ restaurant.”

Salgueiro described the menu as "Nu American" cuisine because of the modern techniques used for cooking.

Photos

Photo by JAMIE LEE

Photo by JAMIE LEE

Origami White Lotus Sake, Rancho Alegre reposado tequila, Midori, Calico, lemon, Zunda syrup

Origami Sake, Deep Eddy lemon vodka, Fruitful dragon fruit liqueur, Fee Brothers lemon bitters

Photo by JAMIE LEE

Photo by JAMIE LEE

Egg dish makes for scrumptious Easter brunch Way On its

By MARGIE RAIMONDO//

SICILIAN EASTER EGG TORTE (TORTA PASQUALINA)

Torta pasqualina is a traditional Sicilian Easter pie. The savory dish is easy to prepare and features a delicious filling made from greens, ricotta cheese and eggs. Not only does the pie offer a rich and flavorful taste, but it also presents beautifully, making it an excellent choice for holiday celebrations and festive gatherings.

Prep time: 20 minutes

Cook time: 1 hour

Total time:1 hour 20 minutes

INGREDIENTS

• 1 1/2 pounds ready-rolled puff pastry

• 14 ounces baby spinach

• 1 onion, finely chopped

• 2 cloves garlic

• 2 cups ricotta cheese

• 1 cup freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano or Pecorino cheese

• 5 large eggs

• 1 pinch nutmeg

• Salt and pepper

• 1 to 2 tablespoons olive oil

• Butter for greasing

PhotosbyMARGIERAIMONDO

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Preheat the oven to 350 F.

NOTES

2. Heat the olive oil in a large pan and add the chopped onion. Saute for about 5 minutes until softened and translucent.

3. Add the garlic and cook for about 1 minute until fragrant. Then add the spinach and saute, stirring often, until wilted. Transfer the cooked spinach and onion to a cutting board or bowl. Let it cool.

4. Once cooled, roughly chop the spinach mixture and place in a large bowl. Add the ricotta cheese, 1 large egg, Parmesan cheese, a pinch of nutmeg, and a good pinch of salt and pepper.

5. Grease a 9-inch pie dish and set it aside. Remove the pastry from the refrigerator.

6. Cover the bottom and sides of the pie dish with one sheet of puff pastry. Trim the edges and fill in any gaps.

7. Add the filling to the pie and spread it out evenly. Create 4 deep wells in the filling to hold the eggs.

8. Crack the raw eggs into each well and sprinkle some salt.

9. Place the second sheet of puff pastry on top, ensuring it covers the filling completely. Fold the edges over to seal the pie.

10. Brush the top of the pie with a beaten egg. Then cut a small slit in the center with a sharp knife to allow steam to escape.

11. Bake in the oven for 50 minutes, then cool completely before serving.

• Pastry: Ready-rolled puff pastry makes this pie super easy to prepare, but you can also make your own or use another type, such as shortcrust pastry.

• Making wells for the eggs: Ensure the wells are deep enough to hold the eggs. If they are too shallow, the egg may spill over onto the top.

• Greens to use: various greens for the filling, including chicory or chard and spinach. Choose a mix or whatever is preferred.

• Wilting the greens: Remove the spin ach or other greens from the heat as soon as they wilt, or they may release too much water. If that happens, squeeze out some water to ensure the filling is not too wet.

Yield:12 servings 2 7 8 9 4 6

Have and To To

Over the arc of one’s life, few days can hold a candle to one’s wedding day, an event that formally brings two people together in a manner of cultural, religious, emotional and sociological significance.

The ultimate symbol of love and fidelity today, marriage’s origins bore little resemblance to the modern concept. According to Psychology Today, there was little in the way of romance and courtship when prehistoric couples formed “pair bonds” strictly out of the need for procreation and physical survival. Roughly 11,000 years ago, humans gravitated from huntergatherer societies to growing their own food and keeping animals. Settling into villages, the concept of property arose, those things that needed to be defended, which, to the mentality of the time, also meant women and children.

The transactional nature of marriage also gave rise to unions as political or economic strategy. Arranged marriages, be they in the populace or between nations, became a way to solidify treaties and gain property in exchange for a daughter’s hand. Romantic attraction

and mature love had nothing to do with it.

That more or less held sway until the 1700s, when the concept of individual personhood started to take hold and, with it, the freedom to marry the person of one’s choice, a selection rooted in compatibility, romantic love and psychological fulfillment.

The changing concept of marriage also brought with it changing customs surrounding the wedding itself. Today’s modern ceremonies, even the most nontraditional ones, invariably draw some element from those traditions. The wedding ring, for example, dates back to the ancient Egyptians; the wedding cake started during the Roman empire; the bride in white attire goes back to Queen Victoria; and the couple not seeing one another before the ceremony (as well as the bride’s father “giving her away”) both come from the days of arranged marriages.

Wherever it came from and in what form, weddings are as much big business as they are big days in the life of a couple. According to The Knot 2025 Real Weddings Study, the average wedding/reception

Hold…

in 2024 featured 116 guests and cost $33,000. Nearly 1 in 5 couples had a destination wedding, and about 7 in 10 couples took a honeymoon.

Wedding size plummeted in 2020 for obvious reasons, and a funny thing happened — people kind of liked the more intimate gatherings, suggesting a trend of smaller affairs would stick. However, the numbers disagree; Gen Z couples averaged 131 guests last year compared to millennials at 113, suggesting bigger events will soon be back in vogue.

Wherever the trends lead, the foundational elements of a wedding — attire, food, ceremony, celebration — appear to remain proportionally constant. In the pages to come, AY About You has sussed out experts to address the various elements of the big day, from a dress to take guests’ breath away and a ring to symbolize eternity to the setting for a grand celebration of two lives becoming one. May it serve as a blueprint for each couple’s special day and inspire unforgettable moments throughout the Natural State.

To all those to wed in the year to come, congratulations from AY About You!

HOW THEY MET

Top three origin stories for couples.

1. Online dating site/app: 27%

2. Through friends: 16%

3. Attending school: 15%

BLING, BLING

Top cuts of diamond rings:

• Round: 28%

• Oval: 25%

• Emerald: 10%

• Princess: 10%

THAT’S HOT

Top wedding styles/themes of 2025:

• Old-money aesthetic: 47%

• Quiet luxury: 33%

• Cottagecore: 29%

• Demure and mindful: 27%

• Fairytale: 25%

BIG TICKETS

Top wedding spends on average:

• Venue: $12,200

• Photographer: $2,900

• Florist: $2,700

• Dress: $2,100

• Event rentals: $2,000

SOURCE: The Knot 2025 Real Weddings Study

BIG day

Wedding planner finds joy in stunning weddings and happy couples

By DOUG CRISE

Photos courtesy of JOBETH MCELHANON

For many people, it is the best day of their lives — getting married, joining together with the love of one’s life, plus family and friends, lots of family and friends.

More people means more slaps on the back and handshakes and hugs, and do not forget the all-important gifts, not to mention a cake tall enough to defy physics. Then there is the reception — food, music and a wellstocked bar. Absolutely everybody is sure to have a great time, brides and grooms included.

Before that comes the avalanche. What will the bridesmaids and groomsmen wear? What about floral arrangements? Couples need to procure invitations and thank-you cards, a photographer, a videographer, and enough food and alcohol for even the most gung-ho guests.

About those guests: Opinions differ, but the general rule of thumb is that each guest represents at least a $200 investment. Before long, couples can get burned out on the big day before the big day even arrives.

JoBeth McElhanon has the answer. Actually, she has all the answers. As the founder and force behind event planner Lilias & Olive in Little Rock, McElhanon’s job is to sweat the details. While her business also offers planning and consultation for celebrations and corporate events, weddings are her foundation. Since 2018, McElhanon has navigated the

weeds for scores of newlyweds, leaving them to do something truly special — actually enjoy their day.

“I tell my clients that they pay me to worry,” McElhanon said. “I’m the one making sure the boxes are checked so you don’t have to worry that a ball is being dropped. That’s what a planner is — just insurance that what you want to happen is going to happen.”

McElhanon is not just there to make the trains run on time. Wedding planners come in three varieties: “day of” planners who are on hand for the special day; “month of” planners who jump on for the critical final month before the wedding; and planners who start at the very beginning and see it through until the lights are shut off.

McElhanon deals in planning from start to finish. That means meeting well before the final month to discuss budgets and set expectations, and make no mistake, it all does begin and end with the budget. According to calculations by Fidelity Investments, the average cost of a wedding in Arkansas in 2024 was a hair less than $18,500.

That makes McElhanon part accountant and part decision-maker, as her first goal is to create an event that fits with what her clients can spend.

“I came into the field feeling like a broker,” McElhanon said. “I’m going to look at your event and see who is the best. If this is your budget, who do I know who can fit this budget? We’re going to explore different vendors.”

A wedding involves plenty of people, both those up front and those behind the scenes. McElhanon credits her success in part to the small army of professional vendors she works

Table settings, floral arrangements and unique greetings are just part of the wedding planning expertise McElhanon has developed at her company, Lilias & Olive in Little Rock.

with to keep the big day running smoothly. Want to make sure the reception dinner has options for everybody’s tastes? McElhanon’s got a person for that. Concierge service to give the bride and groom a much-needed break? Done and done.

“Our team is overseeing everything and making sure everything gets distributed and the vendors are doing what they’re supposed to be doing,” McElhanon said. “If the family shows up for the reception, we make sure they’re not standing in line to get their own drinks. We get their drinks for them. We make their plates for them.”

When all the parts are moving, McElhanon spends time keeping an eye out for any surprises.

“I kind of run interference for the bride and groom during the event,” McElhanon said. “I usually have it in my contract that up to a certain dollar amount, I can make decisions on the

JoBeth McElhanon

fly if there’s anything I don’t need to bother the family with.”

The characteristics that make a good wedding planner are not really all that surprising. A Type A personality definitely helps, as does being organized to the hilt. Preparation is important, but because things can and do go wrong, poise and quick decision making are vital.

Overall, relationship building and people skills come first, and McElhanon’s background is uniquely suited to that. Her college studies led her to becoming a professional dietician, and while it does not seem like a first career that would intersect with her current one, it is actually the key to McElhanon’s approach with clients.

festivities that clients will appreciate as the years go by.

“I want you to look at your wedding pictures 20 years from now, and I want you to say that you would do everything exactly the same,” McElhanon said. “I want your wedding today to look classic so that in 20 years, it’s still beautiful. It’s timeless. That’s really what my clients come to me for.”

“As a dietician, I didn’t know who was going to walk through my door and what their background was going to be,” McElhanon said. “I loved that part of it.”

Being able to work hand in hand with the bride or groom is Job No. 1, and it can involve some tough conversations. There are times when a client’s vision for their wedding does not match up with their budget and difficult decisions have to be made on the front end to keep the costs reasonable.

By example, McElhanon cites social media, where people post photos of their extravagant and dreamlike weddings. There is nothing wrong with that per se, McElhanon said, but every photogenic extravagance comes with a cost. The levers and pulleys of a set budget are always working and the addition of something very often means something else has to go.

“With social media, we see the ultimate wedding, and it’s easy for people to think it’s attainable,” McElhanon said. “It’s about managing expectations. It’s really learning how to prioritize what is the most important aspect to you. I love music, and I love food, and if you can make it all fit, that’s wonderful, but if looking back and having a social media-worthy wedding is what you want, then you probably don’t want to spend as much on food and not spend as much on your music because you won’t see those in pictures.”

While the siren call of social media likes is ever present, McElhanon has noticed a downshift in extravagancies. Coming off 2020, wedding planners across the board were kept busy with a glut of weddings that had been postponed thanks to the pandemic. Once things returned to normal, a trend emerged of more intimate gatherings.

“I really think the pandemic gave us an opportunity to say, who really needs to be here with this? Who really needs to be at the celebration?” McElhanon said. “That was a nice lesson for us to learn. Why does it need to be a 400-person event? Can’t it be a 200-person event?”

That way of thinking is directly in McElhanon’s wheelhouse. Her specialty is smaller, classical weddings with traditions that never go out of style. That lends a sense of permanence to the

It is no surprise, then, that McElhanon’s first piece of advice for choosing a wedding planner is to do one’s homework. Some wedding planners are grounded in the classical style, some embrace new trends and extra bells and whistles, and some will try to be all things to all people. The key is to align one’s expectations with one’s abilities.

“In Arkansas, we have a great group of planners,” McElhanon said. “There’s a lid for every pot, so if you want something more trendy, if you want something more outside the box, there’s planners who can do that with you. I think people need to be mindful that there’s not just one planner. There’s several out there.”

McElhanon has her niche, and she could not be happier. Wedding days can be chaotic for planners — imagine dumping a jar of marbles on the floor and trying to keep track of each one — but she is always having a blast. At heart, she said, she is just a person who loves a good party and, while it might sound cliché, seeing a new couple have a truly memorable day.

“Everything should tell your story,” McElhanon said, “and the people around you should tell your story. At the end of the day, you want to look back and say you wouldn’t change a thing.”

— JoBeth McElhanon “

I want your wedding today to look classic so that in 20 years, it’s still beautiful. It’s timeless. That’s really what my clients come to me for.

Lilias & Olive and other event planners work to provide an ideal atmosphere indoors and out.

The company uses an extensive network of vendors to provide the best for guests.

Your Stor y. O ur S paces .

Make your wedding a masterpiece on the Crystal Bridges Campus with spaces perfect for indoor and outdoor ceremonies and receptions.

From the elegant style of Crystal Bridges to the nature-inspired design of the Heartland Whole Health Institute building, you're sure to find the perfect setting to celebrate your story. Learn more about our wedding packages and how we can help celebrate your story at CrystalBridges.org/Wedding.

Photography by Miles Witt Boyer with Miles Witt Boyer Photography and Erin Wilson.

(Photo courtesy of Unveiled Bridal Collection)

Something Old,

Something New

Today’s top gown trends take their cue from weddings past

By SARAH DECLERK

Love is timeless, diamonds are forever, but fashion changes year by year, decade by decade and day by day. One of the more interesting qualities when it comes to fashion is the cyclical nature by which old trends come into vogue years later.

Wedding gowns are by no means immune to fashion trends, and this year’s gowns are taking inspiration from days gone by.

“Silk jacquard has really made a comeback, as have some other specialty and novelty-type fabrics,” said Betsy Manning, owner of Unveiled Bridal Collection in Little Rock.

Silk jacquard features woven patterns that add dimension to the material. Stiffer silks, such as mikado and faille, as well as softer silk crepe and charmeuse, remain popular among brides, she said, adding that texture is a trend for 2025.

“There’s some crinkle silks that are kind of making a big play right now,” she said. “I would say that with the influence of some shows out there, like Bridgerton and The Gilded Age, that we’ve seen a lot of fabrications come back, like jacquard and cloque, that, maybe, our mothers wore but haven’t been out there in a while. They’re kind of making a resurgence.”

She added that dramatic basque waists and sleek drop waists are two of the biggest trends this year.

“That’s really, really coming back,” she said of the drop waist, “and then just a simple, elegant sheath is really kind of having a resurgence, as well — a Carolyn Bessette-Kennedy-type look.”

Alecia Walls-Barton, director of bridal concierges at Low’s Bridal in Brinkley, agreed, saying brides that visit Low’s are enthralled by basquewaist gowns with romantic texture, often with sheer sleeves and off-theshoulder necklines. Taking a cue from the 1920s, drop-waist gowns have also come into vogue.

“We’ve seen a lot of girls loving a drop-waist gown, especially for those brides that like a very classic, clean sort of look,” she said. “These drop waists give them … a sort of preppy look, but it also has a little bit of a couture slant to them just because of the silhouette of the dress.”

Also popular are dresses with a lot of architecture in the design, as well as blush and nude undertones, she added. Detachable sleeves remain a popular way to customize one’s bridal look and can be used to add contrasting textures to the dress, she said.

Dramatic veils and romantic textured looks are all the rage in 2025. (Photo courtesy of Unveiled Bridal Collection)

“Gloves are also sort of a big thing right now that seem to be replacing the sleeve,” she added. “I think sleeves were really hot for a while, and now it seems like — and there’s still brides that are wearing sleeves — but it seems like the detachable sleeve or cuff or just accessories that can be changed from ceremony to reception seem to be really big right now too.”

Detachable sleeves, toppers and overskirts all provide brides with a way to change their look from ceremony to reception.

“We’ve seen a few of our brides recently have had a full change from one dress for the ceremony and then a completely different dress for the reception,” Walls-Barton said. “What I’ve seen more frequently is a detachable train or skirt that they have during the ceremony that they might remove for the reception or a jacket with sleeves that they might have for the ceremony that they remove for the reception.”

Manning agreed that detachable elements remain popular among brides, and while some brides opt for a reception dress, a new trend is beginning to take hold.

“More and more, what I’m seeing is them wanting exit dresses,” Manning said. “They’ll wear their dress for the entire wedding, the entire reception, and then when they’re about to leave, they’ll change into something cute to run out to the car.”

While cathedral-length veils remain popular, brides wanting the same demure look as their grandmothers are increasingly turning to blushers.

“Blushers are really back, the portion that goes over your face as you come down the aisle and then lifts up when you get to the end of the aisle,” Manning said, “and then I would say that lace edge has really made a resurgence, kind of that classic, timeless lace edge. I’ve got a lot of girls asking me for that.”

Walls-Barton added that loop veils are an elegant alternative to blushers.

“They’re cut in a circle so you don’t have different pieces of veil. We see them a lot on social media right now,” she said. “They just kind of lay right on top of the crown and drape over the front. There’s different lengths. Some of them are just sort of shoulder, some are fingertip, and then the back is usually either a chapel or cathedral length. They’re really beautiful — so wistful, romantic. They make for great photographs. Lots of drama.”

While she has not seen a lot of local brides wearing headpieces, the accessories are all over the runways, she said, and bows are a burgeoning trend in the wedding world.

“Detachable bows are a really fun thing that we’ve seen our brides add to a gown, just for a little more drama, a little more interest in the back, and bows in the hair, as well, as a hair accessory,” she said.

Manning noted a different accessory that can help brides achieve a look unlike anyone else’s.

“A huge trend right now are neck scarves,” she said. “There’s a lot of brides that are wearing a silk charmeuse or a silk organza or a tulle neckscarf that goes around the front of your neck and then trails down the back.”

Walls-Barton said pearl earrings, sometimes paired with a pearl drop necklace, are a classic for weddings, and on the runway, she has seen mostly clean, closed-toe satin shoes. Manning said earrings are by far the most sought after type of jewelry among brides.

“Almost every single bride wears a great pair of earrings,” she said. “Some brides do opt for necklaces. Some don’t, just because you want to focus on the dress. You don’t want to take away from that, and sometimes a lot of jewelry will distract

— Alecia Walls-Barton, Low’s Bridal “

We’ve seen a lot of girls loving a drop-waist gown, especially for those brides that like a very classic, clean sort of look.

(Photo courtesy of Unveiled Bridal Collection)

from the dress. We don’t see a lot of bracelets. We really see a lot of earrings and maybe occasionally a necklace, but really, mostly it’s just a fabulous pair of earrings.”

While brides are looking to their mothers and grandmothers for inspiration when it comes to their own dresses, among members of the bridal party, they are not. Gone are the days of bridesmaids all wearing the same notoriously hideous gown. Today’s brides are giving their bridesmaids more freedom to wear different silhouettes, and this year, they are blending solid colors with patterns, as well.

“I’ve noticed a lot of mixing of pattern and solid, and there’s a lot of florals,” Manning said. “There’s a lot of color mixing. There’s a lot of girls that are doing all different colors and then tying it together with flowers.”

She added that floral prints are having a moment among mothers of the bride and groom. The prints allow mothers to pick up the colors of the bridal party while standing apart, she said.

Walls-Barton said she has noticed more color for bridesmaids dresses.

“For a long time, it seemed, even in more casual ceremonies, everyone was wearing very muted sort of, I guess, like neutrals,” she said, “but these days I see brides playing with color a lot more, encouraging their bridesmaids to wear something a little brighter, a little bit more striking. We’ve also seen lots of patterns still.”

She added that groom’s looks are trending more formal, although she has seen greater use of color for men’s attire, as well.

“I’ve seen far more suits in colors other than black and blue, which I think is great,” she said. “I think the bride and groom are sort of coordinating together a sort of overall look and feel for the event, I think, a lot more than, maybe, we’d seen in the past. The couple’s really coming together for an overall style and vibe.”

Choosing a color palette at the outset of wedding planning can help brides achieve a cohesive style not just for the attire but for other elements of the wedding, Manning said.

“You’ve got to pick a color palette, and you’ve got to stay with that color palette,” she said. “I think that that color palette needs to all coordinate together, and there needs to be one thing that ties it all together, so whether it’s the flowers or the bridesmaids’ bouquets or whether it’s the flowers in the church, something needs to coordinate all of it together.”

She added that no matter what style of gown one chooses, it is important that it be a reflection of the bride.

“The most important thing to know about wedding dresses is that they should be individual to each bride,” she said. “It should reflect her personality. It should reflect just kind of who she is, and it’s one of those iconic things that you’ll look back on for the rest of your life.”

Basque waists and drop waists are popular this year. (Photos courtesy of Lows Bridal)

SAY, “I DO,” IN STYLE!

Let Oaklawn be the start of your forever with stunning backdrops, world-class service and an all-in-one luxury experience. From premium treatments at Arkansas’ only Forbes Four-Star spa, Arkansas’ only Forbes rated restaurants and elegant event spaces that bring your vision to life, your dream wedding begins here.

Storybook Setting

Legendary Oaklawn provides unforgettable wedding venue

By DWAIN HEBDA

For more than a century, Oaklawn in Hot Springs has been the go-to entertainment destination for generations of Arkansans and visitors. The storied racetrack, which alone has produced many memories for many families through the years, has grown into a destination complex featuring gaming, best-in-class fine dining, nationally known entertainment and a world-class spa.

When leadership decided to offer luxury wedding experiences to its repertoire starting in 2025, it went without saying that everything about the experience would be first class. That is exactly what Oaklawn promotes in its wedding program, which allows couples to live out their big day in over-the-top style.

“Oaklawn has not done weddings for several years, and we are just now getting back into offering actual wedding ceremonies,” said Anna Oberste, director of sales. “Bringing it back has proved to be kind of a big deal. We didn’t start booking weddings until January of 2025, and we’re already booking requests for 2026. It’s kind of crazy.”

Those for whom a thoroughbred racetrack is not the first thing that comes to mind when thinking “wedding venue” are decidedly behind trend. The traditional wedding setting of a church — be it a little white chapel or a grand cathedral — has been on the wane for decades. The Knot reported in 2009 that just more than 4 in 10 couples got married in a sanctuary, and by 2016, that number was a little more than 25 percent.

In its place are so-called “alternative venues,” settings that include farms, barns and ranches, beach houses, and personal homes. Along with that trend, weddings in public and commercial venues such as museums and breweries were also on the rise. Even before

The wide variety of spaces at Oaklawn in Hot Springs provide plentiful options for couples looking to tie the knot.

Photo courtesy of Oaklawn

Sarah Henry Photo Sarah Henry Photo

it rolled out its wedding program this year, Oaklawn has had its share of romantic events.

“I absolutely think some of it is the history. It’s the nostalgia,” Oberste said. “We did a marriage proposal recently after a gentleman called and wanted to propose on the infield of Oaklawn. The young lady he was proposing to had grown up here. Her family had box seats for, like, 60 years, and she used to come here every weekend.”

Encounters such as that — and noticing how quickly Oaklawn was growing its bachelor and bachelorette party clientele — led leadership to the conclusion that weddings were an untapped market. Officials swung into action to create a wedding offering like no other, and the public responded immediately.

planners, who will work with the happy couple, as well as their own outside planner, if they have one. We absolutely welcome that.”

Having one point of contact for the venue helps streamline the planning process substantially. Meeting with onsite chefs are arranged, as are tastings of food to be served at the rehearsal dinner or reception, be it off the menu or custom crafted, prepared in the award-winning kitchens throughout the property.

One of the immediate advantages Oaklawn had were the various amenities that had grown up on property. This created a one-stop shop for couples.

One of the most obvious advantages Oaklawn had were the various amenities that had grown up on property. This created a one-stop shop for couples, buttressed by on-staff planners that take a lot of the headaches out of planning the big event.

“Our team is incredible. They have more than 30 years combined experience in wedding planning,” Oberste said. “Once we contract with a couple and agree on a date, they meet one of these very experienced

“We don’t allow outside catering except for the cake,” Oberste said. “When you have Forbes-recommended chefs in the building, which we do, that’s who we’re going to use.”

While Oaklawn's planners do not manage the wedding day itself, they make sure every detail leading up to the big day is taken care of. That includes scheduling the appropriate rooms and locations for various parts of the wedding ceremony, including setting up the space where the main event is played out, of which there are several to choose from.

“For a number of years, the trend for weddings has been

The event center and various restaurants provide spaces for the rehearsal dinner and reception, and the track infield can be utilized for weddings during the offseason.. (Photos courtesy of Oaklawn)

A sparkling pool and the Forbes FourStar Astral Spa are among the many amenities brides can enjoy at Oaklawn.

the barn-type wedding, and the outdoor, rustic-style wedding,” Oberste said. “I remember a couple years ago, somebody told me that that was going away, and instead, it’s gotten even bigger, and people have built more venues for that to happen. For us, we offer a rustic wedding right outside on our infield.”

Getting married on the track’s storied infield is available outside of racing season. During racing season, weddings take place in the stunning glass-walled atrium of the event center, which also serves as a fallback option when an outdoor wedding is foiled by bad weather. Racing-season weddings can also be held outdoors at Oaklawn’s pool lawn and deck.

“Ceremonies held on the infield of the racetrack are set in a beautiful horseshoe of rose bushes,” Oberste said. “There’s very little decorating to do out there because the infield is gorgeous. You’ve got the rose bushes. You’ve got a huge, beautiful water fountain right behind you. It’s just really, really pretty.”

Oaklawn’s many features help fill in the other aspects of the wedding cel-

ebration. Bachelor and bachelorette parties can take their pick of entertainment from among Oaklawn’s slate of amenities.

“This part of our business has grown quite a bit to the point that we even have some that we don’t even know they’re coming until they walk in the door,” Oberste said. “People just want to be here, and they often spend a whole weekend. The guys like to come to the casino and watch the horse races during racing season, and the ladies like to be in the casino and go to the Astral Spa. There’s so much for them to do right here in-house.

“We also work with these groups for their transportation. If they want to go downtown into historic Hot Springs and do a little bit of shopping or something, we work with them so that the group can go all together.”

As far as the rehearsal dinner or reception, Oaklawn’s planners, again, have a couple covered, providing options that range from utilizing a room at the event center or in one of the property’s award-winning restaurants, such as the OAK room & bar and The Bugler, for a truly decadent dining experience.

“Our event center can handle anything from a small 25-person intimate event up to a party for 800 people, 700 if they want a dance

Rehearsal dinner and reception options range from utilizing a room at the event center or in one of the property’s awardwinning restaurants, such as the OAK room & bar and The Bugler, for a truly decadent dining experience.

Photos courtesy of Oaklawn

floor,” Oberste said. “There is also an option to consider The Bugler restaurant or the OAK room. Depending on the time and day of the week, our two upscale, Forbes-recommended restaurants are available for a reception buyout. The party would have that all to themselves.”

Last but certainly not least, Oaklawn offers couples a luxury lodging option thanks to the property’s still-sparkling on-premises hotel, which features 200 rooms, some of them trackside, that include a variety of suites.

For any details Oaklawn does not specifically cover, its wedding planners are more than happy to make recommendations of quality vendors to couples.

“We can provide most of what the couple requires — all their tables, all their chairs. We have black and white linens, which seem to be the popular

choice right now,” Oberste said. “For anything we don’t do, such as decorating, we can connect them with our preferred vendors. We are also part of the Hot Springs Bridal Guide, which is made up of about 50 vendors that do everything from photography to cakes to hair and makeup — you name it.”

Judging from the initial response, Oberste predicted weddings will soon be a major segment of business for the property, saying the lure of Oaklawn has never been stronger.

“Our general manager, Wayne Smith, calls it the ‘Oaklawn Effect,’ and I don’t know any other way to say it,” she said. “There’s just something about this place that people feel a connection to and can’t seem to resist. It’s the history. It’s the nostalgia. It’s the fun. It’s just Oaklawn.”

Fun activities and historic ambiance make Oaklawn a front-runner for many couples. (Photo courtesy of Oaklawn)

GARVAN WOODLAND GARDENS grows as popular wedding spot

If anyone doubts that Hot Springs has evolved into a truly national destination city, just ask the folks at the University of Arkansas’ Garvan Woodland Gardens on the shores of Lake Hamilton.

Kristin Mangham, marketing director at Garvan Woodland Gardens, said the gardens host more than 300 weddings a year, and roughly 80 percent involve people from out of state, Texas, Louisiana and California making up the majority of those.

“Weddings have been really popular from the get-go,” she said of the gardens, created in 2002 and still maintained by the UA’s renowned Fay Jones School of Architecture and Design. “There are just so many beautiful settings to choose from.”

The gardens provide spots for indoor and outdoor ceremonies — Anthony Chapel and the Japanese Garden are popular spots. Other wedding spots include Garvan Pavilion and Terrace, Dooley Pergola, Evans Celebration Garden, Koi Pond Meadow, the Magnolia Room, Millsap Bride’s Hall, Perry Wildflower Overlook and the Southern Inspiration Garden.

Weddings are booked at Garvan yearround, Mangham said. February and August — the state’s most extreme months temperature-wise — bring fewer bookings, while March, April and October are the most popular months.

Mangham said the gardens are popular among out-of-state couples because the location in Hot Springs makes for a “destination” wedding with all Spa City has to offer — thoroughbred racing and casino gambling at Oaklawn, a national park, and the city’s famous bathhouses standing out among the city’s rich tourist offerings. Plus, as Arkansans have always known, one’s buck travels farther in the Natural State.

“Brides come from all over the place because of our price point,” she said. “It’s much lower than you’ll find in most urban areas.”

Affordability notwithstanding, the gardens represent another jewel in Hot Springs’ tourism crown.

“We are in nature, the chapel is all wood and glass, and brides discover that they don’t need a lot of decoration,” she said. “Not a lot of fluff is needed. It’s there for them already in the natural gardens.”

Fayetteville architects and Fay Jones alums Maurice Jennings and David McKee designed the chapel in the Frank Lloyd Wright style for which Jones, an FLW protege, was known. Think Thorncrown Chapel in Eureka Springs but bigger.

Mangham said the gardens can accommodate six weekend weddings, three each on Saturday and Sunday. Demand is growing as more people become aware of Garvan Woodland Gardens, she added. She called the gardens Hot Springs’ “secret in the woods” but wondered how much longer it will be so.

“We’re getting more looks every day,” she said. “It seems like every weekend, we have a couple coming up from Texas.”

Matrimony Makeovers

Aesthetic treatments key to looking the part on wedding day

By MAK MILLARD

Photos courtesy of WRIGHT PLASTIC SURGERY

Wedding photos will always be valuable mementos, whether collected in a scrapbook, placed in a frame or simply stored for reminiscing with loved ones down the road. While a top-tier camera crew can produce stunning shots of the big day, it is ultimately up to the couple and their entourage to look the part and ensure a suite of Instagram-worthy images once all is said and done.

Stills that truly stand the test of time, however, depend on more than just the right wardrobe choices and stellar makeup application. A bit of forethought — and a strategic skin care plan curated with the help of aesthetic experts — can go a long way to guaranteeing an “I do”-ready complexion when it matters most.

Aesthetic services are essential wedding prep for many brides.

More people than ever are turning to med spas and aesthetic professionals for their prewedding prep. A 2023 survey from the American Academy of Facial Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery noted an increase in patients seeking both minimally invasive and surgical procedures before their weddings, perhaps due, in part, to

A bit of forethought — and a strategic skin care plan curated with the help of aesthetic experts — can go a long way to guaranteeing an “I do”ready complexion when it matters most.

the influence of social media. The majority of the treatments are of the former kind, the most popular in the survey being neurotoxins, fillers, and treatments such as microneedling, chemical peels and dermaplaning.

“Treatments can range from a hydrafacial one week prior to the wedding, or we frequently see brides that will have a treatment plan for the entire engagement leading up to the wedding,” said Paige Kelly, registered nurse at Wright Plastic Surgery and Med Spa in Little Rock.

“The dermaplane treatment effectively removes dead skin cells and peach fuzz, leaving your skin smoother and more radiant,” said licensed esthetician Maegan Whitehead. “This allows for flawless makeup application and a naturally glowing complexion. Additionally, the hydrafacial deeply cleanses, exfoliates, extracts impurities and infuses your skin with hydration and antioxidants, resulting in a refreshed and revitalized appearance that is perfect for photos.”

For those who are still a ways out from reading vows, consulting aesthetic professionals sooner rather than later allows plenty of time for building a more comprehensive regimen. Longer-term plans include a combination of various treatments, all timed and coordinated to maximize results just before a bride is ready to walk down the aisle.

“Aesthetic services are often three treatments spaced approximately four weeks apart, such as laser, microneedling and chemical peels,” Kelly said. “ We work closely with each bride to choose the appropriate modality depending on her individual goals.”

According to the med spa’s website, microneedling is a popular treatment that, as the name implies, utilizes an array of needles to rapidly puncture the skin. As the body works to heal these microwounds, it stimulates the production of collagen and elastin, proteins necessary for the development of smooth, youthful-looking skin. Chemical peels, meanwhile, use medical-grade solutions of ingredients such as glycolic acid, lactic acid, salicylic acid and trichloroacetic acid to exfoliate and reveal the fresher skin beneath old skin cells.

While some brides opt for a single treatment about a month before the wedding, others undergo a series of services.

creates is unique and depends on an individual’s age, desired results, skin needs and myriad other factors. While the “ideal” treatment plan for each person varies, there are a few recommendations that tend to hold up in general, Whitehead said.

Whether or not one is preparing for a wedding, every treatment plan Wright Plastic Surgery and Med Spa

“Typically, a combination of Botox, a series of three [BroadBand Light] treatments, one

chemical peel, a consistent skin care regimen and a hydrafacial with dermaplane closer to the wedding date can yield excellent results,” she said.

The timing of some treatments is especially important for allowing proper downtime. Injectables such as hyaluronic acid filler and neurotoxins are done six weeks prior to the ceremony, Whitehead said, while chemical peels and laser treatments are recommended one month prior. That both leaves time for any necessary touch-ups and gives any bruising a chance to completely resolve.

Some soon-to-be-newlyweds might also opt for even more involved treatments. In a 2024 article in the New York Times, one plastic surgeon reported seeing a threefold increase in bridal surgery treatments over the previous five years. Brides seeking surgery is not uncommon, Kelly said, but the procedures should also be taken care of months before the

BroadBand Light therapy and other treatments are popular for brides’ prewedding face prep.

Consulting aesthetic professionals sooner rather than later allows plenty of time for building a more comprehensive regimen.

wedding to allow appropriate healing time.

“Sometimes it is liposuction to enhance their shape or get rid of pesky love handles,” she said. “This is an excellent option for the fit bride with stubborn areas that she would like addressed. Some will undergo breast augmentation not just for their big day, but to feel their best each day of the year.”

Of course, with all the spinning plates it takes to pull off a wedding, not everyone can make time for a surgical procedure or a litany of skin care appointments. Even if aesthetic treatments fell off the to-do list somewhere along the way, certain services can still produce excellent results in a pinch. The benefits of a facial and dermaplane remain, whether it is a last-minute treatment or the last of many leading up to the ceremony.

“Services done closer to the wedding day would include treatments that leave the skin glowing, such as hydrafacials, Glo2Facial, or Glacial,” Kelly said. “Continued medical-grade skin care plays a crucial role in enhancing the bride’s natural beauty right up to her wedding day.”

Glo2Facials, according to the med spa’s website, exfoliate, infuse and oxygenate the skin with instantly noticeable results. The Glacial uses precision cooling on the skin’s surface to stimulate collagen production, tighten skin, and fight inflammation and redness. Those and other treatments are not only the realm of brides, however. The AAFRPS survey also noted an uptick in men seeking aesthetic procedures, as well as a surge in services even for the couple’s parents, who might understandably seek out a more youthful appearance before entering one of the most highly photographed moments in anyone’s life.

It is very common for the rest of the bridal party to opt for a few key services just prior to the wedding, as well, Whitehead said. A hydrafacial, for example, provides the same deep cleansing, exfoliation and hydration regardless of gender, leaving the skin refreshed and radiant. Grooms, groomsmen and bridesmaids have also been known to get Botox or hydrafacials in combination with dermaplaning to rectify skin dullness.

“Botox and BBL treatments can be effective options for men who are looking to address skin pigmentation and achieve a refreshed appearance,” Whitehead said. “These treatments can offer subtle yet noticeable improvements in skin tone and texture.”

Whitehead also suggested laser treatments, a nonsurgical procedure that uses beams of light to remove dead skin cells, as an option more people should consider in the leadup to wedding day. Lasering can improve skin tone, address sun damage, reduce redness and enhance overall skin radiance — i.e., that sought-after nuptial glow.

“These treatments can help individuals achieve a more even and glowing complexion, ensuring they look and feel their best on their special day,” Whitehead said.

weddings

Let Them Eat Baskin in Cake proves sweet dreams are made of Cake

By DWAIN HEBDA // Photos courtesy of BASKIN IN CAKE

Marissa Baskin’s record for layers on a single wedding cake is a mind-bending 11 tiers.

“It was taller than me,” she said, laughing at the memory. “With me standing on a ladder and standing on the cake table reaching with my long arms, I still could not place the flowers on top.

“I have actually had people after the fact tell me, ‘We did not know if we would ever get that cake taken down and served after you left.’ They have sent me pictures of the church ladies, dressed up in their best wedding clothes, on the ladders, trying to take it down and hand it down the line to the next lady.”

Another laugh.

“Hey, height isn’t a problem. I’m all for the tall cakes,” she said.

Cakes of the towering variety do not begin to describe the repertoire of Baskin, who, after perfecting her craft over the past decade-plus under other bakers, recently opened her own business, Baskin in Cake, out of her Ferndale home. A quick scan of the company’s social media reveals creations that may not challenge in scale but are no less impressive for the intricate and precise adornment.

“When I was in college, I was informed that my grandmother actually was a wedding cake professional, and she did most of my classmates’ parents’ wedding cakes, apparently, when they were getting married,” she said. “I guess it kind of just skipped a generation and came to me.”

Baskin started out as a cake hobbyist while attending the University of Mississippi. She had no intention of going pro in baking and studied biology at Ole Miss, but when the time came, she chose confection over convention.

“With a biology degree, unless you really special-

ize and know the direction you want to go, it kind of left me wondering, OK, what job can I get?” she said. “After I graduated and moved, I found that biology jobs are hard to find, so let’s do bakery. I just kind of stayed with it.”

The move was not entirely without precedence. In addition to her grandmother’s skill, Baskin also enjoyed art growing up, a talent she has applied to great effect in her life as a baker of beautiful cakes. The rest was all on-the-job training, starting at the bottom.

“In a bakery, I call it kind of like grade school,” she said. “You know, we put you onto practicing, making [icing] roses. Once you can make all your roses to match, then let’s put you on borders. When that’s good on your single-tier cake, let’s go to a little more artwork to your tiered cakes. Once you can stack those and engineer them to stay upright and travel, then we’ll just kind of graduate you up.”

Baskin said the hot cake designs of the moment are things her grandmother would not only approve of but likely churned out.

“Trends usually last a good solid two to three years before they’re completely phased out and the new one cycles through,” she said. ‘This year, we’re going back to the traditional white piping, the large borders, the drapes, the shells that your grandparents would’ve had when they got married. That’s replacing color drips and metallics. I mean, metallics are still there — they’re just a little more of an accent now.

“It’s more, ‘Let’s do pearls of that gold color on a cake,’ whereas five years ago, it was more solid gold, more arts and design versus traditional classic. What I’ve been getting from my bride consultations is they want elegant and classic.”

Of course, a beautiful wedding cake is more than

While tears of joy are a given at a wedding, tiers of cake are a must to help the star dessert stand out in large venues with high ceilings.

just frosting deep; a luxe exterior is not worth much if it does not have taste to match. Baskin said here again, many of today’s couples are trending toward something simple done exceptionally well versus over-the-top interiors.

“In weddings, they still want to keep it traditional. If

they’re going to spend this kind of money on a cake, they want to be sure it’s something that their guests will enjoy,” she said. “Five years ago, we went through a phase where people were wanting champagne-flavored cakes or whiskey-flavored cakes and weird combinations with fillings. Now that might

be your personal taste, but your 200 guests might not like that.

“Today they tend to keep with the white for the bride’s cake or strawberry with fillings. The groom still usually sticks to strawberry and chocolate. Flavor-wise, today’s wedding cakes, I’d say, are normal, nothing too outlandish.”

It is not that Baskin does not get her share of unique requests, even in this era of returning to the traditions of the past. She said for every straight-ahead traditional cake, there is one that shows a little more personality, especially on the groom’s table, where she has done everything from a cake with Razorbacks touches to one shaped like an armadillo.

Her advice to couples seeking a striking finisher for the wedding meal is to get with someone experienced, have a tasting, and plan carefully to avoid wasted money.

“If you’re serving a heavier meal and there’s alcohol involved, less cake gets eaten,” she said. “If you’re doing light hors d’oeuvres and no alcohol, the cake usually goes a little faster. Is it during the daytime? Is it at night? Knowing that helps determine how many servings you need.

“Another thing to keep in mind is who is going to cut and serve the cake? That’s something that is often given to someone as a last-minute afterthought. I tell couples it’s better to have your catering company do it or at least help the cake cutter know how to properly cut and serve the cake.”

The more cake needed, obviously, the higher it stacks, which brings the discussion back to the opening and begs the question: When is tall too tall?

Her advice to couples seeking a striking finisher for the wedding meal is to get with someone experienced, have a tasting, and plan carefully to avoid wasted money.

“Of course, the No. 1 thing would be you want to accommodate all your guests, but another thing plays into it — the size of the venue, the height of the ceiling,” Baskin said. “If you’re getting married in one of these popular barn venues or if you have a grand ceiling, you want a taller cake. That way, when you enter into the reception room, you know it’s grand, and it’s your focal point. It doesn’t just get lost. In that case, we try to do five-tier, six-tier.

“If you’re having a smaller wedding and you still want that look, another trend that’s popular is we can add the styrofoam base to the bottom. You get the look, you don’t end up with all that excess, and it helps on the budget. Plus, you won’t have too much cake to where at the end of the night, you’re having to throw away an entire 14-inch tier, which I’ve seen at weddings. It just broke my heart.”

For more info, visit baskinincake.com.

said while brides are trending more traditional overall, she still sees plenty of requests for more contemporary features.

Marissa Baskin, owner of Baskin in Cake in Ferndale,

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weddings

enue Visions

RBy AY STAFF

Private event spaces more popular than ever

oughly 22 percent of weddings took place in a church or place of worship in 2024, down from 53 percent in 1990, according to data shared by the Pearl Expert.

Weddings have become more customized, and event venues have adapted to accommodate couples with specific wish lists. Over the past two decades, such venues have popped up across Arkansas in settings both rural and rustic and urban and chic.

Couples have specific visions, and these venues were built to see those visions realized. Here is a look at a few popular Arkansas wedding venues.

Paige and Kyle Osborne wedding at Plentywoods Venue in Elkins in 2023. (Photo courtesy of Plentywoods Venue)

Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art

Bentonville

Alice Walton’s Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in Bentonville has become almost as renowned for its beautiful setting as it has for its collection of art. It has therefore grown into a popular wedding venue.

Crystal Bridges offers indoor and outdoor venues, including the nearly 4,000-square-foot great hall, which can accommodate up to 500; the museum’s restaurant, Eleven, which also accommodates up to 500; the museum’s modern art gallery for groups of up to 150; and the main and south lobbies.

Outdoor venues include Walker Landing overlooking the museum’s lower pond and featuring a circular waterfront amphitheater; the Frank Lloyd Wright Bachman-Wilson House lawn, which offers the feel of a private residence and is flanked, in part, by thick Ozark forest; the south lawn, available on its own or in conjunction with the great hall and featuring Robert Indiana’s iconic LOVE sculpture; and for smaller ceremonies, the North Forest, North Forest Shelter and Tulip Tree Shelter, all tucked away on museum grounds and surrounded by Ozark pine and hardwood. All venues can be transformed into any layout and are interchangeable for ceremonies, rehearsal dinners, receptions and more.

Couples can say “I do” amid artful indoor and outdoor spaces at Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in Bentonville.

Rusty Tractor Vineyards

Little Rock

Opened in 2011, Rusty Tractor Vineyards in Little Rock has become one of central Arkansas’ most popular wedding venues.

In the summer of 2011, Sheree and Doug Meyer planted 200 muscadines on a 1-acre field in west-central Little Rock off Lawson Road. The beauty and bounty of the vineyard inspired them to expand, and an additional 5,000 vines of multiple grape varietals were added to the property. The romance of the vine is what inspired them to open Rusty Tractor Vineyards.

Just as its name implies, the venue includes a working muscadine vineyard with a tasting room, adding a distinct Napa Valley feel to its rustic vibe. Rusty Tractor can accommodate weddings of up to 300 on its covered patio, the Pavilion, and a 100-year-old dairy barn, the Barrel Room, was renovated into an intimate setting of up to 50 people. It also is designed to serve as prep space for the wedding party and for rehearsal dinners.

The all-glass sunroom features a lavish, customizable three-part bar, and the Cottage was designed to serve as an oasis before the ceremony, offering five Hollywood mirror vanities and outlets galore.

Each setting provides views of the manicured rows of vines.

The Meyers told AY About You last year Rusty Tractor staff work with clients to pick qualified vendors from a well-curated list. Sheree described Rusty Tractor as a “piece of Napa in the middle of Arkansas” and said her “very caring, thoughtful, knowledgeable and helpful” staff make it their mission to make guests’ big day as special as possible.

A gorgeous vineyard provides a lovely backdrop for weddings at Rusty Tractor Vineyards in Little Rock.

The Stonebreaker Hotel Fayetteville

The Stonebreaker Hotel opened on Markham Hill in Fayetteville on the site of the old Pratt farm overlooking the University of Arkansas campus in December. The Barn, its 5,000-square-foot indoor wedding venue, officially opened in January. It includes outdoor space for preceremony gatherings, a newly restored Victorian house, a restaurant and a 78-room boutique hotel.

Long before the Stonebreaker broke ground, Markham Hill was the site for weddings, summer camps and other events, providing an isolated, rustic setting right in the middle of town. For fall weddings, the Stonebreaker offers easy access to the UA campus. Atop Markham Hill, it sits a Ryan Mallett deep post (or two) away from Razorback Stadium.

Gary Sims, CEO of Hay Creek Hotels, which owns the Stonebreaker and operates boutique hotels, resorts and spas across the country, from New England to the Carolinas and, now, northwest Arkansas, said the corporation’s latest offering, rooted in history, was restored lovingly and with intention.

“The Stonebreaker is more than a hotel — it’s a place where stories come to life,” he said. “Once a cornerstone of Fayetteville’s past, we’ve reimagined it with timeless charm and handcrafted elegance, making it the perfect setting to begin the next chapter.”

Weddings at the Stonebreaker are less about spectacle and more about significance, he added.

“Every space is designed for connection, from the softly lit dining tables where toasts are raised to the inviting nooks where quiet moments are shared,” he said. “It’s a place where love lingers long after the last dance. Weddings at the Stonebreaker feel like they were meant to be — effortless, intimate and rich with meaning. From the warm glow of our gathering spaces to the handcrafted details woven into every moment, we offer a setting that feels as personal and timeless as your love story.”

The Stonebreaker’s event team works with clients to customize every aspect of the big event. In addition to indoor and outdoor space and a covered outdoor area, all handicap accessible, the Stonebreaker offers a reception area, a complimentary bridal suite and groom’s room, a complimentary honeymoon suite in the restored Victorian house, on-site catering, and a private menu tasting.

A Sense of

Place

There are more wedding venues in Arkansas than one can count. Check out a small selection of additional places to celebrate the big day below.

C&C BY THE LAKE

Gorgeous water views are just one highlight of C&C by the Lake in Cabot, which offers all-inclusive wedding packages and an on-site wedding coordinator to make planning a breeze. Offering both indoor and outdoor spaces for the ceremony and reception, the venue can provide for couples dreaming of an intimate microwedding or those desiring a grand celebration with up to 325 guests.

920 W. Arkansas 89, Cabot 501-307-1666 candcbythelake.com

E.O. MANEES HOUSE

Historic elegance awaits at the 1895 E.O. Manees House in North Little Rock’s Argenta Arts District. In addition to stunning outdoor ceremony spaces and a charming reception hall, the venue includes a catering prep kitchen, a bridal suite and a groom’s quarters. Boasting a grand staircase, elegant fireplaces, high ceilings and original chandeliers, the venue provides an unforgettable setting for the special day.

216 W. Fourth St., North Little Rock 501-600-2324 eomaneeshouse.com

ONCE UPON A HILL

A wooded overlook provides a scenic backdrop for photos at Once Upon a Hill in Benton, a 4,000-square-foot venue situated on 10 beautiful acres. In addition to its stunning natural setting, the venue provides ample indoor space, a sizable covered patio, a sumptuous bridal suite, a groom’s quarters, surround sound and a full catering prep kitchen — but let’s face it. Couples come for the view.

5078 Steel Bridge Road, Benton 501-690-3061 onceuponahill.net

PLENTYWOODS VENUE

Located on a working cattle farm off Arkansas 16 about 8 miles south of Elkins, Plentywoods offers indoor and outdoor ceremony options for up to 350 guests. The venue offers ancillary services such as setup and teardown, event management, a photo booth, a cottage, rehearsal dinners, and more, and Plentywoods includes bridal and groom suites with full, four-stall bathrooms.

275 County Road 16, Elkins 479-841-7770 plentywoodsvenue.com

VENUE 10

Opening this summer, Venue 10 in Maumelle can meet the needs of most any wedding celebration. The elegant chapel can accommodate up to 230 guests, while the grand ballroom is suitable for up to 400, and the intimate lounge can provide for 80. The venue is as convenient as it is stylish, offering well-appointed suites for the bride and groom, as well as a catering prep kitchen.

99 Club Manor Drive, Maumelle 501-216-7517 venue-10.com

Dress Rehearsal

Check out these spots to celebrate before the big day

By DWAIN HEBDA

Weddings are a cause to party, and while Americans often get labeled as experts at overdoing it, a quick spin of the globe proves we are merely amateurs when it comes to celebrating nuptials. Business Day reported traditional Chinese weddings last for two days; in India, weddings run between three and five days on average; and weddings of the Shuwa Arabs in Africa can run a week or more.

Traditional American wedding ceremonies clock in at 30 to 90 minutes depending on religious affiliation and far, far less than that for nondenominational and civil services. However, the ceremonial aspect is only one part of what is often a

much larger gathering of family and friends, turning a 20-minute recitation of vows and pronouncement into rehearsals, parties, photos and other hoopla covering several days. Fortunately, Arkansas is blessed with many options when it comes to such ancillary events, providing the ideal locales for rehearsal dinners of every type. From chic to elegant to casual, these venues can help make any rehearsal dinner a highlight of the wedding experience.

ESSY

One of the new venues in Little Rock, East Side Scrapyard, or ESSY, delivers a hip, casual space to host any wedding party get-together. The space can handle up to 180 seated and up to 200 for standing guests. The space, owned by longtime restaurateurs Chris and Samantha Tanner and managed by son Michael Tanner, began hosting events last fall.

“I’ll tell you, it’s beautiful on the inside,” Michael said. “It’s got beautiful, stained concrete. The atmosphere is completely industrial but upscale. It just kind of delivers a different cool vibe in its own little location. People can celebrate and have a good time and make as much noise as they want, and nobody will complain.”

One of the more unique features of the site is its list of approved caterers, which include some of the state’s bestknown and best-loved purveyors of food and beverages. Together, the list covers food options to meet virtually any taste or level of formality a couple could want.

Restaurants on the list include Cheers in the Heights,

JAMISON MOSLEY

the Oyster Bar, Raduno Brick Oven Barroom, Samantha’s Tap Room & Wood Grill, the Fold: Botanas & Bar, the Purple Cow, Big Bad Breakfast, Count Porkula, and Bobbie D’s Southern Cuisine. Catering companies include Two Sisters Catering and Cafés, Vibrant Occasions Catering, Catering to You, Crave Catering Co., Diane’s Gourmet, Gina’s Catering, Heritage Catering, and Rx Catering. For beverages, Have Bar-Will Travel and O’Looney’s Wine & Liquor have most any event covered.

“We want a couple’s special day to be something that suits their style,” Michael said. “We want to make sure they get exactly what they want out of their venue, from the decor to the menu to any other detail.”

1416 E. Ninth St., Little Rock 501-725-8185 events@eastsidescrapyard.com

Arthur’s Prime Steakhouse

For a classic setting and unparalleled dining experience, Arthur’s Prime Steakhouse in west Little Rock cannot be matched. Wedding parties wishing for the best flock to the longtime restaurant known for its fine food, delicious cocktails and excellent service.

The warm interior space matches the upscale menu and enhances any dining experience, accentuated by gentle light from overhanging chandeliers. The stars of the menu are Arthur’s steaks, which are dryaged on-site for a minimum of 28 days. Proprietor Jerry Barakat provides only the best beef, from the wildly popular bone-in filet and ribeye to cuts of Australian Kobe wagyu.

Other standouts of the menu include a variety of seafood, veal and chops. Even the sides are made to the exacting standard of a culinary perfectionist. The restaurant’s extensive wine cellar, boasting some 350 selections, ensures a suitable match to any meal.

Each member of Arthur’s dressed-to-the-nines waitstaff provides the highest level of hospitality and services, ensuring each member of the wedding party has a fabulous time. Do not be surprised if Barakat himself drops in to ensure everything is to Arthur’s standards. One of a dying breed of restaurateur, he is as hands on as they get when it comes to exceeding the expectations of his guests.

“It takes consistency. If you give people what they want, they will give you what you want.” Barakat recently told AY About You. “Don’t try to outsmart your friends and customers. I will not try to cut a single corner. It’s always fresh. It’s always quality.”

16100 Chenal Parkway, Little Rock

501-821-1838

arthursprimesteakhouse.com

Photos courtesy of ESSY

Photos by

Marlsgate Plantation

Those looking for a unique but no less grand setting will no doubt feel right at home at the stunning Marlsgate Plantation. Located outside of Scott, the stately 1888 structure is a favorite venue for wedding receptions, parties and other social gatherings.

Bought by high school sweethearts and now married Martha Ellen and Beau Talbot in 2017, the couple invested time, money and love into reviving the main house into one of the most remarkable venues in the state.

“We didn’t have a great vision or grand plan,” Martha Ellen told AY About You in 2023. “We were initially happy to just step into what it was and do what it did,”

The resplendent Marlsgate was the center jewel of the Dortch Plantation, which came into being as an 1,800-acre present from local landowner Thomas Steele to William P. Dortch and Steele’s daughter, Nettie on their wedding day in 1885. The couple’s success in managing the property led to replacing an earlier home with the Charles L. Thompson-designed Marlsgate, completed in 1904.

Among the architectural elements of the 32-room, three-story mansion are brick Doric columns more than 40 feet in height, beveled glass windows, Carrara marble fireplaces, sliding oak doors and handcrafted woodwork throughout.

“It’s taken on a life of its own from the very beginning,” Martha Ellen said, “which we felt was a reinforcement that we were doing what we were supposed to be doing where and when we were supposed to be doing it.”

2700 Bearskin Lake Road, Scott 870-717-2789

marlsgate.com

Brave New Restaurant

There is more to dinner at Brave New Restaurant than just the food, beverage and service that makes it one of the most charming and sought-after spots for anything involving romance, including wedding rehearsal dinners. There is also the killer view.

“When I meet with couples, we go straight to a table by the window, and we sit and look out over the Arkansas River,” said Miles Erwin, banquet manager. “When they see what they get to look out over during their dinner, it’s a pretty powerful selling point.”

The restaurant can accommodate groups up to 86 people. Erwin said couples can exert as much or as little control over the menu as they wish.

“If they give us enough notice, we can make any menu that they desire,” he said. “My chef is very talented, and as long as we have a couple weeks on what they’re looking for, we can get it.”

For those looking to cut down on decision making, Brave New also offers a preset menu of some of its most popular entrees. Selection includes steak, pork tenderloin, chicken and three seafood options, including house specialties scallops, walleye and tuna. Substitutions and additions to the menu are easily accommodated. At the bar, Brave New’s talented mixologists routinely stir up custom cocktails created just for an event.

About all Brave New cannot do is create more available dates for groups, which fill up fast during wedding season.

“For spring and summer dates, we recommend booking eight months out; otherwise, three or four months out,” Erwin said. “There’s only four Fridays and four Saturdays in a month, so if a couple is wanting to do something, they should go ahead and give us a call.”

2300 Cottondale Lane, Suite 105, Little Rock

501-663-2677

bravenewrestaurant.com

Photo courtesy of MARLSGATE PLANTATION

DIAMONDS

Forever are

Local experts offer wedding jewelry advice

By ALEX HARDGRAVE

Wedding rings symbolize eternal commitment to another person and are a significant part of the ceremony. As the famous James Bond theme song states, “Diamonds are Forever,” but forever is a long time, so how do couples know they are making the right decisions when it comes to their wedding jewelry?

That is where the experts come in.

At Jones & Son Diamond & Bridal Fine Jewelry in Little Rock, co-owner Jacob Jones said staff spends time getting to know each couple’s vision. When customers go to the store, they find half the store is engagement rings and half is fashion jewelry.

The couple goes through a collaborative process for selection, one that often includes showing inspirational pictures to a sales associate. Staff then help couples find and try on styles that match whatever the bride and groom are dreaming about.

At Sissy’s Log Cabin, which has locations across the state and in Memphis, a couple has two routes when it comes to choosing an engagement ring. They can design a fully

customized ring, or they can choose a natural diamond, pair it with one of thousands of settings and have the ring made that way.

“Customers have the ability to create something that represents that marriage,” said William Jones, president of Sissy’s Log Cabin.

As couples navigate their selection, budgeting remains a crucial consideration. Jacob advised planning ahead when it comes to setting a budget, but that money can always be moved from one aspect of a wedding budget to another to accommodate the price of the jewelry.

He added that many things can affect the price of rings, such as how many diamonds are in the setting and what metal is used.

“I’d plan my budget ahead of time from the get-go and know what I’m going to spend,” he said.

William said the lion’s share of the budget at Sissy’s

Rings are a symbol of eternal love, the purchase of which should not be undertaken lightly.

(Photo left: Sissy’s Log Cabin, photo below: Jones & Son)

is the diamond one chooses, and the company can provide rings to fit a wide range of couples.

“You can spend as little or as much as you want to on that,” he said.

He also said there are financing options that allow staff to work with any budget. While it may make sense, depending on one’s budget, to go with a smaller diamond and upgrade later, William said his company does not see that often.

“We’re seeing fewer and fewer people want to buy a smaller stone at first and trade it in later,” he said. “People are getting more and more attached to the diamond being a part of the ceremony and a diamond they’re going to wear for the rest of their lives.”

William also said more people are going for one large diamond rather than a few smaller ones in a ring setting. Also, more couples are purchasing diamonds of 2 carats or more. He said the Sissy Solitaire has been a really big seller recently.

Jacob has also seen a lot of solitaire rings, as well as a return to yellow gold. He said a lot of it is a return to styles from about 25 years ago.

“It’s gone to more traditional styles,” he said.

Another trend he has seen is people going away from the traditional diamond to lab-grown diamonds and other gems, such as amethyst, sapphire and moissanite. Jacob said about 50 percent of the rings sold these days are lab grown, which are less expensive but hold less value in the future.

“Sometimes it makes more sense to buy the lab grown than the actual. It just depends on each person’s situation,” he said.

Sissy’s Log Cabin only offers natural diamonds, Williams said, and the company’s products are backed by the “Sissy’s Promise.”

“Natural diamonds are getting increasingly popular against lab grown, and that’s because the prices have fallen out and the margins have gone up for jewelers,” he said. “We get more and more customers who want to make sure that they’re going to purchase something and it’s going to be valuable in the future.”

Beyond choosing the right stone, couples need to account for lifestyle when making decisions about rings. Factors like occupation and hobbies can greatly influence the design and durability of the chosen setting. For instance, those in active jobs or engaging in hobbies like gardening might lean toward something with a setting that does not have much height.

“All those things matter based on the design,” William said, “not just for their physical ring sizing but for their lifestyle, as well.”

Some men consider metal ring alternatives

Yellow gold and traditional styles have come into vogue recently. (Photo: Sissy’s Log Cabin)

(Photo:Jones&Son)

Customers are thinking into the future about the value of the ring and the diamond they will wear for life.

Jewelry is really ... the one thing that you'll have from the wedding that you can wear daily to remind you of that special day.

— William Jones, president of Sissy’s Log Cabin

to save money, but William said they recommend a metal ring for men because such rings will not scratch or break easily.

There is other wedding jewelry that couples should consider too. Jacob has seen brides purchase different types of jewelry as gifts for bridesmaids. He has also seen them get groomsmen gifts such as cufflinks. However, it is not universal what each couple wants, he said.

“Everybody does something different now,” he said. “It just depends on who you are and what you want.”

William said he sees a lot of people purchase pearls, diamond tennis bracelets or diamond earrings for the wedding day.

Another important rule of thumb for ring purchases is the timeline. At Sissy’s Log Cabin, it takes about three to four

weeks for a custom design. William recommended looking for bands no less than a month out from the big day.

Sissy’s Log Cabin is utilizing a new scanner that allows the company to create custom bands that fit with the engagement ring without the customer having to leave the ring behind or even mail it off.

Jacob recommended visiting a jeweler at least a month before the wedding.

While there are a lot of factors to consider when purchasing the right wedding jewelry, perhaps the most important thing is that the rings represent the couple’s love and feels authentic to them.

“Jewelry is really a representation of what people can’t see about you,” William said. “It's the one thing that you'll have from the wedding that you can wear daily to remind you of that special day.”

(Photo: Sissy’s Log Cabin)

(Photo: Sissy’s Log Cabin)

Happily Ever After

Getting to know couples the most beautiful part of designing wedding flowers

By CHRIS NORWOOD

Amid the joy and excitement of a wedding, one of the most memorable parts is watching a bride walk down the aisle holding a bouquet of stunning flowers. As florists, it is a joy to help create couples’ dream weddings, and what I enjoy most about designing wedding flowers is meeting brides-to-be and their families.

Throughout the process, we bond and, hopefully, form lasting friendships. I mean, we are taking care of one of the most important days of these clients’ lives, so we get to know them pretty well.

My co-owner, Christina Day-Essary, said her favorite part of designing for weddings is watching brides’ ideas come to life throughout the process, from seeing their first inspiration photos to seeing the joy on their faces when their flowers are in place on the big day.

Great customer service is extremely important when it comes to wedding vendors, and all our brides have Christina’s cellphone number so she can be on hand to assist them and answer questions day and night.

When a bride schedules a consultation with us, we discuss her likes and dislikes and work out what kind of arrangements she wants for her dream wedding. I draw a few sketches on my iPad while we chat, and then we send the bride a proposal, complete with pictures and sketches.

Our company works closely with wedding planners, and I estimate that about 80 percent of our brides have wedding planners these days. A wedding planner can

Today’s brides have the freedom to choose the flowers they love, from timeless white-and-blush arrangements to more contemporary designs.

time. It seems like brides who plan further out tend to change their designs more often. I always say it is never too late and never too soon for us to help.

help take stress off the bride and mother of the bride on the day and week of the wedding, allowing couples to relax and focus on enjoying the day.

While brides once had to meet with a florist nine months to a year and a half in advance of the wedding, that is no longer the case, and three months gives us plenty of lead

Most brides already have a theme and color palette in mind when they visit us. In fact, I think many of our brides had their Pinterest boards set up before they even met their fiances.

Be warned: Pinterest can be a blessing and a curse. While seeing a bride’s vision board can help us home in on her personal style, sometimes designs on Pinterest can give brides unrealistic expectations about their arrangements. Some designs might cost double what brides had in mind, and other photos are so heavily edited (or, these days, generated by artificial intelligence) that the designs might not be possible at all.

Nonetheless, Pinterest can inspire brides and help us understand each clients’ aesthetic. I often tell brides to pin photos they do not like, in addition to the ones they admire, so I can get an even better understanding of her tastes.

Whether a bride just needs bouquets and boutonnieres for the bridal party or flowers for the ceremony and reception, we can help as much or as little as needed. We also provide rentals such as candles and vases, and we can help connect brides to other vendors, as well.

A bride’s budget for flowers depends on how important flowers are to her and her family. While some brides want to go all-out with show-stopping decorations that look great in photos, for others, flowers are not a topline item, and they would rather spend more on food and drinks.

We work to steer brides toward pieces that will have the greatest impact within their allotted budget. I would rather see a bride display one or two fabulous arrangements than a bunch of little arrangements that get lost in the shuffle.

I have been in the floral industry for nearly 50 years, and I have seen a lot of changes when it comes to weddings. When I started as a florist, each bridesmaid carried a single stem. Then, thanks to lifestyle maven Martha Stewart, bridesmaids began carrying clutches of flowers, and that new tradition continues today.

There are not really any rules when it comes to wedding flowers anymore. No longer are brides confined to certain flowers for certain seasons or steered away from blooms that might be considered taboo. Today’s brides are free to express themselves through flowers any way they please, whether they want to play with the bright colors popular for 2025 or stick to a timeless white and blush color palette.

Speaking of timeless, Norwood-Day Floral Co. works to provide arrangements that never go out of fashion. I tell brides they may look back at photos and question their choice of dress and hairdo, but the flowers will still look fabulous.

When you visit a florist before your wedding, show us your design aesthetic. Then let us present you with something that is going to give you the best value for the season, and we will see what is available from there. After that, watch us work our magic as we bring your wedding dreams to life.

Chris Norwood and Christina Day-Essary are co-owners of Norwood-Day Floral Co. in Little Rock. For more information, visit norwood-day.com.

Photos courtesy of Bethany Grace Photography, Kati Mallory Fine Art Photography, and Raegan Buckley

Flower Power

Floral arrangements a memorable part of the wedding backdrop

By ALEX HARDGRAVE

Photo by Bethany Grace Photography

Pretty much everyone knows roses are red and violets are blue, but it quickly gets more complicated than that when it comes to having the ideal flowers on one’s wedding day.

Flowers are not just decorations; they set the mood, create an ambiance and reflect the couple’s style.  Norwood-Day Floral Co. in Little Rock is a go-to floral shop for making wedding dreams a reality for couples.

With years of experience in designing floral arrangements that align with different themes and styles, co-owners Chris Norwood and Christina Day-Essary and their whole team are able to help most any couple. Whether the event is an intimate backyard ceremony or a grand ballroom party, the crew makes sure every floral detail is thoughtful and beautiful.

Norwood said the process starts when either a wedding planner or a couple reaches out to the florist for a consultation. Working with wedding planners who have already homed in on the couple’s vision, the process is usually pretty direct, and very specific needs are already laid out. If working directly with a bride or a couple, however, the NorwoodDay team generally has to take a more consultative role to help them define their ideas and meet expectations.

Brides today often come in armed with a Pinterest board of everything they like, Norwood said. That is a very good tool, he added, recommending brides that do not have one to create such a board.

“We go through that, and I can tell what they’re leaning towards,” he said. “Then we modify from there as far as what’s going to work best for their vision and make them the happiest.”

After the aesthetic idea is set, the team moves on to the specifics, starting with what they call “body flowers.” They include flowers that are worn or held, such as the bridal bouquet, bridesmaids’ bouquets, boutonnieres and corsages.

Next, the florist considers the location of the ceremony. Often, fewer flowers are needed at a church, since churches tend to have built-in decor. Sometimes church congregations

Brides today often come in armed with a Pinterest board of everything they like, Norwood said. That is a very good tool, he added, recommending brides that do not have one to create such a board.

Florists often consider “body flowers” held or worn by the wedding party first when consulting couples. (Photo by Bethany Grace Photography)

arrange their own flowers instead of having an outside florist do it.

If the couple uses a florist for ceremony decor in a church, there is usually room for beautiful flowers in key areas such as decorating the aisle, pews or up front, Norwood said. The floral approach can be entirely different for ceremonies that take place in event halls or venues. Those venues often serve as a blank canvas that requires more design to give a decorated look.

Then comes the reception space. Some brides come in with pieces already picked out to decorate the space and tables, and florists help incorporate those items. Other couples buy flowers wholesale to make centerpieces themselves.

“We’ll give them as much help or as much design assistance as they need or as they want,” Norwood said.

When it comes to trends, Norwood said social media has expanded the range of wedding styles, making it harder to pinpoint a single dominant trend.

“Fortunately or unfortunately, there is no one thing that is at the top of the list like there used to be,” he said.

He has noticed, however, an increased use of candles as decoration. Candles add a romantic and elegant glow to venues, he said, but couples should be sure to check if a specific venue has restrictions against candles with real flames or other considerations.

Another shift he has seen is the move away from pampas grass, which has been a recent staple of boho-style weddings. Instead, people are opting for delicate clouds of baby’s breath. Color

The level of floral decor needed varies according to venue.

Photo by Raegan Buckley.

Kati Mallory Fine Art Photography

Photo courtesy of Norwood-Day

At the end of the day, wedding flowers are more than just flowers. They are an expression of love, a thing of beauty and a sign of celebration.

palettes are also evolving; soft, neutral tones remain popular, but more couples are embracing bold and vibrant hues to make a statement.

“There’s not one thing that works better than the other overall,” Norwood said. “We just kind of try to work with the couple’s personality and do exactly what is going to make them the happiest.”

There may be no wrong choices when it comes to wedding flowers, but seasonality is definitely an important factor to consider. Choosing flowers that are in season can sometimes be more cost-effective; however that is not the absolute it once was. Norwood said many flowers are now grown year-round around the world and then shipped, making nearly any variety accessible at any time.

For couples wanting more complicated floral installations or complex designs, Norwood recommended starting the planning process with his team about a year to nine months before the wedding. That timeline allows for securing staff availability and making sure everything is ready well in advance.

If the work is just a pickup or dropoff job, he said, that can be planned closer to the wedding, but still, “the sooner, the better.”

How should couples budget for their dream wedding flowers? Norwood said it depends on priorities. Some couples have flowers at the top of their list, while others choose to allocate more of their budget to other aspects of the big day.

To make the most of any budget, Norwood often advises couples to focus on a few standout floral installations, rather than spreading the budget too thin across multiple smaller decorations that might go unnoticed.

“Our biggest thing is we want everyone to get their financial value out of it,” he said.

At the end of the day, wedding flowers are more than just flowers. They are an expression of love, a thing of beauty and a sign of celebration, making them a key part of wedding planning.

Candles add elegance to floral arrangements, but brides should check with their venues to see if candles with real flames are allowed.

(Photo by Bethany Grace Photography)

Photo by: Sarah Henry Photo

PHOTO

The

Food of

Love

Wedding catering provides avenue for adding fun, personalized touches to

the reception

By MAK MILLARD

t can be hard to narrow down the most essential components to nail at a wedding, but few make a more com-

Pinterest, or they’ve seen things on social media, so they have this ideal wedding,” Morehart said. “I want to know what our goal is, what budget we need to stay within, and then I can help guide them and walk them through all the steps.”

until the more outwardly romantic decisions, like the venue and the dress, are settled. Instead, many couples go into the catering process without a full idea of what they will need or how much it will cost to get their dream cuisine.

“Most brides, they’re going to either look at

The top considerations going into the planning process, said Kim Henderson, owner of Heritage Catering in Little Rock, are budget, style of service and presentation. Picking a caterer with flexible menu options allows for customization within a variety of price points. The food itself can be delivered to guests in several ways, popular options being buffets, plated and served dinners, stations, and family-style service. Each comes with its own advantages, Henderson said, depending on the couple’s goals and timeline.

“The visual appeal of your food plays a significant role in the overall ambiance of the wedding.” she said. “This is something we take great pride in at Heritage. Whether it’s the display on a buffet, trays of passed hors d’oeuvres or beautifully plated meals, presentation is an essential part of the experience.”

Presentation has only become more important during the social media age. The Knot noted 75 percent of couples surveyed spent extra on memorable food and beverage choices meant to wow guests. Morehart has been asked to put together an elevated experience from the likes of taco and mac-and-cheese bars, where guests can enjoy a more “interactive” meal by picking their own toppings. Station-style service for items like sliders and nachos can add another interesting element, as well as offering ample opportunity for Pinterest-worthy decor.

“Breakfast food for weddings, we’ve been doing tons of that lately,”

(Photo courtesy of Heritage Catering)

Morehart said. “Lots of just fun, off-the-wall type stuff. I have signs that I set up with everything, funny sayings, all kinds of stuff. For one of the breakfast ones, I set up a sign that says, ‘I love you like biscuits and gravy.’ There are just so many different things. There’s not really one consistent trend right now.”

Another pattern Henderson has spotted is couples weaving elements of their personal story into the meal itself. Incorporating family recipes into the menu or featuring a dish inspired by a memorable trip can be thoughtful touches that add a deeply meaningful element to the celebration, she said.

“It’s never too early to start planning. Having a plan in place allows for flexibility, making it easy to tweak the menu or adjust based on ingredient availability.”

— Tori Morehart, owner of DownHome Catering

“The menu can be a personal reflection of the bride and groom’s favorite flavors and experiences,” she said. “Embracing this approach allows us to get truly creative with our menu designs. For example, a multicourse sit-down dinner may take up a significant portion of the wedding timeline, but it provides guests with a wonderful culinary experience. On the other hand, if the focus is on music and celebration, a grazing table, multiple food stations and a passed late-night snack might be a better fit. Ultimately, it’s about crafting a dining experience that creates lasting memories for the bride, groom and their loved ones.”

The time of year can also have a large impact on the ideal menu, as certain seasons lend themselves to particular ingredients. A hot summer wedding is, perhaps, not the best place for a heavy, hearty meal, while a midday ceremony might call for different fare than what is suitable for late-night festivities.

“By embracing seasonality, we can highlight fresh, vibrant tomatoes in the summer while shifting our focus to heartier ingredients in the fall and winter,” Henderson said. “Variety is also essential to accommodate a diverse range of guests. While shrimp can be a fantastic main protein, offering additional options, like chicken, beef or pasta, ensures that everyone has something to enjoy regardless of dietary preferences or restrictions.”

Speaking of diets: more couples are making their menus inclusive; 61 percent of those surveyed by the Knot accommodated guests with restrictive diets. A well-thought-out, customized menu is key, and caterers can provide options to keep guests from feeling like they are missing out on the full experience. For example, Henderson said, she and her team created an entirely glutenfree Southern-inspired menu for a couple last spring, complete with passed appetizers and a plated dinner.

Other times, menu restrictions are monetary rather than culinary. Getting on the same page with one’s caterer can keep couples from disappointment if they are dreaming of steak and lobster on a burgers-and-fries budget. Thankfully, there are

plenty of delicious options that do not break the bank, as well as service styles that can help stretch the cuisine to more guests. Morehart recommended pasta dishes such as blackened chicken alfredo. Since it is not individually portioned, pasta can go further while still making for a beautiful looking meal, especially when paired with the right vegetables for a pop of color.

“If it’s an older couple or a second wedding or just even younger couples that don’t have a lot of money budgeted, if they have a wedding that’s not at a meal time, they can get away with not having a big, full-course meal,” Morehart added. “They can do fresh fruit and meat, the more charcuterie-type stuff, because guests are not really expecting to have a big meal at an off time.”

There are countless other details that can catch the uninitiated by surprise, and an experienced caterer can step in and make sure couples are not caught unawares when the big day arrives. With 22 years of experience, Morehart has a wealth of savvy recommendations for everything from plates and cutlery to tablecloths. Single-use items might get a bad rap, but the verisimilitude of modern disposable options provides an upscale feel without the hassle of collecting and packing glassware and dishes the next day. Another belief Morehart is keen to dispel early on when working with a couple saves them and their guests an avoidable headache.

“They think they don’t want it staffed, but they definitely need it staffed,” she said. “There are pans to change out. There are buffet lines to fill up. There are so many moving parts to this wedding to make it flow. If they think they’re going to have an aunt or an uncle or best friend that’s going to do it, they’re not going to enjoy the reception because they’re going to be working to refill stuff. … We do everything. We set it up, we maintain it, and we clean up our mess, and then we’re gone. There’s a lot to it that they don’t think of.”

The food served at a wedding often depends on the season and time of day.

(Photo courtesy of DownHome Catering)

Other key logistical details include the timeline, floor plan, cake topper and leftovers, Henderson said. The timeline is obviously crucial for having everything prepared as intended from moment to moment, while reviewing the floor plan in advance allows for any adjustments to be made as necessary.

“When it comes to the cake, some couples choose to save the top tier, while others prefer to serve it,” Henderson said. “Knowing this ahead of time ensures it’s handled properly and not accidentally served to guests. Additionally, there is sometimes leftover food after the event. Couples are welcome to take that home, or if they prefer, we partner with Potluck Food Rescue to donate any surplus food to those in need.”

How soon to get working on a menu depends, like with everything else, on the unique circumstances of the wedding in question. Henderson recommended an “as soon as possible” approach, especially when planning a ceremony for peak months such as May, June or September through November.

“It’s never too early to start planning,” she said. “Having a plan in place allows for flexibility, making it easy to tweak the menu or adjust based on ingredient availability.”

Morehart estimated about six months of lead time for most couples, though she said they can get away with less if she is pulling the strings. It is hard to give an accurate budget quote too far in advance, and one need only glance at their local grocery store prices to see why. Early or not, finding the right caterer to be a trusted partner throughout the process makes for well-fed guests on wedding day with minimal stress for everyone involved.

“They need to be confident knowing that it’s going to be perfect,” Morehart said. “I don’t let it stress me out, and I don’t let it stress out my brides and grooms and my mothers of the brides and grooms. That’s what I’m here for is to make them not have to worry about it.”

Caterers can work hand in hand with couples to determine the best menu for their wedding style and budget. (Photo, bottom right, courtesy of DownHome Catering, others courtesy of Heritage Catering)

Wedding hite

Veneers, whitening popular among brides hoping to bring their best smiles to the big day

By SARAH DECLERK // Photos courtesy of SMILE ARKANSAS

Whether they are posing for cameras or chatting with guests, brides are sure to smile often during the wedding and reception. For that reason, many brides are eager to ensure their teeth are as attractive as possible for the big day.

“We do, for whatever reason, get a lot of brides who are either planning a wedding or coming up on a wedding that want to do some things for their teeth to make their pictures look really pretty and have a perfect wedding day,” said Dr. Jahon Zehtaban, owner of Smile Arkansas in Little Rock.

Grooms can benefit from giving their teeth a little TLC, as well, he said, adding that his services are also popular among mothers of the bride and groom. From whitening to more permanent solutions such as veneers and even aesthetic treatments such as injectables, cosmetic dentists provide a range of services to brides and other members of the wedding party.

Whtiening

Zehtaban said Zoom whitening is one of his most popular services for brides. The treatment takes an hour and a half to two hours, and Zehtaban recommended booking a whitening appointment two to four weeks ahead of the wedding. That way, teeth have some time to adjust, and brides can avoid tooth sensitivity while they are celebrating.

“We obviously don’t want them to do it the same day or a couple of days be fore and then have sensitive teeth while they’re smiling and talking to everybody the day of their wedding,” he said.

He added that his office makes custom trays for brides so they can complete maintenance whitening between their appointment and the wedding.

It is a good idea to have a cleaning at least six months before the appointment, he said, and he recommended brides avoid “anything that would stain a white T-shirt” for

Mary Cole, veneer patient of Dr. Jahon Zehtaban

two days after the wedding. For example, coffee and sauces could decrease the effects of the whitening.

Zoom whitening typically costs $650 to $700, and the custom whitening tray for patients to take home costs another $150, he said, adding that his practice offers specials throughout the year that can reduce the cost of the service.

Veneers

No-prep or minimal-prep veneers are another option for brides who are not satisfied with the shape, condition or color of their teeth. The treatments are minimally invasive because they involve the removal of less enamel than traditional veneers. Well-maintained veneers can last 15 to 25 years, Zehtaban said.

“Those are very popular for our brides who just want to make a couple changes and get their smile perfect without having to get a lot of numbing or dental work done,” he added.

He recommended brides talk to their dentists about veneers six to nine months before the wedding. During the initial appointment, the dentist discusses what the bride wants from her smile and designs a set of porcelain veneers. Zehtaban’s practice provides patients with temporary veneers they can wear for a couple weeks, which allows him to send any necessary changes to the lab before the veneers are made.

Patients can maintain veneers by brushing and flossing as they would with normal teeth. To keep the veneers in great shape throughout their lifespan, Zehtaban recommended patients have a night guard made to protect their teeth from grinding and other involuntary movements during sleep. It is also best to avoid biting into hard foods such as whole apples, he said.

“Veneers essentially become a part of your tooth,” he said. “They’re bonded that well, so you don’t really have to worry about them popping off or anything, but when you’re biting into something like an apple or something hard like that, you want to make sure you’re protecting the veneers and being smart about it because, like a normal tooth, they can chip, or you could have issues with them when you are doing those motions.”

Veneers are installed on each tooth individually, and Zehtaban said each patient receives about eight veneers on average. Most patients opt to have veneers on their upper teeth, he said, but some have veneers installed on their lower teeth, as well.

Veneers can cost $1,800 to $2,100 per tooth, he said.

Cosmetic Bonding

Cosmetic bonding is similar to installing veneers, but instead of having porcelain veneers made at a lab, dentists apply material freehanded to improve the look of teeth. Zehtaban said the procedure is a popular option for budget-conscious brides or young brides desiring something more conservative than veneers. However, because the material used in cosmetic bonding is not as sturdy as porcelain, cosmetic bonding does not last as long, and most brides who opt for cosmetic bonding will need veneers eventually, he said.

Just as with veneers, he recommended brides consult their dentists about cosmetic bonding at least six to nine months before the wedding. Although the process is quicker than installing veneers, Zehtaban said cosmetic bonding requires more follow-up appointments so that dentists can touch up the bonding as needed.

“It’s not as aesthetic or pretty as a lab-made veneer, but it will improve the appearance of your

tooth dramatically,” he said, “so aesthetics, we lose a little bit, length of time that it will last, we lose a little bit, but it will accomplish, for the most part, getting your teeth whiter, different shape and improving your smile.”

He added that cosmetic bonding typically costs about $1,200 per tooth. While cosmetic bonding is less expensive than veneers, the savings are not always worthwhile, he said.

“Price point is a little nicer, but when you add up the cost of how much sooner you’re going to have to get veneers to what you’re paying, it kind of makes more sense to do the veneers on the front end,” he added.

Botox & Dysport

While some may not associate dentists with aesthetic treatments such as Botox and Dysport, Zehtaban, who offers both at his practice, said dentists are uniquely positioned to provide the services.

“Dentists have a unique kind of advantage there that we’re used to injecting and doing that all around the face, so it kind of gives us a little bit better dexterity and a little bit better patient management for these injections,” he said.

He added that his practice focuses on forehead wrinkles, frown lines, crow’s feet and other imperfections in the upper face, as well as lip flips that can provide a pink, plump lip and address problems such as thin lips or showing too much of the gums.

Since the treatments take about two weeks to fully take effect, Zehtaban recommended brides receive Botox or Dysport at least four weeks before the wedding. He cautioned against receiving any facials or other face treatments the day after the injections, since the applying pressure to the face can interfere with the results.

Depending on the dosage, the treatments last about 90 days, he said, adding that brides should budget $350 to $550 for the services.

Dr. Jahon Zehtaban Before After

Whitney Harper, veneer patient of Dr. Jahon Zehtaban

Hand in Hand

Local shop guides customers through the maze of wedding stationery

By DOUG CRISE

Erin Brady was praying for a way out.

Stuck in a pharmaceutical sales job and utterly miserable, Brady could feel the walls of her life closing in. She was already married with a 3-year-old, and another child was on the way. Like so many young adults, she was settling into her life before she even realized it, and she did not like what she saw.

“I was praying every day,” Brady said. “Like, ‘God, I want to own my own business.’ I hated pharmaceuticals. It was not for me.”

When a friend approached her about buying a tiny store in the Heights, she was all in. So what if the store was so small she had to climb a flight of stairs and knock on the door of the business above in order to use the bathroom? It was what she had been asking for.

“I thought, ‘Oh my gosh, well, I’ve literally been praying for something to drop in my lap, and here it is,’” Brady said.

That was 22 years ago. Today Brady’s business — By Invitation

Only — sits in a different (and roomier) shop just off Cantrell Road. She now oversees 18 full- and part-time employees and offers personalized stationery options for all occasions, but her bread and butter, just as it was two decades ago, is wedding invitations.

“We pride ourselves on the whole customer-service aspect,” Brady said. “Someone can come in here and tell me they have $100 to spend, or I just did a $20,000 wedding invitation order. We

// Photos courtesy of BY INVITATION ONLY

Erin Brady

A wedding is one of the most formal occasions a bride can plan, and local stationary shops can help couples navigate invitation etiquette.

— Erin Brady, owner of By Invitation Only “

We pride ourselves on the whole customer-service aspect. Someone can come in here and tell me they have $100 to spend, or I just did a $20,000 wedding invitation order. We can fit any budget.

can fit any budget.”

Customer service is the be-all and end-all at By Invitation Only. When visitors drop by, they walk into a softly lit and pleasantly scented store with all kinds of stationery and trinkets on display. The staff, Brady included, greets everybody warmly, and there are plenty of comfy spots to sit down and hash out wedding plans.

Of course, Brady said, there is no other way to do it. Most businesses offer online options, and customers can click their way through card stock, font and color choices. The only way to stand out, she added, is to know your stuff and provide service an online retailer cannot hope to match. By Invitation Only checks all those boxes and more.

“Our big selling point to people and why our business has grown every year is we know all the etiquette and rules about weddings and about how these are supposed to be worded and how things are supposed to be done,” Brady said. “You don’t get that kind of service when you’re ordering something online.”

Indeed, many people do not know the work and planning that goes into wedding stationery until they are the ones tying the knot. There is so much more to it than just printing a date, time and place, and given all that goes into planning a wedding, the seemingly small task can turn into an avalanche in a hurry.

“You tell me what you want and what you want to spend, and we’re really good about meeting that,” Brady said. “We do everything from ‘save the date’ to their invitations, their thank-you notes, their cups, their napkins and signage at their wedding. Anything that can be personalized, pretty much, we do it.”

The prospect of saving time and energy is what keeps clients coming to Brady’s front door, and the personalized service they receive is what keeps them coming back.

“I had a groom come in. We’re doing his wedding,” Brady said. “I did his birth announcement when he was born, and now I’m doing his wedding. He’s 22 years old.”

Those types of stories are Brady’s favorite. Though she claimed to be an introvert away from the office, Brady is happiest when she is in the planning stage with a client, talking to them and getting to know them.

“I love interacting with people,” Brady said. “I always had enough confidence in myself where if I knew what I was selling, I could sell it. Once I got really comfortable with what I was doing here and learning my products so well, I feel like I can work with anybody. That’s all owning your own business is. If you offer really good customer service, if you know how to sell your product, your customers trust you.”

Much of that trust is built on the fact that, after 22 years, Brady has pretty much seen it all. By Invitation Only has produced so much stationery for so many different occasions and budgets that there is not much that catches Brady by surprise.

Weddings, Brady said, just keep getting bigger and bigger, and what was once a small storefront has blossomed into an operation large enough to absorb any requests.

“We just keep raising the bar on how cool we can make it and what can we do differently?” Brady said. “When I got married, it was an ivory piece of stock with black writing. I mean, that was it — not a lot. Now we’ve got things in different shapes, and they have pockets. I mean, you wouldn’t believe all the things that we can do now.”

A lot of time has passed since Brady decided to take the leap of faith into running her own business, but not much has changed — success still lies in every satisfied customer who walks through her door. Even today, 22 years later, she has to smile and shake her head at her good fortune. Very little was guaranteed when Brady risked everything to start her own business, and now she cannot imagine her life without it.

“I don’t have time to tell all the cool stories that have happened,” Brady said. “My favorite part is the relationships and friendships. My customers, so many of them, are now my friends. I never, ever dread going to work — ever. It’s just been a gift all the way around.”

AY’s Favorite Wedding Vendors

Arthur’s Prime Steakhouse 16100 Chenal Parkway, Little Rock 501-821-1838

arthursprimesteakhouse.com

SEE FEATURE ON PAGE 79

Bad Habit

501-626-8881

badhabitrocks.com

SEE FEATURE ON PAGE 110

Baskin in Cake Ferndale 501-503-1088

baskinincake@gmail.com

SEE AD ON PAGE 72

Brave New Restaurant

2300 Cottondale Lane, Suite 105, Little Rock 501-663-2677

bravenewrestaurant.com

SEE AD ON PAGE 114

By Invitation Only

5914 R St., Suite A, Little Rock 501-975-8902

instagram.com/byinvitationonlylr

SEE AD ON PAGE 72

C & C by the Lake 920 W. Arkansas 89, Cabot 501-307-1666

candcbythelake.com

SEE AD ON PAGE 86

Cache Restaurant

425 President Clinton Ave., Little Rock

501-285-8381

cachelittlerock.com

SEE AD ON PAGE 81

Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art

600 Museum Way, Bentonville 479-418-5700

crystalbridges.org

SEE AD ON PAGE 51

Down Home Catering 3813 Quail Lane, Benton 501-804-4330

downhomecatering.catertrax.com

SEE AD ON PAGE 81

E.O. Manees House

216 W. Fourth St., North Little Rock 501-600-2324

eomaneeshouse.com

SEE AD ON PAGE 101

English Plastic and Cosmetic Surgery Center 9501 Baptist Health Drive, Medical Towers II, Suite 950, Little Rock 501-227-9556

surgeoncosmetic.com

SEE AD ON PAGE 3

ESSY (Eastside Scrapyard) 1416 E. 9th St., Little Rock 501-725-8185

SEE AD ON PAGE 72

Garvan Woodland Gardens

550 Arkridge Road, Hot Springs

501-262-9625

garvangardens.org

SEE AD ON PAGE 71

Heritage Catering

315 N. Bowman Road, Suite 2, Little Rock

501-246-3787

heritagecateringar.com

SEE AD ON PAGE 94

Jones & Son Diamond & Bridal Fine Jewelry

11121 N. Rodney Parham Road, Suites 23b and 24b, Little Rock

855-901-7464

jonesandson.com

SEE AD ON PAGE 86

Lilias & Olive Little Rock

501-350-4144

liliasandolive.com

SEE AD ON PAGE 94

Low’s Bridal & Formal

127 W. Cedar Street, Brinkley 870-734-3244

lowsbridal.com

SEE AD ON PAGE 63

Marlsgate Plantation

2700 Bearskin Lake Road, Scott 870-717-2789

marlsgate.com

SEE FEATURE ON PAGE 80

Staci Medlock, RE/MAX Elite

2411 McCain Blvd. No. 4, North Little Rock

501-944-8687

stacimedlock.com

SEE AD ON PAGE 114

Norwood-Day Floral Co.

7509 Cantrell Road, Suite 4, Little Rock 501-255-8883

norwood-day.com

SEE AD ON PAGE 88-89

O’Looney’s Wine & Liquor 3 Rahling Circle, Little Rock 501-821-4669

olooneys.com

SEE AD ON PAGE 71

Oaklawn

2705 Central Ave., Hot Springs 800-625-5296

oaklawn.com

SEE AD ON PAGE 56-57

Once Upon a Hill

5078 Steel Bridge Road, Benton 501-690-3061

onceuponahill.net

SEE AD ON PAGE 81

Party Time Rentals & Events

10720 N. Rodney Parham Road, Suite 11D, Little Rock 501-224-3133

partytimerentalandevents.com

SEE AD ON PAGE 95

Plentywoods Venue

275 Madison 5340, Elkins 479-841-7770

plentywoodsvenue.com

SEE AD ON PAGE 94

Rusty Tractor Vineyards 10 Rusty Tractor Lane, Little Rock 501-916-2294

rustytractorvineyards.com

SEE AD ON PAGE 100

Salon J'adore

5507 Ranch Dr., Suite 104C, Little Rock 501-830-7707

salonjadore.com

SEE AD ON PAGE 67

Sissy’s Log Cabin sissyslogcabin.com

SEE FEATURE ON PAGE 82

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Twin City Limousines & Event Space 901 Main St., Little Rock 501-940-4600

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Streeeeeeeeeeeetch

Limos an iconic part of wedding experience

Stretch limousines have become an iconic part of the wedding experience in the United States. Few people likely know, however, that Fort Smith is credited as the birthplace of the stretch limo.

Tom Armbruster’s Armbruster & Co. launched in the cradle of the Arkansas River Valley in 1887 to build and repair horsedrawn coaches — essentially, the first “limousines” — according to Coachbuilt.

Roughly two decades later, when the automobile revolutionized the way humans moved about, Armbruster was ready to adapt. Jordan Bus Lines in Fort Smith, the story goes, commissioned Armbruster in the early 1920s to build an extended-wheelbase, multidoor touring vehicle that could be used for short inter-city runs — the kinds for which a full passenger bus was not necessary.

With commercial air travel evolving into a more prominent component to travel, limos — as they came to be called — soon became associated with the ferrying of VIPs to and from airports, galas and other social events.

the 18th century in the former French province of Limousin with the introduction of carriages, mostly for the wealthy, that included separate compartments for the driver, or chauffeur.

The carriage driver’s cover often resembled the cloaked hoods worn by shepherds in the Limousin region, and the name stuck, eventually evolving into the term that has become almost synonymous with weddings, proms and VIPs.

A resemblance in headwear caused limos to be named after the Limousin region of France.

Fast-forward a few decades, and the impact of limos was being felt by not just the Thurston Howells of the world but by the working class, as well. Limos became a part of the pageantry associated with proms and weddings and are a staple of funerals, during which they transport close family members of the deceased to and from the church and/or gravesite.

The term “limousine” as we know it today was coined during

Limos, of course, are simply the modern-day horse-drawn carriages. Chauffeurs as they are today replaced the coachmen of the past, and automobiles replaced the horsedrawn carriages. Perhaps most significantly, limos became accessible to almost anyone, and Greg Hatcher-owned Twin City Limousines and Event Center in Little Rock has a stable of impressive “horses” in its barn for central Arkansas residents to rent for weddings, proms and more. Once viewed exclusively as a status symbol, limos are now associated more with special events, regardless of the passengers’ income status.

Though weddings make up about a quarter of the company’s limo rentals, TCL manager Leslie Barlow said she still sends vehicles out every weekend. In addition to weddings and proms, TCL’s limos are used for airport runs, trips to Oaklawn in Hot Springs, executive pickups, and even transporting coaches to special events or recording artists to concerts, she said.

“Anytime there’s a big show at Simmons Bank Arena and the stars are flying in, we’re grabbing them,” Barlow said. “The same thing with football when the Razorback coach comes to town.”

Streeeeeeeeeeeetch

By MARK CARTER // Photos courtesy of TWIN CITY LIMOUSINES

Weddings, though, can be among the most logistically challenging. Barlow said the company has had shuttle buses pick up brides and bridesmaids at hotels, deliver them to the church and then go back for the groom and groomsmen to avoid the chance that the newlyweds-to-be will see each other before the ceremony.

Limos, of course, are popular for those wanting to travel in style and, especially, for those planning to drink alcohol on their way to an event. Limos check both boxes, enabling users to enjoy a safe and worry-free night while riding in luxury. Most stretch limos today include full bars, plasma screens, sunroofs, leather seats, plush carpets, intercom systems and DVD/CD/streaming media players, and some even are equipped with fiber-optic lighting systems and strobe lights.

TCL’s fleet has seven vehicles, including two “stretch” Lincoln Town Car limos, one seating up to eight people and the other up to six passengers. The stable also includes a 14-passenger Ford transit van; a 2019 seven-seat, black Chevrolet Suburban; a Krystal limo/party bus

that seats up to 26; a Ford shuttle bus with individual seat belts that accommodates up to 21 passengers; and a Mercedes sprinter/limo van that seats up to nine. All the TCL carriages are black except for the white Ford shuttle bus.

In addition to its fleet of modern-day carriages, TCL has an indoor event center at its base of operations on Main Street in downtown Little Rock. The center’s main space accommodates up to 220 people, while a separate room, designed for smaller settings, can seat 80.

“We utilize the space pretty regularly,” she said, adding that the space is ideal for rehearsal dinners and receptions, as well as corporate events, business luncheons, holiday parties, and family reunions. “Wedding showers and those types of events work out really well here.”

The restored space includes modern amenities and new, dark, wood-paneled walls that help deliver historic downtown charm, Barlow said. She called it a flexible “empty canvas” for clients to create the precise event they want.

Barlow said TCL has limo and event packages available that are crafted for almost any budget. One does not need to be a rock star — literal or figurative — to enjoy the benefits of traveling by limo.

The first stretch limo was invented in Fort Smith.

weddings

Let the Music

Local band offers advice on finding the ideal soundtrack to the big day

Play

By DWAIN HEBDA

Jack Bennett is a rarity in the world of entertainment, a musician whose steady gigging has allowed him to make a living from his art form. The frontman and co-founder of Bad Habit, Bennett and his mates are in high demand playing corporate events, bars and more than their share of wedding dances.

Bad Habit came into existence 10 years ago when he and Sam Bennett, his younger brother, were asked by their alma mater Pulaski Academy in Little Rock to play at a reunion of the class of 1986. The Bennetts were approached being known musicians, but at the time, there was not a formal band, so the duo invited some fellow musicians and polished up tunes that were popular well before the players were even born.

“We grew up listening to the music that we’re playing now, but back then, when we first formed the band, we had all four members of the band come in for the first rehearsal, and we had told them to be listening to music generally from the ’80s and bring in a list of songs that they thought we could pull off,” Jack said.

“There was some Madonna. There was some Aerosmith, some Blondie. We just put together this grand list of everything from the late ’70s to the mid-’80s, and that’s kind of what spawned the set list we’ve grown off of ever since.”

Even as lineups have shifted, the Bennett boys have enjoyed high demand for their services, in no small way due to the personal touch they bring each event.

“What we like to do is send couples our master song list well in advance. That way, they can pick and choose the songs that we play,” Jack said. “It’s a little more personalized than just hiring another band that’s going to come in and play the same set list that they would play pretty much anywhere else on a Saturday night. That helps us kind of keep the crowd engaged and entertained and just make it as much of a party as we can.”

The playlist is not the only thing that is customizable, which further adds to the band’s appeal. Couples can also opt for different visual packages, from basic stage lighting to more elaborate effects, as well as other options.

“We have a standard package, which is lighting and audio, the PA, the load-in, the setup, the teardown, the load-out. It’s everything soup to nuts, if you will,” said Brian Bennett, the brothers’ father, who helps with bookings. “In some cases, couples opt for that, and in other cases, they want a little bit of a bigger show. We can customize it along those lines.

// Photos courtesy of BAD HAB

Bad Habit soon found a home at events and venues in Arkansas.

“Everything that you hear in a Bad Habit performance is live. — Jack Bennett, co-founder

“The pricing is really around the kind of production they want and the number of hours they ask us to play. In some cases, they want us to play a couple of hours, in other cases, they want us to play at the ceremony, and others want us to play a cocktail reception and then a big party at the end. Everybody wants something a little bit unique, and we’re happy to work with them on that.”

Knowing what is included in the price is vital information for prospective couples, and the Bennetts offered some other friendly advice for people looking to find the ideal party band. Gone are the days when bands sent out demo tapes and were hired sight unseen; thanks to social media, most bands have clips from past performances that can give couples a taste of what to expect. Brian encouraged taking it one step further.

“We always encourage, as best we can, if

we’re in the area or if there’s a prospective bride and groom who happen to be in Little Rock or wherever we might be playing, we love to host them and bring them by and get to meet them,” he said. “We love to have those couples see us and, maybe, bring their friends, make an evening of it and just kind of a try us before you buy us sort of thing.”

Sam said versatility is another hallmark of a good wedding band, one that is diligent about keeping up with styles and eras of music, a challenge the members of Bad Habit enjoy.

“We generally say that we’re a classic rock band, but we’re not strangers to playing some country from the same eras,” he said. “A lot of couples now, they grew up with the highenergy pop-alternative stuff like Weezer, blink-182, the Killers and that stuff. We keep a fairly diverse set that way.

“Plus any venue or wedding we play, we’re generally open to requests, as well, and most of the requests we get are somewhat in our wheelhouse but not always. Last weekend, we were playing at a casino in Louisiana, and somebody came up and asked us to play Morgan Wallen, and we were able to pull it off.”

Jack said in addition to being versatile, the thing that really sets one band experience apart from another is authentic musicianship.

“One thing that is really important, I think, is a lot of bands you see at a bar or at a wedding are running backing tracks or audio clips playing behind them,” he said. “We pride ourselves heavily on the fact that there’s nothing technical being done behind the scenes. It’s all coming from the four members that are on stage. Everything that you hear in a Bad Habit performance is live.”

Experience Bad Habit at badhabitrocks.com.

Bad Habit are, from left, Kaleb Hatley, Brodie Horton, Jack Bennett and Sam Bennett.

Keeping

GoingParty the

By AY STAFF

DJ Mark Timmons, owner of Timbo Promotions Mobile DJ Service, said couples enjoy the wide variety of music DJs can provide.

The vows are said, the groom kissed the bride, and the meal was great — now it is time to dance the night away with family and friends. Keeping the party going, as he has for the past 27 years, is Mark Timmons, owner of Timbo Promotions Mobile DJ Service in North Little Rock.

Timmons has been laying the soundtrack for weddings since the days when CDs were the ultimate in audio technology. Today, he works with the latest equipment, untold thousands of radio-friendly versions of songs at his fingertips.

After almost three decades of chicken dances, Kool & the Gang, and unforgettable firstdance moments, he said he still enjoys every gig.

“I love it so much,” he said. “It doesn’t pain me to collect money, but man, I almost hate to charge because this is too much fun for me. I just love to do it so much.”

Timmons got into the DJ business in college as a side hustle and was immediately smitten with the job. When the owner of the company was looking to sell, Timmons was first in line, and he never looked back. Today, he plays weddings — as well as myriad other events — from one end of Arkansas to the other. He said the popularity of having a DJ has endured among people who want to hear songs at their wedding exactly as they hear them on the radio.

“I think people like that I can play a wide variety of music and multiple genres at one time,” he said, “whereas a band would only focus on a certain genre of music, per se. A lot of people

It doesn’t pain me to collect money, but man, I almost hate to charge because this is too much fun for me. I just love to do it so much.

— Mark Timmons owner of Timbo Promotions Mobile DJ Service

like to hear radio versions of songs. They’re not fond of covers, in my opinion.”

That said, Timmons added that there are a lot of DJ options out there, some less professional than others. He said most of his business today comes from word of mouth and recommendations from satisfied clients.

“Your good venues will have recommendations of certain vendors,” he said. “I would always ask the person at the venue who they recommend and then research two, three or four vendors. I would advise them to choose by years of experience first thing.”

Timmons said a professional DJ will also work to customize the night’s playlist and can even offer add-ons, the most popular of which, these days, are uplighting, photo booths, monogram lighting and cold spark visual effects. He cautioned against hiring someone just for being the bottom-dollar bid.

“If you just go strictly on lowest-cost DJ, you’re taking your chances sometimes,” he said. “I’m not the most expensive, and I’m not the cheapest, but I’ve got a lot of time in this business, and there’s not too many situations I haven’t had to handle.”

One of central Arkansas’ top sellers, Medlock’s almost two decades in the business have shown her that invaluable lessons are learned through real-life experiences.

“This holistic approach has equipped me with the insights needed to thrive,” she said. “I have always had a passion for serving others, leveraging a diverse background in the beauty industry and real estate to help individuals achieve their goals.”

Medlock said the most challenging aspect of her job is the shared disappointment when a client’s dream home appears out of reach in a fiercely competitive market.

“The most rewarding part is witnessing the eventual resolution and realization that things have a way of falling into place as they should,” she said. “Finding the right home for my clients and seeing their joy makes every hurdle worthwhile.”

Medlock credited the “many remarkable women” throughout her life for leaving a lasting imprint, and she strives to do the same for young women in her path.

Embrace the Good TRAILBLAZERS OF TOMORROW

In today’s society, there is arguably no more maligned group than teenagers, a category of youth that has suffered under misconception and misunderstanding for generations. Kids in this time window are routinely portrayed as sullen and lazy and almost universally written off as moody beings hopelessly addicted to social media.

As with all stereotypes, most negative perceptions of teens are grossly exaggerated and unfairly broad. The teen years are no picnic for anybody; peer pressure and the desire to fit in are as prevalent as ever, and the consequences of a bad decision are more potent than ever. Most adults today would not trade places with their teen child in 2025, it is safe to assume, and that says something.

Did you know, however, that for every misstep and emotional outburst and broken curfew, there is also plenty to feel good about in today’s teenagers? Consider the following:

• As a matter of fact, teen use of marijuana, alcohol and prescription drugs have all reached their lowest levels in 30 years, USA Facts reported.

• The Association of State and Territorial Health Officials reported teens engaging in sexual activity dropped nearly 20 percent between 2011 and 2021.

• Teen cigarette smoking reached its lowest level ever recorded in 2024, as measured by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. That included a dramatic year-over-year drop in the use of vapes and e-cigarettes.

• More than 75 percent of teens and young people polled by Springtide Research Institute in 2024 described themselves as being religious, and 71 percent described themselves as spiritual. Meanwhile, the Barna Group found nearly 80 percent of teens polled were motivated to continue learning about Jesus for the rest of their lives.

• The United States Census Bureau reported that while volunteering was down overall in America from 2019 to 2021, the age group with the largest percentage of formal volunteering were young people ages 16 to 17 at 28 percent.

In recognition of these facts, AY About You asked the community to nominate some outstanding teens for our inaugural Trailblazers of Tomorrow feature. We received an impressive batch of Arkansas high schoolers who exemplified the best qualities of character, leadership, scholarship and achievement. They are the kind of young people who do us all proud and who demonstrate how the future of our state and our nation is in very good hands. We applaud each and every one of this year’s Trailblazers of Tomorrow, and we are honored to share their success stories on the following pages.

Ethan Bedore

School: Bentonville High School

Best subject: Science

Favorite song: “Devil and the Sea” by St. John Green

Ethan Bedore knows that true accomplishment relies as much on individual excellence as it does mutual commitment and teamwork — just look to his sporting inspiration, LeBron James. A decorated high school swim career has taught Ethan that good things come to people who truly want others to succeed, as talent alone can only go so far. He plans to channel that philosophy of service into a career in dentistry following his time at the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville. Ethan’s goal in every pursuit — athletic, academic or otherwise — is to utilize his talents to uplift those around him. “I want people to be their authentic selves, and a smile is an integral part of that,” he said.

Are there any causes close to your heart?

Maternal health in Arkansas.

How have you changed since freshman year? I approach rejection and failure differently now.

How do you balance your school, extracurricular and personal responsibilities?

By prioritizing my commitments, school deadlines second and personal responsibility afterward.

What are your favorite hobbies outside of school?

Swimming, board games with friends, watching sports and video games.

What is your favorite high school memory so far?

Winning high school state three times in a row.

Knowing what you know now, what advice would you give your freshman self?

I would tell myself to invite failure and rejection because having one door close almost always opens another.

What are you most looking forward to after graduation?

Gaining real-world experience and getting to manage my time in ways that benefit me.

Photography by Sarah Parsons

Favorite movie: Isle of Dogs

Extracurriculars: Swimming

Awards and recognitions: All-state swim, allconference swim, emergency medical responder certification, phlebotomy technician certification, certified nursing assistant certification

Photo courtesy of Bentonville Schools

TRAILBLAZERS OF TOMORROW

Photo by Chynna Bottoms

School: Searcy High School

Extracurriculars: EAST, Future Business Leaders of America, Spanish Club, Youth Advisory Council, choir, student pilot

Photography by Sarah Parsons

Avery Evans

Awards and recognitions: A Honor Roll, 1st at FBLA District in Business

Ethics, Mixed Choir All Region, EAST Ambassador Team Co-Leader

AFavorite song: “Vienna” by Billy Joel

Best

subject:

AP U.S. Government and Politics

very Evans has been involved in EAST — education accelerated by service and technology — since seventh grade. The self-directed classroom environment has allowed her to develop valuable leadership, project management and communication skills while serving the wider community. This year, Avery is co-leading a group of 26 students as part of the 2025 EAST Conference Ambassador Team — a feat that might have seemed all but impossible to her freshman self. Thanks to the steadfast support of EAST facilitator Kelly Martin, Avery has developed a love of public speaking and an excitement for expanding her comfort zone. “Every time I have grown throughout my high school career, it only happened because I explored something new,” Avery said. “Even if it doesn’t end up being something you love, you learn from each one. I am grateful for every new experience I have had, even the bad ones.”

What lessons have you learned from extracurriculars that you would never have gotten in a classroom?

As a student pilot, I have learned so many things that would not be possible in a classroom. One of the biggest changes I have seen in myself since the beginning of my flying journey is how much my confidence has improved. My first solo flight was a turning point where I realized how much I can actually do compared to what I think. The idea that my abilities surpass my expectations has seeped into every aspect of my life. It not only makes me a better pilot but a better student and leader.

What causes are close to your heart?

Through EAST, I have been able to meet and network with amazing students throughout Arkansas. It has been incredibly eye-opening to see what these students can do when they are given resources and enough room to create. This has caused me to advocate for self-directed classes. I found it in EAST, but there are so many ways to create this space in schools. Students have a curiosity and drive that is so unique, and it is incredibly important to foster that. School gives us a safe space to explore our interests and try new things without the fear of failure, but once we leave school, the consequences of failure loom over us. Exploring new interests in a safe environment when you are supported provides a confidence every student should have.

How do you balance your school, extracurricular and personal responsibilities?

One thing that has helped me maintain a good school-life balance is making sure I am doing things I love. Every extracurricular I join is something I am excited to be doing, and this makes my workload a lot more fun. I also have a fantastic support system. Being sure that I love the things I am putting my time into and having supportive friends and family make my life not only easier but more enjoyable.

What are your favorite hobbies outside of school?

I love finding new places to fly. Arkansas is known for having some of the best backcountry flying in the United States, and this makes my flying adventures that much more amazing. I love to spend my weekends flying to new places across the state with my friends and family. I have been able to meet so many amazing people in the aviation community. As a student pilot, I am always learning new things and meeting new people, even when I’m just flying somewhere for fun.

What is your favorite high school memory so far?

Every year, our EAST program gets to network with other programs and show off our projects. Meeting new people every year and learning about what students are doing to better their communities is such an amazing experience.

Isabella Kindrick

Best subject: AP Psychology

Favorite

Awards and recognitions:

National Merit Scholar semifinalist, AP Scholar with Distinction, class president, student council advisory board, homecoming maid, 6-A West AllConference defensive team and Merrill Mankin Defensive Player Award

School: Fort Smith Northside High School

book: Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

Favorite movie: Little Women

Photos by Virgila Dale Photography

Extracurriculars: Basketball, tennis, pickleball, skiing, hiking, traveling and baking

To describe Isabella Kindrick as ambitious would be putting it lightly. Equal parts student and athlete, Isabella excels in the classroom, as well as on the basketball and tennis courts. In March, she helped lift the Northside Lady Bears to a state basketball championship. She also competes in pageants and will vie for the title of Miss Arkansas’ Teen this June. While she is keeping her collegiate options open, she visited Yale last summer and spent two weeks studying at Oxford University in England. Isabella approaches these and countless other pursuits with an enthusiasm that can only come from a foundation of true confidence. She might make it look easy, but Isabella’s self-belief has been carefully cultivated through years of hard work and facing obstacles head-on. Since starting out as a wide-eyed freshman, Isabella has come to learn that while everyone makes mistakes, overcoming them is where true growth is found. “Ninth grade Isa just needs to know she is deserving and strong, and that everything will fall into place with time,” she said.

What career or field of study do you want to pursue?

I intend to go to medical school and become an orthopedic surgeon because I love the medical field. I’ve grown up around it my whole life, and I love the idea of being able to work with athletes and help them recover from injuries. I also have a great interest in the field of behavioral analysis, especially in the FBI. If I could have it my way, I would attend med school and the FBI academy and become a parttime doctor and part-time special agent.

How have you changed since freshman year?

I am more confident in my abilities in all aspects of my life, not just school. I have a better understanding of my potential, and I can maximize it as long as I put myself out there and make changes when needed. I find myself worrying less about other people’s opinions of me,

Favorite TV show: Criminal Minds

Favorite song: “Brooklyn Baby” by Lana Del Rey

getting an answer wrong or missing a shot on the basketball court. Instead, I know if I am my authentic self, people will appreciate that sincerity, I will learn from my mistakes, and I will continue to learn and grow.

How do you balance your school, extracurricular and personal responsibilities?

I try to focus on the most immediate tasks, complete those, then move on to the next. I do try to rack up as many tasks as possible to keep me busy because I feel as though I perform at my peak capacity when I have many different activities under my belt. The athlete side of me is so competitive, I think I almost view it as a personal competition to see how much I can accomplish.

What is something everyone gets wrong about you?

A lot of people think I’m super intense at times because of all the activities and hard classes I am a part of, but when they get to know me, they realize I’m just a teenage girl who’s trying her best to make an impact.

What is your favorite high school memory so far?

My favorite high school memory is winning the state basketball championship with my teammates.

What are you most looking forward to after graduation?

I’m looking forward to meeting new people and having new experiences in a different city that will help mold me into the adult I hope to be.

What would you do with $1 million?

I’d definitely buy a vintage Bronco. After I get my personal purchase out of the way, I would donate a portion to the Fort Smith Public School District to support activities, equipment and materials to enhance academics, as well as athletics. With the remainder, I would buy a school bus, renovate it and go on a road trip across America to experience all the amazing geography, history and culture this great country has to offer.

Ella Alguire

School: Little Rock Christian Academy

Awards and recognitions:

Cheer City United MVP, LRCA junior class MVP, fearless flyer and most consistent, National Cheerleaders Association All-American

Ella Alguire has reached impressive heights — literally and figuratively — since starting cheer at age 7. Now in her tenth season with Little Rock’s Cheer City United, Ella is a Level 6 elite flyer and was able to compete at the Cheerleading Worlds competition in Orlando, Florida. She has also competed at the state and national levels as a member of the LRCA varsity squad. In addition to physical strength and athleticism, the sport has imparted on Ella a number of life lessons. “Cheer has taught me the value of teamwork and understanding that success is built on trust and collaboration, not individual effort,” she said. “I have developed resilience through physical and mental challenges, learning to push through adversity and perform under pressure.”

What career or field of study do you want to pursue?

I would like to pursue something in the field of radiology. There are several different career paths one can take, all using medical imaging to diagnose and treat disease and injuries. I have personally experienced the help of radiology, as I was diagnosed with lower back scoliosis and had cheer-related injuries.

What are your favorite hobbies outside of school?

I love hanging out with my friends, going to youth group at my church and being at cheer practice.

Are there any causes close to your heart?

I have had the opportunity to help coach the younger cheerleaders at my gym. I have loved getting close to these girls and helping them learn the sport of cheer. I don’t ever see a day that I am not involved with this sport.

Who is a figure that inspires you?

I have cheered with several athletes that have gone on to cheer and compete at the collegiate level. They inspire me to pursue my dream of becoming a Razorback cheerleader.

by Jamie Lee

Favorite music genre: Country

Extracurriculars: Competitive and varsity cheer

Best subject: Science

Favorite TV show: Gilmore Girls

What is your favorite high school memory so far?

Cheering for the Little Rock Christian basketball team as they won two back-to-back state championships.

What is something everyone gets wrong about you? They assume that because I’m small, I am not a strong athlete.

What would you do with $1 million? I would give it to my dad to manage. He is a financial advisor!

Photo

Lauren “Elizabeth” Flaming

School: Little Rock Christian Academy

Faith is fundamental for Elizabeth Flaming. Through challenges personal, physical and academic, she has learned to lean on her beliefs to overcome obstacles and has turned every letdown into a lesson. Thanks to that strong foundation, Elizabeth is able to pursue excellence in everything she does, whether she is giving back through over 500 hours of volunteer work, helping her cheer team go for gold or putting in hours of study. Working in every venture to “make life a little easier, a little more fulfilling and filled with more love than what people expect,” Elizabeth plans to channel her love of service into a teaching career. “I feel like teaching and servanthood are spiritual gifts God has given me, and I want to use these gifts for his glory,” she said.

In what ways have your mentors influenced you?

My mom has taught me to be myself and learn life skills, and my dad has provided an example of a good work ethic. My grandmother prays for me daily and helped me discover my love for teaching, and my grandfather has taught me to have fun, while my older sister keeps me humble.

What kinds of challenges have you overcome?

At the end of my freshman year, I tore three ligaments in my wrist. I was unable to write or type and had to complete my freshman finals orally. After intense physical therapy, it was still not better. I had surgery the week before school started, and I had to once again depend on everyone else for help. Looking back, I gained friends, empathized with others who were hurting and challenged myself to get back into shape and overcome my doubts about cheering again.

Awards and recognitions: LRCA President’s List, National Honor Society, Tri-M Music Honor Society, Presidential Volunteer Gold Award, Angels of Hope Service Above Self Award Best Subject: Biblical Worldview/English

Who is a figure that inspires you?

The Biblical figure Ruth. She was fiercely loyal to her family, obedient with a good attitude, served her mother-in-law without complaint and pledged her life to another. She followed because she believed it was the right action to take. I strive to be a person who acts on my beliefs and is loyal to the family around me without any guarantees of reward.

Extracurriculars: Cheer, choir, Future Business Leaders of America, LRCA worship team, stage crew, American Heart Association Sweethearts program, Community Connections

Photo by Jamie Lee

Gavin Glasbrenner

School: Joe T. Robinson High School

Awards and recognitions: National Honor Society, Boys State nominee, “Nicest Person” in yearbook, Camp Aldersgate Volunteer of the Week, Senator Strong Award

It can be hard to see just how much changes between the beginning and the end of high school until one takes a moment to turn around and see how far they have come. Thinking back to freshman year, Gavin Glasbrenner is able to appreciate all the growing up that has happened between then and now. An avid golfer, runner and pickleballer, Gavin has learned much from being involved in sports. One of the most important of those lessons, he said, is to surround oneself with good people. Pushed, challenged and supported by teammates, friends and family, Gavin has a word of advice for his younger counterpart. “Knowing what I know now, I would tell my freshman self not to worry about every minor inconvenience and instead focus on the positive aspects of your life,” he said.

In what ways have your mentors influenced you?

My mentors have influenced me in many ways. My mom has taught me that there is always a solution to a problem, you just need to find it. My dad has taught me to never give up on my dreams.

What is something everyone gets wrong about you?

Everyone assumes that there is a second S in my last name.

Are there any causes close to your heart?

One cause that is close to my heart is Camp Aldersgate. It is a camp for kids and young adults with special needs. The reason this is so close to my heart is because I have a sister with special needs. I have seen firsthand how beneficial it is for families. I have also volunteered here for the last three summers.

Best Subject: Math

Favorite TV Show: Suits

Favorite Song:

“Iris”

by the Goo Goo Dolls

Extracurriculars:

Golf, pickleball, running

What would you do with $1 million?

I would first put $500,000 in a savings account, then put $250,000 in the stock market, and finally, use the rest of the money to buy new golf clubs and travel the world and play different golf courses.

What are you most looking forward to after graduation?

What I am most looking forward to after graduating high school is going to college and getting to experience it.

What career or field of study do you want to pursue?

One career that I would want to pursue would be a lawyer because I love trying to resolve issues and finding the solutions to them.

School: Russellville High School Carson Harris

Favorite book: Still Alive by

Forrest Galante

Awards and recognitions: All-Conference

Offensive Guard, Honor Roll

CCollege you plan to attend: Arkansas

State or Mississippi State

Best Subject: Science

Extracurriculars: Football, track, Honor Society

arson Harris plans to go into veterinary medicine — and for good reason. When he is not busy with homework or extracurriculars, he can be found at Parkway Animal Hospital in Russellville or following the work of his inspiration, wildlife biologist Forrest Galante. He has a special interest in endangered and extinct species and is keen to pursue research to help save or recover them. Carson also enjoys his fish-related hobbies, whether that is catching them or keeping them — he cares for more than 50 tropical fish. A veterinarian’s education is no small feat, but Carson seems more than equipped to tackle the challenge. “Some advice that I would tell myself from freshman year would be to keep pushing and pursuing animals because we still have a long way to go,” he said.

In what ways have your mentors influenced you?

My parents have always supported me in anything I do and have guided me through the ins and outs of life. My teachers have guided me by teaching me to be analytic and pursue my interests, and my coaches have guided me by teaching me that everyone is capable of doing something great.

What is your favorite high school memory so far?

My favorite high school memory was a science symposium where I got to research the effect of temperature on duckweed growth. I felt like I did the experiment really well and was able to incorporate my interest in fish and shrimp to give the duckweed nutrients. I ended up getting an amazing grade, which only made it better.

Are there any causes close to your heart?

The World Wildlife Fund is a cause that is close to me for their research and conservation of endangered and extinct animals. Their work provides a basis for the reconstruction of these species populations.

What would you do with $1 million?

I would open a wildlife conservation and refining center in order to make a difference and have it affect the animals in my area. I would also invest some of it in order to have wealth that I can spread to multiple different regions and help a multitude of animals.

What are you most looking forward to after graduation?

After graduation, I am most looking forward to pursuing different opportunities in my field of study in college. I would like to get involved with some student research organizations that can help me get into veterinary school.

by

Photo

Chris Davis

TRAILBLAZERS

TOMOR ROW

Lauren Lasseigne

School: Mount St. Mary Academy

Best subject: English/History

Extracurriculars: Cheer, YoungLife, singing, performing, Beta Club, volunteering

Awards and recognitions: Angels of Hope Angel Grace Award; Angels of Hope Service Above Self Award; Angels of Hope Halo Award

Sports have always been an integral part of Lauren Lasseigne’s life — little wonder, then, that she intends to study sports media and journalism at the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville. Further solidifying those plans was the chance to meet accomplished sports reporter and host Laura Rutledge at the Little Rock Touchdown Club. Lauren said she is inspired by Rutledge’s hard work, and while she looks forward to the friendships and memories she will make in college, she is also eager to start building her own career. Lauren will take plenty of valuable lessons into young adulthood, thanks in no small part to her friends on the cheer team. “Something I have learned from cheer and extracurriculars is how to be a good teammate and work together toward a common goal,” she said. “It has also taught me patience and time management.”

In what ways have your mentors influenced you?

I am lucky to have many mentors in my life. My parents have raised me to be the young woman I am today by always telling me to be myself and treat others with kindness.

What kinds of challenges have you overcome to get here?

The hardest would be losing two people that I was very close to. Both of my maternal grandparents passed away, and I had looked up to them throughout my whole childhood. They continue to inspire me every day even though they are not here with me.

Are there any causes close to your heart?

A cause that is close to my heart is the volunteer work that I have done through the 20th Century Club Hope Lodge. During my junior year, I have gotten the opportunity to serve cancer patients and their caregivers at the lodge and CARTI. This cause is close to me because I have lost two family members to cancer.

How have you changed since freshman year?

I have learned how to manage a difficult schedule on top of school work and have made many friends that I hope to keep throughout the rest of my life.

Knowing what you know now, what advice would you give your freshman self?

Stop caring so much about what other people think. Most people in high school are worried about themselves, so stop thinking so much, and just be yourself.

What else should people know about you?

People should know that my love and inspiration for everything comes from God, and I would not be who I am without him and his word.

Photography by Melisa

Jude Palmer

School: Joe T. Robinson High School

Best subject: AP Biology

At his height, Jude Palmer often gets mistaken for a basketball player, but his passion for his real sport, golf, is plain to see. Countless hours on the green have taught Jude patience above all, allowing him to deal with frustration and see situations through rather than giving up before achieving the results he wants. That lesson is certain to serve him well after graduation, and while he looks forward to the independence and freedom of college, Jude is also careful not to rush the end of his current chapter just yet. There are still plenty of moments left to savor, from conversations with friends over the lunch table to evenings spent on the golf course. “It’s very hard to decide on my favorite memory,” he said. “I have had a great high school experience and have had so much fun being a teenager.”

In what ways have your mentors influenced you?

My dad has inspired me in so many ways. He works very hard and doesn’t make excuses. He’s inspired my work ethic and is the person I model my life after.

What career or field of study do you want to pursue, and why?

I want to pursue medicine, specifically radiology. I love science and learning about the body and how it works. Also, my dad is an ER doctor and has inspired me to go into medicine, despite seeing how much he works and how hard it is. I feel that I would make a great doctor and would love it.

How do you balance school, extracurricular activities and personal responsibilities?

Whenever I am assigned something or have to get something done, I like to do it right away and finish it as fast as possible. This allows me to free up a lot of time that I would usually have spent on those tasks. As for scheduling, I find the calendar on my phone to be very helpful.

What are your favorite hobbies outside of school?

After a long day of school, I usually head straight to the golf course to get some practice in for the day and sometimes play a few holes. I then head home and unwind by playing the drums. I enjoy playing genres such as alternative rock, pop-punk and jazz.

Who is a well-known figure that inspires you?

Justin Thomas is a professional golfer whose passion for golf inspires me. Whenever I watch Thomas play, it’s hard not to notice how much passion and emotion he plays with. This inspires me to put the same level of passion and emotion into everything I do and to give everything 100 percent.

What advice would you give your freshman self?

Some advice I would give my freshman self is to say yes to all of the social events. Even if you think you might not have fun, you never know unless you put yourself out there.

Inside of You” by Third Eye Blind

Extracurriculars: Golf, drums, pingpong Awards and recognitions: National Honor Society Favorite

Photo by Erin Love

YouShall Pa s s!

YouShall Pa s s!

By ALEX HARDGRAVE

Hobbit House in Russellville brings movie magic to life for visitors

“Not all those who wander are lost,” the wizard Gandalf writes in a letter

The Fellowship of the Ring by J.R.R Tolkien, but for those looking to get experience, they need not wander farther than

Michael Bucker is a superhost on Airbnb and now owns 15 properties, but his rental business was built on top of the success of the Hobbit House. When one drives up to the address of the Hobbit House, it just looks like a regular home. That is because the magical hideaway is hidden in the basement of Bucker’s home.

The Airbnb was not the original plan when Bucker began renovating his basement. He had always wanted a cabin and decided to design his downstairs area to look like that.

“Now I have three, but when I started the Hobbit House, I still had never owned a cabin,” he said.

While planning the design of the basement cabin, he began researching interesting and unique doors to find the best one to put in the space. A friend suggested the famous round door seen in the Lord of the Rings movies. Bucker loved the idea because he is a self-proclaimed movie buff.  Next, he zoomed in on pictures of Bilbo Baggins’ front door to make sure every aspect of the door and facade was as accurate to the movie as possible.

“Once I got the hobbit door, that became the theme,” he said.

From there, Bucker went full force into creating a magical experience, focusing on big, eye-catching pieces such as a second set of doors leading to the master bed-

A round door provides entry into the whimsical Hobbit House.

The Airbnb is a labor of love for owner Michael Bucker, who has since gone on to open multiple properties.

room with a scene from the Lord of the Rings movie carved into it.

Bucker said it took more than 100 paintbrushes to meticulously stain the whole thing. He worked on the project until midnight or 1 a.m. after coming home from work.

There are also a ton of small details that visitors could miss if they do not keep their eyes peeled. Among the carved designs that bookend the opposite side of the hobbit door are two carved mice and a hummingbird hiding for visitors to search for.

On top of the holder for pots and pans, there is a small village hidden among greenery, Gandalf’s pipe sits on a desk, and the claw feet on the tub in the bathroom resemble dragon’s feet. There are a lot of surprises beyond that to be discovered at the getaway.

“Every little bit has a story in it,” Bucker said.

He said more than 50 people have worked on various aspects of the renovations, and throughout the process, he was often told at first that certain parts he had a vision for could not be done. Yet the projects still got done in the end thanks to some creative thinking.

“It was stubbornness and talking to enough people,” he said.

The extra-long sectional that fills the living room area was originally something furniture stores told him was not possible. Still, he purchased 12 individual leather chairs and connected them all, then custom created the corner piece to make his vision a reality.

While the house had initially started as a place for him and then as a place for young men he mentored to meet and hang out, the same friend who suggested the hobbit door suggested Bucker try putting the space on Airbnb.

He opened it while it was still halfway done, and people started to book it instantly. That was about seven years ago. Since then, Bucker has continued to add on spaces, including a full kitchen.

“As I got extra money, I just kept putting it in here, slowly but surely, and updating it,” he said.

The Hobbit House funded his opening up a second Airbnb. Once he got to five Airbnb’s, he was able to quit his job and work in rentals full time. Now he is getting ready to open his 15th property and has locations all over the state. Most of his properties are not themed as heavily as the Hobbit House, but he said he tries to have one to three unique things in each place. In the house that he is getting ready to open, for instance, there will be a coffee table made out of an old ship door, he said.

“Every space creates a little more challenge because I don’t want to do the same thing over,” he said.

Bucker said he has always been creative, but the Hobbit House project brought out his eye for design. He still had a lot to learn along the way, such as using throw pillows and blankets to make a space more inviting.

“After a while, you just get a knack for it,” he said. “You absorb a little bit more information.”

He chalks a lot of that up to time, saying he would stare at a space for 30 to 45 minutes to figure out what to do with the space. From there, the work still involved much trial and error to figure out if his design idea was going to look good.

There are a few similar Hobbit House experiences that exist, but Bucker keeps his price lower than others so that more people have an opportunity to stay. The unique property can sleep up to eight people, and the price ranges from about $150 to $210 before cleaning fees.

Bucker said the only time the Hobbit House has been priced higher was during the eclipse last year; for that event, the people who booked it did so two years ahead of time.

He said there is more availability for the property than people might think. Weekends book up further

in advance, so he advised interested parties not to wait until the last minute to book. Weekday availability is often much easier to be had.

Bucker said he first started Airbnb right before the COVID-19 pandemic. At the time, he was still working at a car dealership, and he said if he had not had the rental money to supplement his income, he might have been in trouble, since the car business was not doing well at the time.

“I feel like it came right on time,” he said. “I feel like it was a God thing.”

With his good fortune, he likes to give back and said he often donates free stays at the house to charities.

During his time as a host, he has also had the chance to interact with many interesting people and movie fans. He said he had a class that shot a video project there, avid fans who come dressed as characters, people coming all the way from Europe and even someone who was friends with the actor who played the character Gimli in the movie series.

There are still projects he is working on and envisioning in the space. They include a vanity area in the walk-in closet in the main bedroom, complete with professionally made costumes of characters from the movies, so visitors can dress up and recreate the famous scenes themselves. The plans do not stop there.

“It’s my baby,” he said. “I don’t know if it will ever be done.”

he had a class that shot a video project there, avid fans who come dressed as characters, people coming all the way from Europe and even someone who was friends with the actor who played the character Gimli in the movie series.

Regaining Connection

Hearing health a vital part of individuals’ relationship with the outside world

By SARAH DECLERK

Hearing health is about so much more than understanding what is being said. Hearing is an essential part of communication, enhances social connection, and impacts a person’s mental and physical wellness.

“A lot of times, people just think directly of, ‘Well, that means I just can’t hear people,’” said Dr. Mary Chatelain, audiologist and owner of Pinnacle Hearing in Little Rock. “Now we know, through all the research that’s been done, that hearing loss, typically, you’re going to have cognitive impairment such as dementia if you go with untreated hearing loss for years.”

Since hearing affects balance, people with untreated hearing loss are also more prone to falls, she said.

“We’re not just talking about not being able to hear your wife or your grandchildren,” she said. “You’re looking at, OK, there could be a cognitive impairment associated with this, and also, there’s a fall risk.”

Depression and anxiety are also associated with untreated hearing loss.

“When there’s a hearing loss present, people tend to withdraw from social situations, from loved ones, from things that bring them joy in life because they can’t, perhaps, participate as they once did, engage as they’d like to,” said Dr. Robert Morrison, audiologist and president of Hear Again America.

Hear Again America is headquartered in Florida but has a Little Rock franchise owned by Matthew Douglas.

“Most adults could tell you their blood pressure. They could tell you their cholesterol levels. They could tell you a number of different things that they have taken from their annual checkup with their physician, but most adults couldn’t tell you what their hearing health measures are or their audiogram looks like or their hearing test looks like,” Morrison said. “That’s because it’s one of the facets of our health that I do believe is taken for granted.”

Dr. Mary Chatelain

Chatelain added that the average time between the onset of hearing loss and visiting an audiologist is seven years.

“That’s crazy,” she said. “You don’t see that with any other health conditions. I mean, you know, if you have a vision issue, you’re going to get in sooner, but with hearing loss, because it’s a perception thing almost, and people can just dismiss it.”

CAUSES AND SYMPTOMS

Chatelain said hearing loss can be conductive, sensorineural and mixed. Conductive hearing loss is caused by conditions such as fluid in the ear or a buildup of earwax. It can be treated with medicine or surgery and is usually temporary.

Sensorineural hearing loss involves damage to the inner ear system caused by genetics, noise exposure or certain prescription drugs.

Sensorineural hearing loss is permanent and is usually treated with hearing aids or, if the hearing loss is too severe for hearing aids to help, cochlear implants. Mixed hearing loss is a combination of conductive and sensorineural hearing loss.

Morrison said the main causes of hearing loss are presbycusis, sociocusis, familial hearing loss and ototoxic hearing loss, or drugrelated hearing loss. Presbycusis is age-related hearing loss. Sociocusis, or noise-induced hearing loss, is prevalent among military members and others who work in noisy environments. Familial hearing loss is genetic.

Signs of hearing loss in adults include difficulty understanding women and children versus men; ringing in the ears; having difficulty understanding speech in crowded rooms; using closed captioning on the TV because it must be uncomfortably loud for others to be audible; and a consistently loud speaking voice, Chatelain said.

She recommended adults get a baseline hearing test at about age 50 or earlier if they have a family history of hearing loss or dementia. If the hearing tests are normal, audiologists usually recommend another test every three years. Those who require hearing aids will need yearly follow-up exams to retest and reprogram hearing aids as needed.

PEDIATRICS

Dr. Jillian Kimberlain, audiologist at Arkansas Children’s Hospital in Little Rock, said one of the most common conditions she sees is otitis media, or ear infection, which can cause temporary hearing loss.

Children are more prone to ear infections than adults because children have flattened eustachian tubes, which connect the middle ear to the back of the throat, and the tube can have a hard time draining because it is so small, Kimberlain said. Patients with frequent ear infections may have tubes implanted to help with drainage, she added.

Other causes of hearing problems in children could be genetic, and some children are born with microtia and atresia. Microtia is the absence of an ear or an underdeveloped outer ear, and aural atresia is the absence of an ear canal.

Just as in adults, some medications can cause hearing loss in children, and being born prematurely can also cause hearing problems.

Every child in Arkansas receives a newborn hearing screening and may be referred to a provider such as Arkansas Children’s depending on the test results, she said.

“Our goal at Arkansas Children’s is to know what’s going on by 3 months of age so we can intervene quickly,” Kimberlain said. “We work really closely with the state and our newborn hearing screening program to make sure that we’re doing everything we can to not lose a child to loss of follow-up.”

That is important because hearing problems can lead to speech and language delays, Kimberlain said, and hearing trouble can also cause anxiety, depression, social isolation and poor self-esteem, in addition to failing academic performance and behavioral problems.

“Earlier diagnosis is the key to helping children with hearing

In addition to improving hearing, hearing aids can help individuals maintain their connection with loved ones and even reduce the risk of developing dementia.

Dr. Jillian Kimberlain

problems overcome any of those challenges, so we strive here to do it as early as possible and support the family with hearing aids as needed,” Kimberlain said. “We work really closely with our speech-language pathologist here and, through those educational accommodations, we try to provide care for the child as a whole to reach their full potential in their environment.”

Children from 6 months to 2 years can have their hearing tested using pediatric visual reinforcement audiometry, during which audiologists play a sound and watch to see when the child looks for the sound.

At age 2, children can start having their hearing tested using conditioned play audiometry, during which a child throws a ball in a bucket when he or she hears a sound. At age 5, children can begin taking adult hearing tests, during which they raise their hands when they hear a beep and repeat words as needed.

“Children with mild or unilateral hearing loss, those types are sometimes harder to detect because those children have developed coping mechanisms, or they rely on their stronger ear or lipreading, which can mask the problem,” Kimberlain said. “Other things are lack of awareness, so if parents or teachers don’t recognize early signs of hearing loss, it can lead to delays in seeking help.”

In addition, accessing treatment can be a challenge for some children, so Arkansas Children’s works to provide statewide care, she said. Cost can also be a barrier, she added.

Signs a child may have trouble hearing include not responding to sound, speaking loudly and turning up the volume on devices overly loud, she said. Parents may also want to consult their pediatricians about scheduling a hearing test if children have frequent ear infections or if there is a family history of hearing difficulties.

EAR PROTECTION

Loud noises damage hair cells in the cochlea, causing hearing difficulties, and extremely loud noises can even cause the eardrum to burst, necessitating medication or surgery, Chatelain said. She added that while people often seem to recover their hearing quickly after loud activities, noise damage takes a toll over time.

“Let’s say you go to a loud concert, OK? The next morning, you wake up, and your ears are kind of ringing or they feel full. That’s actually noise exposure,” she said.

Anything louder than 85 decibels can damage hearing, Morrison added. Hearing damage can occur after exposure to 85 decibels for eight hours, 90 decibels for four hours, 95 decibels for two hours and 100 decibels for one hour, he said.

For reference, the Hearing Health Foundation listed a noisy restaurant or city traffic from inside a car at 85 decibels. A professional sports game is 95 to 100, a rock or pop concert is 110 to 120, a jet engine from 100 yards is 135, and a gunshot is 140.

Morrison recommended wearing ear protection when mowing the lawn or operating other gasoline-powered

devices; attending football games and concerts; working in noisy areas; and hunting. Hunters should double up on ear protection by wearing both earplugs and headphones, he said.

There are also electronic forms of hearing protection such as SoundGear, which is Bluetooth compatible and can reduce any noises above a certain level.

Loud environments can cause hearing loss in children, Kimberlain said. She encouraged parents to ensure their children wear ear plugs or ear muffs — or both, depending on the noise level — when children attend loud concerts and sporting events. Ear protection is also important for children whose extracurricular activities include riding motorized vehicles and shooting, she said.

TREATMENTS

Hearing aids remain a tried-and-true treatment for hearing loss, and the devices have evolved significantly over the past few decades.

“I think people think of hearing aids, and they think big, bulky tubes running down the side of your head, you know, squealing devices, that feedback, whereas today, hearing aids are very sophisticated total-communication devices,” Morrison said.

Contemporary hearing aids incorporate artificial intelligence, real-time language translation and fall-detection systems, and they can pair wirelessly with cellphones, televisions and other devices. They have also become better at enhancing the sounds users are trying to listen to while reducing background noise.

Another misconception, Morrison said, is that hearing aids are expensive.

“The reality is there are multiple technology levels available to all consumers, and typically, we can find a solution that can fit most budgets,” he said, adding that the devices are available at varying price points and that audiologists can check to see whether patients’ health care benefits can offset the cost of hearing aids.

Fall detection features allow users to automatically notify one to three people if the devices detect a fall, Chatelain added.

“That’s something that a lot of children love for their parents, especially parents that are living on their own that are aging, but I’m also having a lot of hunters who like that,” she said. “They have hearing loss, but it’s like an extra layer of safety if something happens and there’s an immediate danger.”

A traditional hearing aid is also the most well-known treatment for hearing problems in children, Kimberlain said, but some patients may be candidates for cochlear implants or bone-anchored hearing aids. Bone-anchored hearing aids are for patients with conductive hearing loss, such as microtia or atresia. Patients wear the device on a soft band until age 5, when they have the option to have it surgically implanted.

One adaptive device commonly seen in schools is an FM system, which allows a teacher to speak into a microphone and transmit his or her voice directly to a student’s hearing aid or cochlear implant, Kimberlain said. Through the Educational Audiology and Speech Pathology Resources for Schools, or EARS, program, Arkansas Children’s visits schools to ensure children receive the accommodations needed to learn effectively.

With 10,000 baby boomers turning 65 every day, Morrison said, it is more important than ever to educate people about the importance of hearing tests and the strides made in hearing aid technology.

He said he expects to see further advancements when it comes to hearing aids adapting to the environment and focus on specific sounds using artificial intelligence.

“I think they’re going to continue to fine-tune these automatic features, which, for the patient, lends itself to a very user-friendly experience where you can put the hearing aids on in the morning, and they’re going to adapt themselves throughout your day,” he said, “whether you’re in a quiet environment, a loud environment, a windy environment out on the golf course.”

Dr. Rob Morrison

Hear, There, Everywhere Hear Again America comes to Arkansas

Hearing health is still an often-overlooked area of medical care, even though it can impact individuals at every stage of life. According to the Hearing Health Foundation, about 80 percent of hearing loss cases can be treated with hearing aids, but only 1 in 4 individuals who could benefit actually use them.

Matthew Douglas and his wife, Ashleigh, are on a mission to change that. Opening the state’s first Hear Again America location in Little Rock last December, the couple hope to help more Arkansans take charge of their hearing health, from preventative services to device maintenance and more.

“The reason why I got into this business is because I wanted to help people, and I wanted to provide the most professional, high-quality care for patients,” Douglas said.

Located in Pleasant Ridge Town Center next to Belk, the Hear Again America hearing center provides an array of hearing-related services such as tinnitus testing, hearing exams and wax removal. Hear Again America works with the five major manufacturers of hearing aids, Douglas said, and accepts most major insurance, third-party insurance and private pay. His goal is to make such care not only more accessible but more authentic.

“This is an industry that has turned very transactional, and it has kind of lost its care for the patient side,” Douglas said. “This business is about personal experiences and patient experience, and we’re happy to provide that. It’s building a connection with the community to help them have a better quality of life.”

Partnering with licensed doctors of audiology such as ‘Dr. Keith,’ the Douglases want to make sure Little Rock’s Hear Again America center prioritizes the human side of hearing health care.

“Dr. Keith has been practicing for almost 20 years,” Douglas said. “He is well known in the industry, and he greatly

cares about patient care. Just to give you an example, one of our patients is a 96-year-old who has a hard time leaving his home. We have gone out to his residence multiple times to help him with his device, help him with his accessories, and just to sit down and have a conversation with him.”

Another area of the focus is challenging stigma around hearing devices. The common perception of hearing aids is that they are clunky, obvious and unfashionable. Improvements in technology, however, have modernized the devices and even expanded their range of capabilities.

“They come in all different colors. They come behind the ear or in the canal, so you can’t see them,” Douglas said. “A lot of famous people actually wear hearing aids, but you would never know it because you can’t see the device.”

Advancements related to artificial intelligence have allowed manufacturers to innovate with features such as speech translation, transcription and health-tracking technologies. While those are exciting developments, Douglas said, it is important to remember the main goal of the devices — improving quality of life for those experiencing hearing loss.

“It’s not an accessory that you just take off and on when you want,” he said. “It’s a medical device that addresses a true need for people.”

With 36 locations nationwide, Hear Again America has established itself as a trusted name in audiology services. Douglas decided to bring the company to Arkansas because of its growing brand presence, reputation for quality, and shared vision for patient care and community outreach.

“As part of the Hear Again America brand, current and future patients have the comfort of knowing any Hear Again America location can service their needs outside of Arkansas,” Douglas said. “We at Hear Again America have various solutions to meet the public’s need and budget. Come experience the joy of hearing!”

MORE THAN MEETS THE EAR

Hearing Health is Whole-Body Health

Hearing loss is the third most prevalent chronic health condition facing older adults. Meanwhile, 3 in 1000 babies born in the U.S. have a hearing loss, and the CDC reports an estimated 5.2 million children and adolescents aged 6 to 19 years and 26 million adults aged 20 to 69 years have suffered permanent damage to their hearing from excessive exposure to noise. Hearing health is related to numerous aspects of overall wellness, including:

SOCIAL:

• Hearing loss can interfere with one’s ability to communicate with family and friends, which may lead to increased isolation and depression.

• Childhood hearing loss can impact language development, literacy, self-esteem and social skills.

PSYCHOLOGICAL:

• According to the Hearing Health Foundation, for every 10 decibel decrease in hearing, there is a significant decrease in cognitive ability.

• Research indicates seniors with hearing loss are significantly more likely to develop dementia.

PHYSICAL:

• People with low-frequency hearing loss are considered at risk for cardiovascular events.

• Hearing loss can be an early sign of diabetes or cardiovascular issues.

• Hearing loss is twice as likely for those with diabetes, and high blood pressure can be an accelerating factor of hearing loss in adults.

• People with mild hearing loss are three times more likely to have a history with falling. Frequent falls can cause serious complications, especially in older adults.

Take

approach

hearing health care with Hear Again America.

11525 Cantrell Road, Suite 407, Little Rock Pleasant Ridge Town Center next to Belk 501-508-6268 hearagainamerica.com Hear Again America (Little Rock, AR)

DREAM COME TRUE A health

Pioneering specialty hospital turns 20

By DWAIN HEBDA // Photos courtesy of ASH

As orthopedic surgeons, doctors Scott Bowen and Kenneth Martin are wired to leave nothing to chance. The two longtime physicians do not merely rely on their existing years of experience to help patients move from aching joints to a pain-free second act but are constantly adding to their expertise through continuing education and adding medical technology to improve the surgical process. “Risk-taker” is not a term generally applied to them, at least insofar as their profession is concerned.

It is notable, therefore, that the two physicians were part of a cadre of fellow dreamers behind a new idea for medical care delivery in the Natural State. It is even more remarkable that the fruition of that idea — Arkansas Surgical Hospital — not only came to pass but observes its 20th anniversary this year, a tenure that has radically changed the state’s medical landscape.

“A group of surgeons sought a better way to provide orthopedic and spine care in Arkansas,” Bowen said. “We felt like the needs of our patients were not being met as well as they should be at the other fullservice hospitals where we worked. We wanted to provide a unique experience to patients that would provide the best of care — with specialists in our [operating rooms] and a hospital floor focused on the conditions we treat — mainly joint and spine.”

Having done their homework on what such a care model would look like they began to take notice of hospitals dedicated to a specific field of medicine.

“In my research, I found that focused care hospitals were able to obtain better outcomes with lower rates of complications while achieving improved patient satisfaction at the same time,” Martin said.

The effort led to various facilities, where they observed and assembled a composite of best practices and design from multiple locations.

“There were similar facilities in the United States, as well as Europe and Asia, but this type of facility was unique to Arkansas,” Martin said. “We visited facilities in other states and found great models of operations and floor plans.”

By DWAIN HEBDA

Dr. Scott Bowen

Dr. Kenneth Martin

Photos courtesy of ARKANSAS SURGICAL HOSPITAL

When ASH finally opened its doors, our patients embraced the concept of the focused care facility and spread the word to their friends and families. Our patients have always been our greatest ambassadors, and we now have patients from all over this region, even from out of state, because they want to come to our hospital.

— Dr. Kenneth Martin

“We were the first in central Arkansas to open a specialty hospital for orthopedic care,” Bowen added. “There were others in different parts of the country and two others in Arkansas. Early on, some thought we might not make it.”

Among the doubters were banks, many of which were hesitant to fund a venture with so little proof of concept in the state, but they were not the only ones spooked by the risk involved with the project.

“The most difficult thing about getting the venture off the ground was finding partners,” Martin said. “We had taken our ideas to local hospitals, hoping to partner with them, but they were not interested, so we began to share our vision with other doctors. Eventually, we persuaded a critical number of doctors to believe in the concept and take the enormous financial risk with us.

“We had to continually reassure our doctors and recruit more. The first bank that committed to finance the hospital backed

out at the last minute, and we had to quickly find another one while keeping our doctor/ partner group together. We had to recruit hospital staff to risk their careers on the new venture.”

About the only group that did not seem to mind the novelty of the new hospital when it opened were patients, which the doctors said saw and appreciated the vision behind ASH practically from the word go.

“When ASH finally opened its doors, our patients embraced the concept of the focused care facility and spread the word to their friends and families,” Martin said. “Our patients have always been our greatest ambassadors, and we now have patients from all over this region, even from out of state, because they want to come to our hospital.”

ASH grew rapidly, handing the partners other sets of challenges that came with demand, albeit the good variety of problems to have.

“We endured some hardships but contin-

ued to grow and expand,” Bowen said, noting that patients appreciated the ethos of the surgical hospital and its thoughtful design almost as much as the excellent medical care.

“We created a culture of care that places patients first in our daily delivery,” he said. “We also cater to our surgeons’ needs so they can care for their patients in a better way with better outcomes and higher degrees of satisfaction.

“Another goal that we had was to enhance the family experience. That’s why we included a single-patient suite that allows each patient to have a private room and an adjacent family room. We found that these features enhanced the experiences of our patients and families significantly.”

Today, ASH is home to 24 surgeons, employs or contracts with about 400 support staff, and, Bowen said, has grown into the largestvolume hospital in Arkansas for total joints. Brian Fowler, CEO, said ASH’s real success story as far as outcomes lies in the numbers.

Attracting and retaining the best surgical talent, ASH also provides a welcoming environment that enhances the patient experience.

“Obviously, if you see 2,000 total knee replacements in a year, you understand more of what that patient goes through in their recovery or you can better recognize warning signs or when things look abnormal,” he said. “I’m not knocking any other facility when I say that; it’s just that when you’re specialized, you just see things differently.”

Fowler said ASH has also benefited from the stability of a loyal physician group, many of whom have been with the company for long stretches of its history.

“We have a lot of the original physicianowners who started ASH 20 years ago who still have a great deal of pride in this place and what they’re able to do for an individual patient, the community and the state.” he said. “I can see it in their eyes. It’s a really cool thing when you’ve got very passionate individuals who set out goals and are achieving those goals.”

That spirit and pride trickles down to other members of the medical team and support staff, leading people to take personal ownership of their patients’ needs, Fowler said. That has led to better outcomes and reduced complications. The hospital has a 0.13 percent infection rate, well below the national average of 2 percent to 5 percent.

“We don’t need to be all things to all people. We want to be exceptional at the things that we do,” he said. “I have a great workforce here from pre-op and recovery on down to the floor in these nurses and techs. They are all incredibly great at their jobs.” Meanwhile, two of ASH’s original architects say they are pleased with the way the dream came to be and the role it has played in the lives of patients and their families. They also hold much optimism for the future, even as they can scarcely believe where the time has gone.

“Our patients and families tell us about their experience at ASH compared to other hospitals, that it was different and much more positive,” Bowen said. “We continue to add young surgeons to our staff, focusing on orthopedic and spine care. We have expanded four times since our opening in 2005. We are poised again, if necessary, to add ORs and patient care service areas to our current hospital.”

“Arkansas Surgical Hospital has proven that specialty-based, focused care can provide exceptional patient care together with an exceptional patient experience,” Martin said. “It can be done within the boundaries of existing regulations and insurance reimbursement. It can be done while providing the medical staff and hospital staff with a working environment second to none. I am proud to have been a part of it all.”

Taste of Japan A

Arkansas Cherry Blossom Festival returns bigger and better than ever

By DOUG CRISE

Hanamaki, Japan, may sound familiar. Tucked into the country’s northeast region, Hanamaki’s population of just fewer than 100,000 is nestled among the mountains of the Iwate Prefecture, where numerous hot springs dot the landscape and give rise to a booming resort industry.

“They’re a lot like us,” said Steve Arrison, CEO of Visit Hot Springs. “That’s a very strong sister city relationship.”

The entire state can celebrate that relationship this April, when the city of Hot Springs kicks off its fourth annual Arkansas Cherry Blossom Festival. Set for April 11 and 12, it is hard to imagine a similar event happening anywhere but Hot Springs, where patrons can learn about traditional tea ceremonies, compose haiku poetry, try some locally sourced sake, catch real sumo wrestling and a ton more.

Sumo was a featured attraction last year, and patrons are eagerly anticipating the return of the ancient sporting form in 2025.

“Last year was more of an introductory experience with a lot of explanation,” said Mary Zunick, cultural affairs manager at Visit Hot Springs and executive director of the Hot Springs Sister City Program.

Zunick had the enviable task of traveling to Hanamaki to take a firsthand glance at the customs and entertainment options in Hot Springs’ sister city. She is one of the few people who can say she brought sumo wrestling to Arkansas.

Photography by Terrance Armstand

Last year’s sumo exhibition — the first of its kind in Arkansas — was a smashing success that brought in 2,000 spectators to catch the demonstration at Bank OZK Arena. While 2024 saw three championship wrestlers performing a demonstration, the success of that maiden event has led organizers to up the ante for 2025.

Now, instead of an exhibition, there will be a full-fledged showdown with six renowned sumo wrestlers competing in a head-to-head round-robin tournament. Highlighting the field is Ichi, a Grand Sumo Tournament Champion (all 6-4, 540 pounds of him) and winner of the prestigious Emperor’s Cup in Japan. Also involved will be Mendee (5-10 and a svelte 330 pounds,) a two-time United States Sumo Open champion.

“We’ll have some opportunities for the guests to interact with the sumo wrestlers this year,” Zunick said.

Another crowd-pleaser returns in the form of a group performing on traditional Japanese taiko drums.

“When those drums beat, you can feel them in your whole body,” Zunick said. “It’s just amazing.”

Tacked on to the Cherry Blossom Festival once again will be the American Craft Sake Festival. Running April 11 to 13 and put on by the Sake Brewers

Sumo, taiko drums and all other aspects of Japanese culture await visitors at the Arkansas Cherry Blossom Festival in Hot Springs April 11 and 12.

Mendee, top, and Ichi will participate in the sumo tournament, along with several other sumo wrestlers.

Association of North America, the event will introduce many to the traditional Japanese alcoholic beverage. In the process, attendees can learn more about one of the most unique entrepreneurial stories in all of Arkansas.

Tucked into the heart of Hot Springs, Origami Sake is truly one of one. Founded by Japanese beverage enthusiast Ben Bell and serial entrepreneur Matt Bell, Origami stands alone as Arkansas’ only sake brewery, yet its goals reach far beyond the Natural State.

“We’ve looked at it from an international and national perspective,” Matt said.

With Arkansas ranked 45th in sake consumption, Matt knew his new company would need to extend its reach to safely turn a profit. That is why now, as president and CEO, he is pushing Origami Sake as the leader in the niche of American-based sake breweries.

“It’s a risk for me. I’m the sole investor in this,” Matt said, “but there’s no better place in America to make sake. It’s one of the few areas in the beveragealcohol industry that is growing. It had enough story behind it to take the risk and assemble a team. The story has resonated.”

Why Arkansas, and more specifically, why Hot Springs? It begins with rice, the most Arkansan of crops. Rice is the base for sake, and while Arkansas has no shortage of rice growers, long-grain rice is a far cry from the high-starch Japanese rice that gives sake its trademark flavor. The starch breaks down into fermentable sugar that gives sake a degree of sweetness. Isbell Farms, a multigenerational rice farm based in England, was happy to embrace the challenge and has supplied several Japanese sake makers, as well as Origami.

The second key ingredient is water, but not just any water.

“You’re looking for soft water,” Matt said. “You’re looking for mineral content. We’re looking for water that doesn’t have iron like water in the delta.”

The solution is the Ouachita River right in Origami Sake’s backyard.

“Arkansas is the rice capital of the U.S.,” Matt said. “You need rice and water, and Arkansas has both.”

With those local resources in hand, Origami set out to lead the American sake market. It is fitting that they will be right in the middle of the American Craft Sake Festival, which will take place in the Hot Springs Convention Center adjacent to Bank OZK Arena. Inside, patrons will be able to learn about various sake brewing techniques and styles, meet other sake enthusiasts and, best of all, sample more than 30 styles of sake provided by 12 breweries.

“We have people from all over the world come to that event,” Matt said.

Establishments in Arkansas that serve sake are few and far between, and even if local consumers find it in restaurants or liquor stores, they do not always know what they are getting or what to look for. Sake can be served heated or chilled with different flavor profiles depending on the temperature. Not unlike wine, different varieties of sake match with different foods. It can, admittedly, be a bit intimidating for the newcomer and off-putting for those who do not have access to top-shelf offerings.

The Sake Festival organizers, along with the staff at Origami, see the festival as the ideal jumping-on point for those curious about Japan’s favorite drink.

“A lot of people have not had positive sake experiences,” Zunick said. “It’s an opportunity to go, ‘Wow, this is a delicious beverage.’”

For those looking to buy and drink local, Origami offers three distinctive types of sake, plus a nonalcoholic option.

“Most Arkansans are not familiar with premium sake,” Matt said. “What they’ve been drinking is akin to Boone’s Farm wine. Premium sake is a whole different thing. It’s the hardest beverage to make in the alcohol industry. We’ve assembled the best team in North America.”

There will be more to the weekend than sumo and sake. For the fourth year in a row, the festival will host a haiku competition. Those interested in the ancient Japanese style of poetry have until March 30 to submit their

Photography by Terrance Armstand

poems to the Hot Springs Sister City website, and the winners will be invited to share their work during the festival on April 12.

There are also workshops aplenty ranging in subjects from manga to medication to the always-popular tea ceremony. Unfortunately, in a nod to the festival’s growing popularity, all available workshop spots have sold out.

Having attracted upward of 4,000 people a year ago, festival organizers expect at least the same number in 2025, if not a new attendance benchmark. While the concept of sister cities is nothing new, it is hard to find another municipality in Arkansas that has invested more into that relationship than Hot Springs.

For a weekend, there will be a bit of Hanamaki in Arkansas, and everyone is invited to come visit and enjoy.

“It’s such an opportunity for this city and this state to see it succeed here,” Zunick said. “It really has been a beautiful example of what you can have with an international connection.”

Arkansas is the rice capital of the U.S.. You need rice and water, and Arkansas has both.

Matt Bell, president and CEO of Origami Sake

The American Craft Sake Festival will coincide with the Arkansas Cherry Blossom Festival, highlighting the state’s role in the growing sake market.

Photography by Pam Clark

CONCERTS MUSIC FESTIVALS: NATURAL

STATE SHINDIGS FOR THE SUMMER MONTHS

The Natural State is replete with chances to enjoy live music, and those opportunities are only becoming more plentiful as an increasing number of artists add Arkansas cities to their list of tour stops. With household names such as Chappell Roan and Post Malone gracing the Walmart Arkansas Music Pavilion stage in Rogers, and icons such as Stevie Nicks and country standard-bearer Chris Stapleton stopping by Simmons Bank Arena in North Little Rock in 2024, Arkansas has been no stranger to must-see musical acts. 2025 promises to be no different as chart-topping pop star Halsey pays her dues at the Rogers venue and Train and the Avett Brothers head down to El Dorado later this year, just to name a few big acts. Beyond the headliners, scores of other

widely admired talents are set to be greeted by adoring crowds at venues around the state.

For those looking to catch local favorites alongside performers of all magnitudes, there are also music festivals for every taste in store. From the Delta to the Ozarks, from blues and bluegrass to rock, country and religious tunes, the next few months are a prime time to catch a once-ina-lifetime show, discover a new favorite band before they make it big or simply soak up the sounds of an Arkansas summer night.

While not comprehensive by any means, we hope this list will help you map out some of the biggest hits, jam sessions and other musical adventures to put on your calendar.

CONCERTS

Concert Series: Bab L’Bluz Arkansas Museum of Fine Arts, Little Rock

First Financial Music Hall, El Dorado

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Happy Hour Concert with No Vacancy

George’s Majestic Lounge, Fayetteville

Mat Kearney: Headlights Home Tour

JJ’s Live, Fayetteville

Randall Shreve

Kings Live Music, Conway

SESSANTA V 2.0: Primus, Puscifer, A Perfect Circle

Walmart AMP, Rogers

Taj Farrant Revolution Music Room, Little Rock

Vincent Mason: Hell is a Dance Floor with Carson Wallace

George’s Majestic Lounge, Fayetteville

Black Violin: Full Circle Tour

TempleLive, Fort Smith

Jack Fancy Band

Kings Live Music, Conway

Sawyer Hill

George’s Majestic Lounge, Fayetteville

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Set for May 2 and 3, the Steel Horse Rally draws thousands of people to Fort Smith.

Fort Smith gets ready to rumble

The Steel Horse Rally

By JUSTINA PARKER

COODY and STEEL HORSE RALLY

On May 2 and 3, thousands of bikers will join together for the 10th annual Steel Horse Rally in Fort Smith. The Steel Horse Rally is a family-friendly charity motorcycle rally honoring all who serve, including military members, veterans, law enforcement and first responders. The event takes place annually the first weekend in May and has raised thousands for local charities.

In 2015, the first rally was held in Fort Smith and had more than 30,000 people in attendance, providing an economic impact around $4 million. During its eight weekends of activity, the rally has had an estimated impact of $126 million and has brought in more than 1 million people to the

area. In 2023 alone, the Steel Horse Rally set a new record, having an estimated local economic impact of $24 million and surpassing its projected attendance goal with more than 210,000 people, making it one of the fastest-growing rallies in the country.

Established in 2014, the Steel Horse Rally has raised more than $180,000 for local charities during its 10 years of existence. Local charities apply each year and are selected to be the recipients of the funds raised over the weekend. This year’s charities are the Arc for the River Valley, a nonprofit that offers a variety of educational classes and activities for adults with disabilities, and Children’s Service League, which provides free clothing and hygiene kits for students in the community. A third beneficiary, Heaven’s Babies, serves families who have endured the heartbreak of a

“I wanted a way to help the businesses downtown, honor those who are often forgotten and help local charities. Our volunteers are the lifeline of this event. We wouldn’t be able to put on this rally without them.”

Dennis Snow

Photos by RYAN

This year’s charities are the Arc for the River Valley, a nonprofit that offers a variety of EDUCATIONAL CLASSES and ACTIVITIES for adults with disabilities, Children’s Service League, which provides FREE CLOTHING and HYGIENE KITS for students in the community, and Heaven’s Babies, which serves families who have endured the heartbreak of a pregnancy loss, stillborn or loss during the first few months of life by covering FUNERAL COSTS and MEDICAL BILLS and providing GRIEF SUPPORT to loved ones.

pregnancy loss, stillborn or loss during the first few months of life by covering funeral costs and medical bills and providing grief support to loved ones.

Attendees support the organizations while taking in charitable motorcycle rides, live entertainment, the Thunder Through the Valley Motorcycle Parade, the Bikes and Badges Motorcycle Show, Cops and Cones, a vendor exhibition featuring vendors from all over the country, and more.

“Garrison Avenue is the second-widest road in the United States,” said Dennis Snow, president and founder of the Steel Horse Rally. “The city closes off 8 blocks for the bikers in Fort Smith, and everyone loves being able to park in the middle of the street.”

Snow is no stranger to highlighting trails for bikers across the United States and raising money for charity. A former air traffic controller in the U.S Air Force, he also founded Thunder TV, a weekly television show showcasing scenic roads and interviewing bikers on

their rides across America. Prior to founding the Steel Horse Rally, Snow walked across the United States to raise money for hospitalized children.

“I wanted a way to help the businesses downtown, honor those who are often forgotten and help local charities,” he said of his motivation to form the rally. “Our volunteers are the lifeline of this event. We wouldn’t be able to put on this rally without them.”

One of those volunteers and local attendees is Rick “Monkeybutt” Bawiec, road captain at the local Public Guardians Law Enforcement Motorcycle Club.

“I’ve been with the rally since the beginning,” Bawiec said. “That first year, we wanted a way to help raise funds, so we held the poker run to help out. This will be our 10th year participating, and I still love attending the event.”

Bawiec’s history with motorcycles goes back to 1973, when he got his first motorcycle at age 8.

“The only time I haven’t had a motorcycle

since then was from 1980 to 1985,” he said. “In college for two years, a motorcycle was all I had to ride. I didn’t have a car.”

When asked about why the rally is so dear to him, Bawiec reflected on seeing all the different motorcycles each year,

“It’s always great to see the variety of bikes and meet people from different areas,” he said. “We have so many rides during this event that draw people in from all over the country. I work in radiation treatment therapy, and a lot of my friends were in the military or police force, so when Public Guardians was started several years ago, they invited me in as medical support.”

The Public Guardians’ Poker Run kicks off the event at 12:30 p.m. May 2. Prizes will be awarded for the best and worst hand. In addition to this year’s poker run and set rides around the Pig Trail Scenic Byway, Arkansas Wine Country, Rude GP, Natural Dam and the Thunder Loop, attendees will have the option of a new ride to the top of Mount Maga-

zine, the highest peak in Arkansas. That night will bring live music and entertainment, the opportunity to buy a charity cup for $5, and parking one’s bike in the middle of Garrison to enjoy a fun night of camaraderie with other riders.

Saturday’s events consist of the Cops and Cones Motorcycle Exhibition, the Thunder Through the Valley Motorcycle Parade, the Miss Steel Horse Rally Bikini Contest, more live music on the main stage, and two of the rally’s most popular events, the Steel Horse Strongman Showdown and the Bikes and Badges vintage bike show.

Bikes and Badges made its debut last year at the United States Marshals Museum in Fort Smith and quickly became a crowd favorite. The show features bikes 25 years or older and is sponsored by Fort Smith Harley-Davidson. The museum had record-setting attendance last year, showcasing another positive impact on Fort Smith businesses during the rally.

Established in 2023, the Steel Horse

The familyfriendly charity event includes various activities throughout the weekend.

Strongman Showdown was an instant hit among attendees. This year’s showdown will take place Saturday morning on the stage at the River Front Pavilion and feature male and female professional and amateur athletes. Beau Fore, state cochair at Strongman Corp., which creates and manages such events nationally, has led the event since its Fort Smith inception.

“This will be a Strongman Corp. nationals invite for qualifying classes,” he said. “This is a sanctioned event, so all athletes must prove current valid Strongman Corp. membership status before being able to compete.”

Some of the events featured at the showdown include a keg clean and press for reps, single hand farmer carry/yoke, sandbag throw ladder and a car dead lift, during which athletes will dead lift a car for as many reps as possible in 60 seconds.

The Steel Horse Rally is open to all families and riders. All motorcycles are allowed to ride in the parade that passes underneath a huge American flag displayed by a Fort Smith Fire Department ladder truck. Larger three-wheeled vehicles can ride in the parade, as well, but are asked to stay behind the twowheeled vehicles.

Snow advised attendees to book campsites now because they quickly fill up and said there are many hotels within walking distance of the rally.

Visit thesteelhorserally.com to learn more.

Keeping the Faith

LOCASH matures with the times while staying true to their roots

By DWAIN HEBDA // Photo courtesy of LOCASH

Country music is in a state of change that pits old-school traditionalists against new kids pushing the boundaries of the art form. LOCASH, which will perform at Oaklawn in Hot Springs May 10, has been at the center of that melting pot for most of the duo’s career, blending country, pop and rock for more than two decades.

Dubbed “country music’s iconic feel-good duo” by People, the pairing of Preston Brust and Chris Lucas came out of the fray with voices and viewpoints intact, and audiences have taken notice. LOCASH has earned eight charting singles, several successful albums and more than a billion global streams.

Among the pair’s chart toppers are the high-profile collaborations “Let It Slide” with Leslie Jordan and Blanco Brown, and “Beach Boys” featuring The Beach Boys’ Mike Love and Bruce Johnston, as well as the platinumselling breakout “I Love This Life” and gold-selling No. 1 cuts “One Big Country Song” and “I Know Somebody.” Their most recent effort, “Hometown Home” is racing up the charts in advance of their next album, Bet the Farm, set to drop this month.

More recently, the pair launched their own record label, Galaxy Label Group, which is distributed by BBR Music Group/BMG Nashville. Announcing their 2024 partnership with 44 Farms, LOCASH will headline the Hometown Home Tour plus join Kane Brown’s stadium-filling In the Air Tour this summer.

AY About You caught up with one half of the band, on the road in Indiana, to talk about the upcoming Arkansas show, musical influences and growing up without growing old.

LOCASH's Chris Lucas, left, and Preston Brust.

AY ABOUT YOU: We are looking forward to having you guys in Arkansas at Oaklawn. Have you been there lately?

PRESTON BRUST: Man, we haven’t been there, and we haven’t been to Arkansas in a while. I was born in Arkansas, so this is exciting for me. I got family coming.

AY: How long did you live here?

BRUST: Oh, probably about two years, first two years of my life. My daddy’s a preacher, Church of Christ, and he was preaching in McGehee. I was born in Dermott and then, couple years after I was born, he took a job in Kokomo, Indiana, and that’s where I was raised, basically. I tell you I got cousins coming to this show I ain’t never even met, probably, so this will be fun.

AY: Well since you brought it up, what was that conversation like when you told your dad, “Hey man, I wanna sing in honky-tonks”?

BRUST: You know, I’ve done a million interviews, and no one’s ever asked that. He has a really good voice and everything, and I think at one point, he probably had some secret dreams of going to Nashville and becoming a country singer somewhere in his heart, but he never did it. I think he saw my songwriting happening and was probably excited for me to go chase my dreams. He’s a country music lover, and he always was supportive. I don’t remember a day that he wasn’t.

AY: That’s a great dad right there.

BRUST: You know, I got real lucky. It’s been kind of cool to see our two worlds cross with “Hometown Home,” which is about to hit No. 1. We mentioned Church of Christ in the chorus, and the Christian Chronicle even picked it up and did an article on it. It was a really cool moment to be able to send that to my dad and be like, “Hey, I made it in your world, dude. I’m in the Christian Chronicle. Who would’ve thought it?”

AY: That says a lot about the authenticity of the music you guys make. You sing about a lot of things your fans consider very important. BRUST: We hear about it everywhere we go. Everybody’s like, “Man, that Church of Christ line really hit me.” It could have been any church, you know, but Church of Christ is authentic to us and to me, so that’s like you said, it hits a heart string with folks.

AY: How did you and Chris get together?

BRUST: Chris and I actually met in 2002, when I moved to Nashville, and Chris was already there. A lot of people don’t know that we started working together within, like, two or three weeks of me being in town. We were working as DJs and the hosts of the world famous Wildhorse Saloon on Second Avenue in Nashville. We would watch Brad Paisley, Lonestar, Chris LeDoux. You name them, they came through there. We were able to watch the shows and learn, every single night, what to do, what not to do.

The Wildhorse also developed our banter because as the hosts, we would go out with two microphones, and we would introduce the bands, or we would teach a line-dance lesson or just welcome everybody to the Wildhorse. We would throw it back and forth and just have fun. Twenty

years later, I still see that in our show.

AY: A musical duo is like any partnership. How are you guys of one mind musically, and how are you just different enough to make it interesting?

BRUST: Man, I’ll tell you this: It’s like a marriage. It’s taught us a lot about compromise. It’s taught us a lot about having one vision. You might have disagreements, but you’ve got to get through those to get to the big picture and the ultimate goal. Fortunately, Chris and I have always had laser vision that is exactly the same of where we want to go.

We’re sort of yin and yang, you know? We know how to kind of reel each other back in, and we know when to let the other one dream a little bit. Now that we own our own record label together, it’s exciting to see that vision come together, as well, not just as artists but as business guys.

AY: From a musical influence standpoint, do you come from different points of view?

BRUST: You know, I grew up in church, so I’m all hymns and Church of Christ songbooks. I learned how to sing the bass part and the tenor part in church because, you know, that’s just what you do. You follow your part, and then there’s girls singing soprano, and there’s four-part harmony, and it’s so pretty. That was my biggest influence, along with piano lessons.

My great uncle is Albert E. Brumley, who wrote “I’ll Fly Away,” and a lot of other songs, and so I grew up knowing that songwriting was a real career. I always felt like I wanted to be a songwriter, and I moved to Nashville to be a songwriter. When I met Chris, we became performers together.

Chris grew up in the secular world. He was an ’80s rock guy. He knows the words to every karaoke song in the book, and it’s fun to watch him get up there and do his thing because I can’t do that. Now if it’s time for, you know, a Church of Christ song I got you, first and last verse. Let’s go.

AY: I read that your fans refer to themselves as LOCASH Mob. True?

BRUST: I think that might not be correct, but we are kind of going under a renovation of that, I guess. I think we’re going to call them LOCASH Lifers because it’s been 20 years now. I think you’re in this for life if you’re still with us.

AY: Whatever they are ultimately called, it says something to have people follow you that long. What inspires that kind of loyalty?

BRUST: You know, when I first met Chris, we were both single guys in our 20s, and we were loving cold beer and a shot of whiskey and being out on the road and chasing the dream. I mean, we started in my Jeep Cherokee, pulling a U-Haul, and we weren’t making any money. We were making $500 a night doing a hundred shows a year, and they were three-hour shows. It was crazy. I remember us being backstage and being like, ‘I can’t sing another word. My voice is completely gone.’ There was no social media to try to tell people the show was canceled that night. You just went on, and you did the show anyway. I think I can count on one hand how many shows we’ve had to cancel, and it was rarely because anyone was sick. It’s usually because there’s been

a death in the family or something really horrific. I love that Chris and I are the blue-collar boys that just saddle up every night, man. I mean, there is no other way for us. This is what we do, this is how we do it, and we lean on each other to get through it.

AY: As you have grown up together not only in music but in life, how do you continue that authenticity and build that into your art?

BRUST: I think it’s important for folks to see that genuine change in us because it would be misleading if we didn’t put that in our music. Listen, we still love a good barn burner party song once in a while, you know? We still love cold beer, and we still love to have a good time and throw our hands up and forget about our problems. At the same time, we do have three kids each. We both have great wives that hold down the fort at home. We’ve always had the serious side about us. It’s just that when we were both single, it would’ve been tough to sing about having kids and the way your kids look up to you. Now we try to write those songs.

It’s important to us, and it’s important to our audiences too. They’ve grown up along with us, you know? They want to lean into that kind of music too. I think we have a responsibility to always stay true to who we are and not sing songs that aren’t us. Like you said, we’ve grown, and we can’t ignore it. We don’t want to ignore it. We’re still young at heart, and we still want to have a great time, but we are dads now, and we are husbands, and that’s important to us.

AY: On one hand, a musical genre has to keep pushing boundaries. On the other hand, people are awful quick to say, “That’s not real country,” or “That’s not my rock ‘n’ roll,” or whatever. You guys have borrowed a lot from other genres. What’s it like to be in the center of that debate? BRUST: There was three records in my house growing up that weren’t gospel records: the Oak Ridge Boys, Eddie Rabbitt and Willie Nelson. My mom had those hidden in the house because she wanted those three records, and so when my dad was out of the house, I would put on, “I Love a Rainy Night,” and to this day, it’s one of my very favorite songs.

When Chris and I got together, he said, “Well, I could do this and this and this. What can you do?” and I was like, “I can sing. ‘I Love a Rainy Night.’ That’s all I got.” Then I said, “Well, wait a minute. I do know “Bobbie Sue” by the Oak Ridge Boys. We could do that one too.” You know, you learn as you go.

There’s just so many influences now that come into our music, whether it’s R&B, whether it’s pop, whether it’s Garth Brooks or whatever. One thing I love about me and Chris is we don’t listen to the outside world when they say these guys are country or they aren’t country. Ten years ago, we were ahead of the curve, and we were probably not considered very country. Now, all of a sudden, we are super country. Everybody’s like, “Man, we love this country sound, man,” and I’m like, “We haven’t changed, guys.” We’re the same dudes we were 10 and 15 years ago when we were just throwing stuff against the wall hoping to make some noise. We just stayed on our path, and the music world kind of caught up to us.

north little rock

It does not take much to rev up North Little Rock Mayor Terry Hartwick; just get him going on the roll that his city has been on lately, and let the spirit move him.

“You’ve got the arts down here. You’ve got outside dining. You can come with your kids. You can come with your dog,” Hartwick said. “It’s safe, you know, and the bars and breweries that we have down here are so welcoming. I think North Little Rock is just one of those neat experiences.”

On any given day, Hartwick can be seen out in some neighborhood or another of Dogtown, shaking hands, telling jokes and enjoying a beverage — sweet tea during business hours, something a little stronger come quitting time. He loves what the city has become and is excited for what the city does next, and he does not care who knows it.

NLR shows Arkansas how the big dogs play

“It’s just a neat thing just to walk the streets, seeing people enjoying themselves,” he said. “North Little Rock is a destination, and it’s going to become even

By DWAIN HEBDA

more of a destination when our event center opens a year from now.”

To those without the benefit of perspective, Hartwick’s carnivalbarker demeanor might suggest he is stumping for votes, but in fact, his enthusiasm is well warranted. North Little Rock was not always the hip place to be it is now. Not that long ago, the stylish Argenta district — the riverfront neighborhood that is both home to the city’s historic downtown and its doorway for visitors — was a shabby cousin to the city on the south side of the river. People did not venture past it to explore other parts of town; in fact, back then, people largely avoided North Little Rock or came only for a specific purpose then left.

That is no longer the case, which is one of the biggest signs of the city’s long march toward its current renaissance, said Heather Kouns, vice president of strategic sales for North Little Rock Tourism.

“The transformation has been incredible,” she said. “You can drive through, and you can see all the beautiful art and the people milling around, but what you don’t see is how restaurants and businesses in North Little Rock are lifting each other up. They are collectively coming together to ensure that North Little Rock is a place where people want to be, where people are safe, where there’s different things for people to do.

“Argenta is a great example. In Argenta alone, it’s incredible

Photo courtesy of Arkansas Tourism

From longtime sites like The Old Mill (top) to newer offerings like Brood & Barley, North Little Rock suits many tastes.

Photo by Jenn Terrell

to walk around down here. It’s quaint. I can go have a cocktail at one restaurant. I can walk down the road and do a wine tasting. I can go to trivia night at Flyway [Brewing Co.], then go catch a concert at Simmons Bank Arena. In the past, people would just drive over here, go straight to the concert and, like, that’s it. Now people meet their friends, have a drink at Four Quarter [Bar], go to dinner at Brood & Barley, and then go to the concert. We’ve given them a reason to come and stay.”

The new prosperity in North Little Rock has come thanks to visionary city leadership, innovative thinking and a “Why not us?” attitude that has resulted in the accumulation of quality-of-life amenities that put many other communities to shame. Attractions begat attractions: Simmons Bank Arena, built as Alltel Arena, was the first cornerstone of the economic development, which has since pulled in DickeyStephens Park, home of the Arkansas Travelers minor league baseball team.

The city approved central Arkansas’ first entertainment district, which allows people to carry open containers, which fueled the festivals and gatherings clamoring to Argenta Plaza, a meticulously designed public space that is home to myriad events during the year. The plaza, in turn, attracted new construction for various types of residential development, housing that helped draw major corporate citizens, some of which crossed the river from Little Rock. The momentum has yet to slow down a beat.

“We’re hosting the HBCU Athletic Conference Baseball Championship this spring. It’s going to be played at Dickey-Stephens Park,” Kouns said. “We’re really excited about this. It’s going to

Entertainment options abound in Dogtown, from Argenta Contemporary Theatre productions (top) to catching the Travs at Dickey-Stephens Park. (File photo)

North Little Rock Events

Check out these and other exciting events coming to North Little Rock in 2025.

April 4, 5, 11, 12, 18, 19, 25, 26

The Elvis of Russellville

The Joint Comedy Theater

5

Martin Lawrence: Y’all Know What it Is! Tour Simmons Bank Arena

6

Tyler Childers: On the Road Tour Simmons Bank Arena

8-13

Arkansas Travelers vs. Tulsa Drillers Dickey-Stephens Park

9-19

Gypsy Argenta Contemporary Theatre

11-12

Dogtown Throwdown Argenta Arts District

12

MS Walk Argenta Plaza

18

Third Friday Night Art Walk Argenta Arts District

19

Argenta Vibe Music Series Argenta Plaza

22-27

Arkansas Travelers vs. Midland RockHounds Dickey-Stephens Park

File photo

Argenta Acoustic Music Series: Ed Gerhard The Joint Comedy Theater

The Elvis of Russellville

Shinedown: Dance, Kid, Dance Simmons Bank Arena 6-11

Arkansas Travelers vs. Springfield Cardinals Dickey-Stephens Park

Dogtown Throwdown Argenta Arts District

Treaty Oak Revival Simmons Bank Arena

Buzz B-Q Downtown Riverside RV Park

Argenta Plaza. (Photo by Tim Hursley)

be taking place April 30 to May 4. There will be eight teams that are going to come for the double-elimination tournament. It’s just going to be a great opportunity to support some of those collegiate athletes, and we’re hopeful they’ll want come back here year after year because of the support of the community.”

As for what the community hangs its hat on when it comes to reputation, Kouns said the active outdoor lifestyle tops the list, thanks to an attraction that dwarfs any other in the state.

“In the tourism industry, we talk about a community’s unique selling point, and I would say our unique selling point currently is Burns Park, 1,700 acres of outdoor recreation within one space, making it one of the largest municipal parks in the country,” she said. “We have biking. It’s dog friendly. We’ve got trails. We have softball, baseball. We have bird-watching. You have horseback riding, disc golf, soccer, tennis, pickleball. There’s so many activities out there.

“What we’re going to be known for moving forward is the Big Rock Quarry climbing project. The Arkansas Climbers Coalition has been working to transform Big Rock Quarry into a rock climbing paradise. I went out this weekend to look at it, and it’s going to be incredible. It’s going to be one of only two urban climbing parks in America. It’s beginner friendly. It will offer intermediate level, and it will offer advanced, and you can do all this right downtown. We’re just super excited and proud of that.”

Kouns' remarks aside, it is hard to know what the leading element of the community really is, and that is part and parcel of North Little Rock’s success. The city provides something for nearly everything on a checklist of community features, from education to dining to the arts. Besides the aforementioned Simmons Bank Arena, theater lovers enjoy the thriving Argenta Contemporary Theatre, which anchors an arts community that also includes several galleries and live music in the city’s bars at night.

“How much fun can you have and how many things can you do in this one little area?” said Alyson Courtney, ACT co-executive director. “I’m not sure that there’s any other place like us in central Arkansas.”

Courtney said North Little Rock has succeeded where other communities have struggled thanks to a collaborative spirit among stakeholders.

“When you talk about us all working together, I mean, we’re all on the committees for Dogtown Throwdown or the arts walk and other committees,” Courtney said. “We

Alyson Courtney

You can drive through, and you can see all the beautiful art and the people milling around, but what you don’t see is how restaurants and businesses in North Little Rock are lifting each other up. They are collectively coming together to ensure that North Little Rock is a place where people want to be, where people are safe, where there’s different things for people to do.

— Heather Kouns,

vice president of strategic sales, North Little Rock Tourism.

identified city safety as a priority, and I don’t think we’d be as successful as we are if we didn’t have that emphasis. In our city, and especially in the downtown area, that’s a huge part of why I think people love coming here.

“We’re all playing a role in things because we all realize how important it is for all of us to succeed. If we’re all succeeding, oh my gosh, we’re literally unstoppable.”

Courtney has seen the theater strengthen its deep roots in the community by expanding to support its growing participation and programming, and there is more to come.

“We take up a lot of space, and we’re still

growing. We believe in this area, and as we grow, we want to grow right here because we think we can continue to be a major force in terms of the arts district,” she said. “It certainly starts with the mayor and the city council, who do such a fantastic job of connecting everyone, and then the team at North Little Rock Tourism is so impressive. They’re constantly dreaming up ways to promote all of us being just great supporters.

“It’s pretty magical to be in a place where you know everybody around you and everybody’s super supportive and fighting for the same thing. It’s just a lot of fun to be a part of.”

27-31

Arkansas Travelers vs. San Antonio Missions Dickey-Stephens Park

31

An Evening with Vince Gill Simmons Bank Arena

JUNE 1

Arkansas Travelers vs. San Antonio Missions Dickey Stephens Park

7

Pretty Vibes on the North Side Argenta Plaza

10-15

Arkansas Travelers vs. Northwest Arkansas Naturals Dickey-Stephens Park

14

Argenta Vibe Music Series Argenta Plaza

17-22

Arkansas Travelers vs. Wichita Wind Surge Dickey-Stephens Park

21

Pearls on the Plaza Argenta Plaza

JULY 4-6

Arkansas Travelers vs. Frisco RoughRiders Dickey-Stephens Park

5 Cigar Nights Argenta Plaza

8-13

Arkansas Travelers vs. Tulsa Drillers Dickey-Stephens Park

Dogtown Throwdown. (Photo courtesy of Argenta Arts Council)

18

Third Friday Night Art Walk Argenta Arts District

22-27

Arkansas Travelers vs. Northwest Arkansas Naturals

Dickey-Stephens Park

AUGUST

5-10

Arkansas Travelers vs. Frisco RoughRiders

Dickey-Stephens Park

15

Third Friday Night Art Walk Argenta Arts District

19-24

Arkansas Travelers vs. Springfield Cardinals

Dickey-Stephens Park

30 Reggae Festival Argenta Plaza

31 Cigar Nights Argenta Plaza

SEPTEMBER

2-7

Arkansas Travelers vs. Amarillo Sod Poodles

Dickey-Stephens Park

12-13

Dogtown Throwdown Argenta Arts District

19

Third Friday Art Walk Argenta Arts District

19

Nelly with Ja Rule, Eve & Special Guests: Where the Party At Tour

Simmons Bank Arena

Brayan McFadden, chef and owner of the five year old Brood & Barley restaurant, agreed with Courtney’s assessment of North Little Rock’s community mindedness.

“I have never worked so closely within a community before,” he said. “This town is full of people who believe in ‘rising tides raise all ships,’ and it shows. We all consistently meet about town functions such as outdoor dining weekends and our wonderful Vibe Series which not only benefits local business but the community surrounding it.

“The closeknit bunch of everyday people that live and work right here in town make up our community, and they support this town so much. From parades to tulip planting, the entire town gets involved.”

McFadden represents the new generation of restaurateurs who have found a home in North Little Rock over the past decade, creating a culinary mosaic that can be experienced throughout the city. Another is Scott Landers who opened Draft + Table on a plumb corner in Argenta with Chef Kevin Doroski a couple of years ago.

“I’ve had the privilege to travel all over the world, and Chef worked in some amazing different spots,” Landers told AY About You in February. “We took our exposure to all those different food types, got my good old Southern boy and his palate out of Montana, and we created Draft + Table as a place where friends and family come together and enjoy a meal. I’m very proud of where we ended up.”

As busy as things are now, many of the people one talks to in North Little Rock say the forthcoming convention center, due to open next year, will take the city’s tourism places it has never been before.

“The convention center is going to generate people downtown, people that have disposable income,” said Chris Kent, executive director of the Argenta Arts Council. “It’s going be able to seat around 1,000, and when there’s a conference downtown, it’s going to drive those people into our restaurants, into

Photo courtesy of Argenta Arts Council

Photo courtesy of NLR Chamber of Commerce

Chris Kent

Public art, a world-class concert venue and thriving business community tell the story of NLR's success.

our bars. It’s going to provide opportunities for those people to go to an event at Simmons Arena or the baseball stadium.”

Kent said the work that has been done to the surrounding neighborhoods is sure to impress those new visitors, beyond places to eat, drink and recreate.

“The plaza’s created a great gathering place,” he said. “Prior to the plaza being there, it was a gravel parking lot. We hosted hundreds of events on that parking lot, and I think that’s what inspired the city to develop that space into something more permanent.

“We’ve got tons of murals. We’ve got some public art pieces. We have about 20,000 tulips that pop out every spring,” he said. “I think the cleanliness of downtown and the aesthetics, the beauty of color, all of that lends to a welcoming atmosphere here.”

One challenge that remains for the city is telling its full story throughout its many neighborhoods. North Little Rock’s footprint is expansive for a community of 70,000, and there is a lot going on outside of Argenta that tends to fly under the radar. The Park Hill Historic District, the bustling retail centers of Lakewood and McCain, redevelopment of the former Wild River Country site, a thriving industrial park, and growth in outlying areas all

combine to form a bigger version of the city’s success story.

“Throughout our entire city, you see businesses moving here and investing,” said Derrell Hartwick, president and CEO of the North Little Rock Chamber of Commerce.

“What you’re seeing today is 30 years of hard work. Our city council and the chamber has been really great with working on any business that wants to relocate here. I would say what makes it really unique here is North Little Rock focuses on the whole city and not just a sector here and there. They all have their eyes on keeping all of North Little Rock going.”

Looking forward to the future, Darrell said with the addition of the event center, there is little missing in the city’s portfolio. That said, he is confident North Little Rock will continue to keep on trend to provide whatever is next in community amenities to enhance economic development and further improve quality of life.

“I think you’re definitely going to continue to see investment, but as for a final piece, I don’t know if there’s ever going to be a final piece,” he said. “It’s not so much that there’s a missing piece, but what makes sense for North Little Rock and our side of the river, that can be the cherry on top.”

20

Hispanic Heritage Celebration/ Argenta Vibe Music Series Argenta Plaza

21

Nate Bargatze: Big Dumb Eyes World Tour Simmons Bank Arena

OCTOBER

4

Argenta Vibe Music Series Argenta Plaza

10-11

Dogtown Throwdown Argenta Arts District

17

Third Friday Night Art Walk Argenta Arts District

NOVEMBER

2

Annual Tulip Planting Argenta Arts District

8

Walk to End Alzheimer’s Argenta Plaza

22

Northern Lights Holiday Festival Argenta Plaza

DECEMBER

5

Sandwiching in History

First Presbyterian Church of North Little Rock Event list provided by North Little Rock Tourism. Scheduling is accurate as of writing. New events are added frequently. Check northlittlerock.org/events or venue websites for latest information and updates.

Photo courtesy of Simmons Bank

Photo by Rett Peek.

Whether you’re wanting to impress with a

ribeye, stock up with a meat package, grill out with our home-made sausages, or even grab a pre-made side; we have it all!

Hogg’s Meat Market & Catering

Opening the doors in 1963, and Hoggs Meat Market proudly dedicated three generations to offering the best possible meats to North Little Rock. Hogg’s Meat Market is Central Arkansas’ largest and oldest butcher shop, operating for 60 YEARS, earning a reputation of friendly service, great prices, and the best quality meat around. Hoggs offers a full service bar and restaurant, catering, and game processing.

Come on in, we will see you soon!

Laman

Classes

Activities for all ages

Passport services at Argenta and Laman

Free

Co-working

Cooking

Excellent

Rehabilitative

By PAUL SAGE // Photos courtesy of THE LITTLE ROCK ZOO

When Jarrod Johnson is not immersed in cars and trucks as the customer experience and new car inventory manager at Landers Chrysler Dodge Jeep Ram of Little Rock, he is busily preparing for his next big event: Wild Wines at the Little Rock Zoo.

Johnson is this year’s event chair, but he is no stranger to Wild Wines, having served as co-chair in 2023 and 2024. Johnson’s Little Rock event planning experience includes roles at Riverfest and managing events for a company serving the restaurant industry. A few years ago, Johnson realized he was spreading himself too thin and decided to make Wild Wines his primary project.

Now in its 18th annual edition, Wild Wines is a two-night party at the Little Rock Zoo. Proceeds from Wild Wines support the Arkansas Zoological Foundation, the nonprofit organization that works to grow and develop the zoo in its mission to inspire Arkansans to value and conserve the natural world.

Johnson said he devotes his time and energy to Wild Wines because of its important purpose, unique setting and the quality of everything that goes into the event.

“I love Wild Wines,” he said. “It’s a unique event in central Arkansas, No. 1, because it’s at a zoo, and No. 2, in terms of wine events. This one is 100 percent curated by one of our top sponsors, O’Looney’s Wine & Liquor [in Little Rock]. They take the time to use their vast expertise to curate the list of wines for each night for us.

“I have been involved with wine and food for events for quite some time, but this is the first time I’m coming in, and honestly, O’Looney’s doesn’t need much from me. They are very good at knowing what pours well together, maybe even a new label that hasn’t been in Arkansas that long, and then even some extremely limited labels that they bring out only on VIP Night.”

VIP Night, part one of Wild Wines, will take place 7 to 9 p.m. April 25.

“VIP Night is designed to be a much more intimate experience,” Johnson said. “It is mostly enclosed. We have it inside Café Africa and the Civitan Pavilion. We will have higher-end wines, and typically, the restaurants that come on Friday night are locally

owned. There’s going to be restaurants that people love in Little Rock and in central Arkansas.”

Participating restaurants donate food and provide servers to the event in exchange for the opportunity to display their fare and support the mission of the Little Rock Zoo. Each restaurant provides at least 500 bites of its best food. Johnson will tap into his experience managing food-and-beverage-centric events, creating a pleasing assortment for guests.

“We try to balance it. We don’t want everyone bringing dessert or chicken or similar dishes, so we ask for menu items in advance,” Johnson said. “Coming from the restaurant event side, I understand how taxing it can be for restaurants to do off-site food events, and for me to see them all smiling and happy to be there, it’s just wonderful. I know what it feels like to be on their side of the table.”

The “Mane” event, Part 2 of Wild Wines, runs from 7 to 10 p.m. April 26. All VIP event tickets include admission to the “Mane” event. In addition to outstanding food and wine, the evening includes a variety of entertainment and educational activities scattered across the zoo grounds. There will also be an online silent auction open to everyone, including those not attending the festivities at the zoo. The auction includes pictures safely painted by zoo animals.

“VIP Night is going to be a smaller event. It’s less than 1,000 people,” Johnson said. “The ‘Mane’ event can easily be over 1,000 people. There’s a lot more going on Saturday night. We have live music booked for both nights. You’ll hear music everywhere you go. We also have Arkansas Circus Arts coming, with performers spread throughout.”

What to wear to Wild Wines? Central Arkansans know the wind can blow in any direction in late April. Johnson advised a smart yet comfortable look, especially for the “Mane” event, since attendees should be prepared to walk the entire loop of the zoo. Attire is a bit dressier for VIP Night, when most of the action is in smaller confines.

“Friday night, some people dress a little nicer. I’m not talking suits and ties. I’m thinking maybe a little more cocktail attire,” he said.

— Joy Matlock, director of marketing “

Yes, we are a place that has animals on exhibit for people to come and see and enjoy, but more than that, we are a scientific institution that is committed to conservation and conservation education.

Johnson mentioned another element of Saturday night fun, Arkansas Diamond Express Train, the beautiful, adult-sized touring train, which will run during the “Mane” event, circling guests around the waterfowl pond at the southern edge of the zoo.

Sponsors of Wild Wines include O’Looney’s Wine &

Zoo employee Caitlin Byrd with penguin.

Everyday choices — from using

straws, bottles and grocery bags to the way mobile phones are disposed — affect the species seen at the Little Rock Zoo.

Liquor, which donates all the wine served, and AY Media Group.

The Little Rock Zoo, now 100 years old, is the only zoo in Arkansas accredited by the Association of Zoos & Aquariums. Joy Matlock, the zoo’s director of marketing and development for the past six years, has learned much about the greater purpose of the zoo and the expertise of her colleagues who care for more than 400 animals representing more than 200 species.

“I suspect at least 50 to 75 percent of visitors who come to the zoo think they’re coming to a place that showcases animals, period, and I believed that too,” Matlock said. “What I’ve come to learn and understand is that, yes, we are a place that has animals on exhibit for people to come and see and enjoy, but more than that, we are a scientific institution that is committed to conservation and conservation education. To do that, we have to have highly educated professionals.”

window for [unsafe] things to happen.”

Matlock’s experience with the zoo has heightened her awareness of the delicate global environment. She explained how everyday choices — from using plastic straws, bottles and grocery bags to the way mobile phones are disposed — affect the species seen at the Little Rock Zoo.

The Little Rock Zoo maintains a full-time staff of animal experts, including two veterinarians and two veterinary technicians. In addition to keeping its current animal population healthy and living longer, the zoo participates in efforts to breed new animals in captivity.

“We are part of AZA subprograms. One of them is called SAFE, which is Saving Animals From Extinction, and SSP, which is Species Survival Plan,” Matlock said.

SSP is a matchmaking initiative that pairs strong and genetically diverse males and females from participating AZA zoos, then brings the animal couples together, sometimes from zoos that are many miles apart. Thus, one animal must travel carefully to meet its mate.

“We try not to sedate,” Matlock said. “We work with that animal on their transportation cage to train them to get into that willingly, just like you would have your own dog get into its kennel, because with sedation, you just open the

“One of the ingredients needed to create cellphones is coltan. That’s in habitats where orangutans live, where gorillas live, so if we choose to recycle that iPhone 10 because we want the iPhone 16, that’s some coltan that can be recycled, and the manufacturers don’t have to go to the forest of Borneo or Congo to mine that material,” Matlock said.

At each animal’s habitat at the zoo, a visitor can see a colorful, informative sign that describes the species and its scientific name, natural place of origin, diet and behavior. Each sign also shows where that species stands on the International Union of Conservation for Nature’s Red List, where the most favorable condition is “least concern” and the most critical is “extinct in the wild,” meaning that the species is surviving only through human intervention. The Little Rock Zoo houses several species listed as “critically endangered,” including western lowland gorillas and Bornean orangutans.

“We have a family of orangutans: a mom and a dad and a big sister. The mom just had a baby brother in February of last year. He just turned 1 year old,” Matlock said.

With so many animals needing so much nurturing at a facility that is now into its second century, there is always work to do at the Little Rock Zoo, and that work takes money. Johnson and Matlock expect Wild Wines to generate at least $50,000 in new funds to support zoo facilities, from concrete replacement to the new Komodo dragon exhibit slated to open later this year. The zoo currently has a very young male dragon and is expecting the arrival of a female to join him in the new habitat.

For information and tickets to Wild Wines, April 25-26, visit littlerockzoo.com.

Natalie McFancy with Arkansas Circus Arts.

Taste of Little Rock celebrates

goodfood, good eating years of

By MARK

CARTER // Photos courtesy of UA LITTLE ROCK

Taste of Little Rock is the premier fundraising event for the University of Arkansas at Little Rock Alumni Association, and its 20th edition rolls into the on-campus Jack Stephens Center from 6 to 8 p.m. April 8.

The event has raised more than $1 million for alumni association scholarships over its 20-year run, and Kristi Smith, associate vice chancellor for alumni and development at UA Little Rock, said she expects this year’s event to top the $160,000 figure it raised in 2024.

All proceeds directly support UA Little Rock students through Alumni Association Endowed Scholarships. For the current academic year, 38 alumni scholarships were awarded to UA Little Rock students.

“This is the premier fundraising scholarship event for the alumni association,” Smith said. “People love this event because there is no

“People love this event because there is no program. It’s just anything you can eat and drink in the name of scholarship for two hours.”

— Kristi Smith, associate vice chancellor for alumni and development at UA Little Rock

“The mentorship, education and opportunities I found here shaped who I am today.”

— R.J. Martino, honoree

program. It’s just anything you can eat and drink in the name of scholarship for two hours. It’s always a goal of mine for someone to leave Taste of Little Rock with a new favorite restaurant.”

This year, Smith expects 35 to 40 restaurant and beverage vendors. Patrons simply purchase tickets, show up and indulge. General admission tickets are $75.

Stephanie Caruthers, managing partner at Trio’s Restaurant in Little Rock and a member of the alumni association board, said the event was moved from the Bailey Alumni and Friends Center to the Stephens Center several years ago to accommodate growing crowds.

Roughly 800 filled the Stephens Center last year, and Caruthers said school officials hope for

1,000 this year.

“It’s a popular event because it’s a who’s who of all your favorite people, and there’s no speakers or program,” she said, “just people enjoying good food.”

The casual event started out with specific themes for each year — Taste of Italy or Taste of Argentina, for example — before the event’s growing popularity necessitated including all restaurants in the city each year.

“It started out as taste of a particular region,” Smith said. “About eight years ago, there was a move to focus on all restaurants in Little Rock.”

This year’s event will honor UA Little Rock alumnus and serial entrepreneur R.J. Martino, who pursued his computer science, business finance

and law degrees at the university and went on to found iProv, a digital marketing firm. He also attended the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College in New Hampshire and was recognized as an emerging leader by the late Mary Good, a tech pioneer in Arkansas and founding dean of UA Little Rock’s Donaghey College of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics.

His other ventures include Martino Financial Group, Martino Law Firm and U.S. Rail & Logistics, and Martino led technology initiatives for former Lt. Gov. Winthrop Paul Rockefeller and former Gov. Mike Beebe. He has been featured by Entrepreneur magazine and Inc.

“It’s truly humbling to be recognized by UA Little Rock, a place that played such an important role in my life,” Martino said in a statement. “The mentorship, education and opportunities I found here shaped who I am today. This honor is a reminder of how far we can go when supported by a strong community, and I’m deeply grateful to give back to the university that has given me so much.”

He attributed his success to the strong teams, empowered leaders and culture of innovation cultivated at UA Little Rock.

Smith said the choice to honor Martino was an easy one, citing his entrepreneurial spirit and dedication to the community.

“His unwavering commitment to giving back, exemplified by his work on the Centennial Campaign Cabinet, ensures future generations of students can access the opportunities that shaped his own success,” she said. “We are proud to celebrate R.J.’s remarkable journey, his contributions to our university and his enduring impact on Arkansas and beyond.”

Martino also is a member of the UA Little Rock Centennial Campaign Cabinet. The Centennial Campaign, publicly launched in 2022, aims to raise $250 million for scholarships, student support, campus improvements and program excellence.

Stephanie Caruthers

Taste of Little Rock will entail the floor of the Stephens center being filled with tables surrounded by vendors ready to serve.

“The restaurants outline the perimeter of the main court of the Jack Stephens Center,” Smith said, “so you just come, and it’s like a big food

Taste of Little Rock raises money for scholarships while providing a night of fun times and great grub.

party. There are food stations all around, and you get to pick your favorites.”

Another UA Little Rock alum, Jonathan Nunn, will provide the music through his company, Klassik Entertainment. He is also a member of the UA Little Rock alumni board.

“Every year, we exceed expectations,” said event co-chair and alumnus Loris Fullerton of All About Travel in Little Rock. “The university can be proud of this event. There is enough support for all the schools in Arkansas. It’s great to see the love from our alumni to support the school.

“You won’t leave hungry or thirsty. That’s the motto for this event — you won’t leave hungry or thirsty.”

Presenting sponsors for the 2025 event are Pepsi, Regions Bank and iProv. For more information about sponsorships or tickets, contact the UA Little Rock Alumni Association at 501-916-6438 or alumni@ualr.edu.

When you walk into the Robinson Nursing & Rehabilitation Center you will feel a comfortable atmosphere different from any other facility you have visited. We feature tall ceilings and an open floor plan. We have a lovely dining room and a covered outdoor patio area.

When you walk into the Robinson Nursing & Rehabilitation Center you will feel a comfortable atmosphere different from any other facility you have visited. We feature tall ceilings and an open floor plan. We have a lovely dining room and a covered outdoor patio area.

We specialize in short-term rehabilitation and long-term care services. The short-term rehabilitation area has its own dining area and day room. From the moment you enter our facility, we want you to experience the difference our facility has to offer. From our light-filled day areas to our beautiful outdoor areas, we want you and your loved one to feel comfortable and safe when staying with us. You will also notice the pride we take in our facility by keeping our building sparkling clean from the inside out.

We specialize in short-term rehabilitation and long-term care services. The short-term rehabilitation area has its own dining area and day room. From the moment you enter our facility, we want you to experience the difference our facility has to offer. From our light-filled day areas to our beautiful outdoor areas, we want you and your loved one to feel comfortable and safe when staying with us. You will also notice the pride we take in our facility by keeping our building sparkling clean from the inside out.

Our team is dedicated to providing a safe and comfortable environment. Robinson Nursing and Rehab offers modern conveniences in a gracious setting. We provide daily planned activities led by certified activity directors, like social events and outings and pastoral services with spiritual care for all religions. We strongly encourage family participation in group activities, meals and celebrating family birthdays and special days.

Our team is dedicated to providing a safe and comfortable environment. Robinson Nursing and Rehab offers modern conveniences in a gracious setting. We provide daily planned activities led by Certified Activity Directors, like social events and outings and pastoral services with spiritual care for all religions. We strongly encourage family participation in group activities, meals and celebrating family birthdays and special days.

To help you plan your visits, we provide a monthly event calendar and a monthly meal planner. Robinson Nursing and Rehab does not have set visiting hours. We view this facility as the “home” of each resident.

To help you plan your visits, we provide a monthly event calendar and a monthly meal planner. Robinson Nursing and Rehab does not have set visiting hours. We view this facility as the “home” of each resident.

We try our best to communicate with patients and families to help alleviate the anxiety that accompanies this journey. Our team of nurses, therapists and support staff work closely together to develop a plan based on the individual needs of each person. We recognize that rehabilitation involves not only the patient but the entire family.

We try our best to communicate with patients and families to help alleviate the anxiety that accompanies this journey. Our team of nurses, therapists and support staff work closely together to develop a plan based on the individual needs of each person. We recognize that rehabilitation involves not only the patient, but the entire family.

Murder Mystery

the Benton County

There were three — three souls whose journey home was not yet complete. Their bodies had been found — beaten, burned and shot — but for decades, all attempts to identify them had defied the authorities. Often referred to as the Benton County Three, comprised of John Doe, Lake Man and Bone Woman, the case represents a remarkable effort by law enforcement to return their identities back to them.

The Benton County Sheriff’s Office has no cold case unit, but it has Lt. Hunter Petray, a man who does not like his puzzles unsolved. In 2016, Petray began a review of the cases, one that proved to be timely. The new methodology of genetic genealogy debuted with the 2018 capture of the infamous Golden State Killer, Joseph James DeAngelo, something to which Petray was paying close attention. Maybe, just maybe, he could restart some justice closer to home.

In May 1990, a Maysville man out mushroom hunting found some burned human bones up against an elm tree. Despite the killer’s intent, the story the bones had to tell was not silenced. Death was by a 12-gauge shotgun blast delivered 3 to 5 feet away to the left side of the victim’s face. The damage was such that no composite, no facial reconstruction was ever possible.

Gasoline poured over the body had created a fire of such fury that even now, charred bark scars the surrounding trees. Incredibly, the ashes gave up a small remnant of women’s underwear, though not conclusive evidence of the victim’s sex. Instead, an anthropologist made the call, since the structure of a female hip bone differs from that of a male, thus Bone Woman.

By 2021, the privately funded Texas lab Othram was proving that its cutting-edge technology could get results even in the most challenging of cases. Thus the bones of Bone Woman, Lake Man and John Doe made a trip south, a trip that would return them to their real names.

3

By SARAH RUSSELL

BONE WOMAN

From the burned bones, Othram was able to extract DNA, which led to a familial match, and genealogists began the search to provide the identity of a living relative. A restless Petray decided to accelerate the process. In an obituary, he found a name of a living relative of the deceased, a name he was sure he had seen before. There, in the Bone Woman’s file, was the name Donna Sue Helton. Many years before, a woman who had been cold calling law enforcement agencies had left the name as she sought help in locating her missing 28-year-old daughter.

Helton was a pretty, sweet-looking kid who did not have much of an anchor growing up. As she grew older, her life began to drift her over to the wrong side of the street. That was the territory of George Alan Bruton, a man with a lengthy rap sheet headlined by his time on the FBI’s Ten Most Wanted Fugitives list. He was the man who became Helton’s lover and her killer.

In 1988, Bruton was freed from his latest incarceration but not from FBI surveillance. Through his connections to the Kansas City Mafia, Bruton was now a high-level player in a multistate drug ring. Helton and Bruton met that year and, for a time, were inseparable — that is, until 1989, when suddenly, Bruton was always seen solo.

Agents spotted him disposing of several large trash bags in an apartment dumpster. The contents of those bags turned out to be all of Helton’s belongings. That was followed by discovery of her abandoned car in a location associated with Bruton.

By the next year, drug charges had put Bruton back in the big house. Sentenced to life in prison, he told a cellmate he had killed a woman named Donna. The FBI took him at his word, searching land Bruton owned in Ozark County, Missouri. They ultimately discovered Bruton had chosen the less-obvious Maysville, just 150 miles south of his property. Remote, yes, but an area the couple were known to pass through on drug runs.

Bruton died behind bars, and his motive remains unknown, but people who kept his company often know too much. Had Bruton simply become paranoid, or was it possible that Helton contacted or had been contacted by the FBI? It is interesting to note that despite the DNA evidence, her sister firmly insisted to Petray that Helton had not been killed but was in the Witness Protection Program.

LAKE MAN

In 1996, a fisherman at Beaver Lake spotted a floating sleeping bag. Found in the area of Railroad Cut, south of Monte Ne, the bag was not empty. Cocooned inside was the body of a man whose cause of death was determined to be blunt force trauma, possibly inflicted by a hammer. A composite and a facial reconstruction were made, but there was no public response. He became Lake Man.

Despite the decomposition damage from the water, Othram was able to extract DNA from Lake Man’s back molar. Once again, an obituary offered up a bread crumb. Petray began tracking the gossamer-thin lead, working every strand through dead ends and wrong turns until he located the father of John Douglas Rollins Jr., 31.

Rollins had been released from an Oklahoma prison, and his father was attempting to help him turn things around, moving him into his Springdale home and getting him a trucking job. However, suspicions were that Rollins might not have left the drug scene or his ex-wife in Oklahoma totally behind. One day, his father came home to an empty house. His son was never to return except in the case file pages in Petry’s hands.

JOHN DOE

A 33-year-old Colorado native, Fred James “Jamie” Grow, was heading home to visit family before taking a detour to infamy as John Doe. In June 1981, 10 days after he left Fayetteville, his skeleton was found in Garfield, just 30 miles away. It was death by three shots to the head from a .22 caliber weapon.

As per protocol, the state crime lab was to be the guardian of such remains, but it was soon discovered Grow was not there. Petray literally had to go digging for him; employees at Walmart corporate headquarters must have been astonished to see a casket going in the reverse direction at the adjoining Bentonville Cemetery.

That aside, the effort was successful, giving the collaboration among Petray, Othram, and numerous state and Benton County officials a remarkable achievement — one agency positively identifying three unknown victims.

It is not over for Petray though. He is on to

A happy, easy-going guy, Grow worked at a co-op in Fayetteville. He was last seen pulling out of the parking lot there. He was not alone; two women had asked him for a ride to Oregon, women who he had agreed to take as far as Kansas City, Missouri. Co-op employees knew the two to be trouble, since they had previously stolen merchandise and written a hot check. The duo had left Arizona to live at an all-female commune in Newton County, but their attitude found no peace and love there either. They were, as Petray described them, “militant.”

Grow never made it across the state line, but it is a pretty sure bet that his van and his wallet, which contained several thousand dollars, did. Notably, his watch was left at the crime scene.

For years, Grow’s mother traveled to multiple states, contacting law enforcement and leaving behind hand-drawn pictures of his 1965 Ford Econoline camper van. Despite the fact that the van had unique elements to it, there had never been any reported sightings of it, nor had there been a paper trail documenting registration or insurance since 1981.

Getting the victim’s DNA to Othram would prove tricky.

BENTON COUNTY

his next set of puzzles, the murder investigations of Grow and Rollins. His progress has been solid, but input by the public could put these cases in front of a jury sooner. Those with any information — general or specific — about either man or the events surrounding their murders are encouraged to email hunter.petray@bentoncountyar.gov or contact the Benton County Sheriff’s Office at 479-271-1009.

Othram has made more collaborations possible with its crowd-funding site, dnasolves.com. Law enforcement can submit cases to be financed, but there are many other Does whose identity is denied due to budget restraints. Just recently funded was a Poinsett County case of a John Doe found in 2021 in Marked Tree. He will join the three other souls who have made their way home due to the determination and good hearts of those who refused to let them be forgotten.

Briar wood Nursing and Rehab is a 120-bed skilled facility located in an urban setting within the heart of Little Rock, in the neighborhood of Briarwood. We are located just minutes from downtown Little Rock and are only one block off interstate 630.

We provide long-term care and short-term rehab care. All residents are monitored throughout the day with assistance in providing daily care as is needed: bathing, dressing, feeding and providing medications. Briarwood staff also work at ensuring the best care for residents through individual care plans of residents' needs, as well as daily activities, which allow for a variety of interests and abilities.

Nearly all - 98 percent - of our rehab residents return to the community as a result of positive, caring therapists. Briarwood's approach has provided healing to many people in the community.

At Briarwood Nursing and Rehabilitation Center, we are committed to ensuring that the best possible care is given to you or your loved one in an atmosphere that is calm, quiet and focused on healing. We endeavor to ensure that all aspects of your well-being — mental, physical and spiritual — are cared for in a peaceful and safe environment. Our staff strive to promote dignity, respect, and independence as much as possible, in a beautiful, soothing enviornment that was designed with our residents' comfort in mind.

Briarwood's service-rich environment is made possible by its dedicated staff, from our nursing staff and therapists, to our operations and administrative employees. At Briarwood, our residents enjoy three generations of staff and families. That is over 30 years of service to the community!

SHERWOOD

We are devoted to providing high quality care which celebrates the dignity and grace of every person who enters our facility.

At Sherwood Nursing and Rehab we are committed to providing the highest quality of patient care. Our qualified staff is here giving support for the tasks of day-to-day living, allowing for the enjoyment of more pleasant and carefree activities.

We specialize in Short-Term Rehabilitation and Long-Term Care services. 245 Indian Bay Drive Sherwood, AR

Phone: 501.834.9960 Fax: 501.834.5644

Federal Express

By Joe David Rice

Iam no authority on linguistics (or much of anything else, for that matter), but it seems to me a company has truly arrived when its name becomes a commonly accepted verb. Xerox is a classic example, and now Google has joined those esteemed ranks. Then, of course, there’s FedEx. Millions of us have FedExed items to ensure they got to their destinations “absolutely, positively overnight.”

Why, some readers might ask, does an essay on Federal Express appear in an Arkansas-oriented publication? The company is not headquartered in the state, but that is the point. It could have been.

Born about 60 miles south of Memphis in Marks, Mississippi, Federal Express founder Fred Smith came from a privileged background. His father, who died when Smith was only 4, established the Smith Motor Coach Co. (later bought by Greyhound Lines) and also the Toddle House restaurant chain. Smith attended Memphis University School, a prestigious college prep school dating from 1893, before enrolling at Yale University in Connecticut.

At Yale, Smith was a moderately successful student, earning a bachelor’s degree in economics in 1966, but he did not get much encouragement from Professor Challis A. Hall Jr. when he first broached the idea of an overnight delivery service. With red pen in hand, the ivory-tower-dwelling academic gave Smith a C on the now-famous 1965 term paper in Economics 43A, which outlined Smith’s ambitious strategy, and noted that Smith’s concept was improbable.

rofitted to handle cargo — but only after a protracted battle with regulators at the Civil Aeronautics Board.

Meanwhile, the Little Rock business community had its reservations. Stephens, the large and local bond house, declined to help finance Smith’s venture, feeling it was too risky. When he approached the Little Rock Municipal Airport Commission, asking for runway improvements and a warehouse facility where packages could be sorted, the commissioners turned him down. Although Smith had two independently produced consulting studies which showed his idea feasible, the city’s decision-makers were not impressed.

Frustrated and stymied by Little Rock’s leadership, Fred Smith then took his bold plan 130 miles east, where the Memphis airport board eagerly endorsed his vision, committing acres of ramps and empty hangers to the youthful entrepreneur. Not only that; the group agreed to construct a state-of-the art sorting facility. Smith relocated his dream across the Mississippi River to Tennessee — a move which, according to a writer in Governing magazine, “was the single most important economic development decision made in any major U.S. city in the past 30 years.”

Following his graduation from Yale, Smith served two tours of duty in Vietnam with the Marines, bringing home the Silver Star, Bronze Star, two Purple Hearts and a good deal of firsthand logistical experience. After receiving an honorable discharge from the Corps, Smith settled in Little Rock in 1969 — where his mother and stepfather lived — and bought controlling interest in Ark Aviation Sales, an aircraft maintenance outfit located at the city’s Adams Field.

Frustrated by chronic delays in getting parts, Smith resurrected his proposal to organize a quick-response air delivery service, incorporating Federal Express on June 18, 1971. He was 27 at the time. Using trustfund money left by his father combined with substantial bank loans, Smith bought several corporate jets at bargain prices and had them ret-

The company’s start was not what one would describe as auspicious. On the first day of operations — April 17, 1973 — its 389 employees and 14 Dassault Falcon jets delivered a total of 186 packages, but within three years, Federal Express turned a profit, and the rest, as they say, is history.

Today, FedEx is a fully integrated international transportation company with annual revenue in excess of $40 billion. The company’s fleet of 634 planes dwarfs the air forces of most countries. Of the 290,000 members on the FedEx team, approximately 11,000 work at the “superhub” which covers nearly 900 acres at the Memphis International Airport. The amazingly efficient operation, with 42 miles of conveyor belts, handles more than 1.5 million packages daily. More than 10,000 FedEx arrivals and departures are recorded at the Memphis airport every month.

That is roughly 350 FedEx flights nightly, almost every one of them occurring between 10 p.m. and 4 a.m.. In other words, that is a landing or takeoff nearly every minute for six consecutive hours, seven nights a week, 52 weeks a year. For light sleepers in central Arkansas, maybe the skepticism of its civic leaders decades ago was not such a bad thing.

Joe David Rice, former tourism director of the Arkansas Department of Parks, Heritage and Tourism, wrote Arkansas Backstories, a delightful book of short stories from A through Z that introduces readers to the state’s lesser-known aspects. Rice’s goal is to help readers acknowledge that Arkansas is a unique and fascinating combination of land and people — a story to be proud of and one certainly worth sharing.

Each month, AY About You will share one of the 165 distinctive essays. We hope these stories will give readers a new appreciation for this geographically compact but delightfully complex place we call home. These Arkansas Backstories columns appear courtesy of the Butler Center for Arkansas Studies at the Central Arkansas Library System. The essays have been collected and published by Butler Center Books in a two-volume set, both of which are now available to purchase on Amazon and at the University of Arkansas Press.

We hope everyone who comes through our doors feels heard and valued. A place you leave feeling like the absolute best version of yourself.

and Kassie Robertson, APRN

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