What's Up - Your guide to what's happening in Fayetteville, AR this week!
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TOP 10 2 WHAT'S UP! DECEMBER 23-29, 2018 It's a lot more difficult to rank stories as far as their impact on the region than it used to be. With such a smorgasbord of arts and enter- tainment, one man's No. 1 might be another woman's No. 10. So for the top 10 stories of 2018, we took the easy way out. We've numbered the stories from 10 to 1 — but they're just place holders, not rankings. We rolled out the first five last week — listed here — and we hope with the final five you agree that all of these things will continue to change Northwest Arkansas in 2019 — in only the best ways, of course. 10. AMP announces expansion. 9. Shiloh Museum turns 50 beautifully. 8. Music makes NWA more like Austin every minute. 7. The Momentary hires a leader. 6. Theater companies set the stage in new spaces. 5. Cultural Arts Corridor has the potential to radically change the Fayetteville cityscape. 4. TV and film find new footing in Northwest Arkansas. 3. Rogers Historical Museum renovates, opens Hailey Ford Building. 2. Theater companies premier new works, sending others on the road. 1. Bicycles spin into region's top entertainment. Wheels Up Mountain biking takes over Northwest Arkansas CHIP SOUZA NWA Democrat-Gazette A certain two-wheeled apparatus is literally taking over Northwest Arkansas. The mountain biking community of the region has grown impressively over the past three to five years, but in 2018, the sport and its economic and social impacts on the area simply exploded. More than 300 miles of soft-surface, single-track trails crisscross Northwest Arkansas, and double that is being planned. The region has become a trendy destination for bikers, and Andy Williamson, program director for the International Mountain Biking Association, says he is amazed at the development of the trail system — noting that just a few years ago the region was barely a blip on the national radar. Leading mountain bikers came to the association's world summit in 2016 in Bentonville. The summit was the ramp that launched the region into national awareness by the mountain biking realm. Building A Destination How did Northwest Arkansas make that ascent so rapidly? Members of the Walton Family Foundation planted the seeds, which led to cities jumping on board. Large tracts of land with the perfect terrain of hills and drops — like Bella Vista's new Back 40 trail and Bentonville's Coler Mountain Bike Preserve — made ideal places to create trails. The foundation released a report in March revealing more than 90,000 mountain bike tourists visited Northwest Arkansas in the past year, pouring more than $27 million into local businesses. When combined with the more than $21 million locals spent on bicycling goods and events, that makes cycling a pretty important economic factor for the area. "We have these tremendous natural resources in the region, and we want to be able to preserve those natural assets and also ensure that the public has access to them," explains Karen Minkel, the foundation's home region program director, linking the trails to the group's push for green space preservation. While other noted mountain biking destinations offer great soft-surface trails, bikers often have to drive 20-30 miles to reach the trails. That is not the case in Northwest Arkansas, says David Wright, director of Bentonville Parks and Recreation. "You have about a hundred miles of trail available to you from the Bentonville square," he says. "That connectivity is unlike anything else you have anywhere. Here, you have people jumping on their bike in their driveway — their driveway is their trailhead, so to speak — and they are able to hop on our single-track trails and go get a 50-mile ride in without ever having to get in a car." NWA Democrat-Gazette/CHARLIE KAIJO The Jones Center's new Runway Bike Park in Springdale is the largest pump track in North America and hosted the Red Bull Pump Track World Championships in October. TOP 10 CONTINUED See Bikes Page 39