Walton-backed Heartland Summit convenes before ‘powerful room’ in Bentonville

Walton-backed Heartland Summit convenes before ‘powerful room’ in Bentonville

Inside the downtown Bentonville event venue Record on Wednesday night (May 11), famed singer/songwriter and entrepreneur Pharrell Williams perhaps summed it best.“This is a very powerful room,” Williams said. “There’s a lot of energy in here tonight.”Williams made the comments before a high-level crowd of approximately 300 policymakers, investors, business and thought leaders and entrepreneurs from across the country who are in Bentonville this week for the Heartland Summit.

Sections Sign in Subscribe New Northwest Arkansas music festival to host more than 50 artists including Beach House, The Flaming Lips

Sections Sign in Subscribe New Northwest Arkansas music festival to host more than 50 artists including Beach House, The Flaming Lips

A new festival is coming to Northwest Arkansas courtesy of a partnership among OZ Brands, Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art and the Momentary.

FORMAT — “For Music + Art + Technology” — is planned to take place Sept. 23-25 on the private Sugar Creek Airstrip, a place with 250 acres of forest-enclosed green land, just six minutes from downtown Bentonville. Tickets will go on sale Friday.

OPINION | REX NELSON: Arkansas’ new era

OPINION | REX NELSON: Arkansas’ new era

Rather than describing us as “the next Austin,” the Walton brothers painted a picture of a place that’s to middle America what Colorado is to the American West–a less crowded state that offers abundant outdoor recreational opportunities, an emphasis on the arts and fine, reasonably priced cuisine. Such a lifestyle not only attracts visitors, it also attracts smart, talented new residents.