Northwest Arkansas has four “major” cities strung out along interstate 49, Fayetteville, Springdale, Bentonville, and Rogers. There are also a lot of smaller cities/towns in the area. All together the population is over 400,000 and growing. Each city/town, large or small, has its own character. In addition you have Eureka Springs off to the east that has its own special character. Can’t ignore Eureka Springs.
This immediate area is home to three fortune 500 companies,
Walmart, JB Hunt, and Tyson. The Poultry Science section of the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville is one of the top three poultry science colleges in the US thanks to Tyson sponsorship. I’m sure you’ll find Dr. Clarke and the other members of the poultry science department to be interesting people and up on their profession. Thanks to the sponsorship of all three plus a lot of other thriving businesses, partly in support of their headquarters, we have a world class art museum (Chrystal Bridges), the Walton Art Center that has touring Broadway plays (this season’s Broadway program is six different plays) plus a lot of other entertainment. Theater Squared is a nationally recognized black box theater with its own season package. The AMP (Arkansas Music Pavilion) brings in a lot of really interesting artists. You can do a search on these to see what plays and concerts are offered.
We do not have any real professional sports other than a 2A baseball team but the University of Arkansas (plus other smaller colleges around) can provide quite a bit on the sports side. The University also puts on student plays plus they bring in a lot of speakers where you can see a lot of different topics if you care to. Mainly due to the University Fayetteville is considered more “progressive” if you will while some of the other areas are very “conservative” in thinking. If you look you can find about what you want.
There is a nice trail system throughout the area with plenty of hiking opportunities. We are in the Ozarks. The geology of the region is very interesting and you can see some really pretty scenery. If you want isolation you can find that.
Due mainly to the University and the three fortune 500 companies we did not suffer as much as many parts of the country due to the recent recession. We were affected but we are not seeing as much recovery as some because we don’t have as much to recover from. We are more stable. Other parts of the state were hit pretty hard and some are still pretty slow to recover.
Our airport, XNA, is fairly expensive to fly in and out of. That can be a drawback but in general the cost of living here is really reasonable.
If you come in with an attitude that we are a bunch of hicks, yeah, you’ll have problems. If you come in with an attitude of looking around and trying to find what you want, you’ll probably enjoy your time here. If you look you can find a lot here, but your attitude will determine how much you enjoy the area. With our population in the area you can find a lot of things here but we are not the big city.
I wish you luck!