Get to Know our New Host: Jaclyn House

Visit Bentonville kicks off season 7 with an episode dedicated to getting to know our new Host Jaclyn House, the co-host and producer of Good Day NWA on KNWA FOX24. Hear about her favorite spots in Bentonville, Arkansas, from food and drinks to fun family activities at Crystal Bridges Museum and Trike Theatre.  

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Don't forget, Visit Bentonville is here to assist you in finding things to do, where to eat and stay, and find out what's going on in the city.  Visit our website visitbentonville.com and subscribe to our enewsletter here.   

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Transcript

Alison Nation: 0:10

Welcome to A New American Town, a podcast proudly presented by Visit Bentonville. I'm Allison Nation from the Visit Bentonville team, broadcasting from Hxton Road Studios near the Bentonville Square. Thanks for joining us as we share captivating stories and updates from our city, connecting you with the locals that make this town worth visiting. We're kicking off the seventh season of A New American Town with a special edition, an episode dedicated entirely to getting to know our new host for 2024, Jacqueline House.

Jaclyn House: 0:39

Hi, welcome to the podcast, jacqueline, thank you. Thank you, I'm excited.

Alison Nation: 0:46

We are so glad to have you and I'm so excited to have this conversation with you today. We have met a few times, but this is our first opportunity to really get to know each other, so let's jump right in. Introduce yourself please.

Jaclyn House: 0:59

Well, hello Bentonville. My name is Jacqueline House and I am not a native of Arkansas but I do consider myself in Arkansas. I have lived here for over 25 years, originally from the Chicagoland area. I came here for college and never left. I always tell people my mom says you just went to Arkansas. You never came home, you didn't come back, you just went to Arkansas and we never saw you in the city again. I was like sorry, mom, but yeah, lived here, like I said, for over 25 years. I am married to my college sweetheart. His name is Raymond. We have three kiddos. I have one that's about to go off to college which is really wild.

Jaclyn House: 1:38

I'm just trying to wrap my head around that. And then the next one after that goes to college next year.

Jaclyn House: 1:44

They need to take a nice little break because we have an 11-year-old too, so it's fun times in the household. Currently I host Good Day NWA, which I hope that you've heard of Benville. We get to talk about all the fun stuff happening in Northwest Arkansas. So we've been doing that for about this year is our sixth year doing the show and it's been really, really fun. We get to brag on Northwest Arkansas because we understand that we have a really really special place here and so there's so many things happening and so many people doing a lot of great things and a lot of organizations really working hard boots on the ground to make sure that people have things to do and feel welcome, and so we really, really love to be able to have that platform for people to use.

Alison Nation: 2:25

Love that. That's so important to us at Visit Benville as well. So as we're starting to delve into things to do in Benville, places to stay, where to eat, I just really wanted to start with what you recommend about Benville. What are some of your favorite go-to things to do?

Jaclyn House: 2:42

Yes. So I like really kind of chill, low-key places. So the Tower Bar at the momentary really love that. That's actually a really great place to go, especially at night because you get to see Bentonville and it's right there, you know, close to A3 Market, so that's a really fun spot that I like. I love the Hive at 21C. That's really good. I like the Hive because it's like really swanky, it's elevated and I really just like it, especially on a warm day you go eat and you hit the trail that's like right behind it. So that's nice too. I love pasta. So to vola. I recently actually went to Table on Six for brunch Indeed Delicious. I like that too. So several places when I go places you know North West Arkansas, wherever I go, food is really important because I love to eat. So I just want to make sure that you know wherever I go there's good places to eat and luckily here in North West Arkansas we have some great places and Benville has got some really good spots.

Alison Nation: 3:48

Love that. Thanks for sharing. When you go to Crystal Bridges, what's your to-do list? When you're spending time at the museum, eat at 11.

Jaclyn House: 3:58

Love that Very, very good. My family and I love puzzles, and I say my family and I, it's really them, because I'm capturing pictures and videos of them. There is a certain place in the galleries where there's a puzzle of the artwork and we have done that, like we have sat there and that's what we did. That was. Our activity is that we put together the puzzle with the artwork. So that's really, really fun to do, definitely. Got to go to the kids' box. You know I do have a younger one, so you know the puppets and some of the drawings and stuff. We always hit that piece up, also outside, where the kind of big life size checkers and I think there's a lot.

Jaclyn House: 4:46

Yeah, we love that too, especially when it's really really nice outside. And then, of course, going through the galleries. That's really fun to do. And then walking the trails. You got to do it, you got to get on the trails. There's so many things outside to see at Christopher Bridges as well, we love the love sign. Of course my kiddos love all that. I guess they're copper animals that you can find kind of on the trail too. So that's fun to do too when we're there. Love that, Thanks for sharing.

Alison Nation: 5:16

When it comes to sharing with our audiences things to do in Bittenville and places to eat, what do you think are going to be some of your favorite stories to share? And I can I can hint at some of the topics we'll be covering in 2024, such as Fresh Grass 2024. At the momentary, we're going to be exploring some of the exhibitions coming up at 21 C Museum Hotel, possibly chatting with some folks from the airport learning about what's coming for XNA. What else comes to mind for you that you think is exciting to share?

Jaclyn House: 5:51

One thing I think that's really exciting to share is I love the theater scene here in Northwest Arkansas. It's awesome. There's so many shows to see. I mean Benville's home to Tric Theater, which just did a merger with Arkansas Philharmonic Orchestra, so now we're Ovation, we're one kind of organization, but the office you know where the kids take classes is down here, so if you have a budding actor in your home, they can get into theater.

Jaclyn House: 6:22

Also, too, we've got the meteor down here, which is so awesome, such a cool spot and shout out because Benville actually has been a part of a couple of movies and the meteor was a part of that. So I think just a little kind of fun things like that. Like, did you know that the meteor was part of a movie? Or you know the Benville Square, the courthouse, was also a part of a movie. So just a little kind of fun, fun hidden things like that I think are really fun to share with people because you can easily Google, like you know where to eat and we've got some great places. But fun things like that. Like, did you know those?

Alison Nation: 7:01

are fun to share and we should make sure we cover the plays that folks can see when they come to town, presented by Tric Theater, because they do some great productions throughout the year. So, jacqueline, what are you looking forward to as our host?

Jaclyn House: 7:14

So this is great actually, because, of course, I host a show on TV, but this is a great medium as well, because I've been interested in podcasting and how it works and everything and it's really, really fun because I feel like it's a little bit of a more relaxed kind of environment for people. So I'm really looking forward to Meeting people that I have not met yet, because of course, there's so many people here in North West Arkansas, there's so many people doing some awesome things but really looking forward to like maybe even introducing people To Bentonville. We know that the area is very transient. You know people move here all the time, so Hopefully the podcast can really serve as a way for people to navigate their way through Bentonville as they either visit or as they move here and just trying to figure out Kind of what are the spots that are gonna be their go-to spots.

Alison Nation: 8:02

We are so excited to have you here with us.

Jaclyn House: 8:05

Yeah, I'm excited too. I'm excited, I'm excited to, of course, talk to people, because I can do that all day long, like just talking to people and get to know them and Find out. You know what they're up to and you know what they're doing to make our community great, because it's the connections that are really important and that's how we all work together. To make our community great Is that we have to get out there and we have to meet people.

Alison Nation: 8:26

Well, folks, if you're planning a trip to Bentonville this year, our podcast is a great place to get that inside scoop. Jacqueline, thanks so much for joining us for a new season To everyone listening. We hope you have a chance to tune in to our upcoming episodes hosted by Jacqueline. Don't forget, visit Bentonville is here to assist you to find things to do, where to eat and stay and find out what's going on in the city. Give us a follow on social media and check out our website at visit bentonvillecom. Thanks for listening.