A New American Town - Bentonville, Arkansas
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A New American Town - Bentonville, Arkansas
Gift Buying Guide to Northwest Arkansas with Author Connie Cottingham
Hear Connie Cottingham, the author of A Hundred Things to Do in Bentonville and Rogers Before You Die, share her tips and holiday shopping secrets!
With years of experience promoting destinations, Connie brings a wealth of knowledge and passion for local tourism, offering listeners an insider's view of the charm of Northwest Arkansas. We explore unique offerings of gift shops that boast diverse collections of jewelry, crafts, and books capturing the rich history and culture of the region. From the Peel Mansion to the Museum of Native American History, discover the local spots Connie loves and why they should be on your list too.
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Welcome to A New American Town presented by Visit Bentonville. I'm your host, Beth Bobbitt, broadcasting from Haxton Road Studio, and today we're excited to speak with Connie Cottingham, a regional expert, author of the recent book A Hundred Things to Do in Bentonville and Rogers Before you Die. I love this sense of urgency with the title. It's awesome, Connie. Welcome to the podcast. Thank you so much for having me. Yes, of course, and let's start by telling our listeners a little bit about you, your background, how long you've been in Northwest Arkansas.
Connie Cottingham:I came to Northwest Arkansas as an infant and went to school in Rogers, went to college at U of A and moved away, came back, moved away, came back, and the last time I came back was about two years ago when. I moved to Pea Ridge.
Beth Bobbitt:Okay, where did you move from this last time?
Connie Cottingham:In Athens, Georgia, okay.
Beth Bobbitt:Okay, so you stayed around in the South a little bit.
Connie Cottingham:Always in the South.
Beth Bobbitt:So it was New.
Connie Cottingham:Orleans, then Athens.
Beth Bobbitt:Yes, well, I'm also a Mountie. I went to school in Rogers, oh okay, so it's nice to connect. So talk about what transpired for you to write this book. A Hundred Things. What led you to this moment?
Connie Cottingham:Well, I've been a garden writer for decades and I've worked for Parks and Recreation in Little Rock. I've worked for the State Recreation in Little Rock. I've worked for the State Botanical Garden of Georgia and I really know the feeling of having a wonderful place that you want people to visit and trying to bring people to a destination.
Beth Bobbitt:So when I retired, my writing switched to garden travel writing and trying to be a matchmaker between people and places to see it's a win-win situation and I saw that you yourself are a master gardener, and so that helps to have that hat I'm yes, and it's a great Master Gardener group here in Northwest Arkansas. And so what did you do before you retired?
Connie Cottingham:I spent 16 years with the State Botanical Garden of Georgia, so I did events and publicized the events, worked with the Board of Advisors advisors and it's a fantastic job.
Beth Bobbitt:Yeah, yeah, it's so fun to get to promote those amenities, I know. Okay. So we're here today to talk about holiday shopping in Northwest Arkansas for one, and I'd love to hear your thoughts on. I'd love to hear your thoughts on. You know, unique local ideas, places to find gifts.
Connie Cottingham:What is your strategy? There's five categories in this book and one is shopping and fashion, and there's some amazing places to shop, but one place that really comes to mind for shopping for the holidays is any museum gift shop. We are so rich in museums here and their gift shops are. They have their own personalities, just like the museums do. So we have so many museums around and in Bentonville many of them have gift shops right by the front door, right by free parking. No real horrible crowd to deal with when you're doing your shopping.
Connie Cottingham:It's, yeah, an absolute win.
Beth Bobbitt:So let's talk about some of those um Peel Mansion, Crystal Bridges. Of course, the Momentary Thaiden Field Museum of Native American History, 21c Amazium are just a few. Anything else.
Connie Cottingham:Those are pretty much the main ones that come to mind. They're each very, very strong personalities. I've gone to five of them in the past couple of days just to kind of refresh my memory and make sure I'm remembering them right. And oh, I will definitely go back for Christmas shopping. Three I went to this morning.
Connie Cottingham:One was one of my favorites now because it's carrying my book for me, and that's the Museum of Native American History and they are very strong in jewelry, in crafts that are made by Native Americans, and their book section is rich in the history and the culture. It's a fantastic place to read. Look at books that you don't see in a lot of places and if you browse history books and books like that, that is very rich in there. If you like, like art books, the momentary is wonderful. So is crystal bridges, yeah, and they have like everything from the children's books to to teach children about music and art and things like that, and they have the big coffee table books that you just want to pour yourself a cup of coffee and just sink into.
Beth Bobbitt:Yes, and I personally love going to either Crystal Bridges or the Momentary for their kids section. You can find just the most unique stocking stuffers and books and gidgets and toys and paint sets. You know, it's just, it's different, it's unique. I think that for kids especially, you know, amazium is also just the most creative selection of kids' gifts.
Connie Cottingham:Amazium has fantastic books too, Very STEAM-oriented type toys, Wonderful for small, small children to older children, and the thing is that all of these really cater to children with several different interests, Like at the Momentary. They had a book on Beyonce, Dolly Parton and another book on Joni Mitchell. I mean that pretty much runs a broad range of music.
Connie Cottingham:Right, right, joni Mitchell I mean that pretty much runs a broad range of music, and at the Amazeum you can learn about dinosaurs, or you can learn about art, or you can learn about how science works or how the weather works, and so you can really find books for all type of interests. Right, and, speaking of that too, the Thayden Field House If the interest is airplanes or anything, aviation, they have got such a fun gift shop. So true, my father was the corporate pilot for Daisy BB guns when I was growing up.
Connie Cottingham:So small planes, all the planes in the air above Bentonville make my heart sing. I love them. But the gift shop that they have and the fact that they might have a plane on exhibit as you're walking to, the gift shop is just a fun experience.
Beth Bobbitt:Yeah, I love that. And you know even things that I don't typically think about as gifts. Memberships makes great gifts for you know, not necessarily kids, but adults in your life, I think.
Connie Cottingham:Family membership would be a fantastic gift and it is an indulgence for a lot of families. And the membership like you can get if you have a Crystal Bridges membership, you can get into their special exhibits. You can bring someone with you for one of them. You can find out what's going on and some of the classes available and all and that's true with all the museums. The membership gives you much more than just walking in the door.
Beth Bobbitt:Yeah, my family and I just had our fall photos done at Crystal Bridges, and that's part of being a member. It's a perk. You get family photos once or twice a year, and so that pays for the membership costs right there. That's wonderful, yes.
Connie Cottingham:And plus you get discounts at those gift shops often.
Beth Bobbitt:True, yes, yes. What other holiday shopping ideas are there locally that we haven't covered?
Connie Cottingham:Well, I did want to talk about the Peel Mansion at the Peel Museum.
Connie Cottingham:I'm sorry, when I was growing up we called it the Peel Mansion and actually I got married there. Oh special. But their gift shop has got the War Eagle Mill foods, the House of Webster foods, a lot of oh Markham Fitz chocolates and they really cater with local products. So if you want to get a gift basket together, that would be a fantastic place. Their gift shop is like a few feet from free parking. You can just run in and check it out.
Beth Bobbitt:I love that you're always thinking of parking. We have to have things that are convenient, but you know, sometimes online shopping just doesn't yield the results and doesn't feel as personalized, and so these are great ideas. Well, what are you working on now that you'd like to share Any new projects?
Connie Cottingham:Well, today I'm finishing editing something for the Northwest Arkansas Visitor's Guide Okay, and I am working. Next week I have a deadline for a garden travel article. This will be my second one for the American Horticulture Society's magazine. So I did Madison, wisconsin, that was published this summer, and then I'll be doing Athens, georgia next. So it's fun to keep the freelance writing going as well as promote the book.
Beth Bobbitt:Yes, I love that this is retirement for you.
Connie Cottingham:Yes, still very busy. The book events are fun too, yeah.
Beth Bobbitt:So when did this book come out? The Hundred Things.
Connie Cottingham:The first of September, yeah, so when did this?
Beth Bobbitt:book come out the hundred things the first of September. Okay, so it is available in stores and online.
Connie Cottingham:It is, yes. So your basic online and outlets Barnes and Noble. Amazon and I have a website and then also Barnes Noble here, two friends' books, Bentonville Provisions. I just saw it in the Museum of Native American History, so we're getting it out more and more. It's in the hospital gift shop too, which, with the title, I'm really impressed that they're doing that Well.
Beth Bobbitt:I think it's very fun. I mean's light, and I can't wait to read it. Lots of good ideas in there.
Connie Cottingham:Well, nobody paid to get into it, so I got to choose what to write about, and so some things are, and I got to choose combinations where they wouldn't have gone together.
Beth Bobbitt:Right.
Connie Cottingham:So I have one on just museum gift shops. I have one on ideas to volunteer. The Benton County Master Gardener plant sale here in Bentonville is a fantastic plant sale, so things that you wouldn't go out and sell an ad for necessarily will end up in the book, and it's a page of writing, about 150 words on each thing, so I can get a little chatty about it.
Beth Bobbitt:Yeah, well, it's amazing and I'm even thinking, you know, as the area grows and expands. Perhaps there's a version two or version three.
Connie Cottingham:We need to sell books so I can get on to the second edition, version three. We need to sell books so I can get on to the second edition. That's right.
Beth Bobbitt:That's right. Well, I think that will happen for you. So we ask all of our participants what a dream day in Bentonville looks like for you, and I'd love to hear you know, from morning until evening, what you would do, where you would go.
Connie Cottingham:Well, I work from home, so I really have made a conscious effort to go out and explore one afternoon. So I'll take my sketchbook and I'll go explore something new or something I haven't seen in a while, and once a week is a good period of time to do that in this area. One of my favorite areas in Bentonville actually is Osage Park. I'm a member at the Quiver and I've got friends who want to check it out too. They have the dog park, they have the pickleball courts, they have nature areas, they have archery yeah, nice level areas that you can walk around Again, the plains overhead, which I love, and the playground. But also Louise is one of my favorite restaurants because I love planes, yes and um going into Thayden Field and they have a great exhibit about Louise.
Beth Bobbitt:Thayden who's?
Connie Cottingham:like a shero, yes and um. So that's one area I like. One thing I like about Bentonville is that you can park your car and then just leave it for hours and and downtown there's, I mean I can often park in, like at the Bentonville Museum or the library and walk all the way to downtown and then take the art trail and end up at Crystal Bridges, and if it's a beautiful day, I would just leave the car or park at 8th Street Market.
Beth Bobbitt:enjoy the wonderful shops and restaurants there, which another great idea for holiday shopping.
Connie Cottingham:Coffee shops in the area. Bentonville Provisions is there Also. It's the Visit Bentonville office. The Bentonville Tourism office is there and people don't realize what a wealth of information that is. If you want to discover the area, the person behind the desk wants you to have fun.
Beth Bobbitt:Knows everything.
Connie Cottingham:And you give them clues to what you like and they will point you in the right direction.
Beth Bobbitt:That's right. Well, you have done that today. I appreciate all of your recommendations and can't wait to check out your book. You have a website. We can go on to find more information.
Connie Cottingham:Going right to this page would be wwwconniecottinghamcom.
Beth Bobbitt:And you also have some blog posts that are fascinating.
Connie Cottingham:Yes, it's. And the hashtag, well, it's at 100 things, Bentonville Rogers, the number 100.
Beth Bobbitt:So check out the book, get to know Connie, and, yeah, I think it's time to start thinking about holiday shopping. So best of luck to everyone and thank you for coming on the podcast today, Connie. Thank you and don't forget Visit Bentonville is here to help you navigate things to do, where to eat and stay and what's going on in our new American town. Give us a follow on social media, sign up for the newsletter and check out the website at visitbentonvillecom. Thanks for listening.