Mark your calendars! The OZ CX Festival is set to feature the 2022 UCI Cyclo-cross World Cup the weekend of Oct 14-16. 

• Global party: The event is expected to draw cyclists from more than 25 countries around the world, solidifying Arkansas’ reputation as an international destination for cycling sports. 
• Local purpose: Featuring food trucks, music, and activities for guests of all ages, the festival will raise funds for Arkansas Children’s Northwest, highlighting the hospital's efforts to provide local access to specialized medical care for the children of NWA. 

Read the story from Arkansas Outside HERE

The explosive growth of Northwest Arkansas over the past decade has brought unique challenges to the area, and the NWA Council is strategizing ways to help the region tackle what some have called its “crisis of success.” 

• Explosive growth: Northwest Arkansas has been ranked No. 4 in the nation for population growth, No. 3 in the nation for job growth, and No. 2 in the nation for pay growth.
• The playbook: The Council's five-year strategy outlines goals and objectives to bolster innovation and entrepreneurship, increase access to healthcare, maintain housing affordability, and remain diligent in its efforts to create a welcoming and inclusive community that develops, attracts, and retains diverse talent. 

Read the NWA Council's Regional Strategy HERE. 

Last week, the Fayetteville Arts Council took a look at early concepts for a seven-story, 170-room hotel proposed for downtown. 

• Ramble on: The proposed hotel would sit at the south end of the civic plaza of the Ramble, the ongoing cultural arts corridor project. The civic plaza is set to replace the 290-space parking lot that currently sits west of the Walton Arts Center. 
• Locally inspired: Fayetteville architect, Rob Sharp, is heading up the hotel’s design and intends for the building to resemble the modern look of neighboring buildings like TheatreSquared, the Walton Arts Center, and the Fayetteville Public Library while maintaining the historic railroad and manufacturing look of Dickson Street. 

Learn more about the hotel project HERE. 

Among several other Arkansas-based organizations, five Northwest Arkansas organizations received a Telly Award, honoring excellence in video and television across all screens.

• Golden shot: Downtown Bentonville Inc. was the only Northwest Arkansas organization recognized with the Gold award, the highest tier for Tellys, for DWTN Media's production of the Lighting of the Square. DBI also received the bronze award for DWTN Now's "Fly Oz".
• Awards galore: Other winning organizations in Northwest Arkansas were the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville Public Television, Ozark Film and Video, and the City of Fayetteville.

If you'd like to take a deeper dive, you can see the full article HERE.

Northwest Arkansas couple Ashley Gibbs and Ryan Sheedy recently launched a medical app called Mejo that helps parents and caregivers simplify and organize children's medical and care information.

• From the heart: Gibbs and Sheedy have three young boys, one with a rare medical condition. Through this, they realized there really wasn't a good way to track and report medical information for children, so they developed the app at first just to solve this problem for their family.
• Making moves: After bootstrapping the app's development, Sheedy has now been joined by another co-founder, Bret Koncak, Mejo has taken on angel investors, and the Company is looking to raise a pre-seed round of funding.

Read the full story HERE.