The long wait is over, Bentonville. Azul Tequila is finally open on the square! 

• Doors are open: The new location is the Azul Tequila Bistro at 111 N Main St in Bentonville and is open the regular hours of 11-9p Sunday-Thursday and 11-10p Friday and Saturday. The bistro is now serving your favorite authentic Mexican dishes in yet another quaint space.
• Inside: With blue, crystal-like hanging lights, brick walls, and mosaic floors, the interior portrays the culture and coziness of the owner’s family and invites you in. Give it a try, and let us know what you think!

Learn more HERE. 

The Shiloh Museum of Ozark History has a new interactive exhibit that showcases historical photos, demonstrations of how the museum preserves its images digitally, and how visitors can digitize their own. 

• Keeping history: The exhibit, “Digi Know?”, illustrates a time when photos were precious possessions that were often time-consuming to create, fragile, and could be lost forever if not taken care of -- unlike today. Visitors will be able to interact with photos from different eras in the exhibit and practice digitizing their own!
• Looking back: "Digi Know?" showcases the technical side of preservation and features digitally enlarged prints of 6x9-centimeter negatives and 2.5x3-inch daguerreotypes. The Shiloh Museum has a photo collection of more than 500,000 images dating back as far as the 1840s and is in the process of digitizing them all.

For more information, click HERE. 

The Office of Community Health & Research at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences recently relocated from Fayetteville to a new facility in Springdale, enabling more involvement and relationships with the wider Northwest Arkansas community.

• For growth and connection: The new location is at 2708 S. 48th St. in Springdale and is a 28,000 sq. ft building, perfect for the growing team of over 150 members. The Springdale location puts the office near many current partner organizations, as well, and will allow for more opportunities to collaborate with and serve others. 
• Over time: The Office of Community Health & Research was founded ten years ago “to reduce health disparities and increase access to chronic disease prevention and management services in Northwest Arkansas.” Today, the office has implemented more than 75 community-engaged projects across the nation to reduce health disparities. 

Learn more HERE. 

According to the latest Talk Business & Politics Tourism Ticker report, Northwest Arkansas's tourism sector continues to improve.

• Still booming: The report for January-February of this year shows that Benton and Washington county's collective tourism tax collections, comprised of the hospitality tax, prepared food tax, and hotel tax collections, were up $475,383 from the same period last year. 
• Up and up: The big four collected a combined $1,801,639 in tourism taxes, each city exceeding a 20% positive change rate from last year. Monthly employment rates in Northwest Arkansas were up as well — 7.6% compared to 2021. 

See the full report HERE. 

The Diamond Hogs' regular season ended over the weekend with a tough loss to Alabama, 18-5, capping off the weekend series loss. Even Coach had “not much to say on that.” But not to worry, the boys aren’t done yet. 

• Win some, lose some: Arkansas finished second in the SEC West behind No. 6 Texas A&M, and it’s the first time in five years that the Razorbacks have not won any part of the division title. However, the Hogs have won 18 or more conference games for the fifth consecutive season. 
• Up to bat: There’s more room to redeem themselves, too. Arkansas will be the No.3 seed at the 2022 SEC Baseball Tournament in Hoover, Alabama, and will open play Wednesday, June 1.

Read more HERE.