25 Great Things About Fort Smith
or as many as Linda can fit in her column!
Happy Birthday to us!
Entertainment Fort Smith magazine celebrates its second birthday by simply doing even more of what it was conceived and born to do – promote all the great things about Fort Smith and its neighboring cities.
With this issue we will have printed and distributed 480,000 magazines!
Notice, we say "distributed" not "sold" because we continue to make our lively and popular magazine available to about 50,000 readers each month for free – thanks to our terrific advertisers. Many have been with us since our first or second issues, and our advertisers are the reason we're still able to provide 20,000 free, first-rate magazines to more than 200 locations.
So at the top of my 25 Great Things About Fort Smith list I have to put our advertisers, readers, sales and distribution teams, our contributing writers, photographers, artists and graphic artists. Oh, and all the organizations and events planners who help supply our calendar editor Annie Shaw with the information for the most extensive monthly listings of all kinds of entertainment in any area publication.
You know what? There's no way my list can stop at 25. So let's see how many I can wedge into this space.
The Tiger Spurs softball team and Thunderbird basketball teams for "special needs" children -- coached by Gary "Catfish" Hammer and Peter Schutz.
The Old Fort Days Dandies, and all the other local groups who play the Tiger Spurs and Thunderbird teams, but especially the Dandies.
Crowder (baseball) Field at UA Fort Smith.
Gary Elmore, for all he does in the community. Polly Crews, same reason, and for just being Polly.
Agnes Stouffer – for her wit, wisdom and kindness.
Other helpful people – like Megan the gardening expert at Sutherland's who stopped by our office on her day off to repot my puny hot pepper plants (which are now thriving.)
Fountain of Youth Adult Day Care Center.
All the interesting, colorful, amazing people I've met, worked with and written about in the 19 years since I've been back in my hometown – Gloria Farley, Slim Stump, Ken Boen and Hazel Presson, to name only a fraction.
Tracy and Moose. And Lester – THE mailman. And Officer Tim Randolph, who is so concerned about our security (or sanity) that he once replaced our porch light for us.
All the fabulous, famous musicians and entertainers who have come here to perform so we didn't have to travel to big cities to see them – and everyone who booked them here. B.B. King, Lionel Hampton, Dizzy Gillespie, Pete Fountain, KoKo Taylor, Marcia Ball, Doyle Bramhall, Buddy Guy, the Neville Brothers, Emmylou Harris, Alison Krause, Trout Fishing in America, the Beach Boys, the Oak Ridge Boys, Hank Williams Jr., Alabama, Garth Brooks, Brooks and Dunn, Lynn Anderson, Pinetop Perkins, Johnny Johnson, Gatemouth Brown, Shemekia Copeland, the Fabulous ThunderbirdsÉwe could go on and on, couldn't we?
Chef Eddy's radio blues shows.
The 801 Media Center and 801 House concerts – the city's very best music venue and most outstanding, eclectic roster of artists.
Free concerts at the Riverfront Park, which, we can finally and happily report, will resume this fall.
The new Fort Smith Regional Airport -- scheduled to open next month!
The Fort Smith Air Museum. The Rodeo. Horses. Thuan Tran. The Red Hat Society. The FS/Fort Chaffee Elvis connection. Partners In Education. The Historic District.
The Art Center, Little Theater and the Library. Miss Laura's. The Bonneville House. The Clayton House. The Trolley. Garrison Avenue. Christmas lights on Garrison Avenue. Pendergraft Park.. The Convention Center. The Symphony. The Riverfront Blues Festival. The Fort Smith Museum of History and National Historic Site. Oak Cemetery. The National Cemetery. Judge Isaac C. Parker. Bass Reeves.
Memories of Beverly's Drive Inn. Randy Blythe's Dream Car collection housed where Beverly's used to be.
Lynn Wasson, Donna Payne, Annie Shaw, Jamie Mitchell, Debbie Everly, Jan Bruton, Pam Bolding. Entertainment Fort Smith Magazine.
Linda Seubold, editor of Entertainment Fort Smith Magazine, can be reached at lindaseubold@efortsmith.com. Read her archived columns and articles online.
Copyright © 2001 eFortSmith Media.com, Incorporated, P.O. Box 1341, Fort Smith, AR 72902efortsmith.com and Entertainment Fort Smith are registered trademarks. All rights reserved.
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