”Making and Remaking America’s Downtowns” is the focus of the National Town Builders Association (NTBA) Spring Roundtable occurring in Arkansas this week. The group will tour Bentonville as a pre-familiarization tour to the main conference held in central Arkansas Friday through Sunday, according to Blair Cromwell, spokeswoman for Visit Bentonville.
A group of 30 people from around the country will join Bentonville city planners, developers, and place makers for a day long behind the scenes experience of this small Arkansas town that has garnered national attention over the last several years. NTBA members will begin their trip in Eureka Springs on Thursday morning (March 19) and travel to Bentonville that afternoon. They will spend the evening dining at Tusk and Trotter followed by an afterhours event at the Hive at 21c Museum Hotel hosted by Rob Coleman, CEO of ERC, the company responsible for the Thrive project in downtown Bentonville.
Friday morning (March 20) NTBA members tour various downtown destinations to learn how Bentonville implements its award winning master plan with transformative projects. The group will end its experience in Bentonville with a tour of the city’s trail system followed by a visit to Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art and Eleven.
The NTBA is the only town and urban developer association in which the knowledge and experience gained from creating robust town centers is freely shared. Members of the association are town builders committed to smart growth, responsible development, and peer support through networking and collaborative education.
The Spring Roundtable attendees travel to central Arkansas on Friday afternoon through Sunday to tour The Village at Hendrix in Conway, the River Market in downtown Little Rock and Argenta Arts District in North Little Rock.