HARDY - Fame can be fleeting for a small town put suddenly on the national map by television.

A drive through Evening Shade, which takes just a few winks of an eye, gives hardly a clue that the popular 1990-1994 show of the same name starring Burt Reynolds was set in that Sharp County hamlet. The 2003-2007 “reality” series The Simple Life, a stage for Paris Hilton and Nicole Richie, echoes only dimly in its Arkansas wine country setting around Altus.

Now Hardy is getting its dose of TV exposure via the Discovery Channel’s six-episode Clash of the Ozarks, a loopy narrative featuring real people from this hillside community (population 772) in the Natural State’s far north.

A sizable autographed poster picturing a half-dozen of the locals who appear in the series graces a window of Horton’s Music. Proprietor Dennis Horton, whose inventory features a trove of gorgeous guitars and other instruments, has a hopeful perspective on the impact Clash of the Ozarks might have here.

Horton acknowledges with a chuckle that there’s a heavy taint of unreality in theplot line of a purported feud between two local families. But he says the national exposure ought to bring more visitors to a tourism-dependent town still suffering from 2008’s global economic recession. That’s evident in the disconcerting number of vacant storefronts.

“We need the public attention,” he says. “Visitors are what keeps us alive around here.”

Hardy is scenically situated amid rolling, wooded landscapes. It makes a fine base for canoeing or kayaking on the Spring River. It has a Vintage Motorcar Museum displaying more than 60 vehicles of yore. Recently installed in Griffin Park is a 5,000-foot zip line billed as the longest in Arkansas.

But the prime reason for making the 140-mile drive north from the Little Rock area is to prowl the string of retail outlets lining Hardy’s period-piece Main Street. This is a hot zone for browsers and buyers.

Fans of antiques, collectibles, bric-a-brac and their ilk can immerse themselves in the likes of Memory Lane Mall, Ozark Classic Crafts Mall, Hardy Antiques, Moss Main Street Flea Market, The Cluttered Cupboard and Memories on Main Street.

More specific interests are targeted at venues such as Horton’s Music, Flat Creek Dulcimer Shop, The Needlework Shop, Hardy Pottery, The Native Way and Words Afterwords (a combination bookstore and cafe). Dizziness could easily occur before the full shopping rounds are made.

Ultra-friendly service is a bonus at Corner Booth, where jumbo pancakes and Belgian waffles rank among top choices for breakfast, which is served until closing in midafternoon. British-style fish and chips, not the most obvious dining niche in far north Arkansas, head the menu at Pig ’n’ Whistle.

But the most unexpected eatery in Hardy these days is Ha Hoo Mongolian Restaurant, open for about a year and rated No. 1 among the town’s 16 dining spots by users of the popular tripadvisor.com site.

There are no actual Mongolians in evidence among the staff at this sprawling space. The all-you-can-eat buffet’s prices of $6.99 at lunch and $8.99 at dinner give good-value access to a wide and abundant choice of items.

Skip the sub-mediocre fried appetizers and focus instead on putting together a rice- or noodle-based main dish for cooking by staff on the hot grill that is Ha Hoo’s centerpiece. There are also a half-dozen sushi offerings. That spurs the thought of how unlikely decent sushi would have been in a place like Hardy not so long ago - perhaps as improbable as the televised feud that fuels Clash of the Ozarks.

For more information on Hardy, go to visithardyarkansas.com or call (870) 847-4604.

Style, Pages 34 on 04/08/2014