Population growth has gotten to be so commonplace in Northwest Arkansas through the years it doesn't make for huge news anymore.
It is just our reality.
The reasons for the growth, still tied largely to the homegrown corporate presence of Walmart, Tyson Foods and JB Hunt Transport and of the University of Arkansas, have expanded, of course.
Most frequently cited as impetus these days is the presence of Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art and other amenities, including a thriving restaurant scene that has developed around the region.
The museum itself beckons visitors from around the world, people who sometimes come expecting little and learn firsthand that Northwest Arkansas has much to offer beyond the museum that Alice Walton imagined for her hometown.
A recent article in a Washington state newspaper serves as a good example of the experience of first-time travelers here.
"Mayberry Meets Manhattan in Bentonville, Arkansas" is the headline in The Woodinville Weekly, a community newspaper in the Seattle metropolitan area.
But, before we look at some of the conclusions in that article, just look at the numbers in the recent population gain here.
Let them sink in and imagine where they're taking us.
In a single year, from July 1, 2015 to July 1, 2016, Bentonville added 2,427 residents to the city. The gain, the biggest in the state of Arkansas, brought the city's population to an estimated 47,093.
That's according to the most recent estimates made public by the U.S. Census Bureau, which also cited gains of 1,075 in Springdale, 1,370 in Fayetteville and 1,642 in Rogers.
And those numbers, believe it or not, don't reflect the fastest growth in the region.
That distinction belongs to Tontitown, the much smaller city just west of Springdale that saw its population grow by 25.1 percent in just one year. Tontitown added 702 new residents from July 1, 2015 to July 1, 2016. That was more than double the number the city gained in the previous five years combined.
While all four of the larger cities each gained more new residents than Tontitown did, their growth rates are much lower. Bentonville grew by 5.4 percent, Rogers by 2.6 percent, Fayetteville by 1.7 percent and Springdale by 1.4 percent. But those percentage gains represent thousands of new residents in the major Northwest Arkansas cities.
The Census estimates also indicate growth in other smaller cities as well as the larger ones, with the higher numbers happening in Benton County, where Bentonville's gains are the most impressive.
All anyone need do is drive the roads stretching from one city to another to see the ever-expanding numbers of subdivisions, commercial enterprises and public entities, especially schools.
As the Northwest Arkansas Council recently reported, the whole region, bedroom communities and all, are expected to keep growing. Projections put the Fayetteville-Springdale-Rogers Metropolitan Statistical Area population near 800,000 by 2040. The number is already approaching 525,000.
Time and again, new people peek into the region, as Deborah Stone did, finding that "Mayberry meets Manhattan" atmosphere in Bentonville.
Telling her Washington state friends and family she was going to Bentonville, wrote Stone, was akin to informing them she was going to Siberia.
Crystal Bridges drew her here with its remarkable holdings but she discovered a wealth beyond the museum's walls as she explored the city that keeps growing into its new role.
Natives to the region won't learn much new from her account but they may see the city with fresh eyes and perhaps appreciate more of what we tend to take for granted.
Stone carries her readers on a tour that includes stops at Sam Walton's 5 & 10 storefront museum, the 21c Museum Hotel and much more.
Her closing note was a fitting reflection of us. She told visitors not to be alarmed by a "Woo Pig Sooie!" call from Razorback fans and not to be affronted when people address you as ma'am.
"Just know that everyone's a ma'am in Arkansas. Rest assured, you're not old; they're just Southern."
Stone's full article is online at http://www.nwnews.com/index.php/feature/travel/14846-mayberry-meets-manhattan-in-bentonville-arkansas#
Commentary on 06/04/2017