Cassidy Kendall fell in love with Hot Springs early. Growing up in Camden, she and her two sisters spent many weeks at their grandparents' vacation home on Lake Hamilton in Hot Springs.
"Whenever they said, 'We're going to Hot Springs,' we would get so excited," Kendall says. "It was like a second home. We would spend time on the lake, eating at our favorite places, shopping."
After graduating from the University of Central Arkansas, Kendall moved to Hot Springs and now the 25-year-old writer is helping others get to know the Spa City with her book, "100 Things to Do in Hot Springs Before You Die."
Published May 15 by St. Louis-based Reedy Press, the 143-page book is a collection of popular and lesser-known Hot Springs highlights in categories spanning Food and Drink, History and Culture, Music and Entertainment, Sports and Recreation, and Shopping and Fashion. It's a handy guide, lovingly compiled by Kendall, to the myriad charms of the town and continues Reedy Press' line of "Before You Die" books, which include Orlando, Raleigh, Little Rock and more.
Kendall is a former Hot Springs Sentinel-Record reporter who founded thehotspringspost.com, a free online media outlet where she reports on local news and events.
She knew the book had to hit Hot Springs staples like Bathhouse Row, Magic Springs, Mid-America Science Museum and others. But there were plenty of destinations and events off the beaten path she wanted to highlight, like the Wednesday Night Poetry gathering that's been meeting just about every week since Feb. 1, 1989, the abandoned Chewaukla Bottle Factory and Miracle Electronics, the well-stocked record shop at 203 A. Pleasant St.
Her work on the book also took her to places she'd never visited, like Tiny Town Trains at 374 Whittington Ave. with its interactive model railroad.
Kendall describes it in the book as a "fully animated culmination of 'junk art' and woodwork that represents numerous places and pop culture references from America in the '60s."
"I really enjoyed going to Tiny Town," she says. "It's so charming."
Bailey's Dairy Treat, 510 Park Ave., was another revelation.
"It's a mom-and-pop burger joint, but they have a lot more than burgers. I'd had always heard of it. It's one of the best burgers I've ever had."
With so much to do and see and eat in Hot Springs, not everything made it onto her list of 100 things, Kendall admits.
"What was difficult was cutting out some of the food places. We have so many great eateries here, but all of the sections had quite a bit cut out."
So if Reedy Press ever comes calling for another volume, Kendall says she will be ready.
"I'm already collecting ideas for a possible second edition."
email: [email protected]