Stories by Rex Nelson

OPINION | REX NELSON: The fair is back Doug White, president and general manager of the Arkansas Livestock Show Association, shakes his head as he describes his decision to cancel that great tradition known as the Arkansas State Fair in 20... July 28, 2021

OPINION | REX NELSON: Destination, Lake Ouachita Bill Barnes is sitting in his office on a cloudy Monday, accompanied by dogs who go by the names of Port and Starboard. On the walls of the office at Mountain Harbor Resort & Spa on Lake Ouachita ... July 25, 2021

OPINION | REX NELSON: A history of hospitality By the 1930s, the era known as the Big Cut--which had begun in the 1880s as northern-owned companies moved into Arkansas to harvest virgin timber--was ending. In the pine-covered hills of southwest Ar... July 25, 2021

OPINION | REX NELSON: Little Beale Street Little Beale Street. That's the name used by Jamie McAfee, the well-known chef at Pine Bluff Country Club and one of the dreamers behind the idea of turning downtown Pine Bluff into a dining and enter... July 24, 2021

OPINION | REX NELSON: South Arkansas' chef I was having lunch with a Pine Bluff business leader one day when he told me that the two most important people in town were the head football coach at Pine Bluff High School and the chef at Pine Bluf... July 21, 2021

OPINION | REX NELSON: A middle ground Gwen Ford Faulkenberry of Ozark, an English teacher and mother of four whose guest columns appear on the pages of this newspaper, personifies what I consider to be the middle of the road in Arkansas. ... July 18, 2021

OPINION | REX NELSON: On a hot streak I've long expected the expansion at Oaklawn Racing Casino Resort to lead to additional development along that part of Central Avenue in Hot Springs. Oaklawn recently spent more than $100 million const... July 17, 2021

OPINION | REX NELSON: Upping their game The stylish dress and impeccable manners let me know immediately that Saddiq Mir is a hotelier in the finest European tradition. Trained in Germany and France, Mir came to Hot Springs almost three yea... July 14, 2021

OPINION | REX NELSON: The Cella way I fell in love with thoroughbred racing at a young age. By my freshman year in college, I was using my job as sports editor of the daily newspaper in Arkadelphia as an excuse to drive to Hot Springs e... July 11, 2021

OPINION | REX NELSON: Banking on Arkansas The building towers over the neighborhood where I live in west Little Rock, much like something one would expect to see in the prosperous northern suburbs of Dallas. And I mean that comment in a good ... July 10, 2021

OPINION | REX NELSON: A place for nature The rain has stopped and the air has cooled. Deke Whitbeck and I step out of the truck on a Monday morning in Springdale. Already waiting for us in the parking lot of the J.B. and Johnelle Hunt Family... July 7, 2021

OPINION | REX NELSON: Independence Day musings What a difference a year makes. When we marked Independence Day in 2020, the country was at its lowest point in my lifetime. Residing in the White House was a mean, vulgar, intellectually challenged ... July 4, 2021

OPINION | REX NELSON: Slavery in Arkansas It seemed fitting that I was finishing Kelly Houston Jones' book "A Weary Land: Slavery on the Ground in Arkansas" last month when President Joe Biden signed legislation declaring June 19 as a new fed... July 3, 2021

OPINION | REX NELSON: Rendezvous in the Rock I'm doing one of my favorite things: eating ribs from the Rendezvous along with smoked sausage and cheese. I'm not in downtown Memphis. Instead, I'm in the Red & Blue events center, which is just... June 30, 2021

OPINION | REX NELSON: A well-connected community As I sip coffee on a warm Tuesday morning in Bentonville, I think that I'm looking at the bright future of Arkansas. I'm listening to brothers Tom and Steuart Walton. The sons of Jim Walton (and grand... June 27, 2021

OPINION | REX NELSON: Alice's wonderland For those who have watched Alice Walton pour money and fresh thinking into northwest Arkansas, the news came as no surprise. In April, it was announced that the already spectacular Crystal Bridges Mus... June 27, 2021

OPINION | REX NELSON: Improving the zoo It all started in 1926 with an abandoned timber wolf and a brown bear that had performed in a circus. The Little Rock Zoo has come a long way since those humble beginnings three years before the start... June 26, 2021

OPINION | REX NELSON: Tomato time in Arkansas The story on the front page of The Pine Bluff Commercial earlier this month caught my attention. The headline read: "First tomato box kicks off a yummy season." Yes, it's the most wonderful time of t... June 23, 2021

OPINION | REX NELSON: Reflections at Rohwer It's eerily quiet as I walk down the dirt road near Rohwer in Desha County. I'm the only one here, though I can hear an occasional vehicle pass on Arkansas 1 and see a farmer driving a tractor in the ... June 20, 2021

OPINION | REX NELSON: Lunch at Mellwood The Mellwood Grocery is a step back in time. In a building that's decades old (no one there could give me the exact year it was built), there's a remnant of the country stores that once dotted rural A... June 19, 2021

OPINION | REX NELSON: A base is born The news was important for Arkansas, justifying its placement on the newspaper's front page on May 22. The headline read: "Air base singled out for C-130J training." The story out of Washington noted... June 16, 2021

OPINION | REX NELSON: Achieving our potential Looking toward the next 20 years and the things Arkansas must do to achieve its potential, I've come to the conclusion that the most important nonprofit organization in the state might be the Nature C... June 13, 2021

OPINION | REX NELSON: A place for food In the fall of 2019, I drove to Oklahoma to visit the Quapaw Nation's Downstream Casino Resort. As I ate brisket for lunch, Lucus Setterfield explained how the beef had been produced by the Quapaw. Th... June 12, 2021

OPINION | REX NELSON: Visiting Pine Vegas Carlton Saffa sounds like a carpet salesman as he discusses the intricacies of Ulster carpets. Saffa, the Quapaw Nation's chief market officer for Saracen Casino Resort at Pine Bluff, talks about how... June 9, 2021

OPINION | REX NELSON: Atop Rattlesnake Ridge The sky is clear and the temperature is 78 degrees as we head west out of Little Rock on Arkansas 10. We pass the new headquarters of Bank OZK, a structure that would be right at home in the wealthy s... June 6, 2021

OPINION | REX NELSON: Barton Coliseum memories An exhibit titled "Play It Loud: Concerts at Barton Coliseum" is proving to be one of the most popular in the history of the Old State House at Little Rock. The exhibit, which will be open until the f... June 5, 2021

OPINION | REX NELSON: Skyscraper of Health People came from across Arkansas to see the structure of 236 Central Ave. in Hot Springs when it opened in 1930. At 16 stories, it was the tallest building in the state, a title it would retain for th... June 2, 2021

OPINION | REX NELSON: A party shattered The sad state of the Republican Party in Arkansas was evident again earlier this month when none of the members of our U.S. House delegation spoke up for U.S. Rep. Liz Cheney, who was ousted from her ... May 30, 2021

OPINION | REX NELSON: From blue to red and back again During Bill Clinton's presidential campaigns of 1992 and 1996, the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette spared no expense. The newspaper had reporters on the road with Clinton constantly and also published a num... May 30, 2021

OPINION | REX NELSON: Saturday at Village Creek It was unseasonably cool that Saturday as I stayed off crowded Interstate 40, instead taking U.S. 64 from Marion to Little Rock following a lunch meeting. Rain was falling in east Arkansas. It also wa... May 29, 2021

OPINION | REX NELSON: Hunting with Hemingway Like many of you, I devoted six hours recently to watching Ken Burns' delightful documentary on Ernest Hemingway. The documentary aired over the course of three nights on PBS. PBS stations nationwide... May 26, 2021

OPINION | REX NELSON: Back on the road The invitation was impossible to resist. With the four members of my family fully vaccinated, the day had come to eat inside a restaurant for the first time since March 12, 2020. Jordan Johnson, a Li... May 23, 2021

OPINION | REX NELSON: The day after With my whole family fully vaccinated, I resumed eating at restaurants for the first time in more than a year. It was warm on this late April afternoon, a perfect opportunity to dine outside on the pa... May 22, 2021

OPINION | REX NELSON: Cowards and clowns In 1993, Griffin Smith, who was executive editor of this newspaper at the time, decided to implement a project that had long been popular in Texas. Smith, a talented writer and editor, was among the p... May 19, 2021

OPINION | REX NELSON: A changing Arkansas The annual Rural Profile of Arkansas, published by the University of Arkansas System's Division of Agriculture, paints a stark picture of the demographic revolution in this state. "Rural areas have b... May 16, 2021

OPINION | REX NELSON: Pity the governor I pity Gov. Asa Hutchinson. When being interviewed, this state's Republican governor puts on a brave face. He claims that the disastrous legislative session of 2021 wasn't all that bad. It's spin. Hu... May 15, 2021

OPINION | REX NELSON: More academic claptrap I know a little bit about academia. My son is working on a doctorate in government along with a law degree at the University of Texas. He likely will spend all or part of his career in higher educatio... May 12, 2021

OPINION | REX NELSON: A resonant life Following the death of Paul Greenberg last month, several of us who write columns and editorials at this newspaper took a stab at writing about him. It was, at least in my case, an intimidating assig... May 9, 2021

OPINION | REX NELSON: The last lunch As someone who has spent a career trying out locally owned restaurants across Arkansas, it's hard to comprehend that it has been 14 months since I ate a meal in one. We've been careful in our family d... May 5, 2021

OPINION | REX NELSON: Arkansas' barbecue trail Brock Hyland grew up in the central Texas town of Crawford. Though it only has a population of about 700 residents, Americans have heard of Crawford since it's the closest community to President Georg... May 2, 2021

OPINION | REX NELSON: A Georgian's gamble I've spent years urging developers to take a chance on downtown Little Rock. The success of Arkansas' largest city is necessary if this state is to achieve its potential. Arkansans in all 75 counties ... May 1, 2021

OPINION | REX NELSON: The power company In Saturday's column, I wrote about plans by veteran developer John Flake to renovate the former Arkansas Power & Light Co. building in downtown Little Rock. There was another tie to the company ... April 28, 2021

OPINION | REX NELSON: Achieving a balance As outlined in the cover story of today's Perspective section, agriculture remains the largest sector of the Arkansas economy. That might come as a surprise to residents of this increasingly urbanized... April 25, 2021

OPINION | REX NELSON: Agriculture's economic might The late C. Fred Williams of the University of Arkansas at Little Rock was one of the nation's foremost agricultural historians. In 2009, he was secretary-treasurer of a professional organization know... April 25, 2021

OPINION | REX NELSON: Betting on downtown There was something reassuring last month when I saw a photo in this newspaper of veteran developer John Flake, wearing his mask and gesturing toward the former Arkansas Power & Light Co. building... April 24, 2021

OPINION | REX NELSON: A mecca of health First, it was culture that Alice Walton brought to northwest Arkansas. The opening of Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art at Bentonville on Nov. 11, 2011 followed by the debut of the Momentary in e... April 18, 2021

OPINION | REX NELSON: Two buddies from Mena This month marks the 90th anniversary of the first Lum and Abner radio broadcast. It was April 26, 1931, when longtime friends Chet Lauck and Norris "Tuffy" Goff broadcast their initial show on radio ... April 17, 2021

OPINION | REX NELSON: Wholly a pleasure As the state's youngest editor of a daily newspaper, I liked to tell people I "edited" Paul Greenberg. There was always a smile on my face when I said that. In late 1982, I left my job as a sportswri... April 14, 2021

OPINION | REX NELSON: Remote from Arkansas Richard Florida is a well-known adviser to cities and urban initiatives, including one in Oklahoma known as Tulsa Remote. He's a professor at the University of Toronto's School of Cities and Rotman Sc... April 11, 2021

OPINION | REX NELSON: Fueling the boom The Walton Family Foundation of Bentonville has announced a new strategic plan for the next five years. The plan includes $2 billion in philanthropic support. That money will be deployed around the wo... April 10, 2021