Thinking about Christmas? Here's an idea: Give the gift of Arkansas this year.
OK, so we know you can't give the whole state. But you could give a part of it ... how about items made by your fellow Arkansans or gifts created in Arkansas?
FOOD
Arkansas is filled with goodies readily available for shipping as presents (even to yourself) this holiday season. A sampling:
• Fischer Honey Co. was established in 1945, and the North Little Rock business says it's the largest and oldest honey processing and packing plant in Arkansas. The company's honey offerings are available in many stores and via the company's website at fischerhoney.com. Products include a holiday gift box.
• Izard Chocolate, founded in 2014 by Nathaniel Izard, started as a bean-to-bar chocolate company but has branched out to include chocolate-dipped caramels and wrapped caramels. The confection creators are at 623 Beechwood St., Suite B, in Little Rock's Hillcrest neighborhood and welcome walk-in customers, but chocolate and/or caramel fans also can order their creations at izard-chocolate.myshopify.com.
• Tucked behind Wal-Mart off Interstate 30 in Arkadelphia is nut brittle maker Juanita's Candy Kitchen, which has been around since 1974. Yes, nut brittle, because Juanita's is more than just peanut brittle. The small candymaker produces three kinds of brittle: peanut, pecan and cashew. The brittle in 1.5- or 3-pound tubs is available via walk-in, phone or online at juanitascandykitchen.com.
• The Arkansas Delta is rice country, and Riceland Foods in Stuttgart is the world's largest miller and marketer of rice. The farmer-owned cooperative sells gift packs of its products via ricelandstore.com, including a premium gift set with everything from a bag of extra long grain rice to Riceland's Rice 'N Easy rice mix in two flavors.
• Arkansas is known for a wide-range of barbecue joints, and Stubby's BBQ in Hot Springs is one of the best. Founded by Richard Stubblefield Sr. in 1952, the restaurant sells its sweet and savory barbecue sauce via its online store at stubbysbbq.com/shops. It's good on ribs, beef, pork and chicken -- or even for dipping french fries.
• An Arkansas tradition, War Eagle Mill's products, from flours and meals to mixes and soups, are available at stores around the state. Most of the mill's offerings can be found at wareaglemill.com, too, including gift boxes -- even one featuring pancake mixes, maple praline syrup and a smiley-face spatula.
• Based in central Arkansas, Westrock Coffee Co. touts itself as a "farmer-focused, crop-to-cup coffee company" that works with farmers in east Africa to bring beans to market. The company's resulting coffees are sold in Arkansas grocery stores or via their website at westrockcoffee.com, which also offers a gift box that includes two mugs and two 12-ounce bags of African coffee.
-- Shea Stewart
ART
Arkansas art is a natural. Some art galleries are having holiday group shows, which allows a broad sampling of Arkansas talent. Here are a few:
• M2 Gallery, Pleasant Ridge Town Center, 11525 Cantrell Road, Suite 198, Little Rock. Information: (501) 944-7155
• Gallery 26, 2601 Kavanaugh Blvd. Suite 1, Little Rock. (501) 664-8996
• The Art Group, Pleasant Ridge Town Center, 11525 Cantrell Road, Little Rock. Information: (501) 690-2193 or artgrouparkansas.com
• Local Colour, 5811 Cantrell Road, Little Rock. Information: (501) 265-0422
• Artists Workshop Gallery, 610 A Central Ave., Hot Springs. Information: (501) 623-6401
• Today is the last day for the Holiday Art Sale at Gallery 545, 545 W. Center St., Fayetteville. Information: (479) 283-0132.
Museum gift shops such as Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in Bentonville, the Arkansas Arts Center in Little Rock and the Regional Art Museum in Fort Smith offer art by Arkansans and other Arkie-created items.
Among the books featuring Arkansas artists:
• Linda Williams Palmer, Champion Trees of Arkansas, (The University of Arkansas Press, $34.95). Champion trees are the largest of their species and Palmer's colored pencil drawings are almost as awesome as their subjects.
• George Dombek, Barns and Portrait Paintings, (The University of Arkansas Press, $65). The acclaimed artist traveled to each of the state's counties to document barns with intricacy and feeling.
• Zeek Taylor's charming Chimps Having Fun (Keezart Press, $20), which features many of his humorous chimp paintings, is available at Crystal Bridges and his website, zeektaylor.com.
• The Arkansas Arts Center's outstanding exhibition catalogs The Crossroads of Memory: Carroll Cloar and the American South ($49.95 hardcover, $29.95 paper) and Face to Face: Artists' Self-Portraits From the Collection of Jackye and Curtis Finch, Jr. ($24.95) are exceptional gifts.
-- Ellis Widner
BOOKS
• Dennis Vannatta, The Only World You Get: Arkansas Stories (Et Alia Press, $16.95). A short story collection by the Porter Prize-winning author has 12 new and previously published stories, all set in Arkansas.
• Bill Jones, Petit Jean: A Wilderness Adventure (Plum Street Publishers, $24.95 hardcover, $14.95 paper). The book is a re-imagining of the enduring legend of Petit Jean, a young French woman who, in the 18th century, disguised herself as a cabin boy in order to follow her sweetheart to the New World. Her fellow sailors called her "Petit Jean" ("Little John") because of her small stature, and she is said to be buried atop the Arkansas mountain.
• Kelly Mulhollan, True Faith, True Light: The Devotional Art of Ed Stilley (The University of Arkansas Press, $37.95). Stilley, who thought he was dying of a heart attack, received a vision from God, telling him that he would be restored to health if he made musical instruments and gave them to children. For 25 years, he crafted more than 200 instruments from wood scraps and found objects. On each he inscribed "True Faith, True Light, Have Faith in God." An exhibit of Stilley's instruments is on exhibit at the Old State House Museum in Little Rock.
-- Philip Martin
• Encyclopedia of Arkansas Music (Butler Center Books, $34.95). This reference work by Ali Welky and Mike Keckhaver has more than 150 entries on musicians, musical works and more.
Some books by our colleagues at the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette:
• Guy Lancaster and Ron Wolfe, Arkansas in Ink (Butler Center Books, $22.95). Wolfe, the illustrator for this book, is a Democrat-Gazette features writer. His cartoons highlight the oddities in Arkansas history that are almost too strange to be true.
• Philip Martin, The President Next Door: Poems, Songs, and Journalism (Et Alia Press, $13.95). Acclaimed Little Rock novelist Kevin Brockmeier describes Martin's latest as "his most intimate work yet, and also his most lyrical, and some of his very best."
The Democrat-Gazette has published a number of books to consider:
• John Deering, The View From Here, ($19.95). Editorial cartoons by Deering from the past 30 years with the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, along with a collection of the nationally syndicated comic strip, Strange Brew.
• Michael Storey, Happy Trails ($15.95). A collection of 52 stories that highlights some of the best hiking trails Arkansas has to offer.
• Emily Van Zandt, The Modern Arkansas Table ($30). Forty new-Southern recipes dedicated to artisan technique, creative flavors and a love of local ingredients.
• At the Democrat-Gazette online store, shop.arkansasonline.com, you'll also find books by In the Garden columnist Janet Carson and sports writer Todd Traub, among others.
-- Ellis Widner
CRAFTS
If you're searching for something arty and uniquely Arkansas, then the Statehouse Convention Center, 101 E. Markham St., Little Rock, is the place to be. This is the final day of the 38th Annual Arkansas Craft Guild's Christmas Showcase at the center, where guild members and guests will be selling their pottery, jewelry, woodworking, photography, gourmet foods, crafts and other one-of-a-kind pieces from 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Admission is $5.
Can't make it today? No worries. The Arkansas Craft Gallery at 104 E. Main St. in Mountain View carries the works of guild members and is open Tuesday-Saturday, 10 a.m.-5 p.m. and also by appointment. Call Becki Dahlstedt, (870) 269-4103 or visit arkansascraftguild.org for information.
There is also a nice selection of Arkansas-related goodies at the Historic Arkansas Museum Store, 200 E. Third St., Little Rock, which is open 10 a.m.-4:30 p.m. Monday-Saturday and 1-4:30 p.m. Sunday. From books to toys, honey, pottery, glass objects, posters, crafts and much more, it has the Natural State-centric shopper covered.
-- Sean Clancy
MUSIC
From brand-new jams to classic collections, here are a few music options with Natural State connections to make the fan in your life crank up the volume.
• Big Piph & Tomorrow Maybe, I Am Not Them: The Legacy Project (self-released). Little Rock-based Piph and his cracking tight band mix banging hip-hop and jazzy R&B on their adventurous and highly rewarding latest. There's even a free app. Buy CDs at bigpiph.com.
• Various artists, Meet Me in the Bottom, Arkansas Blues Volume 2: The Bands (Stackhouse). Forty years after archivist and blues fan Louis Guida recorded these songs in juke joints and living rooms across eastern and southern Arkansas, the songs have finally seen the light of day. A long-gestating follow-up to 1983's equally vital Keep It to Yourself, Arkansas Blues Volume 1: Solo Performances, which was culled from the same spree of field recordings by Guida, the 15-track collection contains songs from obscure but notable acts like Queen Bee & the Soul Seekers, Duke Bradley, Sounds of Soul, the Texarkana Five with Harmonica Slim and others. Track down both collections at bluesoterica.com.
• Chris Maxwell, Arkansas Summer (Max Recordings). The former Gunbunny now lives in Woodstock, N.Y., and made his solo debut earlier this year with this moving meditation on love, regret and family. It's a profound, literate, Southern power pop album that, because of its title, also reminds us that summer is only six months away! Find it at maxrecordings.com.
• Various artists, Feel Like Going Home, the Songs of Charlie Rich (Memphis International). Colt native Charlie Rich, who died in 1995, gets the tribute treatment from the likes of Shooter Jennings, Jim Lauderdale, Will Kimbrough and others on this collection that focuses not on the Silver Fox's biggest crossover hits from the '70s -- "The Most Beautiful Girl," "Behind Closed Doors" -- but shines a light on tracks like "Lonely Weekends," the mournful "Sittin' and Thinkin'" and the glorious, iconic "Feel Like Going Home." The CD can be found at memphisinternational.com. And after listening to this well-intentioned introduction, the fan on your list might be inspired to seek out the original versions of these songs on the myriad collections of Rich's work.
• Bombay Harambee, Goldmine (Max Recordings). Little Rock garage punks Bombay Harambee whip up a frenzy on the buzzing, intense Goldmine. We'd recommend picking up the 12-track album on beautiful colored vinyl at maxrecordings.com and wrap it creatively for placement under the tree.
• Rodney Block, Eyes Haven't Seen/Ears Haven't Heard (self-released). Dumas-born, Little Rock-based trumpeter Block mixes his smooth jazz with hip-hop and funk patterns on this EP, which was released earlier this year. Give your jazz lover a gift card and they can buy the MP3 version of the EP at amazon.com.
-- Sean Clancy
Style on 12/04/2016