Scavenger Hunt in Bentonville: America's Most Surprising Art City
Bentonville, Arkansas, headquarters of Walmart, population 55,000, in the northwest corner of the Ozarks, has become one of the most remarkable arts and culture destinations in the United States. The Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, funded by Alice Walton and opened in 2011, is a genuinely world-class institution: 547 acres of wooded grounds with a Frank Lloyd Wright house relocated to the property, a permanent collection that spans American art from the colonial era to the present, and admission that is permanently free. It has transformed Bentonville from an anonymous corporate headquarters town into a destination that draws art pilgrims from across the country.
The surrounding downtown square, the extensive mountain biking trail system (Bentonville has built 80+ miles of mountain bike trails in the Ozark hills adjacent to the city), and the independent restaurant and maker community that has grown up around the museum give the city a vibrancy that no one predicted from the Walmart ZIP code.
Best Areas for a Bentonville Scavenger Hunt
Downtown Square, the Benton County Courthouse square, with the surrounding commercial buildings and the public art installations that Bentonville has been commissioning in the downtown area, is the walkable core of the city. The mural program, the outdoor sculpture, and the independent restaurants on the surrounding blocks have made this one of the most vibrant small-city downtown squares in the South.
Crystal Bridges Grounds, the museum trails through the forested ravine between the two spring-fed ponds, are free to access even without museum entry. The Frank Lloyd Wright "Bachman-Wilson House" (relocated from New Jersey, the only Wright house accessible in the South), the Moshe Safdie museum building integrated into the landscape, and the sculpture trail make the grounds a scavenger hunt environment unlike any other.
8th Street Market, the arts and food district along 8th Street, has the contemporary galleries, the food vendors, and the creative businesses that represent the transformation of Bentonville's economic and cultural identity.
What a Bentonville Scavenger Hunt Reveals
The Questo city quest in Bentonville covers the Walmart origin story (Sam Walton opened Walton's Five and Dime on the Bentonville square in 1950; the original store is now the Walmart Museum, one of the most interesting corporate history museums in the country), the Osage Nation heritage of the Ozarks region, and the extraordinary transformation that private philanthropy has enabled in a small American city.
The Walmart Museum on the original downtown square square is free and genuinely fascinating, the story of how a small-town retail operation became the largest company in the world is one of the most dramatic business histories in American commerce.
Bentonville Scavenger Hunt Tips
Preacher's Son (in a converted 1907 church downtown) and Table Mesa (New Mexican cuisine in the downtown area) are the best restaurant options adjacent to the downtown scavenger hunt area. The Runway Bike Park at the Bentonville Municipal Airport is the most unique cycling infrastructure in the city. The 21C Museum Hotel on the downtown square has an excellent free-access contemporary art collection on its public floors.