(Editor’s Note: Each year, Arkansas Business partners with the Arkansas Municipal League to present the Trendsetter City awards, which recognize exceptional initiatives underway in municipalities across the state. Large, medium and small-sized cities were honored in six categories: Diversity and Inclusion; Education/Workforce Development; Infrastructure and Water; Public Works/Environmental and Green Management; Technology and Security; and Tourism Development/Creative Culture. Below is one winner’s story. For more, click here.)
Tourism Development/Creative Culture
Honorable Mention • 20,000 or Greater
Population: 79,324
Mayor: Harold Copenhaver
County: Craighead
Region: Northeast
The Challenge
For more than a century, Jonesboro has been the weekend destination for farmers from miles around. Over time it has become home to 80,000 people and the nexus of entertainment in northeast Arkansas, with the most hotels in the region, two hospital chains, the state’s second-largest university and numerous opportunities for shopping, dining and socializing. With all this in mind, Jonesboro recognized the need for more entertainment opportunities that appealed to people in the area.
A land purchase and road were built for the Jonesboro Shooting Complex, which has sparked industrial growth like an announced modern warehouse facility.
The Solution
While building a state-of-the-art sports and water complex, Jonesboro also opened the Jonesboro Shooting Sports Complex, the first sports shooting range in a delta region known for game hunting. Built through public and private partnerships, the shooting complex offers shooters and archers a safe place to practice and enjoy their sport. The complex’s amenities include a 200-yard rifle range, a 50-yard pistol range, nine trap/skeet fields and archery ranges of 50 and 70 yards.
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