Rose Schweikhart, owner of Superior Bathhouse Brewery in Hot Springs, and Jimm Powell, brewer, head back to the brewery with empty 5-gallon kegs from the delivery truck.
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A couple of recent stories in these pages bring home the lesson that a city can prosper by embracing and encouraging its transplants.
In Hot Springs, Rose Schweikhart, originally from New Jersey, is thriving four years after opening her Superior Bathhouse Brewery in a converted bathhouse on historic Bathhouse Row.
And husband-wife duo Zac Smith (North Carolina) and Cheryl Roorda (Florida), who came to Hot Springs from Seattle because they didn’t want to raise a child in the big city, will soon be opening SQZBX (pronounced “squeezebox”) downtown.
These entrepreneurs’ microbreweries appeal particularly to the millennials the city needs to attract to continue as a top tourist destination. (See more at Hot Springs Sees Boom in Craft Beer Breweries.)
Music brought these entrepreneurs to the Spa City — there must be something about the tuba — and they all said they had developed warm and strong relationships with people in the area.
In Searcy, Brandon Fox (Tennessee) and his wife, Kari, and Slader Marshall (Alaska) graduated from Harding University and decided to settle in the college town. They saw a void in the local restaurant scene and sought to fill it. The Foxes opened Burrito Day, and Marshall launched Slader’s Alaskan Dumpling Co.
Amy Burton, the executive director of Main Street Searcy, told Arkansas Business that it’s not surprising that some Harding students decide to stay after graduating. “There’s something to be said about living in a small town.”
In addition, all these budding businesspeople are part of the millennial movement that encourages buying and eating locally. Steve Arrison, CEO of Visit Hot Springs, said the microbrewery/restaurants fit “hand in glove with what today’s travelers are looking for. You can enjoy a hike through our national park or riding a bike through one of our parks and then can stop off and enjoy something that’s made right here.”
These transplants have made Arkansas home, and Arkansas benefits because of it.
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