Main Street Arkansas launches new Arkansas Coffee Trail

October 18-24, 2021

By The Daily Record Staff

 

The state’s Main Street Arkansas program recently launched the new Arkansas Coffee Trail that pays homage to coffee shops that act as gathering places or living rooms for downtown communities across the state.

 

“Traveling the state, it’s hard to beat the welcome in our 40 Main Street communities,” said Stacy Hurst, secretary of the Arkansas Department of Parks, Heritage and Tourism. “Stopping into a local coffee shop while visiting a downtown you are struck by the hospitality and the sense of pride from these businesses.”

 

The Main Street team was always sharing tips with their Arkansas Heritage colleagues about the best places to stop for coffee when out on the road,” said Scott Kaufman, director of the Arkansas Historic Preservation Program. “And so, it was during one of these conversations, probably over a cup of coffee, ironically, that the coffee trail idea was born.”

 

Following National Coffee Day on Sept. 19, the map for the Coffee Trail was made available to be on the Division of Arkansas Heritage website here: https://bit.ly/2ZAVuR5. Follow-up stories about stops along the trail will appear on Main Street Arkansas social media throughout the fall.

 

Teaming up with Arkansas Tourism, more than 40 shops were earmarked for the inaugural coffee trail. Site visits were conducted and photos and videos were usually taken. The data was compiled into a map and now Arkansans and visitors can download this map and utilize it as they travel the Natural State.

 

“We know that coffee shops have played a significant role in downtown communities since Main Street Arkansas began in 1984,” said Greg Phillips, director of Main Street Arkansas. “These spaces, in many ways, have become a symbol for downtown vitality, culture, hospitality and sense of place.”

 

While there are many places that serve coffee in downtowns across the state, Main Street Arkansas wanted to focus on authentic Arkansas coffee shops. They exercised the following criteria in determining eligibility for the trail:

• Physically located in a Main Street district

• Locally owned and/or locally operated

• Coffee is one of the business’s primary product

 

People visiting the Coffee Trail businesses are encouraged to post to social media using the hashtag #ARcoffeetrail. For more information about this project, please contact Exterior Design Consultant Hannah Ratzlaff at 501.324.9665 or hannah.ratzlaff@arkansas.gov.

 

Main Street Arkansas is part of the Arkansas Historic Preservation Program, the agency within Arkansas Heritage responsible for identifying, evaluating, registering and preserving the state’s cultural resources. Under Gov. Asa Hutchinson’s statewide reorganization plan in 2019 that cut Cabinet-Level Agencies from 42 to 15, the state Department of Parks, Heritage and Tourism has three major divisions: Arkansas State Parks, Arkansas Heritage and Arkansas Tourism. 

 

Arkansas State Parks manages 52 state parks and promotes Arkansas as a tourist destination. Arkansas Heritage preserves and promotes Arkansas’s natural and cultural history and heritage through four historic museums and four cultural preservation agencies. Arkansas Tourism improves the state’s economy by generating travel and enhancing the image of the state. Other agencies in the department are the Arkansas Arts Council, Arkansas Natural Heritage Commission, Arkansas State Archives, Delta Cultural Center, Historic Arkansas Museum, Mosaic Templars Cultural Center and the Old State House Museum. For more on Arkansas Heritage and the agencies visit arkansasheritage.com.  

 

PHOTO CAPTIONS: (Photo by Arkansas Division of Tourism)

 

1. Mary Ann Lee, the owner of Indigo Blue Coffeehouse in Pine Bluff, makes a special brew for a customer. Indigo Blue is one of more than 40 coffee houses listed on the Arkansas Coffee Trail map. 

 

2. The Community Bakery in Arkansas is one of more than 40 local coffee shops included in the Arkansas Coffee Trail map.

 

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