Volume 3 Issue 11 Published monthly by the Arkansas River Valley Tri - Region Association June 2006 NATIONAL TRAIL DAYS Petit Jean State Park to host National Trails Day Celebration on June 3 Trails are great places to experience nature. Petit Jean State Park, which has over 20 miles of trails, will be celebrating their trails on June 3rd. This celebration will include guided hikes, a trails maintenance project, trail demonstrations, and an evening concert. The evening concert will include a prize drawing with prizes donated by local and national sponsors. Sign up to win at any of the programs throughout the day. You must be present to win. Brandon Robertson, a resident musician, will be providing the evening's entertainment, including a song written specifically about Petit Jean State Park. The concert will begin at 7:30 pm on June 3rd. The concert will be held at Pavilion A at the park. National Trails Day is the largest single-day trail celebration in the United States and boasts more than 1,100 locally organized events in all fifty states. The day is centered on healthy outdoor recreation, environmental stewardship, and developing friendships and partnerships - both old and new. The theme for this year's event is "Experience Your Outdoors." It encourages nature lovers to personalize the day for themselves by exploring trails in ways they may have never before considered. Several ideas set forth by the American Hiking Society include exploring trails by discovering the sights and sounds of bird watching, entering a trail race, hiking by moonlight, geocaching, joining a volunteer effort to assist in trail maintenance, hiking with your baby as well as swapping gear to learn new skills. Local sponsors for this year's event include Wild Bill's Outfitters, The Museum of Automobiles, Highlander Cycling and Outdoors, The Woodsman, Ozark Rescue Suppliers, Ozark Outdoor Supply, Rush Sporting Goods, Ferguson's Country Store, Sport Scene, Buffalo Camping and Canoeing, Silver Hill Canoe Rental, Moore's Outdoor, Riverside Kitchen and Ernst Wilderness. National sponsors include Royal Robbins, Eastern Mountain Sports and Thorlo. A complete program schedule for the event is available by visiting www.petitjeanstatepark.com. For additional information, contact the park at petitjean@arkansas.com or 501-727-5441.     10th Annual Mt. Magazine International Butterfly Festival June 23rd and 24th Arkansas' newest state park of 2,200 acres offers cooler summertime temperatures due to the elevation of 2,753 feet above sea level. These cooler temperatures are a nature lover's paradise as well as nature's paradise. The altitude, geography and climate combine to create unique habitats for rare plants, animals and the Diana Fritillary Butterfly. Lured by the many species of enchanting butterflies found on Mt. Magazine, enthusiasts gathered from around the world to participate in the first annual Mt. Magazine International Butterfly Festival in 1997. Since that time, the festival has continued to grow, and thousands of people from 45 states and half a dozen countries have attended the festival. Mt. Magazine has an extraordinary richness of butterfly species. Of the Arkansas' total 127 resident species; at least 91 occur on the mountain's plateau-like summit. Virtually all Arkansas resident butterflies are represented in good numbers. The nation's "showcase butterfly," the Diana Fritillary, consistently reproduces on the mountain. Mt. Magazine is one of the country's biological "hot spots," a living butterfly "Eden." Mt. Magazine is part of the Tri-Peaks State Parks Destination" along with two nearby sister parks located at Mount Nebo and Petit Jean Mountain. The festival officially begins Friday evening, June 23rd in downtown Paris. The festivities will include an opening ceremony with entertainment provided by local school dance teams and live music. There will be a live butterfly conservatory and arts & craft vendors. Other festival activities include a walk-thru Butterfly Conservatory, horticultural and butterfly seminars, nature walks with interpreters and more! Reprinted from Paris Chamber's website   Centerville Dragway June 3rd: SL/TNT/Mopars June 4th: Points/12th Annual Mopars Invade June 10th: SL/TNT/Truck Radial Shootout June 11th: Closed June 17th: SL/TNT/Outlaw Shootout June 18th: Double Points/Team Race June 24th: SL/TNT/Real Street June 25th: Closed 48th Annual Auto Show & Swap Meet June 13th - 17th Park visitors are treated to a glimpse of automotive history as classic and vintage vehicles from all over the region participate. Contact the Museum of Automobiles at 501-727-5427 for information on this fantastic show. The show is co-hosted by the Mid-American Old Time Automobile Association and the Museum of Automobiles. Arkansas Heritage Month Art Exhibit Announced Art Waves, the Clarksville Area Art Guild, will open an exhibit of watercolor paintings of Johnson County historic buildings and landmarks at the Clarksville-Johnson County Chamber of Commerce with a reception on Friday, June 2nd from 6:00-8:00 p.m. This exhibit comes from a 5 day workshop conducted by Sheila Parsons, an internationally known artist who has instructed and shown her paintings in several European and South American countries and across the United States. The recent workshop was held in Clarksville and was attended by 119 students of the Clarksville Junior High School and area adult artists. This workshop and exhibit was funded through a grant from the Arkansas Arts Commission's Arkansas Heritage Month Program. The public is invited to attend the reception and meet the artists who created this exhibit of Johnson County's historic scenes. June Exhibit at ARV Arts Center Announced The Exhibit Opening Reception for Sheila Parsons, MSW, will be held Sunday, June 4th from 1-3 pm at the Arkansas River Valley Arts Center, 1001 East B St., Russellville. The reception gives the public an opportunity to meet the artist, hear her gallery talk and enjoy her beautiful watercolors. Parsons has been a professional artist and workshop instructor since 1976. She received her masters in art from the prestigious Pratt Institute in New York and has studied since then with some of the greats in the watercolor field. She is a signature member of Mid-Southern Watercolorists. Her work has been included in Watercolor USA, Mid-Southern WC annual and many other national shows. Her paintings are in corporate and private collections throughout the United States, Mexico and Europe. Sheila received the Governor's Award for Outstanding Individual Artist in 1996. The fall 2000 issue of Watercolor, an American Artist publication, had an eight-page article about Sheila and showcased her paintings. Sheila has taken students and friends all over the world through her Art-Ventures painting holidays- Bali, Ireland, Italy, Spain, Mexico, Canada, across the USA and more. She loves travel and is available for three day to two week classes anywhere. She currently lives and works with her husband Richard in her studio/home in Conway. Graduation Celebrated on Ozarks Campus Clarksville, AR- On May 13, 2006, University of the Ozarks conferred degrees on graduates in the class of 2006, in a ceremony that took place on a glorious spring Saturday on the main lawn of the Ozarks campus. "Every end is the beginning of something else," graduating senior Jorge Dieguez told his assembled fellow graduates and their families. "Now the time begins to reap what we have sown." United States Senator and former governor of Arkansas Dale Bumpers urged graduates to take a leadership role and apply their knowledge to some of the problems that threaten the world, including global warming and shortages of vital resources such as water and oil. "We've decided to let your generation handle (these problems)," Bumpers said. "We need to quit destroying the only planet we have." A total of 118 students graduated with the class of 2006, which includes summer graduates and graduates who completed their studies fall semester. Kendall Wagner of Waldron, Arkansas was named outstanding senior in the class of 2006. TOURIST APPRECIATION DAY CELEBRATED On May 15th, 2006 Tourist Appreciation Day was held in the Little Rock River Market Pavilion. The Arkansas River Valley Tri-Peaks Region had a booth set up for display with all kinds of neat stuff from the River Valley. Thank you to all the tourists who participated and made this day a success! YOU TRULY ARE APPRECIATED! We gave away 3 gift baskets full of goodies. The winners of those gift baskets were: Doris Sisk of Jacksonville, AR Sharon Taylor of Malvern, AR Carol Perry of Little Rock, AR Check out some pictures of Tourism Day courtesy of Patty Styles from Centerville Dragway. A special thanks to all of you who volunteered too. THANK YOU FOR TOURING ARKANSAS!   CALENDAR OF EVENTS Mulberry River Photo courtesy of Audrey Farmer Clarksville Foothills Arena June 9th - 11th: Wild Horse & Burro Adoption 8 am -12 pm June 10th: Kids Free Fishing Derby call 479-754-2864 for information Byrd's Adventure Center June 16th - 17th: Byrd's RV Roundup June 30th - July 1st: Boozefighters Mulberry River Run call Byrd's at 479-667-4066 Morrilton Petit Jean State Park June 3rd: National Trails Day June 10th: Mountain Fishing Derby June 13th - June 17th: 48th Annual Swap Meet & Auto Fair For more information on the above events call 501-727-5441 Paris June 10th: Kids Free Fishing Derby call 479-963-3076 for information June 23rd - 24th: 10th Annual Mt. Magazine International Butterfly Festival For more information on the Butterfly Fest call 479-963-8502 Russellville June 3rd: 16th Annual Wal-Mart/CMN Bass Tournament call 479-452-4143 for more info QUOTE OF THE MONTH He that would live in peace and at ease, must not speak all he knows nor judge all he sees. Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790)