FEATURES
Profile: Positioned for What Comes Next
The president and CEO of Hope Cancer Resources looks to the future
After 17 years of serving Northwest Arkansas, Hope Cancer Resources is preparing for a new era of growth under President and CEO Chuck Hyde, maintaining commitment to the personal, practical support at the heart of its mission.
Arts & Culture: Have the Time of Your Life at Dirty Dancing: The Musical
The story that awakened a generation is back. Dirty Dancing: The Musical, a new stage production based on Lionsgate’s beloved film, is coming to Walton Arts Center on Oct. 21-25 for eight performances. Set to live music from the original film you love, Baby and Johnny bring to life the summer that changed everything. Your reservation at Kellerman’s awaits!
“Dirty Dancing didn’t just entertain — it imprinted itself onto the emotional memory of an entire generation,” Vanity Fair said.
Arts & Culture: Modern Mythology
SoNA Celebrates the Music of John Williams
From distant galaxies to a monster shark lurking beneath the waves, some of cinema’s most unforgettable moments are inseparable from the music of John Williams. On Nov. 8, the Symphony of Northwest Arkansas celebrates the legendary American composer with Modern Mythology: The Music of John Williams, a special matinee performance at Walton Arts Center in Fayetteville.
Arts & Culture: Still Painting: Another Barn
For an Arkansas painter who has spent decades chasing light through old barns, the Colburn Barn offered George Dombek a rare gift: no roof. For a brief moment during its restoration, sunlight poured into a space normally defined by shadow, and Dombek knew he had to paint it.
At 82, Dombek has slowed his pace a little, often returning to familiar source material while searching for something new. But the chance to paint the historic barn at Cane Hill was irresistible, bringing him back to a subject that has fascinated him since graduate school: the interplay of light and shadow.
Nonprofit: Reclining Into Recovery
With every retelling, the story of a cancer diagnosis accumulates a quiet, exhausting weight that survivors and caregivers are forced to carry. As a breast cancer survivor, Laura D’Spain simply wanted to leave that chapter behind and move forward with her life.
Yet, as time passed, she realized true healing meant taking hold of her past to pay forward the overwhelming support that carried her through treatment. Driven by deep gratitude for the community that surrounded her during her cancer journey, she transformed her experience into a lifeline for others. “If I felt that comfort, I wanted others to feel it too,” D’Spain said. “Once you’ve walked through an experience like this, you gain the power to help someone else heal.”
Community: 30th Annual Hall of Honor Commemorates Alumni and Educators
Hosted by the Fayetteville Public Education Foundation and co-hosted by the Fayetteville High School Student Alumni Association and Student Council, the 30th annual Hall of Honor Ceremony will recognize four outstanding individuals Oct. 22 at the Fayetteville Public Library. The 2026 inductees to the Fayetteville Schools Hall of Honor are Anna Harper, Meredith Lowry, and Thelma and Romey Thomason.
Living Spaces: Putting Down Roots
This Fayetteville couple chose Northwest Arkansas twice
In Fayetteville, Nick and Becca Montesano have found what they believe to be the perfect combination of big-city careers paired with small-town life.
The couple met while attending the College of New Jersey and both interned at the consumer sales division of Johnson & Johnson. After accepting full-time roles there, they were eager to get the coveted experience of working with the world’s No. 1 retailer — Walmart.
Eats & Drinks: Written by the Seasons
215 NW A St., Ste. 150, Bentonville | (479) 481-3692 | www.writtenbytheseasons.com
There is something deeply poetic about a restaurant that doesn’t just feed a room but actively honors the rhythm of the land and the people sitting at its tables. Tucked away just a block off the bustling Bentonville square, Written by the Seasons has quietly established itself as an elevated, soul-stirring sanctuary of Americana bistro dining.
