Cave Springs

Cave Springs partners with the Urban Land Institute on a new downtown master plan aimed at preserving small-town character while preparing for rapid growth and the coming Highway 112 bypass.

On today's show, we hear how city leaders in Cave Springs keep coming back to the same question: how do we grow without losing the qualities that made people want to move there in the first place? Also, a concert on the University of Arkansas campus tomorrow is designed to bring people together. Plus, a rundown of the news from this week in the River Valley with Michael Tilley of Talk Business & Politics.

The Cave Springs community will again gather at the Illinois River Watershed Partnership sanctuary to celebrate the second annual Bats and Bluegrass Festival Saturday, July 19. The event will feature live bluegrass music from The Sons of Otis Malone, food trucks, educational activities, hikes and, of course, bats.

For most of the year, Kimberly Hutcheson runs a quiet business. She owns and operates Experience Escape Rooms in Cave Springs, but during the month of October, her business expands to the structure next door: The Asylum.

For the first time in 10 years, the Cave Springs community gathered in full force at the Illinois River Watershed Partnership sanctuary this weekend to celebrate the Bats and Bluegrass Festival. Ozarks at Large’s Jack Travis spoke with organizers and attended the event to get to know the people and causes behind the festival.

Early voting is underway in a special election in Cave Springs that’s asking voters to consider approving the annexation of nearly 2,800 acres into the…