El Dorado MusicFest has three days of varied performers, concerts
Scanning this week's Arkansas cultural landscape, there appears to be just one spot where a person can find heavy doses of '70s-'80s funk, classic rock, blue-collar country, blazing hot hip-hop and a downtown, family friendly festival. Read More
El Dorado, Arkansas’s New Boom
“Welcome to the city of El Dorado, Arkansas, U.S.A.” reads the banner on a collapsible stage where a local band is plugging in their instruments. It’s a clear September weekend in a quaint patch of southwest Arkansas. The town’s name became allegorical in the 1920s when a prodigious oil well was discovered, making it the epicenter of the Arkansas oil boom. By 1930, El Dorado was the wealthiest town in America, a cosmopolitan respite in the vast flatness of middle America. Read More
Toast the town: El Dorado has wine experts, big name chefs, food, music lined up for Southern Food & Wine Festival
The Sept. 27 opening of the Murphy Arts District downtown heightened El Dorado's entertainment and dining profile. So the festival, which had been a fairly low-key local event, set its sights on a higher-profile presence. Read More
The Arts Revitalize Arkansas's Original Boomtown, HERE Magazine
In many of America’s forgotten towns, the decision to stay has transformative potential. Thanks to the work of Austin Barrow, an Arkansas expat who returned home to build the newly minted Murphy Arts District, El Dorado has gone from deteriorating municipality to cultural hub. Once the site of an oil boom, the tiny Arkansas town (usually pronounced “durr-ay-doh,” through a gooey Southern accent) now attracts some of the world’s top performers, revitalizing a struggling economy after years of decline. Read More
The Arts Revitalize Arkansas's Original Boomtown
In many of America’s forgotten towns, the decision to stay has transformative potential. Thanks to the work of Austin Barrow, an Arkansas expat who returned home to build the newly minted Murphy Arts District, El Dorado has gone from deteriorating municipality to cultural hub. Once the site of an oil boom, the tiny Arkansas town (usually pronounced “durr-ay-doh,” through a gooey Southern accent) now attracts some of the world’s top performers, revitalizing a struggling economy after years of decline. Read More