By JOEL PHELPS | arkadelphian.com
OKOLONA, Arkansas — Community leaders in a rural Clark County town are taking action to add some sparkle to their once booming community.
And it all started with an idea for a mural.
“My husband Chip said that every town has a mural, and so we needed one, too,” said Jeanie Cox, president of the newly reorganized Okolona Love Council, a nonprofit with a mission to make the town shine a little brighter.
Whether it’s planting flowers, picking up litter, or adding a splash of color to its public spaces, the volunteer-led group brainstormed ideas on what should be included in the mural — and who would paint it.
Getting to Okolona from Arkadelphia involves a scenic, 30-minute drive via a winding, narrow ribbon of state Highway 51 along rolling pastures dotted by the occasional picturesque farmhouse or barn.
Now a country hamlet of about 150 residents, Okolona was once a prosperous agricultural town. By 1900 it was bustling with retail, banks and school buildings. A business decline in the 1920s — coupled with the Great Depression, a dwindling need for cotton, modern farming technology, and new highways connecting the farmlands to larger towns* — all but cut Okolona to its knees, eventually claiming most every landmark but a post office, fire station and a community center.
Now, the few residents who live there still cling to the solitude that Okolona offers, although community leaders — like the postmaster — report a slight uptick in population, as some families have recently relocated here from California or Florida as interest grows for a lower cost of living.
And those who do hang on to Okolona instill a desire to beautify what’s left of the town. The once-defunct Okolona Love Council has in recent months been reorganized with hopes of returning charm to the place they call home.
To date, the Okolona Love Council has hosted a pair of community events — a summer cookout held in June, and a Fall Festival held in October — in order to raise funds for their mission to make Okolona shine.
Back to that mural: The first project, still in the making, is a mural on the north exterior wall of the fire department’s training center. With input given at meetings, it was decided to incorporate the town’s history (trail rides, the nearby Battle of the Bees Civil War site, and cotton), as well as what it offers now (cattle farming and whitetail hunting). The likenesses of two notable Okolona figures will flank either side of the mural: the late Ricky Norton, a guard for the Arkansas Razorbacks basketball team in the 1980s, and the late Cecil “Scooter” Orsburn, a folk artist known for his oil paintings.
“We love Okolona and want to improve it,” said Cox, the Love Council’s president. Once the mural is finished, the group will aim to revitalize other landmarks, notably the nearby community center where community events are held, the city council meets and where families can rent the facility for functions or gatherings.
The next fundraiser event, still in its planning phase, is expected to include a Christmas tree lighting, with hot cocoa and coffee served.
* Source: Clark County Arkansas: Past and Present
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