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Pining for a good time: Gurdon Forest Festival promises family fun

COSTUME CONTEST — Kids take part in, and get very serious about, the costume contest held as part of Gurdon's annual Forest Festival, as evidenced in this photo from a previous festival. Courtesy photo You won’t find a log loader at just any run-of-the mill small-town festival, but in Gurdon one can watch heavy equipment operators take part in a unique competition. It’s because Gurdon is in the heart of Arkansas’s “pine belt”, and once a year its residents celebrate the forestry industry that keeps it alive. Now in its 46th year, the Gurdon Forest Festival is bringing a lineup…

Southern Bancorp officially changes name to Uplift Bank

Southern Bancorp Bank has officially begun its shift to Uplift Bank, marking a new chapter for one of the nation’s oldest and largest Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFIs). The first phase of its name change was completed on Monday, Oct. 26, and additional phases will be completed in a staggered approach that will carry into 2027. The change also brings new names for Uplift Bank’s holding company and nonprofit loan fund partner: Southern Bancorp, Inc., a CDFI bank holding company, is now Uplift Financial Development Corporation. Southern Bancorp Community Partners, a CDFI nonprofit loan fund, is now Uplift Capital Partners. …

Real Estate: 3 Arkadelphia homes sell for $300K+

Clark County real estate transactions recorded Oct. 9-22, 2026, having a value of $100,000 or greater. Information is gathered from public records held by the Clark County Circuit Clerk, online real estate records via actdatascout.com and the Arkansas Secretary of State. The Arkadelphian includes names of grantees, grantors, transaction price and property description available, and does not withhold names. A variety of factors, including improvements made to a home or property, are considered in real estate prices that may increase from when the seller bought the property. In the past two weeks, six Arkadelphia homes sold for over $100,000. Three of them…

Cartoon: What you callin’ a news desert?

Inking his support for Issue 3, Arkansas Democrat-Gazette senior editor Rex Nelson complained in a recent column that there is no Arkadelphia-based newspaper and no local radio. “Imagine that: a two-college town that's a news desert,” he observed. Nelson — a native Arkadelphian who now calls Little Rock home — reminisced about the days of old, when his hometown had both a weekly and a daily newspaper in addition to two locally owned radio stations. We've got news for Mr. Nelson: This “desert” had 1.1 million views last month, according to analytics for our social media page and the website…