[ccoutofsc]

Hello all,
My husband is thinking of taking a job with his company that will relocate us to Ft. Smith. We currently live in Columbia, SC and want to get closer in driving distance to my family in California. I am wanting more info on Ft. Smith. My husband works for Mars so if you know where the plant is what would be a good area to live in. We have 5 kids so schools are a big deal to us. Our kids are 11, 9, 5, and 5mth old twins. My older two are boys and play travel baseball here so that is something that we want to keep doing with them. They love the sport. My daughter currently does gymnastics but I was a dancer and she wants to dance also so a good dance school is something I also want. I want things to do that are family oriented. They say Columbia is family friendly but everything to do here cost and the parks aren't that great along with it not being very walkable. I was born and raised in the Los Angeles area to give you a clue. I will drive if I have to for what I want if that is necessary. Where is the closest nice mall? Is there a Trader Joe's, Whole Foods, or Fresh Market near? Is there Sam's or Costco? What grocery besides Walmart? I see that Tulsa is the closest big city so how long does it take to get there? We will try to visit before making a decision but I want as much info up front as we would like to make a move that will be our last for our kids.

[ArkansasTgirl]

Stonshire is a few minutes from Mars. You might find this thread helpful Fort Smith. I have questions, do you have answers? Theres a newer (still being added to) Italian themed neighborhood on Massard not far from Mars called Cisterna Villa. I would say the area is nice but its still very undeveloped, It used to be a military base and a lot of the old buildings are still there. There are quite a few trails in the area and a nature center as far as family entertainment goes. They are building a waterpark on Zero street on Ben Geren Park, if you lived close Mars it would be fairly easily accessible by foot or bike using the trail system.

Trader Joe's-No not even in NWA
Fresh Market-No
Sam's-yes
Costco-no
Whole Foods- No but there should be one in Fayettville (about an hour north) soon

There is a Target, an Aldi's, and a couple of Harps grocery stores. There is a local place called Olde Fashioned Foods that has a couple of locations and apparently a place called Carrot Dirt that sells organic juices.

There is a mall but It isn't that nice in my opinion, maybe the pinnacle mall in Rogers. They are building a mall in Barling which is supposed to have an anchor store that is supposedly going to be something good. Trader Joe's would be great, the way they have hyped it I think anything less than a Whole Foods would be a let down.

Google can show you driving times for Tulsa.

There is a gymnastics place on Grand avenue and a place called Western Arkansas Ballet, I don't know of any other dance places (which doesn't necessarily mean there aren't any). I'm sure the schools have some kind of dance programs.

[ccoutofsc]

Thank you FriendlyFella. Do you know of travel baseball in the area? Do many people make a drive for activities?

[ArkansasTgirl]

Originally Posted by ccoutofsc

Thank you FriendlyFella. Do you know of travel baseball in the area? Do many people make a drive for activities?

Not sure what travel baseball is but there is youth baseball. At the college level UAFS has a team, there is a minor league team in Springdale called the Naturals.

Some people drive for activities some don't I guess, a lot of people drive to the Crystal Bridges museum. When I drive out of Fort Smith I'm not looking for family activities personally so I'm not an expert. I guess if you can afford the gas and you have the time there is nothing stopping you.

There are 2 natural gas filling stations, that's what I want to do, the conversion costs to much for me right now even if I did it myself though. As far as I know if you want to drive a really long way you can just throw extra cylinders in the trunk.

[ArkansasTgirl]

I went to one the Olde Fashioned Foods today, they sell Carrot Dirt juices too, they had organic fruit, I might go back tomorrow.