[Mr Spock]

Last year I was working as a trainer for a national company doing management skills training in Little Rock and Northwest Arkansas. I spent a month in your fine State and interacted with hundreds of people at the offices I visited and hundreds more out in public. Here are some observations:

The people in an around Little Rock were incredibly nice and friendly. I have never met so many outgoing and friendly people in my life and I have visited all fifty US States. It was such a nice time in Little Rock.

For the second part of my time in Arkansas I spent two weeks in a number of communities in North West Arkansas. I felt like I had returned to Minnesota (my home state). People were nice enough but a little reserved and formal. A completely different social and cultural environment than Little Rock.

Have you experienced the same thing and if so, how do you explain it?

[ArkansasSlim]

I make a point of staying away from NW Arkansas so probably shouldn't even comment, but that's never stopped me before . I don't know, but possibly, because there are so many "furiners" up there who have come in from other states as managers/members of company's supporting WalMart .

[nmnita]

ARSlim probably has it right but it depends on where in NWA you are and why. Of course the influx of people from other areas makes some difference and NWA is more of a corporate community. It is growing, upper mobile in some areas but also the friendliest area we have ever lived in and we have lived in 5 states as adults. I do think visiting and living in an area are 2 different things. If you were spending your time around WalMart headquarters for instance you were around the area that is very mobile: people coming in and out all the time. If you were a little further out, staying in BV or Fayetteville you would get a different vibe and if you were even further out, like Huntsville you would get still a different feeling.

[Peeperpuppy]

Both sets of my grandparents are from Arkansas. My Grandpa was nomadic & tended to move a lot. He just plain liked to move every few months, lol. He tended to range from Thayer, Missouri to Walnut Ridge, Raven Den, etc... My mother's parents lived for many many years in Mammoth Springs. They both grew up in that area. As an adult I've spent some time in Little Rock but a lot of time as a kid going to where the Grandparents were. It was almost like different worlds. Where my dad's parents were tended to be more reserved. They knew their neighbors & were friendly with them but I found the people to be more reserved. Where my mother's parents lived it might take you a few hours to take a simple walk around the neighborhood! If the people didn't know you, they said hi & asked if you were visiting or new to the area. To people not familiar, some might think them nosy. They had their own unofficial neighborhood watch. If your face was unfamiliar they made it familiar & tomorrow if you went for a walk you have new friends. As I'm a country girl, Little Rock was always too hectic for me Nice people there too, just different, in a hurry.

Mammoth's the only place I know of where the neighbors watched us try to break into Grandma & Grandpa's house. Mind you, they knew who we were, but we were later told that it was better than watching tv. We were trying to surprise them by popping in for a visit (we lived a couple hundred miles away). The neighbors were calling around trying to locate our grandparents... but they didn't ruin the surprise. They found 'em at McDonalds & had a manager tell them that they needed to come home as soon as they could. Nothing bad happening they just needed to come home.

The far NW area is again just completely different & I agree with you, I found the people far more reserved & unless they get to know you... a little standoffish.

Mammoth is a great place but & I'd considered retiring there except my health needed a drier climate

[jim9251]

I think it's just the opposite. I've found people in the rock are all in a hurry, suspicious, and unfriendly. No one will talk to you, much less even look at you or smile. Folks in Fayetteville outgoing, happy, open and friendly. Seems everyone waves and says hello. There was even a traffic study about NWA drivers being very courteous.

[ArkansasSlim]

My grandkids are growing up in St Louis and a couple times when they came to visit us I took grandson on a tour of our "ancestral homeland" in east Pike County which now is all pine plantations, but it isn't unusual to meet vehicles on those country roads. Some are locals passing through and some are people like us, coming back to visit the "old country". Grandson is shocked that we would wave to each other and always asks if I know that person, and since I don't, why did I wave? And it isn't unusual to meet someone and stop in the middle of the road and BS for a while. That really blows his mind. He cannot understand it when I explain that's just the way we are. I get a great kick out of it because he tells his Dad that grandpa and those people are strange !

[nmnita]

Originally Posted by Peeperpuppy

Both sets of my grandparents are from Arkansas. My Grandpa was nomadic & tended to move a lot. He just plain liked to move every few months, lol. He tended to range from Thayer, Missouri to Walnut Ridge, Raven Den, etc... My mother's parents lived for many many years in Mammoth Springs. They both grew up in that area. As an adult I've spent some time in Little Rock but a lot of time as a kid going to where the Grandparents were. It was almost like different worlds. Where my dad's parents were tended to be more reserved. They knew their neighbors & were friendly with them but I found the people to be more reserved. Where my mother's parents lived it might take you a few hours to take a simple walk around the neighborhood! If the people didn't know you, they said hi & asked if you were visiting or new to the area. To people not familiar, some might think them nosy. They had their own unofficial neighborhood watch. If your face was unfamiliar they made it familiar & tomorrow if you went for a walk you have new friends. As I'm a country girl, Little Rock was always too hectic for me Nice people there too, just different, in a hurry.

Mammoth's the only place I know of where the neighbors watched us try to break into Grandma & Grandpa's house. Mind you, they knew who we were, but we were later told that it was better than watching tv. We were trying to surprise them by popping in for a visit (we lived a couple hundred miles away). The neighbors were calling around trying to locate our grandparents... but they didn't ruin the surprise. They found 'em at McDonalds & had a manager tell them that they needed to come home as soon as they could. Nothing bad happening they just needed to come home.

The far NW area is again just completely different & I agree with you, I found the people far more reserved & unless they get to know you... a little standoffish.

Mammoth is a great place but & I'd considered retiring there except my health needed a drier climate

wow, I don't know what part of NWA you are lived in or spent much time in, but standoffish, not really. Maybe a less country like in some parts, for obvious reasons. I will ask you again,what part of NWA are you talking about?

Nita

[nmnita]

Originally Posted by jim9251

I think it's just the opposite. I've found people in the rock are all in a hurry, suspicious, and unfriendly. No one will talk to you, much less even look at you or smile. Folks in Fayetteville outgoing, happy, open and friendly. Seems everyone waves and says hello. There was even a traffic study about NWA drivers being very courteous.

I certainly agree with you for the most part. Yes, there is a difference between those living in the really small towns and those living in the burbs of Bentonville and Rogers for instance. But when anyone thinks we are unfriendly I have to wonder where they have visited and how much time they have spent in places like Fayetteville. Today I wandered to Gravette to do just a little grocery shopping. I rarely shop there but the local grocery store had a couple of really good specials. I spent a total of $12 so you know how much I bought. I thought at the time, if one more person in this store asks me how my day is going I am going to scream.. only kidding of course, but I am pointing out how friendly everyone is and how many places, anymore, do you find baggers that offer to carry your groceries to the car or put your cart away for you when you are checking out? And we always wave at everyone when we are out, sometimes we stop and talk to the walkers, sometimes just a wave, but everyone smiles and greets their neighbors with a hi, how are things going?

[Mr Spock]

Yes my experiences in NW Arkansas was at the home of Walmart, a town filled with outsiders. Most of the people at the company were from somewhere else and did not share the southern hospitality found in Little Rock.

The people I met everywhere in Little Rock were the nicest people I have ever met anywhere!

[nmnita]

Originally Posted by Mr Spock

Yes my experiences in NW Arkansas was at the home of Walmart, a town filled with outsiders. Most of the people at the company were from somewhere else and did not share the southern hospitality found in Little Rock.

The people I met everywhere in Little Rock were the nicest people I have ever met anywhere!

I think many people would with you, but that is just at and near WalMart headquarters and does not represent the rest of NWA which extends from just north of Ft Smith to the Mo border and east to say, Eureka Springs.