As 2021 winds to a close and a new year approaches, we wanted to share with our readers the AY About You stories they liked the most this year. And who knows — maybe there’s an entry or two you might have missed that you can now enjoy. Here are AY‘s 15 Most Popular Articles of 2021.
Best of 2021
By AY Staff
After more than 100,000 nominations and votes cast by our readers, the results are in for AY’s Best of 2021. The following pages are a listing of this year’s class in every category imaginable — from beauty and health to people and places to cars and boats. If Arkansas has it, we made a category for it, and you decided who was the best.
Read more here.
Intriguing Women 2021
By AY Staff
AY About You is proud to present the list of 2021 Intriguing Women, which features some of Arkansas’ brightest minds, boldest visionaries and most passionate leaders from all four corners of the Natural State.
Every year, our Intriguing Women section serves as a celebration of all things women. As a woman-led organization, we understand and appreciate firsthand the value of women in and out of the workplace. This list is a compilation of what intriguing women exhibit: brains, brawn, tenacity and tenderness. From physicians to philanthropists and bankers to wildlife experts, this diverse landscape of glass-ceiling-shattering ladies is proof that women can do anything they set their minds to.
Read more here.
Recipe: Lemon Blueberry Bundt Cake
By Lisa Fischer
Wanna know something that is plentiful this time of year? Blueberries! They are beautiful by themselves with a little whipping cream on them or front and center for a dessert. I have chosen a dessert recipe for today that makes them the stars that they are! Recipe and photo courtesy of Angela Williams from the Country Cooking Facebook group.
Read more here.
Top 10 Cheeseburgers in Little Rock
By Kevin Shalin
Sept. 18 is National Cheeseburger Day. To celebrate the occasion, I wanted to put together my Top 10 Cheeseburgers in Little Rock. But first, let’s go over a few ground rules. These are purely my selections and do not reflect the opinions of other staff members. Second, I fully understand the limitations of this list. I am one person. As hard as I’ve tried, I have not eaten every cheeseburger in Little Rock. Finally, to narrow the focus of this post, the burgers below are only located in Little Rock (areas like North Little Rock, Conway, Benton and Bryant are not included). It was tough to narrow things down, and several great burgers did not quite make the cut.
Read more here.
Hot Seltzer Summer: Sonic Bringing Alcoholic Beverages to Arkansas
By Tyler Hale
Sonic Drive-In is bringing its first alcoholic beverages to Arkansas this summer.
The drive-in chain will be launching its first hard seltzers in Arkansas starting in August. Sonic will also be bringing the hard seltzers to Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska and Texas in August with the initial launch coming in Oklahoma on May 18.
Read more here.
World’s Largest Locomotive Prepares to Pass Through Arkansas
By Katie Zakrzewski
The Quapaw Area Council announced Wednesday that the world’s largest locomotive named “Big Boy” is preparing to pass through the Natural State.
Weighing in at over 1 million pounds, the locomotive will pass through Arkansas from August 25th through August 27th, with stops planned in Arkadelphia, Malvern, North Little Rock and Walnut Ridge.
Read more here.
Murder Mystery: The Murder of Jennifer Cave
By Kenneth Heard
In August of 2005, University of Texas students returned to Austin with a sense of excitement and optimism of beginning a new school year. Students began moving into the dorms and the apartments that ringed the campus, and the Texas Longhorns, anchored by quarterback Vince Young, started football practice that eventually ended with the team claiming the National Championship in the Rose Bowl on Jan. 1, 2006.
But there was also a sense of apprehension as they moved into apartments on the western edge of the university campus. Yellow police tape blocked off the door of one of the apartment units at the Orange Tree, an upscale residential area on Rio Grande and 23rd streets. Inside, they’d heard, occurred one of the most horrific killings in Austin’s history. Family members found Jennifer Cave, 24, dead in a bathtub on Aug. 18. She had been shot, and her killer had cut off her head and hands, leaving them in garbage bags by the body.
Read more here.
Movie Starring John Cusack and Emile Hirsch Filming in Downtown Little Rock
By Dustin Jayroe
John Cusack and Emile Hirsch are set to film a movie in downtown Little Rock. The Downtown Little Rock Partnership posted a tease about the news on Facebook Thursday, and the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette is reporting the specifics about the actors.
Read more here.
‘Fixer to Fabulous’ Season Three, Spinoff Series Coming Soon
By Emily Beirne
Arkansas’ own Jenny and Dave Marrs have officially announced season three of their HGTV show Fixer to Fabulous. The upcoming season is set to air in fall 2021 with 16 new episodes.
Read more here.
Finding the Pig Trail: Arkansas’ New First Lady of Basketball
By Dustin Jayroe
Amidst a career that has taken her through virtually all of the country’s 50 states, Danyelle Musselman officially became a Razorback … when her husband Eric Musselman was named the head men’s basketball coach at the University of Arkansas. While LA to NWA may lie outside the norm of traditional trajectories, for her, it was destiny.
Read more here.
Something Strange in the Neighborhood: Arkansas X Files
By Dustin Jayroe
Beebe resident Tyra Clark is a believer. In a place like Arkansas, a state within the Bible Belt, half of that means exactly what one might expect: She is a woman of faith who follows the fundamentals of Christianity and the teachings of Jesus Christ. But her proud status as a believer isn’t synonymous to only the realm of theology. Clark is also a subscriber to theories — which, for her, are realities — of the paranormal nature, namely: ghosts, cryptids, extraterrestrials, and other mysterious things that might only inhabit the nightmares or television screens of most. But for Clark, finding the truth is her foremost passion. It’s why she founded the organization aptly named Arkansas X Files last year, to investigate such phenomena.
Read more here.
Top Five Restaurants to Visit in Fort Smith
By Emily Beirne
Nestled on the outskirts of the River Valley, a stone’s throw from Oklahoma, is the ever-growing city of Fort Smith. With endless support from the community and an increase in outside visitors, Fort Smith is making a name for itself to rival more well-known hot spots in the state.
From art to coffee and everything in between, Fort Smith has plenty to offer the state. In no particular order, here are a few stellar eats you need to try.
Read more here.
Sullivan’s Steakhouse to Open First Arkansas Location in 2022
By AY Staff
The state of Arkansas appears to be getting another well-known restaurant in the coming months. On Monday, Sullivan’s Steakhouse announced that it will soon be opening a location in Little Rock, the brand’s first in Arkansas.
According to a release, the capital city’s Sullivan’s Steakhouse will open in The Promenade at Chenal in “early 2022.” Little Rock is also now listed among the 15 locations nationwide displayed on its website, beside a “coming soon” label. The address listed seems to place it in the space formerly occupied by Del Frisco’s Grille.
Read more here.
13 Rivers to Float in Arkansas
By Emily Beirne
Miley Cyrus had it right when she sang, “That’s when I make the wish, to swim away with the fish. Is it supposed to be this hot all summer long?” Arkansas has once again delivered a hot, humid summer that makes walking to the car feel just like running a 5k marathon. Luckily, Arkansas also delivers plenty of bodies of water to cool down in.
Float trips might be one of the best Arkansas things you can do, and although it may be late in the season for a few rivers, there’s no better time to plan next year’s excursions than when the A/C is on full-throttle.
The Natural State has too many waterways to count, but we’ve picked out a few that we think are musts for the perfect float trip.
Read more here.
Top Five Restaurants to Visit in Russellville
By Emily Beirne
The simple satisfaction a good meal can bring is nothing to take lightly. At least, that’s what the people and visitors of Russellville believe when they sit down at any of the local gems the town has to offer.
Food of all kinds and packaging can be appreciated and enjoyed, but the meals designed and executed by Russellville’s own need to be recognized.
Read more here.
Thank you for reading AY this year. We appreciate your time and your interest, and hope to make 2022 an even more exciting year of content than the last.
Happy Holidays to all!
