This Outdoorsy City Is Charming Visitors With Biking, Hiking, A World-Class Museum, And Breathtaking Foliage

The neon cowgirl surveys the scene from her perch on the old Benton County jail. She’s clad in a white tengallon hat, and her red lips are blowing smoke from a gun barrel—she’s a glamorous, glowing Bonnie looking for her Clyde. Created by Texas neon artist Todd Sanders, the sculpture, Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, hangs across the street from the 21c Museum Hotel Bentonville, where I’m staying. It greets me when I step out in the morning and return in the evening. Each of these brief interactions sparks a little joy during my weekend in Bentonville.

And that’s exactly why the cowgirl is there. This Northwest Arkansas city has committed to making public art—130 works and counting—a regular part of life for residents and tourists. While most of these pieces are on display year-round, there’s no better time to view them than autumn, when the Ozark Mountains are aglow with color and the weather is ideal for taking it all in. One unexpected pleasure of my visit was discovering that Bentonville is compact and walkable (or bikeable—more on that later), making it an easy art-filled escape that doesn’t require traveling far. 

Start at the Square

During my first afternoon, I set out to explore the town square that’s fringed with red- and gold-leaved trees. It’s small but densely populated with restaurants, bars, and locally owned stores such as Once Upon a Time Books, Phat Tire Bike Shop, and Remedy Road (a boutique that stocks ethically and globally sourced clothing and home goods). The square’s main draw for out-of-towners is undoubtedly The Walmart Museum and Walton’s 5&10, the original general store that Walmart founder Sam Walton opened in 1950. Both are undergoing extensive renovations and are set to reopen next spring, but a temporary space called The Walmart Museum Heritage Lab is located just two blocks off the square.

Bentonville has been called “the town that Walmart built,” and the Walton family’s influence has indeed transformed the city into an unlikely arts destination. It started in 2011 with the opening of the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art. Founded by philanthropist and collector Alice Walton (daughter of Sam Walton), the facility has not only attracted visitors from around the world but has also been a catalyst that helped turn the entire metro area into a gallery of sorts.

As I wandered around the square, I saw art everywhere I looked—even without setting foot in a museum. I spied more of Sanders’ neon pieces (like a jaunty top hat and a frothy beer stein) lighting up unlikely places. Eye-catching murals ranging from funky abstract florals to M.C. Escher-like mazes are scattered all over the city. A painting of a goofy-looking pink fluffball wearing a baseball cap led me to a backstreet between 2nd Street and Central Avenue called Monster Alley, where more of these creatures by artist Kevin Lyons live. There are several public art maps available, and I could have spent the entire day treasure hunting.

A Feast for the Senses

It was time for dinner, so I headed to The Preacher’s Son, a restaurant housed in a former church. The building dates back to 1904 and still has the airy feel of a sanctuary. The custom-made arched stained glass windows with scenes of birds and butterflies almost upstaged my chicken with eggplant and cilantro yogurt. On the white brick wall behind the bar hung what looked like a triptych of a swan on a pink settee. Upon closer inspection, I found that it was actually a quilt. Later, I learned it was part of artist Jesse Krimes’ Elegy Quilts series, designs constructed with clothes and other textiles collected from incarcerated people. Krimes spent six years in federal prison, and much of his work focuses on the United States criminal justice system.

The quilt is from OZ Art NWA’s collection. Founded in 2017, OZ’s mission is to “make the community more vibrant by promoting access to unique, diverse, authentic art encounters.” The organization, which is helmed by Olivia Walton (who is married to the grandson of Sam Walton), places museum-quality works in spots like restaurants, bars, parks, and even the airport. OZ says these displays do more than beautify the city. “Some groups conduct biking tours that take people through town to learn about the art. There’s one piece by Eva Rothschild at Coler Mountain Bike Preserve that has been used as a starting gate for kids’ races and another by Sanford Biggers that’s located deep in the woods and has become a destination for cyclists and hikers,” says Elizabeth Miller, OZ’s director of collections and exhibitions. “These experiences have blossomed organically, and we love that.”

This is just one of many efforts to boost the region’s creative scene. Since 2007, Bentonville’s Public Art Advisory Committee (appointed by the mayor and city council) has recommended various works to be placed on city-owned land like trails and plazas. One of the group’s goals is to encourage developers to include publicly accessible art.

After dinner, I ducked into the underground bar Lady Slipper for a nightcap. Sparkling chandeliers and pressed-tin ceilings give the space a stylish speakeasy feel, but I couldn’t keep my eyes off a massive oil painting by Kehinde Wiley (the artist commissioned to depict President Barack Obama for the National Portrait Gallery). Almost 10 feet tall and wide, Saint George and the Dragon features a Black man in shorts and a tank top astride a bucking white horse that is set against a floral background. It’s Wiley’s reinvented vision of Italian High Renaissance artist Raphael’s 1506 work of the same name.

“Is that an actual Kehinde Wiley painting?” I asked the bartender, my mouth agape.

“Oh, it is,” he replied, glancing up from making the lounge’s signature drink (gin and blanc vermouth with a raspberry rose shrub). “I saw a video of them installing it.” This remarkable piece is also courtesy of OZ Art NWA.

Museums and Mexican Food

The following day, I spotted another masterpiece by Wiley—this time, it was right where I expected it to be, in the halls of Crystal Bridges. The museum’s collection, which includes works by renowned artists such as Georgia O’Keeffe, John Singer Sargent, Norman Rockwell, and Jean-Michel Basquiat, has drawn over 5 million visitors in the last decade. After a major expansion project is completed in 2024, the facility will grow by 50%, increasing the gallery space for its extensive permanent collection.

What makes Crystal Bridges different from so many other museums is that it was created in harmony with nature. The 217,000-square-foot building, which looks like a metal-and-glass spaceship, is complemented by its surroundings: two spring-fed ponds, 120 wooded acres of native forest, picturesque biking and walking trails, and the Frank Lloyd Wright-designed Bachman-Wilson House. While the museum grounds are beautiful in any season, the bright blue skies and vibrant foliage seem to cast everything in a golden light. I spent some time wandering around the property, soaking in the scenery and the outdoor installations.

Minutes away is Crystal Bridges’ satellite museum, The Momentary, a former Kraft cheese factory that is now a space for contemporary works in all media. Since opening in 2020, it has been home to large-scale exhibits, concerts, films, and dance performances. Poised as Crystal Bridges’ younger, cooler sibling, it aims to be a “thrilling reminder of the primacy of IRL experiences.” Like at Crystal Bridges, public art surrounds The Momentary; you don’t have to walk inside to feel like you are strolling through a gallery. (However, both museums are free to the public, so there’s no reason not to go right in.)

Looking for a bite to eat, I made my way to the 8th Street Market, a dining and shopping complex near The Momentary. At Yeyo’s, chef and founder Rafael Rios prepares some of the best Mexican food in the region. When the toasty smell of masa greeted me at the door, I knew that I was in for something good even before I sat down to a steaming bowl of rich posol (made with chicken, pork, and beef stock) and a large platter of street tacos.

Yeyo’s shares the market with a few retailers, including chocolate shop Markham & Fitz (stop in for a Brown Sugar Bourbon Chocolate Chip Cookie), craft and home-goods store Hillfolk, and Two Friends Books (an indie bookstore and cafe). There’s also a ramen restaurant, a yoga studio, and a brewery, among other businesses.

Explore Outdoors

Spend five minutes in the city, and you’ll notice that it’s full of serious cyclists—so much so that it anointed itself the “mountain biking capital of the world.” Like art, the trails are public amenities that appeal to visitors too. And those two assets can work in tandem. At Coler Mountain Bike Preserve, the 19 miles of challenging trails (ranging from the beginner-friendly Family Flow to experts-only Drop the Hammer, which includes a 12-foot plunge) aren’t the only attractions.

As I entered the park the next day, I pedaled through a covered bridge designed by Craig Colorusso that’s also a sound-art installation. In the preserve, sculptures are sprinkled throughout the wooded landscape; many are accessible only by bike. The park’s open-air cafe, Airship Coffee, is a sight to behold as well—the concrete structure with built-in swings and roof-top seating is unlike anything you’d expect to find tucked in the forest.

If you prefer to move on foot, head to Osage Park to traverse 12 acres of wetlands with a boardwalk, pickleball courts, an archery range, and a dog park—plus abundant art, of course. Amid the tall grasses and fields, you’ll see a 25-foot steel paper airplane and solar lights arranged on green stems to resemble otherworldly flowers.

Stay Awhile

The 21c Museum Hotel Bentonville is filled with contemporary art for guests to happen upon throughout their visit. Outside, a Cadillac limousine covered in thousands of coins stops passersby in their tracks. Inside, the minimalist lobby doubles as a gallery, and the in-house restaurant, The Hive, is dripping with sculptures of glowing honeycombs, kudzu vines, and swarms of bees. Even in the fitness center, Fat Bat (a life-size rendering of Batman—if he were on an all-doughnut diet) looms over the exercise equipment. Since launching in 2007, 21c has opened eight hotels throughout the country, but unlike the other properties (which are all located in existing buildings that were repurposed), the Bentonville one was built to be a museum hotel.

And these pieces aren’t just for decoration like the art you’ll find in most lodging options. "You can come in and enjoy the collection whenever you want—even bring a dog or have a cocktail in hand. It’s a relaxed space to engage with how you want,” says Danny Baskin, the former museum manager for the hotel.

In Bentonville, art meets you where you are—hiking in the woods, biking through a park, or enjoying a drink at a bar. It’s woven into everyday life in a way that anyone can appreciate. As the massive neon sign scrawled across The Momentary proclaims: “You Belong Here.”