Everyone Wants to be Here, Not There (OPINION)

The U.S. Census recently released its latest demographic figures. They were a mixed bag for Arkansas.

From July 2013 to last July, Benton and Washington counties grew by 9,059 people. But of the state’s 75 counties, 55 actually lost population.

That’s good for us, but what about the folks down in McGehee or over in Jasper? Randy Dennis, president of Little Rock-based DD&F Consulting Group, nailed it during a recent conversation about Arkansas banking.

He said no one wants to be in rural Arkansas anymore. So what happens to all those banks that have served small communities for decades? Some might be bought, but others might just go away. Old boards, old management and old owners. Time to cash out and call it a day.

It sounds sad, but it’s also the way of the world. Remember Pine Bluff? A quintessential Southern city with river cargo, a mighty railroad, endless timber, and a sea of King Cotton, it once ruled the roost. Pine Bluff still has what made it great, but the business model changed. And now, no one wants to be there.

Everyone, it seems, wants to be in Northwest Arkansas.

First National Bank of Paragould recently opened two branches in Benton County, not Columbia County. And Gary Head, founder of Fayetteville-based Signature Bank of Arkansas, is bullish on this region’s future.

But what if something happened to Walmart? A prolonged civil war in China, or something as mundane yet profound as a change in consumer habits? Let’s hope it never occurs. But if or when it does, let it be so far in the future that none of us, and none of our children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren, will ever see it on the horizon.

Everyone wants to be here, not there, and that’s a phenomenon that needs to last.