Market Center of the Ozarks, federal budget part of Springdale Chamber meeting

At the Springdale Chamber of Commerce annual meeting on Friday (Feb. 28) more than 700 people heard a panel discussion on the soon-to-open Market Center of the Ozarks and celebrated successes in 2024 and what’s to come in 2025.

Attendees also heard from U.S. Rep. Steve Womack, R-Rogers, who spoke briefly about the budget resolution passed on Tuesday in the House of Representatives. Calling Washington an “absolute mess right now” because of the “divided government that is representative of a very equally divided population,” he described the resolution as the first in many steps. Womack used a football phrase that the vote was “a successful exchange between a center and a quarterback and a handoff to the Senate,” without knowing what the Senate will do with the package.

Womack said there is no “coherent strategy right now” for funding the government after March 14 and spoke about the danger it poses to community projects that impact Springdale, including a water systems improvement package and $59 million to extend U.S. Highway 412 east of Interstate 49 to Arkansas Highway 265.

The event’s keynote conversation focused on the Market Center of the Ozarks (MCO), which will open later this year on Emma Avenue in downtown Springdale and was developed as part of Northwest Arkansas Food Systems, a Walton Family Foundation initiative focused on improving access to local food.

The 45,000-square-foot facility will offer “vital resources to farmers, food entrepreneurs and Northwest Arkansas residents,” and provide “crop aggregation capabilities, commercial kitchens and community spaces for learning,” according to its website.

A panel discussion at the meeting, led by Chamber President Bill Rogers, featured Emily English with Northwest Arkansas Food Systems, Darryl Holliday with Arkansas Food Innovation Center, and Anthony Mirisciotta with Spring Creek Food Hub. The two latter entities will be housed at the MCO.

In introductory remarks, Rogers compared area amenities like Don Tyson Parkway, Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, and the Razorback Greenway, to the MCO and said this facility “has the opportunity to have that kind of an impact and be looked back on in our region as a true keystone for what our area begins to do at a higher level to affect agribusiness, the economy of food, and even extending into health care.”

Spring Creek Food Hub focuses on farmers, Mirisciotta said, so the facility will “help farmers take produce and be able to process it into a minimally processed or value-added product and help them have a way to take excess product and have it year-round.” He used the example of a restaurant needing green beans blanched, so the farmer could do that at the facility and sell them to the restaurant. His organization has partnerships with 65 local farmers.

“We’re working to keep food dollars local as much as we can within this food system and build more resilient food systems in the rural communities,” he said.

In the first year they have distributed about 300,000 pounds of healthy fruits and vegetables to organizations like Community Clinic, UAMS, and the NWA Food Bank.

Holliday said the processing space will be used to process produce, extend its shelf life and put it into forms where restaurants, schools, and hospitals can take the produce directly into their kitchens. The space can also be used to process, and package produce to be retailed in local grocery stores.

“An entrepreneur can rent the kitchen to either start or grow their businesses,” Holliday said. “On the support side of that, we can provide business training, accounting support, marketing training and get them the capabilities to be successful, so Springdale as a whole can be successful.”

Springdale was chosen because of its location at the crossroads of the area, its diverse community, and sense of entrepreneurship, English said. Speaking of the synergy of the project, she said, “This is a very unique building, and you should know people will come here from all over the world to see this building. And in that process they will see the work you all are doing to build an incredible community, and it’s unique because the services are co-located. The services these guys are offering don’t exist under the same roof anywhere else.”

In his remarks, Springdale Mayor Doug Sprouse congratulated business leaders on collecting sales tax of $2.3 million in December, the highest ever recorded for Springdale.

The “10 Things You Need to Know” segment on business news in Springdale featured a new hotel on Spring Street; Chipotle Mexican Grill opening; Teslar Software opening new headquarters; the Emma Avenue/Har-Ber Avenue overpass; expansion of Arkansas Children’s Hospital Northwest; the $50 million pickleball development; a new McDonald’s near Tyson Foods; a new restaurant on Emma Street; a new Homewood Suites hotel; and the opening of KeyTronic, which will add 400 jobs to Springdale.

Outgoing chamber board chair, Cody Mathews, McDonald’s owner/operator, said key 2024 chamber accomplishments including a youth leadership program for Marshallese students, workforce videos, women’s network events, workforce training programs, and 700 new jobs for the city.

Julie Shook with Arvest Bank was named Ambassador of the Year, and Dr. Jim Rollins, former Springdale School District superintendent, was honored with the 2025 Civic Service Award. Harps Foods was presenting sponsor of the event.