Bentonville Gearing Up For An Unconventional Ride

In the past decade or so — spurred on by the patronage of the Walton family, state and municipal government cooperation and good, old-fashioned grassroots organization — the mountain biking culture in Northwest Arkansas has exploded.

And come November, when the International Mountain Biking Association (IMBA) arrives in Bentonville for its 2016 World Summit, city tourism officials are hoping to show the mountain biking world exactly why the area belongs on the bucket list of any mountain biking enthusiast anywhere, not to mention that the city of Bentonville is an event destination to be reckoned with.

Mountain Biking in Northwest Arkansas

Every other year, IMBA, the oldest, largest and most influential mountain biking organization, hosts its World Summit, a time for its membership to gather in one place, to enthuse about the sport they love, hash out issues important to its growth and, of course, explore local trails — not to mention brew pubs and eateries.

Keynote speakers, educational breakout sessions, group socials, a vendor-sponsored expo and a host of guided rides are typically what are on tap for the event. In 2014, Steamboat Springs, Colorado, a popular ski resort town, played host to the summit. Other recent host cities have included Santa Fe, New Mexico, and Park City, Colorado.

Now it is Bentonville’s turn. It was back in October that Gov. Asa Hutchinson announced that Bentonville was selected to host the event. An estimated 800 people from 20 to 30 U.S. states and a dozen countries are expected to park their bikes in Bentonville Nov. 10-12. Organizers say those cyclists could leave behind a $500,000 impact on the region as a whole.

When it came time to choose a host city for its upcoming summit, one major deciding factor was that the area had to have a robust level of local IMBA participation, said Mark Eller, IMBA’s communications director. “We usually look for two factors for our summit and one of the important ones is that we have our IMBA chapters nearby and active in that city,” Eller said.

In Northwest Arkansas, there are three IMBA chapters: one in Rogers, another in Fayetteville and one in Bella Vista. Not to mention that the IMBA regional director for the South Central region, a full-time IMBA staff position that covers six states, is based in Springdale.

This high level of IMBA participation in the area is a reflection of the fact that, for the past decade or so, the mountain biking culture has dug in deep in Northwest Arkansas with Fayetteville and Bentonville leading the way.

For instance, favored mountain biking destinations in Fayetteville include the Mt. Kessler and Mt. Sequoyah trails. In Bentonville, the 16-mile Slaughter Pen trail is a popular destination for mountain bikers. (The latter may soon have some serious competition as, according to a source familiar with the matter, there is a “secret” trail now under construction in Bentonville on property owned by the Waltons and poised to be donated to the city. If all goes to plan, the trail will be opened for its first ride during the summit.)

It’s not just the beauty of the Ozarks that attracted a strongly rooted mountain biking culture to Northwest Arkansas. The region’s most influential family, the Waltons, has also played a key role.

“I moved here 14 years ago, and you were lucky to see one or two riders a week back then,” said Dave Neal, owner of the Bentonville bike shop, Mojo Cycling. “Since then there’s been a revolution — mostly as a pure force of will of the Walton family. They’ve put their money where their mouth is, and they’re pushing this cycling culture and really working to make it happen.”

Indeed, Tom and Steuart Walton, grandsons of Wal-Mart Stores Inc. founder, Sam Walton, are mountain biking enthusiasts, and under the direction of the Walton Family Foundation have helped pump up the mountain biking infrastructure in the area, not only in Bentonville and Fayetteville, but in Rogers, Bella Vista, Springdale and Siloam Springs.

On top of all of that, the Walton Family Foundation was a major contributor to the 36-mile-long Razorback Regional Greenway, the paved mixed-use series of trails that ties the Northwest Arkansas region together from Bella Vista to Fayetteville.

In addition to connecting the different towns and amenities of the region, the Greenway plays a key role in providing access to the area’s many different mountain biking destinations.

An Unconventional Convention

The region’s established mountain biking culture and infrastructure certainly helped tip the scales in Bentonville’s favor in the eyes of the decision-makers at IMBA when it came time to choose a destination for their summit — but it wasn’t a slam-dunk.

After all, as much as the city has grown and developed in the past few years, it’s still a place that’s very much in the process of becoming what it’s going to be. And while new amenities are coming online at a startling pace, for a city looking to host a major conference, there’s one thing missing: a large hotel/convention center. But this was not a deterrent for Bentonville’s tourism officials, and in fact, they used it as a hook when making their pitch.

“Our idea was kind of different,” explained Kalene Griffith, executive director of the Bentonville Visitors & Convention Bureau. “It was to keep them in the downtown area and kind of have an unconventional convention in an all-American city.”

So what exactly will an “unconventional convention” in downtown Bentonville look like? Well, in the case of the upcoming IMBA World Summit, one specific downtown hotel, the 21c Museum Hotel, will serve as the “host” hotel. However, a handful of other hotels, specifically the grouping of hotels along Southeast Walton Boulevard, like the La Quinta Inn & Suites, will also accommodate guests. One benefit of this, organizers say, will be to offer guests two divergent price points.

“Obviously, not everybody can afford the rate at the 21c,” said Steve Schneider, IMBA’s regional director for the South Central states. “So a lot of people will be staying down on Walton and they’ll be riding on the paved trails in Bentonville from the Walton Boulevard hotel strip to the downtown.”

In addition, a slew of downtown venues will host the different breakout sessions planned for the Summit, including the 21c Museum Hotel, the Arvest Bank conference center, the Meteor Guitar Gallery and the Trike Theatre. Plus, by then downtown will have a new event space on board to lend a hand. Indeed, the building that once housed The Benton County Daily Record, which is located on Southwest A Street, will be open in its new iteration as “The Record,” an event space.

An event is also planned for the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, and Lawrence Plaza, along with the Compton Gardens and Conference Center, will pitch in as hosts of an expo. Not to mention that most likely, Griffith said, Third Street will be closed downtown to allow for the comings and goings of conference attendees.

“They are going to have a lot of experiences when they come here that they would not get in a large city,” Griffith pointed out. “For one thing, here they are literally going to be walking outside from one session to the next, getting revived by fresh air regularly. They can even ride their bikes.”

With roughly nine months to go before the summit, much of the logistics are still being ironed out, but one thing has been firmly established — the event is serving as a sort of test ride to establish whether downtown Bentonville has the chops to position itself as a conference and event destination for other national/international groups.

“The fun thing for us is when we announced the IMBA event, and that we’re planning to host an ‘unconventional convention,’ other people reached out to us wanting to know how it’s going to happen because they’re interested in it,” Griffith said.

One group that is very interested in the summit is local business owners. Take bike shops throughout Northwest Arkansas, for instance. While it’s predicted that most attendees will bring their bikes or rent from one of the event’s national sponsors, the hope is that the summit will spur on business at bike shops throughout the region via a trickle-down effect.

Count Neal among those hopeful bike shop owners.

“What you may get is a residual effect on the community — people saying, ‘We had this big event here, we saw lots of bikes,’” he said, “and the follow-up to that will be an excitement that will push the culture even further, so I think that will be where the boon is.”

At the end of the day, perhaps the businesses that stand to make the biggest monetary profit from the event will be the area’s hotels, eateries and watering holes.

“Certainly restaurants and bars will see a lot of traffic,” Eller said. “If people aren’t drinking a lot of craft beer and eating a lot of good food we’re not having a good summit.”