Things to Do in Arkadelphia

Wildwood Park’s 104 bucolic acres are home to woodland trails, manicured gardens, and the 625-seat Lucy Lockett Cabe Festival Theater. In service of the center's continuing mission to encourage lifelong learning and fertile imaginations, the expansive grounds host myriad events that marry culture and art, from annual festivals to year-round children’s education programs. Beyond artistic pursuits, visitors can simply savor the center's natural splendor by taking in the sights of the Richard C. Butler Arboretum, wending through the Carl Hunger Wildflower Glenn, or spotting ballerinas in the wild at the park’s eight-acre swan lake. The nonprofit park maintains its gardens, education projects, and other artistic hallmarks purely through help from its community, including volunteers, individual donors, and arts organizations.

When Ken Goodman survived a car wreck at age 4, his parents feared that his nearly severed tongue would never speak again. After a complicated surgery and months of healing, they found he could not only speak but sing. Years later, he nabbed lead roles in musical-theater classics such as Bye Bye Birdie and The Music Man. His lengthy list of performances also includes operas, pageants, and a concert for the Austrian ambassador to the United States. These days, Ken flaunts his melodious vocals at the Vienna Theatre, the 75-seat performance space he owns with his wife, Stephanie. Here, he adds his tuneful spin to renditions of Broadway standards and folk duets with humming radiators. Nestled within the century-old Simon Mendel building, the theater is one of the few structures to survive the fire of 1928 and the man versus building tickle war of 1987.

In conjunction with the yoga studio, The Floating Lotus Day Spa aims to beautify and relax clients using all-natural therapies, including body wraps, organic facials, waxing services, and massages. Wielding Éminence Organics skincare products, aestheticians deep cleanse faces using biodynamic ingredients designed to naturally hydrate and rejuvenate faces. Within the day spa's private rooms, therapists use methods such as Thai massage and foot-focused reflexology, as well as warmed lava stones, to melt away any knots or stale marshmallows hiding beneath the skin.

When the Little Rock Zoo opened its gates in 1926, it contained fewer animals than many people's homes. At the time, its inhabitants were, in total, a circus-trained brown bear and an abandoned timber wolf. From its formative days, the Little Rock Zoo has expanded dramatically, now home to more than 700 animals from more than 200 unique species. Visitors can witness lions, tigers, and jaguars up close; interact with exotic birds; and carefully navigate spider monkeys' webs. In addition to conserving wildlife, the zoo also preserves a unique antique carousel, one of only four in the world to feature an undulating wooden track rather than conventional moving poles.

The instructors at Green Haven Horse Stables guide riders of all skill levels on the path to proper horsemanship with private and group lessons as well as summer camps for children. Each lesson focuses on safety and building self-confidence, which are of the utmost importance when commanding a steed to jump over fences or ride through an airport security checkpoint. Riders may choose to ride in the styles of English, hunter jumping, Western, or dressage, with intermediate and above dressage lessons conducted by a certified USDF judge. At summer camps, children ages 6–14 receive a proper introduction to horses, spending a full week learning the subtleties of equitation and participating in fun-filled games and activities.

Inside The Wonder Place’s 5,700 square-foot indoor play space, colored balls and scarves shoot through spiraling tubes. Stuffed animals await vaccinations in the vet's office, and tables covered in water and sand become interactive landscapes. The playhouse's supervising staffers encourage their visitors, generally aged 8 and younger, to explore freely as they engage in imaginative play.

Kids slip down slides and scale a rock-climbing wall at the tree house, and build towers and obstacle courses for toy balls using square blocks and ramps at Wonder Works. A child-sized stage lets them perform their own plays or reenact Hamlet with puppets using costumes and set pieces, and an art area sets them loose with a menagerie of art supplies. Infants and toddlers frolic in a designated play area, filled with smaller play structures and toys. While kids can make pretend meals using pretend produce and haggle with pretend cashiers at the River Market and Cafe, there's also a real, health-focused vending machine. An onsite gift shop peddles educational toys and puzzles from brands such as eeboo, Melissa & Doug, and Manhattan Toy.