Old Hardy Town

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The baby was in her first ever national level beauty pageant this past weekend (she won first place in her age division, by the way!), so I got to spend a little bit of quality time with my two older daughters. With a toddler and an extremely needy 10 year old son, sometimes the girls tend to get lost in the shuffle, so I was excited to get some time with them. When I asked them what they wanted to do, their choice was to visit the quaint little town of Hardy, Arkansas to see the Spring River and browse through the downtown shops. I was happy to oblige, so we got up Sunday morning and made the hour-or-so drive.

Spring River View

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Autumn Approaches At The Spring River

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The Spring River

Hardy’s calling attraction is the Spring River, which originates just up the road in Mammoth Spring, AR where Arkansas’ largest cold water spring bubbles up from the ground at a pace of about 9 million gallons every hour and meets with the South Fork flowing down from Missouri. People travel from all over to float the gently rushing water and to fish for trout that have been stocked by the Arkansas Game & Fish Commission.

In The Days Of My Youth

I remember the trip very well from my childhood. My parents loved spending the day in old Hardy town, and my sister and I were always drug along for the ride. As a teenager, I was too cool for that old fashioned stuff! Now that I’m an adult, I realize just how cool that old fashioned stuff is, and I can’t express how happy it makes me that my kids are already into it!

Things have slowed down a bit since the Highway 63 bypass was put in back in 2005. It was intended to be a truck route to alleviate big rig traffic passing through the crowded downtown strip in Hardy. Unfortunately, it has had the unintended effect of detouring would-be tourists around the downtown area where all of the action is. The slowdown has caused a lot of businesses to close up only to be replaced by new ones, and a few places have even had to shut their doors for good; but all in all, things seem the same as they were when I was a kid.

For a town with a population of 769, Hardy and the surrounding area is oozing with all kinds of talent from musicians like The Wilburn Brothers,Ashley Mcbryde, and former American Idol contestant, Lauren Gray to some of the most incredible craftsmanship and wood work you’ll ever see from names that you will probably never hear.

Downtown Hardy, Ar

Hardy Town Square

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Downtown Hardy has a certain ambience that just has to be experienced. It almost feels as if you’ve stepped out of a time machine and into a bygone era when mom and pop shops were the order of the day and people would go out of their way to help a neighbor out. As you walk from shop to shop, the sounds of country, gospel, and bluegrass music fill the air; and, many times, on weekend evenings, local bands gather at the town square to put on a show for locals and tourists alike.

Our Day In Hardy

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We arrived at about 10:00 Sunday morning, and even though it was not peak season (tourism in Hardy is driven by people who are mainly there to float the Spring River), there were plenty of places open to keep us busy for the entire day. We started out at The Ozark Classic Crafts Mall.

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This is place is the epitome of downtown Hardy, Arkansas. The mostly wood and stone interior gives it the perfect down home feel to match the unique and crafty merchandise. You’ll find tons of handmade woodcraft items like signs and even tables, and there is a room devoted entirely to rocks and minerals, some of which were mined right here in Arkansas in addition to your regular tourist-oriented knick knacks. Something else that caught my eye was the wood library in the back of the store. There was a wide assortment of decorative woods to choose from, but according to the sign, they aren’t for sale unless you have a project in mind. I found it refreshing to see someone putting craftsmanship in front of sales! If I ever need exotic lumber for a small project, I know that Hardy has my hookup!

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If you’re searching for authentic Amish-made jams, Jellies, cheeses, homemade pastries, or a slew of other craft food items, you’ll want to stop in at Kozey’s Country Store. While the pastries are homemade in-store, the Amish goods are brought in from Ohio. We bought a jar of hot pepper jam. Once we open it, I’ll let you know how it tastes!

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In the Moss Main Street Flea Market, you can expect to find all kinds of old-timey artifacts. There is wall devoted to cast iron skillets, and I recall spotting an old fashioned scythe like those once used to cut grass and grain.

The Kozy Nook is a large flea market with a plethora items ranging from modern style clothing to hand carved wooden benches like the one pictured below.

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We stopped in at the Vanilla Cowgirl for lunch. It is quaint, very clean looking restaurant that specializes in soups and sandwiches, as well as cakes and pastries. And when I say specialize, I mean specialize! I had the gourmet chicken salad sandwich on croissant with chicken pot pie soup, and they were delightful! It is unfortunate that the chicken pot pie soup is not a daily offering, because it was amazing. It came to the table with what I first thought was a scoop of some type of cream, but it turned out to be a crunchy but wonderfully flaky pastry that acted as the crust only way better! We didn’t try any dessert items, because we had our eyes on a little something different, but if you ever find yourself looking for a light lunch in Hardy, you should definitely give this place a try!

For dessert, we hit up the Old Time Candy Shop for some homemade fudge and some some candy for the girls. I had a bar of Snickers fudge, and it. Was. Awesome! The girls picked out some candy, and I grabbed a gummy rat for the baby and a gummy snake for my son, along with a bar of walnut fudge for my wife, and we began to make our way back to the truck.

Now, this has been a really difficult article to finish! Not for lack of content to write about, but because there was so much that I had to cut a lot out to avoid making the post too long. It is already overloaded with photos, but I still had about 20 more that I wanted to use. Although it is a small town, Hardy, Arkansas is packed full of good wholesome family fun. So, if you ever find yourself on Hwy 63 in Arkansas, skip that Hardy bypass! Get out, stretch your legs, and enjoy all that the Ozark foothills have to offer. You’ll be glad you did.

* All photos taken by me using Canon Rebel T3; Lens Model: EF-S18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 IS II; post processing performed using Darktable unless otherwise labeled.

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