Arkansas

Arkansas has over 600,000 acres of lakes and 9,700 miles of rivers and streams.

The state is home to the world’s largest diamond mine, the Crater of Diamonds State Park.

The first Walmart store opened in Rogers, Arkansas in 1962 and in Bentonville, Arkansas, there is a museum dedicated to the history of Walmart.

The state’s nickname is “The Natural State”.

In Arkansas, it’s illegal to mispronounce the state’s name.

In the town of Gurdon, Arkansas, there is a yearly “Gurdon Light” festival to celebrate an unexplained phenomenon of a strange light that appears in the woods.

In Texarkana, Arkansas, there is a courthouse that straddles the state line between Arkansas and Texas.

Arkansas is the only state in the US where all three types of rocks – igneous, sedimentary, and metamorphic – can be found.

In the town of Damascus, Arkansas, there is a yearly festival that features a “Toad Suck” contest, where participants suck up toads and measure how far they can spit them.

Arkansas has a law that makes it illegal to honk your horn at a sandwich shop after 9 PM.

The town of Lake Village, Arkansas, is home to a watermelon festival that features a watermelon seed-spitting contest.

In Arkansas, it is illegal to keep a bear as a pet.

Texarkana is a city that is in both Arkansas and Texas, straddling the border.

The state is home to the world’s largest statue of a watermelon, located in Hope, Arkansas.

Arkansas has the highest percentage of people who walk to work in the United States.

Arkansas is the only state in the U.S. that produces diamonds commercially.

The town of Dardanelle is home to a “Yell Fest” every year, where people compete to see who can yell the loudest.

The town of Mena, Arkansas is home to the “Iron Mountain Festival,” where participants compete in events like an axe-throwing contest and a beard-growing contest.

The town of McGehee is home to the “Great Arkansas Championship Outhouse Races,” where teams compete to see who can push an outhouse on wheels the fastest.

The town of DeQueen is home to the “Rattlesnake Ridge Run,” a 10K race that takes runners through rattlesnake-infested woods.