Stuttgart

The duck and rice capital of the world – that’s how Stuttgart is known. The town is surrounded by the Arkansas Grand Prairie where the commercial production of rice was pioneered in 1904 and led to Arkansas’s status as the top rice producing state in the U.S. Rice fields and irrigation reservoirs entice the annual migration of ducks and geese on the Mississippi Flyway to linger, making the area nationally renowned among waterfowl hunters. This annual rite of winter is celebrated each Thanksgiving Week with the World’s Championship Duck Calling Contest and Wings Over the Prairie Festival. The Museum of the Arkansas Grand Prairie depicts the natural history of the prairie and tells the story of the pioneers who settled and farmed it. The Arts Center of the Grand Prairie highlights works of regional and local artists and hosts theatre productions and concerts. The Great River Road National Scenic Byway runs close by and not far away the White River National Wildlife Refuge preserves the nation’s largest block of hardwood bottomlands under a single ownership.