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If you’ve ever traveled with preschoolers, you know what adults often forget. Kids don’t always need the biggest attraction in town. Sometimes all they need is a walking path, a playground, a story and space to run.
That’s exactly what you’ll find at the new Imagination Library Story Trail in Eureka Springs. Tucked beneath the shade trees at the Eureka Springs Community Center, families can stroll along a short path while reading a children’s book, one page at a time. By the time little feet reach the end of the trail, they’ve finished an entire story and have probably burned off plenty of energy along the way.
It’s simple, it’s free, and it might become one of the sweetest family stops on your next trip to Eureka Springs.
Arkansas’s Biggest Little Literacy Program
Many Arkansas families already know about Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library, but not everyone realizes how far the program has grown statewide.
The Imagination Library mails one age-appropriate book each month to children from birth through their fifth birthday, helping families build a home library before children ever enter kindergarten.
Even better, every child in Arkansas is eligible.
Today, Arkansas is one of the few states with complete statewide coverage, with every county and Zip code participating through local affiliate organizations. Local fundraising supports the program, and a 50 percent funding match from the Arkansas Department of Education enables communities to reach families in every corner of the state.
That statewide investment has helped nearly 82,000 Arkansas children receive books each month. However, even with that success, only about 45 percent of Arkansas children under age five are currently enrolled.
That means thousands of children across the Natural State are still missing the chance to begin building a lifelong love of reading before kindergarten. This commitment to early literacy gives Arkansas children an advantage.
Each spread of a children’s book is displayed along the paved trail, encouraging children to move from one page to the next as the story unfolds. Spanish translations accompany each display, making the experience welcoming for bilingual and Spanish-speaking families.
Best of all, the featured book changes every month, giving local families and returning visitors a reason to come back again and again.
The trail begins near the south end of the walking path at the Eureka Springs Community Center and winds toward the pine trees and picnic area, offering an easy, family-friendly outing that works just as well for toddlers as for preschoolers.
Because the trail is on the Community Center grounds, visitors also have access to picnic tables, wide-open green space, and plenty of room for children to play after finishing the story.
Located just off Highway 62, across from the Best Western Inn of the Ozarks and Myrtie Mae’s restaurant, it’s easy to find and simple to add to any Eureka Springs itinerary.
A Perfect Preschool Adventure
This isn’t the kind of attraction you’ll spend all day exploring; that’s exactly what makes it so good. It’s a mental distraction, and an easy stop on the way somewhere else.
Visit on a farmers market Thursday mornings and enjoy both experiences together, or stop by on a quieter weekday when the trail is likely all yours.
Bring a picnic lunch. Pack a soccer ball or bubbles. Throw a favorite storybook or homework into the diaper bag, then read another book under the oak trees after you finish the trail.
Sometimes the best vacation moments happen when there’s no schedule at all.
More Family Fun in Eureka Springs
Once you’ve finished the Story Trail, Eureka Springs offers plenty of other family-friendly adventures nearby.
Young children enjoy exploring Quigley’s Castle, one of Arkansas’s most unusual homes, filled with gardens, rocks, shells, and natural collections. We recently visited Onyx Cave and loved the cool experience (literally and figuratively).
History lovers can stop by the Eureka Springs Historical Museum before wandering the historic downtown streets, while families looking for a larger attraction can spend part of the day at The Great Passion Play grounds, where walking trails, exhibits, and wide-open spaces provide plenty to explore before a show on on their own.
More Than a Walking Trail
The Imagination Library Story Trail was made possible by a partnership among Imagination Library of Carroll County, the Eureka Springs Community Center, Arvest Bank, Holiday Island Rotary, and the City of Eureka Springs.
Their goal is simple: Bring books to life beyond the mailbox.
Sometimes it happens beneath a canopy of oak trees. Sometimes it happens while little legs race toward the next page. And sometimes the best family memories don’t come from expensive attractions at all. They begin with a book, a walking trail, and an imagination that’s free to wander.
Keisha (Pittman) McKinney lives in Northwest Arkansas with her chicken man and break-dancing son. Keisha is passionate about connecting people and building community, seeking solutions to the everyday big and small things, and encouraging others through the mundane, hard, and typical that life often brings. She put her communications background to work as a former Non-profit Executive Director, college recruiter and fundraiser, small business trainer, and Digital Media Director at a large church in Northwest Arkansas. Now, she is using those experiences through McKinney Media Solutions and her blog @bigpittstop, which includes daily adventures, cooking escapades, #bigsisterchats, the social justice cases on her heart, and all that she is learning as a #boymom! Keisha loves to feed birds, read the stack on her nightstand, do dollar store crafts, cook recipes from her Pinterest boards, and chase everyday adventures on her Arkansas bucket list.
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