Before we start raving about the Arkansas Razorback Baseball team being ranked No. 1 for the first time in a long time, let's to recap the previous week's successes across a variety of sports... Arkansas Razorback Athletics took the following wins over the course of the past week:

• Men & Women's SEC indoor track & field championships | 8 softball games | 5 baseball games | 4 basketball games | 3 tennis matches | 1 soccer match

Now onto baseball - the season is still very young, but it is worth celebrating early success. Yesterday, multiple polls had the Razorbacks ranked as the No. 1 team in the country. Coach Dave Van Horn responded by saying "We are not going to win every game we know that. As long as we play hard and compete. But it is nice to get off to a great start." We would agree Coach. Read your favorite baseball coach's full response and reaction to being ranked No. 1 HERE.

2020 was unusual for most people and industries; however, real estate development and sales was one industry that remained unfazed and was even possibly accelerated by the pandemic. Northwest Arkansas showed positive signs of economic development and expansion in the final half of 2020. The resilience of the real estate market and the quick economic rebound makes you think NWA could be recession proof...

• For real estate in Washington and Benton County, homes sales increased 18.2 precent to 5,803 while the average home price in Benton County increased 10.7 percent from the previous year; and home prices in Washington County increased 11.8 precent from previous year.
• Somewhere around 14,000 multifamily units are either "under construction or announced throughout the region. This represents 30.8 percent of the current inventory of multifamily units in Northwest Arkansas." Skyline Report
• Finally, if you are concerned about future growth in the region, this could be insightful - $188.8MM in building permits were issued for Q3 and Q4 of 2020. The Q3 permit value was only $57.6MM, which was higher from Q2 2020; however, "there was a strong rebound in [Q4] of 2020 with $131.3MM in building permits issued, indicating NWA is not experiencing a pandemic slowdown in the commercial construction" sector. Skyline Report

You can read the full report and numbers HERE

The Arkansas Brewers Guild is celebrating its 2nd Annual Arkansas Craft Beer Week this week (March 1-7). Slightly different from the previous year's celebration, the ACBW is encouraging craft consumers to support local and comply with state and local guidelines.

• The consumption and manufacturing of craft beer has been on the rise in the Natural State for the past several years. There are currently over 48 Arkansas breweries, and ten years ago there were only six. The estimated economic impact of these 48+ breweries is "well over $500 million" according to the Brewers Association.

Looking to support local? Here are a few of our favorite regional breweries and what we would recommend:

• Fossil Cove Brewing Co. (Fayetteville): try out the new Blackberry Cream which was launched this past weekend.
• Bike Rack Brewery (Springdale): Located both in Springdale and Bentonville, take a break from the trails and get a refreshing brew.
• Ozark Beer Co. (Rogers): recently released a revised edition of its famous Our Hazy Distant Youth, Sunday Pirates hazy IPA.
• Bentonville Brewing Co. (Bentonville): Be on the lookout for their future release, Spring Wrecker IPA. In the meantime, you can't go wrong with their classic Home Wrecker IPA.
• Most overlooked and underrated brewery (IMO), Hawk Month Brewing in Rogers. Give their Hazy & Hoppy IPA a try.

Harps Food Stores, Inc is a local, Springdale based grocery chain and is the largest employee-owned company headquartered in Arkansas.

• Recently, the company completed a sale-leaseback of 13 stores for $30.1 million to the New Jersey based property owner, Essential Properties. These 13 stores located in Arkansas and Missouri will continue to carry Harps brands, and the leaseback should not affect the store operations overall.
• The "sale-leaseback transaction has been a very effective tool to unlock capital for more efficient uses including store expansion, as well as to secure long-term, low occupancy costs, which leads to higher profitability." says J. Max Van Hoose, EVP at Harps Food Stores.
• Including Arkansas, Harps has a total of 113 stores located in the surrounding 3 states (Oklahoma, Kansas, and Missouri). Additionally, Harps is the largest employee-owned company headquartered in Arkansas. - Arkansas Talk Business

In case you missed it - yesterday was the 49th birthday of America's first National River, the Buffalo River. Established by an Act of Congress on March 1, 1972, the 153 mile river was preserved and became the country's first National River.

• Established in 2020, Rio Buffalo Outfitter's staff enjoys helping folks discover the wonders of this historic river, as well as the Ozark Mountains and streams surrounding the river. Whether you're looking to float, hike, or mountain bike, Rio Buffalo has you covered by providing a shuttle service for all types of adventures.
• Their expertise and experience allows them to outfit you for one day or a multi-week paddle and hike adventure. They are taking reservations for the Spring float season now and can be booked HERE
• With Spring around the corner and cabin fever running rampant, the NWA Daily team has their float day booked. We hope to see you out there!