June 16, 2025 • 26 mins
Get the inside scoop on the "Bentonville Best Practices Lab" Hear from Kalene Griffith, CEO of Visit Bentonville on the vision behind the program, as well as recent attendee, Amy Stearns, executive Director of Project 412 in Minnesota.
From speakers, activities, events, and tours to discovering hidden gems and indulging in unforgettable dining experiences, we plan a unique itinerary that showcases the very best of Bentonville and connects you with the right leaders. Get ready to experience the town like a local and uncover what makes it a top destination for outdoor enthusiasts, art lovers, and foodies alike!
A New American Town is here to help you plan your trip to Bentonville, Arkansas. From guides, events, and restaurant highlights. Find all this and more at visitbentonville.com and subscribe to our newsletter. Follow us on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, X, and LinkedIn.
You can listen to this podcast on Apple Podcasts, Overcast, Spotify, CastBox, Podcast Casts, Google Podcasts, iHeartRadio, and Podcast Addict.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:10):
Welcome to a new American town.
I'm Natalie with VisitBentonville.
Today's episode is all aboutimpact, not just the kind we see
in our own community, but thekind that sparks real change in
towns across the country.
The kind that sparks realchange in towns across the
country.
Joining me are two incredibleleaders who believe that ripple
effect Kayleen Griffith,president and CEO of Visit
Bentonville, and Amy Stearns,executive Director of Project
(00:34):
412 in Minnesota.
In this conversation, we explorehow Bentonville is helping
shape that vision through theBentonville Best Practices Lab,
an initiative designed to shareour city's playbook for building
world-class trails, inspiringpublic art and creating a
quality of life that people wantto experience and replicate.
You'll hear what brought Amyand her team to Bentonville,
(00:55):
what surprised and inspired themmost during their visit, and
how the lessons learned here arealready taking root back in
Minnesota, plus hear more fromKayleen on how we work with our
city to bring this vision tolife.
Whether you're a city leader,an advocate for trails and
public spaces, or just curiousabout one community, this
episode shows the power ofcollaboration, vision and good
(01:17):
ideas in motion.
Kayleen and Amy.
Welcome to the show.
Speaker 3 (01:21):
Thank you.
It's great to be here.
I'm excited to get to talk toAmy.
Speaker 2 (01:24):
It's been a few months since we've last spoke it
has, but it's always fun toconnect with all of you down in
Bentonville.
I love it.
Speaker 1 (01:32):
So, starting off, amy , I wanted to know, from your
perspective as a communityleader, how do you define
quality of life and how was thatdefinition really brought to
Bentonville?
What made you want to come here?
Speaker 2 (01:50):
Well, I'm in Detroit Lakes, Minnesota, and we are in
northwestern Minnesota.
We are the land of 412 lakes,which is what our name, project
412, comes from.
We're kind of standing on thehistory of that and leaning into
that and trying to figure outhow to make our community shine
and make it absolutely the bestplace for those of us who are
lucky enough to get to live here.
It absolutely the best placefor those of us who are lucky
enough to get to live here.
And so, from a quality of lifestandpoint, we are really
looking at what do people wantin a community?
(02:11):
What makes a place be the bestplace to live?
Because people have choices.
Now they can live anywhere theywant.
And I'm in northern Minnesotaright, we have true winter,
which some people absolutelylove, and it can be really,
really fun, and we also havethese dynamic and wonderful
lakes.
(02:31):
And so how do we make this aplace where people can live
their best life, that has theamenities and the opportunities
that they want to grow theircareers?
And so when we were startingour organization our
organization is young, we'reonly two and a half years old
and so we were really trying tofigure out who is doing what we
(02:54):
want to do and who is doing itreally well, and that's how we
found Bentonville.
Speaker 1 (02:59):
Yeah, that's amazing.
Kayleen, do you have anythingto add to why Bentonville is in
the position to lead this effort?
Speaker 3 (03:09):
I think we have, I think, the same thing that 412
starting in two and a half years.
I think we have visionarypeople and they have visionary
people and I think it's when youlook at other communities as
best practices to learn from,which is what we've done for
years.
We look at other cities.
When we're talking about trails, who's doing it?
Well, how can we take what ourassets are and feed from those?
And I think Detroit Lakes samething.
I think they're looking at thatoutdoor amenities and the
(03:39):
things that they have, you knowreally work well with what we
have because of the naturalstate and the outdoors.
And I think that's important,as you're looking at comparing
yourself or aspiring to be whatanother city is doing, and I
don't think you want to.
You don't want to aspire to bethat city.
You want to aspire to be yourcity with your best amenities.
Speaker 1 (03:53):
Yeah, that's amazing.
Amy, do you want to talk alittle bit about your experience
here?
It was last August, correct?
Speaker 2 (04:01):
We were actually in Bentonville.
I've come twice actually.
So our organization started inSeptember of 2022.
And right away we hit theground running and we first
visited Bentonville just a smallgroup I think there were six or
eight of us who came the firsttime and that was in October of
2022.
And we loved it.
(04:23):
And then we then we then wethought, okay, what can we learn
from that?
And we first got connected withBentonville because of Gary
Vernon, because of the work hehad done with some trails.
He had come up to Detroit Lakesand did some trails at our ski
mountain and so then we startedlearning more.
And then Kayleen and I startedhaving some email and phone
conversations and so we went inOctober of 2022.
(04:45):
And then in the spring of 2024,we brought about goodness.
I think we had about 30 peoplethat came down to Bentonville
and we put it out to ourcommunity, to some civic leaders
, some business leaders, somejust passionate people about
Detroit Lakes of all differentages, and we said come and see
(05:08):
what Bentonville is doing andhow they're doing, how they're
really leaning into outdoorrecreation and public art and
what can we learn from them.
And that's when I connectedwith Kayleen and her staff and
they put together just anincredible, almost like a mini
conference for us.
We had speakers and activitiesand events and it was
(05:28):
outstanding.
Speaker 1 (05:30):
Wow, let's talk a little bit more about the range
of people that were here.
That sounds really awesome 30people.
What range of experiences werethey bringing to the table?
Speaker 2 (05:45):
You know, if you were to look at demographics of
Detroit Lakes, it reallyrepresented that.
I mean, we had some youngprofessionals, we had some
middle career folks, we had someolder folks and we had people
in kind of all walks of life interms of economic demographics,
in experience, and people, justpeople really jumped at the
(06:05):
chance to learn more aboutBentonville and it was really
cool to see the correlationbetween some of the things that
Bentonville is doing that wecould take and adapt to Detroit
Lakes and just really over allthe attitude.
That's what I loved almost mostof all of this.
This, I believe Kayleen, youcall it, you're solved for yes,
(06:27):
and I actually had some littledesk plates made for people that
said how do we get to yes?
Because so many times you arestuck in rules and regulations
and whether it's zoning or justthis is how we've always done it
.
You know that kind of mentalityand I thought that was.
(06:48):
I've never personally reallyhad that mentality, but you know
it's very easy for people tofall into that and it was great
to see it embodied in all thatKayleen and her organization are
doing, what Bentonville isdoing, and just to see how that
can infuse throughout acommunity, and so that's what I
wanted to really bring back toDL and be like okay, how do we
(07:09):
infuse this mentality of let'sdream big?
How do we get to, yes, how dowe solve people's problems that
might be smaller or might justbe hindered by one little old
regulation that's been on thebooks since 1932 or something?
Speaker 1 (07:26):
Yeah, as a member of the Visit Bentonville team, that
is a huge core part of ourmission.
Kayleen, you want to talk moreabout that?
Speaker 3 (07:33):
Sure.
So I think for years I grew upin a house that my mom and dad
were very, very about hey, howdo you make it happen?
Type of mentality.
And I was at a conference andsomeone was talking about the
yes and and the yes, butphilosophy.
And I just came back andthought I'm always looking for
(07:56):
bigger and bold ideas and Ithought, how do I make this part
of our philosophy within ourcommunity?
So it it's not just you know myteam, how do we start talking
about that?
How do we solve for yes?
So it was just really easy forour team to do it on a
day-to-day basis of looking atprojects and somebody going, oh
(08:17):
no, we can't do that.
And I'm like, okay, why can'twe?
And they start going throughthose processes and then we
start going, okay, what if wemove it to this area?
Or what if we do this?
I think that sometimes you haveto look at it and some people
have to compromise, because thesoftware, yes, might not work
for everybody in every situation, but if you look at the whole
package of an event or theexperience, or the buy-in, why
(08:42):
are we not solving for yes?
If it's going to benefit ourcommunity and benefit our
citizens.
We should be looking at ways tomake it happen, not ways to not
make it happen.
And I think let's not putroadblocks up where they're not
roadblocks.
Let's create that experience ofjust a positive solve.
(09:02):
For, yes, philosophy makes allthe difference and I think Amy,
you said it just that mindset,when you start getting that
mindset, man it, it makes thejob so much more fun on a day to
day basis because everybody'sthinking like let's make it
happen, rather than what are wegoing to do?
How do we do this?
What are you know?
It's all those things.
(09:23):
And I always said that it kindof brings your stress level up
when you start thinking that way.
But if you, if you startthinking the yeses, it really
it's the snowball effect of justexcitement by everybody and
it's super fun to be in thatenvironment when people are
looking for the yes rather thanlooking for the no.
100%.
Speaker 2 (09:43):
I mean, I just love that so much and I come from a
background where, for 20 years,I managed a performing arts
center and in the world ofimprov it's always yes and and
there's always the trust falls.
It's like we can do this.
We need to trust each other, weneed to bring people together
and make it happen.
(10:03):
So I love it.
Speaker 1 (10:04):
Yeah, that's awesome.
I love VanVille Best Practicesbecause you guys really bring in
so many people from across ourcommunity to create a
one-of-a-kind experience, almostlike a conference.
Like Amy said, do you want towalk through the specific
experience you created for them?
Speaker 3 (10:18):
Sure, and I don't have exactly what I can do.
Let's talk a little bit aboutthe best, just Bentonville's
best practices.
So one of the things that Ilove about it is I get to build
a relationship with Amy firstand foremost.
You get to talk to them.
You find out what is going wellfor them, what are their
challenges, who are theybringing?
Also, even going a little bitmore detailed, I said Amy, amy,
(10:39):
who's your biggest challenge?
That is kind of not working inthat.
How can we support thatinitiative?
How do we help guide thatconversation in a positive way
of really thinking, solve for?
Yes, but I think it's us.
Every single person isdifferent, every single city is
different.
So we're making and if you wantto call it a conference or a
(11:00):
summit or a lab, we're making itunique for every single city.
It's what are their, what are,who are the people they're
bringing?
And I think one of the thingsthat I look at is like I think I
loved Amy's group because wedidn't only do just trails,
because that's a lot of our bestpractices is our trail
(11:20):
experience.
What are we doing as acommunity to really elevate our
community as a cyclingdestination?
What I loved about theirs is.
She started talking aboutcycling, she talked about trails
, she talked about arts, shetalked about economic
development, quality of life.
So we got to bring in a lot ofpeople and their expertise and
(11:42):
that's what we do.
The best thing we do is I sitdown with Amy and I say Amy,
tell me about what are yourchallenges in the economic
development world, what are yoursuccesses in economic
development?
And then we talked about what'sgoing well in tourism, what's
going well in trails and cycling, what's going well in arts,
what are the challenges?
So then when we talk to them, Igive outlines to every speaker.
(12:07):
Here's what their successes are, here's what their successes
are, here's what theirchallenges are.
So each speaker may have a formPowerPoint, but they know their
talking points are gonna be alittle bit different for each
city.
So we really make this uniquefor them and hopefully support
their initiatives so that whenthey go back they have a success
(12:27):
, they can count this as asuccessful trip, and I think
that's important for us.
And I think we also try to notjust do speakers, we also give
them tours within our communityof things that they might want
to emulate or they may want toshowcase.
So we make sure that we'reshowing them the things that
(12:47):
they could go back and implementinto their city.
And, amy, is there anythingelse that I missed on that or
something that maybe you and Italked about?
Speaker 2 (12:57):
No, you absolutely hit it.
You know, it was really justgreat to have that variety
because we were trying.
Our little organization Project412, is trying to hit on all
these things.
We focus on outdoor rec, wefocus on public art, we focus on
entrepreneurship and nurturingexisting businesses as well as
the new businesses, and it'sbeen really great to take some
(13:21):
of those best practices fromBentonville and see what we can
use here.
You know, I'm not sure thereare too many new ideas anymore
in the world and so it's alwaysfun to see what somebody else is
doing and then bring it backhome and how can we adapt that?
And I give a lot ofpresentations and I'm on
(13:41):
different interviews fairlyoften, which is really fun, and
I always throw credit back toBentonville, because I always
say so.
We've been taking a page out ofthe book from Bentonville,
because I always say so.
We've been taking a page out ofthe book from Bentonville and
you know this is their playbook.
This is what they've been doingand this is how we've been
taking it and making it our ownhere in Detroit Lakes and it is
working.
(14:01):
It's so fun to see.
I mean, we've had a crazy bigproject with Thomas Dambo.
He's a recycled artist out ofDenmark.
He's giant trolls that he didhere and we've had this past
year.
I'm in a town of only 10,000people and we had over 100,000
people come to see these trollslast year and we got named in
(14:22):
Times List of World's GreatestPlaces to Visit because of this
exhibition that he has here, andso it's one of those things
where, like our cityadministrator said to me, well
now we really need to bring it,we really need to elevate what
we're doing, and it's great, anda lot of it is due to learnings
we had and connections we madein Bentonville, and going out
and doing those field trips isso important.
(14:43):
I agree with you?
Speaker 1 (14:45):
Was there a particular moment that you can
think of maybe a conversation, awalk, a meal where you felt
like that light bulb go off andthe trajectory of maybe that
particular experience start?
Speaker 2 (14:58):
to culminate, I don't know if there was just one
moment.
I mean, we loved theopportunity to ride the trails,
to see the coffee shop out inthe middle in the park, you know
, to stumble upon all the artthat is.
Every oh my goodness, what isit?
Every quarter mile there'ssomething new when you're on the
trails.
Crystal Bridges is phenomenal.
(15:21):
The restaurants were great, thehotels were great, you know, it
was kind of all of that.
And then our last day, kayleenbrought in a series of speakers
who, who, like that was reallycool because they would say
something and we're like, well,we were there, we saw that, you
know, they referenced somethingthat we had already experienced.
And the other part, that'salways so good.
(15:44):
And you guys know this fromwhen you do your own travels.
But you connect with people ina different way because you're
not just sitting in a boardroomhaving a meeting, you are I mean
, we're on a bicycle.
We're almost running into atree together.
We have to laugh about thatbecause we got going too fast
down a hill, you know, and westill joke with different people
who are on the trip aboutdifferent things.
(16:05):
That happened, you know, evenat night when we're hanging out
and visiting and having a sharedmeal or cocktail and that was
the whole thing was sobeneficial and just seeing how
all of this was interwoven intowhat explore Bentonville does,
what your downtown core is allabout, and your trail, your
(16:26):
connect, very connected trailsystem and your arts, it was
great, just absolutely great.
Speaker 1 (16:32):
That's awesome, do you?
So this is a question for bothof you hospitable
competitiveness that you canhave.
Speaker 3 (17:01):
And I think what we're doing is we're creating
opportunities for cities tolearn and I think I feel like I
value that.
I think I've been in thisindustry for 20 years with Visit
Bentonville and I think I stillam learning from other cities
on what is going well and whatwe could be doing better.
But I think for us is that Ithink we're making people have
(17:25):
aspirations to do big things.
In a community that we were inwhen I started was 20,000 people
.
It's 67,000 people.
I would never have thought ofthe things that we're doing that
we could have done, and I thinkthat's the kind of I'm hoping
that when these cities come in,they look at our city and
understand there's possibilities, there's hope and they can make
(17:49):
a change if they come togetherand make that impact.
And I think that's for me superrewarding and I love when I
hear stories about how somebodyhas went back and implemented
those experiences, or when theycame to our community and I meet
them somewhere else and they'lltalk about their experience in
(18:11):
Bentonville and what theircommunity is doing now and I
think those are the things thatI see that it's changing and I
hope, the mindset in some waysof solving for, yes, but I think
it's that change within thatcommunity and how it's impacting
so many people, because everycommunity you're looking at the
residents of those communitiesand you know they're getting to
(18:34):
have a positive experience withthat quality of life initiatives
.
Speaker 1 (18:39):
Amy, would you like to add anything to that?
Speaker 2 (18:42):
Oh sure, I think that that togetherness is so big,
that example that Bentonvilleset of involving the other
regional communities togetherand thinking as the Northwest
Arkansas region is so important.
You know, I am by nature a bitof a competitive person when it
comes to sports, but when itcomes to our community, it is so
(19:06):
important that we play witheveryone in our region because
what's good for the town that's15 miles away is also good for
Detroit lakes and I'm reallytrying to share that message in
in my role with project for 12to these other surrounding
communities, because we can lifteach other up, and I think that
you guys have set an incredibleexample of that as well.
Speaker 1 (19:28):
There's definitely enough to go around, and it's
really amazing to see how ussharing the information with
other cities really does make animpact on real people and it's
not just tourists.
So it's amazing.
Speaker 2 (19:48):
Just to add to that a little bit.
I mean, I just love thatmindset of abundance you know
that there is enough foreveryone to go around rather
than an abundance or a mindsetof scarcity.
But just to think that we cando big things.
And some other communities havetalked to me about like, how
did you do this and what advicedo you have?
And one of the things I've toldthem is don't have too many
meetings, get going, figure outwhat you want to do, bring the
(20:11):
right people in together and tryit, and if you make a little
mistake, well, pivot and trysomething else 100%.
Speaker 1 (20:21):
Because you will make mistakes oh yeah, yes yes,
we've made them, but I thinkthat sometimes I think that
sometimes our mistakes are our,our biggest learning
opportunities.
Speaker 3 (20:30):
I think successes you can keep doing successes, but I
think you learn, uh, from yourmistakes.
Um, they're usually much moreimpactful of that educational
side of the experience.
Speaker 2 (20:42):
Isn't that so true?
Even if they kind of you knowsmart a little bit, you know
hurt a little bit, it's stilllike yeah, we've learned from
that and okay, well, it wasstill like there was a nugget of
an idea there.
Let's figure out the right wayto do it.
Speaker 1 (20:56):
Exactly.
Do you have any examples ofanything that you've kind of
been redeemed from, anychallenges that you like to
share?
Speaker 3 (21:08):
Amy, do you want to go first?
I'm sitting here trying tothink of some of our challenges.
Speaker 2 (21:14):
Well, I mean, sometimes it's just even in how
you word something, whether it'sin a press release or on your
website or something, and itmight be crystal clear to you
and then when you take it fromsomebody who's not so in-depth
in your own organization, theyread it.
You're like, well, that didn'tmake any sense at all.
So sometimes you need to getthat 10,000-foot view, need to
(21:42):
get that 10,000 foot view.
And one thing that's beenreally helpful to me is a few
people have come forwardoccasionally when we've made a
mistake and then I've said wouldyou help me?
If we have something, can Isend it to you, will you give it
a review or will you try thislink?
I just did this last night.
I had to send out a link becauseI need a bunch of volunteers
for something and I sent it to awoman who had corrected me one
time and she has now become afriend, which is really
(22:04):
wonderful and it was great.
She checked the link for me andoffered a couple of suggestions
.
And because we can't see orknow everything you know, and we
need all these other people whoare choosing to live in our
community to help us raise upthe community.
And I think one thing we'retrying to do is cast a wide net
(22:25):
and involve as many people as wecan, and in so doing, it really
gives people some ownership inwhat we're doing and in the
community.
I mean, we've found, like wehave a new park we're working on
and we've found that people arereally taking care of the trash
, which is amazing because youknow, there's always littering
(22:45):
right and we haven't had much ofa problem with that, knock on
wood, and I think it's becausepeople feel some ownership on it
.
Speaker 3 (22:52):
I agree with you.
I think the number one I wassitting here trying to think of
some things, and I think themajor things for me were that
things that have had challengesis sometimes making sure
everybody has the informationthey need to be successful.
Or we're working on a projectand we've we've passed that on
to four or five people and weshould have passed it on to 10
people and those four were wereour biggest cheerleaders and we
(23:17):
just miss them.
And I think that those mistakesI learned that early on that
the more people that knew ourplan and initiative, it made us
so much more successful.
And I think those are thingsthat you know, you you want to.
Sometimes you think you need tokeep it close to the vest
because it is going to be likeyou want it to be, your project.
(23:40):
But I think one of the things Ilearned that the more people I
have involved, it becomes ourproject and that most of those
people know where it started orhow it started, but it doesn't
matter because it's a projectthat was a huge success.
So I think the more people thatare involved in it, the bigger
the story is going to be, thebigger the success is going to
be.
So I think the more people thatare involved in it, the bigger
the story is going to be, thebigger the success is going to
(24:02):
be, and I think I learned thatearly on in my career.
Instead of keeping thingsclosed, vested and kind of
hiding and then coming out withsomething thinking it was a big
deal, it was much more impactfulwhen we had more people
involved and I think that was ahuge learning moment early on in
my career.
Speaker 2 (24:24):
Oh, absolutely.
That helps so much, especiallyyou know just the way like
algorithms are on social media,the more people who know what
we're doing, they share it andit reaches more people, and it's
that's a great thing.
Speaker 1 (24:32):
Absolutely Well.
We're pretty much all out oftime right now.
Do you either have closingremarks that you want our
audience to know?
Speaker 2 (24:41):
Well, I'm so grateful to the Explore Bentonville
group, to Kayleen, to all thefolks in Bentonville who have
been making hard decisions anddoing some really difficult,
challenging things and aresetting great examples and best
practices for those of us whoare coming into this more
recently.
And I'm really grateful foryour open bookness, that you're
(25:05):
willing to share your learningswith us so that we can maybe be
a step above where we would bewithout you.
It's just been great.
Speaker 3 (25:13):
Amy, I think that's great and we love that we got to
.
You were one of our ninecommunities that we did last
year and we had one country,austria last year.
We've already done two withJapan this year and then we have
one with a group from Wyomingand another group from Kansas
coming.
So at this point we have aboutfour for this year so far, but,
(25:33):
like you, sometimes it's a threeto six month.
Sometimes we have people thatsay, hey, we're coming in a
month.
So we have a variety of that,but we're always open to hosting
cities and hopefully, I think,as Natalie said, we're impacting
communities throughout theworld.
It used to be just the UnitedStates, but now we're the world
and it's really exciting to beable to share our story with
(25:56):
others and hopefully it impactsthose communities in a positive
way.
Speaker 2 (26:01):
Thank you, that's fantastic.
I love that you areinternational right in
Bentonville.
Speaker 1 (26:06):
I love it.
Thank you both so much forjoining us Once again to our
listeners.
If you are new to this channel,don't forget to subscribe and
follow us on social media.
At Visit Bentonville Check outour website, visitbentonvillecom
to learn all the informationabout how you can come Visit
Bentonville.
Check out our website,visitbentonvillecom to learn all
the information about how youcan come to Bentonville and have
a fabulous experience.
Thanks so much.
Welcome to a new American town.
I'm Natalie with VisitBentonville.
Today's episode is all aboutimpact, not just the kind we see
in our own community, but thekind that sparks real change in
towns across the country.
The kind that sparks realchange in towns across the
country.
Joining me are two incredibleleaders who believe that ripple
effect Kayleen Griffith,president and CEO of Visit
Bentonville, and Amy Stearns,executive Director of Project
(00:34):
412 in Minnesota.
In this conversation, we explorehow Bentonville is helping
shape that vision through theBentonville Best Practices Lab,
an initiative designed to shareour city's playbook for building
world-class trails, inspiringpublic art and creating a
quality of life that people wantto experience and replicate.
You'll hear what brought Amyand her team to Bentonville,
(00:55):
what surprised and inspired themmost during their visit, and
how the lessons learned here arealready taking root back in
Minnesota, plus hear more fromKayleen on how we work with our
city to bring this vision tolife.
Whether you're a city leader,an advocate for trails and
public spaces, or just curiousabout one community, this
episode shows the power ofcollaboration, vision and good
(01:17):
ideas in motion.
Kayleen and Amy.
Welcome to the show.
Speaker 3 (01:21):
Thank you.
It's great to be here.
I'm excited to get to talk toAmy.
Speaker 2 (01:24):
It's been a few months since we've last spoke it
has, but it's always fun toconnect with all of you down in
Bentonville.
I love it.
Speaker 1 (01:32):
So, starting off, amy , I wanted to know, from your
perspective as a communityleader, how do you define
quality of life and how was thatdefinition really brought to
Bentonville?
What made you want to come here?
Speaker 2 (01:50):
Well, I'm in Detroit Lakes, Minnesota, and we are in
northwestern Minnesota.
We are the land of 412 lakes,which is what our name, project
412, comes from.
We're kind of standing on thehistory of that and leaning into
that and trying to figure outhow to make our community shine
and make it absolutely the bestplace for those of us who are
lucky enough to get to live here.
It absolutely the best placefor those of us who are lucky
enough to get to live here.
And so, from a quality of lifestandpoint, we are really
looking at what do people wantin a community?
(02:11):
What makes a place be the bestplace to live?
Because people have choices.
Now they can live anywhere theywant.
And I'm in northern Minnesotaright, we have true winter,
which some people absolutelylove, and it can be really,
really fun, and we also havethese dynamic and wonderful
lakes.
(02:31):
And so how do we make this aplace where people can live
their best life, that has theamenities and the opportunities
that they want to grow theircareers?
And so when we were startingour organization our
organization is young, we'reonly two and a half years old
and so we were really trying tofigure out who is doing what we
(02:54):
want to do and who is doing itreally well, and that's how we
found Bentonville.
Speaker 1 (02:59):
Yeah, that's amazing.
Kayleen, do you have anythingto add to why Bentonville is in
the position to lead this effort?
Speaker 3 (03:09):
I think we have, I think, the same thing that 412
starting in two and a half years.
I think we have visionarypeople and they have visionary
people and I think it's when youlook at other communities as
best practices to learn from,which is what we've done for
years.
We look at other cities.
When we're talking about trails, who's doing it?
Well, how can we take what ourassets are and feed from those?
And I think Detroit Lakes samething.
I think they're looking at thatoutdoor amenities and the
(03:39):
things that they have, you knowreally work well with what we
have because of the naturalstate and the outdoors.
And I think that's important,as you're looking at comparing
yourself or aspiring to be whatanother city is doing, and I
don't think you want to.
You don't want to aspire to bethat city.
You want to aspire to be yourcity with your best amenities.
Speaker 1 (03:53):
Yeah, that's amazing.
Amy, do you want to talk alittle bit about your experience
here?
It was last August, correct?
Speaker 2 (04:01):
We were actually in Bentonville.
I've come twice actually.
So our organization started inSeptember of 2022.
And right away we hit theground running and we first
visited Bentonville just a smallgroup I think there were six or
eight of us who came the firsttime and that was in October of
2022.
And we loved it.
(04:23):
And then we then we then wethought, okay, what can we learn
from that?
And we first got connected withBentonville because of Gary
Vernon, because of the work hehad done with some trails.
He had come up to Detroit Lakesand did some trails at our ski
mountain and so then we startedlearning more.
And then Kayleen and I startedhaving some email and phone
conversations and so we went inOctober of 2022.
(04:45):
And then in the spring of 2024,we brought about goodness.
I think we had about 30 peoplethat came down to Bentonville
and we put it out to ourcommunity, to some civic leaders
, some business leaders, somejust passionate people about
Detroit Lakes of all differentages, and we said come and see
(05:08):
what Bentonville is doing andhow they're doing, how they're
really leaning into outdoorrecreation and public art and
what can we learn from them.
And that's when I connectedwith Kayleen and her staff and
they put together just anincredible, almost like a mini
conference for us.
We had speakers and activitiesand events and it was
(05:28):
outstanding.
Speaker 1 (05:30):
Wow, let's talk a little bit more about the range
of people that were here.
That sounds really awesome 30people.
What range of experiences werethey bringing to the table?
Speaker 2 (05:45):
You know, if you were to look at demographics of
Detroit Lakes, it reallyrepresented that.
I mean, we had some youngprofessionals, we had some
middle career folks, we had someolder folks and we had people
in kind of all walks of life interms of economic demographics,
in experience, and people, justpeople really jumped at the
(06:05):
chance to learn more aboutBentonville and it was really
cool to see the correlationbetween some of the things that
Bentonville is doing that wecould take and adapt to Detroit
Lakes and just really over allthe attitude.
That's what I loved almost mostof all of this.
This, I believe Kayleen, youcall it, you're solved for yes,
(06:27):
and I actually had some littledesk plates made for people that
said how do we get to yes?
Because so many times you arestuck in rules and regulations
and whether it's zoning or justthis is how we've always done it
.
You know that kind of mentalityand I thought that was.
(06:48):
I've never personally reallyhad that mentality, but you know
it's very easy for people tofall into that and it was great
to see it embodied in all thatKayleen and her organization are
doing, what Bentonville isdoing, and just to see how that
can infuse throughout acommunity, and so that's what I
wanted to really bring back toDL and be like okay, how do we
(07:09):
infuse this mentality of let'sdream big?
How do we get to, yes, how dowe solve people's problems that
might be smaller or might justbe hindered by one little old
regulation that's been on thebooks since 1932 or something?
Speaker 1 (07:26):
Yeah, as a member of the Visit Bentonville team, that
is a huge core part of ourmission.
Kayleen, you want to talk moreabout that?
Speaker 3 (07:33):
Sure.
So I think for years I grew upin a house that my mom and dad
were very, very about hey, howdo you make it happen?
Type of mentality.
And I was at a conference andsomeone was talking about the
yes and and the yes, butphilosophy.
And I just came back andthought I'm always looking for
(07:56):
bigger and bold ideas and Ithought, how do I make this part
of our philosophy within ourcommunity?
So it it's not just you know myteam, how do we start talking
about that?
How do we solve for yes?
So it was just really easy forour team to do it on a
day-to-day basis of looking atprojects and somebody going, oh
(08:17):
no, we can't do that.
And I'm like, okay, why can'twe?
And they start going throughthose processes and then we
start going, okay, what if wemove it to this area?
Or what if we do this?
I think that sometimes you haveto look at it and some people
have to compromise, because thesoftware, yes, might not work
for everybody in every situation, but if you look at the whole
package of an event or theexperience, or the buy-in, why
(08:42):
are we not solving for yes?
If it's going to benefit ourcommunity and benefit our
citizens.
We should be looking at ways tomake it happen, not ways to not
make it happen.
And I think let's not putroadblocks up where they're not
roadblocks.
Let's create that experience ofjust a positive solve.
(09:02):
For, yes, philosophy makes allthe difference and I think Amy,
you said it just that mindset,when you start getting that
mindset, man it, it makes thejob so much more fun on a day to
day basis because everybody'sthinking like let's make it
happen, rather than what are wegoing to do?
How do we do this?
What are you know?
It's all those things.
(09:23):
And I always said that it kindof brings your stress level up
when you start thinking that way.
But if you, if you startthinking the yeses, it really
it's the snowball effect of justexcitement by everybody and
it's super fun to be in thatenvironment when people are
looking for the yes rather thanlooking for the no.
100%.
Speaker 2 (09:43):
I mean, I just love that so much and I come from a
background where, for 20 years,I managed a performing arts
center and in the world ofimprov it's always yes and and
there's always the trust falls.
It's like we can do this.
We need to trust each other, weneed to bring people together
and make it happen.
(10:03):
So I love it.
Speaker 1 (10:04):
Yeah, that's awesome.
I love VanVille Best Practicesbecause you guys really bring in
so many people from across ourcommunity to create a
one-of-a-kind experience, almostlike a conference.
Like Amy said, do you want towalk through the specific
experience you created for them?
Speaker 3 (10:18):
Sure, and I don't have exactly what I can do.
Let's talk a little bit aboutthe best, just Bentonville's
best practices.
So one of the things that Ilove about it is I get to build
a relationship with Amy firstand foremost.
You get to talk to them.
You find out what is going wellfor them, what are their
challenges, who are theybringing?
Also, even going a little bitmore detailed, I said Amy, amy,
(10:39):
who's your biggest challenge?
That is kind of not working inthat.
How can we support thatinitiative?
How do we help guide thatconversation in a positive way
of really thinking, solve for?
Yes, but I think it's us.
Every single person isdifferent, every single city is
different.
So we're making and if you wantto call it a conference or a
(11:00):
summit or a lab, we're making itunique for every single city.
It's what are their, what are,who are the people they're
bringing?
And I think one of the thingsthat I look at is like I think I
loved Amy's group because wedidn't only do just trails,
because that's a lot of our bestpractices is our trail
(11:20):
experience.
What are we doing as acommunity to really elevate our
community as a cyclingdestination?
What I loved about theirs is.
She started talking aboutcycling, she talked about trails
, she talked about arts, shetalked about economic
development, quality of life.
So we got to bring in a lot ofpeople and their expertise and
(11:42):
that's what we do.
The best thing we do is I sitdown with Amy and I say Amy,
tell me about what are yourchallenges in the economic
development world, what are yoursuccesses in economic
development?
And then we talked about what'sgoing well in tourism, what's
going well in trails and cycling, what's going well in arts,
what are the challenges?
So then when we talk to them, Igive outlines to every speaker.
(12:07):
Here's what their successes are, here's what their successes
are, here's what theirchallenges are.
So each speaker may have a formPowerPoint, but they know their
talking points are gonna be alittle bit different for each
city.
So we really make this uniquefor them and hopefully support
their initiatives so that whenthey go back they have a success
(12:27):
, they can count this as asuccessful trip, and I think
that's important for us.
And I think we also try to notjust do speakers, we also give
them tours within our communityof things that they might want
to emulate or they may want toshowcase.
So we make sure that we'reshowing them the things that
(12:47):
they could go back and implementinto their city.
And, amy, is there anythingelse that I missed on that or
something that maybe you and Italked about?
Speaker 2 (12:57):
No, you absolutely hit it.
You know, it was really justgreat to have that variety
because we were trying.
Our little organization Project412, is trying to hit on all
these things.
We focus on outdoor rec, wefocus on public art, we focus on
entrepreneurship and nurturingexisting businesses as well as
the new businesses, and it'sbeen really great to take some
(13:21):
of those best practices fromBentonville and see what we can
use here.
You know, I'm not sure thereare too many new ideas anymore
in the world and so it's alwaysfun to see what somebody else is
doing and then bring it backhome and how can we adapt that?
And I give a lot ofpresentations and I'm on
(13:41):
different interviews fairlyoften, which is really fun, and
I always throw credit back toBentonville, because I always
say so.
We've been taking a page out ofthe book from Bentonville,
because I always say so.
We've been taking a page out ofthe book from Bentonville and
you know this is their playbook.
This is what they've been doingand this is how we've been
taking it and making it our ownhere in Detroit Lakes and it is
working.
(14:01):
It's so fun to see.
I mean, we've had a crazy bigproject with Thomas Dambo.
He's a recycled artist out ofDenmark.
He's giant trolls that he didhere and we've had this past
year.
I'm in a town of only 10,000people and we had over 100,000
people come to see these trollslast year and we got named in
(14:22):
Times List of World's GreatestPlaces to Visit because of this
exhibition that he has here, andso it's one of those things
where, like our cityadministrator said to me, well
now we really need to bring it,we really need to elevate what
we're doing, and it's great, anda lot of it is due to learnings
we had and connections we madein Bentonville, and going out
and doing those field trips isso important.
(14:43):
I agree with you?
Speaker 1 (14:45):
Was there a particular moment that you can
think of maybe a conversation, awalk, a meal where you felt
like that light bulb go off andthe trajectory of maybe that
particular experience start?
Speaker 2 (14:58):
to culminate, I don't know if there was just one
moment.
I mean, we loved theopportunity to ride the trails,
to see the coffee shop out inthe middle in the park, you know
, to stumble upon all the artthat is.
Every oh my goodness, what isit?
Every quarter mile there'ssomething new when you're on the
trails.
Crystal Bridges is phenomenal.
(15:21):
The restaurants were great, thehotels were great, you know, it
was kind of all of that.
And then our last day, kayleenbrought in a series of speakers
who, who, like that was reallycool because they would say
something and we're like, well,we were there, we saw that, you
know, they referenced somethingthat we had already experienced.
And the other part, that'salways so good.
(15:44):
And you guys know this fromwhen you do your own travels.
But you connect with people ina different way because you're
not just sitting in a boardroomhaving a meeting, you are I mean
, we're on a bicycle.
We're almost running into atree together.
We have to laugh about thatbecause we got going too fast
down a hill, you know, and westill joke with different people
who are on the trip aboutdifferent things.
(16:05):
That happened, you know, evenat night when we're hanging out
and visiting and having a sharedmeal or cocktail and that was
the whole thing was sobeneficial and just seeing how
all of this was interwoven intowhat explore Bentonville does,
what your downtown core is allabout, and your trail, your
(16:26):
connect, very connected trailsystem and your arts, it was
great, just absolutely great.
Speaker 1 (16:32):
That's awesome, do you?
So this is a question for bothof you hospitable
competitiveness that you canhave.
Speaker 3 (17:01):
And I think what we're doing is we're creating
opportunities for cities tolearn and I think I feel like I
value that.
I think I've been in thisindustry for 20 years with Visit
Bentonville and I think I stillam learning from other cities
on what is going well and whatwe could be doing better.
But I think for us is that Ithink we're making people have
(17:25):
aspirations to do big things.
In a community that we were inwhen I started was 20,000 people
.
It's 67,000 people.
I would never have thought ofthe things that we're doing that
we could have done, and I thinkthat's the kind of I'm hoping
that when these cities come in,they look at our city and
understand there's possibilities, there's hope and they can make
(17:49):
a change if they come togetherand make that impact.
And I think that's for me superrewarding and I love when I
hear stories about how somebodyhas went back and implemented
those experiences, or when theycame to our community and I meet
them somewhere else and they'lltalk about their experience in
(18:11):
Bentonville and what theircommunity is doing now and I
think those are the things thatI see that it's changing and I
hope, the mindset in some waysof solving for, yes, but I think
it's that change within thatcommunity and how it's impacting
so many people, because everycommunity you're looking at the
residents of those communitiesand you know they're getting to
(18:34):
have a positive experience withthat quality of life initiatives
.
Speaker 1 (18:39):
Amy, would you like to add anything to that?
Speaker 2 (18:42):
Oh sure, I think that that togetherness is so big,
that example that Bentonvilleset of involving the other
regional communities togetherand thinking as the Northwest
Arkansas region is so important.
You know, I am by nature a bitof a competitive person when it
comes to sports, but when itcomes to our community, it is so
(19:06):
important that we play witheveryone in our region because
what's good for the town that's15 miles away is also good for
Detroit lakes and I'm reallytrying to share that message in
in my role with project for 12to these other surrounding
communities, because we can lifteach other up, and I think that
you guys have set an incredibleexample of that as well.
Speaker 1 (19:28):
There's definitely enough to go around, and it's
really amazing to see how ussharing the information with
other cities really does make animpact on real people and it's
not just tourists.
So it's amazing.
Speaker 2 (19:48):
Just to add to that a little bit.
I mean, I just love thatmindset of abundance you know
that there is enough foreveryone to go around rather
than an abundance or a mindsetof scarcity.
But just to think that we cando big things.
And some other communities havetalked to me about like, how
did you do this and what advicedo you have?
And one of the things I've toldthem is don't have too many
meetings, get going, figure outwhat you want to do, bring the
(20:11):
right people in together and tryit, and if you make a little
mistake, well, pivot and trysomething else 100%.
Speaker 1 (20:21):
Because you will make mistakes oh yeah, yes yes,
we've made them, but I thinkthat sometimes I think that
sometimes our mistakes are our,our biggest learning
opportunities.
Speaker 3 (20:30):
I think successes you can keep doing successes, but I
think you learn, uh, from yourmistakes.
Um, they're usually much moreimpactful of that educational
side of the experience.
Speaker 2 (20:42):
Isn't that so true?
Even if they kind of you knowsmart a little bit, you know
hurt a little bit, it's stilllike yeah, we've learned from
that and okay, well, it wasstill like there was a nugget of
an idea there.
Let's figure out the right wayto do it.
Speaker 1 (20:56):
Exactly.
Do you have any examples ofanything that you've kind of
been redeemed from, anychallenges that you like to
share?
Speaker 3 (21:08):
Amy, do you want to go first?
I'm sitting here trying tothink of some of our challenges.
Speaker 2 (21:14):
Well, I mean, sometimes it's just even in how
you word something, whether it'sin a press release or on your
website or something, and itmight be crystal clear to you
and then when you take it fromsomebody who's not so in-depth
in your own organization, theyread it.
You're like, well, that didn'tmake any sense at all.
So sometimes you need to getthat 10,000-foot view, need to
(21:42):
get that 10,000 foot view.
And one thing that's beenreally helpful to me is a few
people have come forwardoccasionally when we've made a
mistake and then I've said wouldyou help me?
If we have something, can Isend it to you, will you give it
a review or will you try thislink?
I just did this last night.
I had to send out a link becauseI need a bunch of volunteers
for something and I sent it to awoman who had corrected me one
time and she has now become afriend, which is really
(22:04):
wonderful and it was great.
She checked the link for me andoffered a couple of suggestions
.
And because we can't see orknow everything you know, and we
need all these other people whoare choosing to live in our
community to help us raise upthe community.
And I think one thing we'retrying to do is cast a wide net
(22:25):
and involve as many people as wecan, and in so doing, it really
gives people some ownership inwhat we're doing and in the
community.
I mean, we've found, like wehave a new park we're working on
and we've found that people arereally taking care of the trash
, which is amazing because youknow, there's always littering
(22:45):
right and we haven't had much ofa problem with that, knock on
wood, and I think it's becausepeople feel some ownership on it
.
Speaker 3 (22:52):
I agree with you.
I think the number one I wassitting here trying to think of
some things, and I think themajor things for me were that
things that have had challengesis sometimes making sure
everybody has the informationthey need to be successful.
Or we're working on a projectand we've we've passed that on
to four or five people and weshould have passed it on to 10
people and those four were wereour biggest cheerleaders and we
(23:17):
just miss them.
And I think that those mistakesI learned that early on that
the more people that knew ourplan and initiative, it made us
so much more successful.
And I think those are thingsthat you know, you you want to.
Sometimes you think you need tokeep it close to the vest
because it is going to be likeyou want it to be, your project.
(23:40):
But I think one of the things Ilearned that the more people I
have involved, it becomes ourproject and that most of those
people know where it started orhow it started, but it doesn't
matter because it's a projectthat was a huge success.
So I think the more people thatare involved in it, the bigger
the story is going to be, thebigger the success is going to
be.
So I think the more people thatare involved in it, the bigger
the story is going to be, thebigger the success is going to
(24:02):
be, and I think I learned thatearly on in my career.
Instead of keeping thingsclosed, vested and kind of
hiding and then coming out withsomething thinking it was a big
deal, it was much more impactfulwhen we had more people
involved and I think that was ahuge learning moment early on in
my career.
Speaker 2 (24:24):
Oh, absolutely.
That helps so much, especiallyyou know just the way like
algorithms are on social media,the more people who know what
we're doing, they share it andit reaches more people, and it's
that's a great thing.
Speaker 1 (24:32):
Absolutely Well.
We're pretty much all out oftime right now.
Do you either have closingremarks that you want our
audience to know?
Speaker 2 (24:41):
Well, I'm so grateful to the Explore Bentonville
group, to Kayleen, to all thefolks in Bentonville who have
been making hard decisions anddoing some really difficult,
challenging things and aresetting great examples and best
practices for those of us whoare coming into this more
recently.
And I'm really grateful foryour open bookness, that you're
(25:05):
willing to share your learningswith us so that we can maybe be
a step above where we would bewithout you.
It's just been great.
Speaker 3 (25:13):
Amy, I think that's great and we love that we got to
.
You were one of our ninecommunities that we did last
year and we had one country,austria last year.
We've already done two withJapan this year and then we have
one with a group from Wyomingand another group from Kansas
coming.
So at this point we have aboutfour for this year so far, but,
(25:33):
like you, sometimes it's a threeto six month.
Sometimes we have people thatsay, hey, we're coming in a
month.
So we have a variety of that,but we're always open to hosting
cities and hopefully, I think,as Natalie said, we're impacting
communities throughout theworld.
It used to be just the UnitedStates, but now we're the world
and it's really exciting to beable to share our story with
(25:56):
others and hopefully it impactsthose communities in a positive
way.
Speaker 2 (26:01):
Thank you, that's fantastic.
I love that you areinternational right in
Bentonville.
Speaker 1 (26:06):
I love it.
Thank you both so much forjoining us Once again to our
listeners.
If you are new to this channel,don't forget to subscribe and
follow us on social media.
At Visit Bentonville Check outour website, visitbentonvillecom
to learn all the informationabout how you can come Visit
Bentonville.
Check out our website,visitbentonvillecom to learn all
the information about how youcan come to Bentonville and have
a fabulous experience.
Thanks so much.
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
24/7 News: The Latest
The latest news in 4 minutes updated every hour, every day.
Crime Junkie
Does hearing about a true crime case always leave you scouring the internet for the truth behind the story? Dive into your next mystery with Crime Junkie. Every Monday, join your host Ashley Flowers as she unravels all the details of infamous and underreported true crime cases with her best friend Brit Prawat. From cold cases to missing persons and heroes in our community who seek justice, Crime Junkie is your destination for theories and stories you won’t hear anywhere else. Whether you're a seasoned true crime enthusiast or new to the genre, you'll find yourself on the edge of your seat awaiting a new episode every Monday. If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people. Follow to join a community of Crime Junkies! Crime Junkie is presented by audiochuck Media Company.