Rural Reach Marketing & Communications

09/04/2025

New post: The Original Ozark Folk Festival kicks off this evening with three days of free, all-ages music events in Basin Park and more music at venues all over town, plus outstanding ticketed concerts at the historic City Auditorium. The Folk Fest performances at Basin Park run Friday and Saturday from 11 a.m. till sunset. The post on Substack (free to read) has all the deets on all the festival's musical acts, including free shows and ticketed concerts — plus a schedule of live music at venues around town. EVERY musical act playing around Eureka Springs this weekend is included, with mini-bios and videos so visitors can decide who they need to see perform!

PLUS: An award-winning Bob Dylan documentary headlines CHARTS Live series kickoff in NLR with a live performance by Justin Bank and the Bijou Boogie Boys

11/01/2024

Interesting (outrageous) news lately about Rick Crawford – particularly for people living in north-central Arkansas, northeast Arkansas, and southeast Arkansas!

06/16/2024

This will be a great time for a great cause (six great causes actually)! Rodney Block puts on an outstanding show 🔥

🎶 Join Us for a Free Concert with Rodney Block!🎶
Calling all volunteers, canvassers, and supporters from every corner of Arkansas! 🌟 Everyone is welcome to join us for an unforgettable day of music, food, and civic action! 🎸🌭

What's Happening:
- Free community concert by the amazing Rodney Block celebrating volunteers and canvassers from across the state! 🎷🕺
- Register to vote. ✍️
- Volunteers & canvassers, get your petitions notarized.
- Petition drop-off for all Ballot Question Committees. ✅
- Bring Your Friends to sign petitions and enjoy the music. 🎤👯‍♂️

This is your chance to enjoy great tunes, support direct democracy, and make sure every voice is heard. 💬🗳️ So grab your friends, come sign some petitions, and let’s make some noise for a brighter future! 📢

06/13/2024

Arkansas peeps: Please take 3 minutes NOW (Thursday noon hour) to complete this quick survey asking for your thoughts on top issues & concerns facing Arkansans. You answer verbally, with audio. Just did it, took me 3 and a half minutes.
This research is part of an effort to advance direct democracy and citizen engagement in our state.

05/23/2024

This reporting out of Texas details — from a Republican school board member’s mouth — how billionaires with financial interests in private and religious schools are working statewide to DO AWAY WITH PUBLIC EDUCATION.

They began by getting their people on school boards. And then spreading lies and half-truths to pit rural parents against the public schools’ leadership. Then all of a sudden sending tax dollars (via vouchers) to private and religious schools doesn’t seem like such an offensive idea…

This is a mirror of the forces at work in Arkansas. It is part of the plan.

READ THIS and SHARE THIS.

And for gods sake SIGN THE PETITION For AR Kids — and come November, vote like your lives depend on it…

The largesse from billionaires Tim Dunn and brothers Farris and Dan Wilks has made its way into local politics. Courtney Gore, a Republican school board member in Granbury, says it’s part of their strategy to build support for vouchers.

05/08/2024

Happy Nurses Week to all my nurse friends. I am VERY thankful for each of you and the work you do!

PS: My little Substack newsletter, Healthcare Workforce Report, (2x per month) gives the TLDR version of policy changes and healthcare trends that impact nurses, staffing levels, recruitment, and the like.

If you're interested in those topics, please check it out or subscribe (it's free and will remain free forever.)

PSS: My newsletter won a national award recently! (details in comments)

Plus: Physicians at UChicago vote yes on unionizing; Watch a deep-dive discussion on GenAI coming to an academic hospital near you

03/18/2024

In this conversation, Riding With Rodney co-hosts Steve Grappe, Congressional candidate Rodney Govens, and Kristal Kuykendall discuss recent visits to Marshall, Leslie, St. Joe, and Jonesboro, Arkansas, and they offer an open invitation to planned campaign events March 20, March 26 and March 28, 2024.
Rodney details the problems he's hearing about over and over as he visits many towns in the First District — for example, he's heard from officials in nearly every town that they are struggling with water infrastructure, and no money to fix it.
Rodney, Steve, and Kristal also discuss opportunities to volunteer with the campaign and the reason that Rodney's campaign benefits from every $5 contribution – in fact, small donations can open doors to major contributions, and Steve explains why.
Also in this episode, Kristal unboxes a new campaign item from the campaign store at RodneyForCongress.org/shop.
The conversation concludes with Rodney making his "elevator pitch" explaining why he's running and why people should vote for him and get behind his campaign.
Learn more at https://RodneyForCongress.org.
Rodney Govens is running for U.S. House of Representatives to represent Arkansas' First Congressional District.
Donate or pledge your digital spare change at https://bit.ly/donate-rodney-govens.
This podcast production is paid for by the Committee to Elect Rodney Govens.