There is something special about Mistletoe Market that signals the arrival of the holiday season in Texarkana. It may be seeing familiar faces, finding the perfect Christmas gift, gathering with friends, or simply walking through the doors and feeling the excitement of the season.

Maddie and Josh Warren had imagined what their son’s arrival would look like a thousand times. After trying for a couple of years to conceive, they learned in the summer of 2022 that they were expecting. By October, they knew they were having a boy. His name would be Riley James.

Typically, Temple Memorial Pediatric Center awards one child annually with the Kid of the Year Award. However, this year, the Rider children—Blake (10), Ellie (9), Tatum (7), Anna Marie (6), and MacKenzie (5)—were honored as their first Family of the Year.

If you have been in Texarkana for any length of time, odds are you are familiar with Julie’s Deli, located in Summerhill Square. Even if you have never stepped inside the longtime local staple, you probably know where it is—and you may even know some of the items on the menu. Over the years, Julie’s has simply become a part of life here for residents and visitors alike. 

Coach Cecily Butler, long-time Arkansas coach and current PE teacher at Genoa Central, was recently inducted into the Arkansas High School Coaches Association (AHSCA) Hall of Fame. Her career in education and athletics spans 33 years, during which time she has encouraged and inspired countless student-athletes.

Death is something everyone has to deal with and no one wants to think about. Brad Sheppard, a local licensed funeral director, embalmer, and college professor, has made it his mission to make the death less mysterious, in part by providing insight through viral social media. 

Early Texarkana was a Reconstruction-era town that seemingly sprang up overnight. Construction began on its first buildings within hours of the sale of town lots. In just a few months’ time, the town had expanded along 20 blocks and was growing fast.

Farmers Bank and Trust Company was founded in 1906 in Magnolia, Arkansas, by T.S. Grayson and Robert Warnock Sr. with a philosophy of serving their neighbors. The company started with $75,000 in assets, equivalent to approximately $2,782,500 in 2026 dollars.

The Four States Fair wasn’t built by one person. It was built by generations of local people who treated it almost like a family responsibility—people who showed up, worked hard, passed along what they knew, and, when their time came, handed the reins to someone else.

The story of Robbins Toyota begins with founder Eddie Robbins, who grew up the son of a used-car dealer. He graduated from the University of North Texas, with plans of becoming a banker.

If the walls of Texarkana ISD could talk, they would have one heck of a story to tell. They could tell us about three teenagers who made up one of the district’s earliest graduating classes. They could tell us about boys who left high school to serve in World War I, World War II, and the Korean War, sometimes never returning to finish the diplomas they had started.

TRAHC’s ArtSpace didn’t simply appear as the latest home for its growing programs. There is nearly half a century of history behind what happens inside these walls—and that history began long before TRAHC had any facilities to call its own.

Since 1939, Texarkana Funeral Home has had the privilege of serving families throughout the Texarkana area. What began with Howard Fuqua and Harry L. Everett at 6th and Main Streets has become a lasting part of the community, serving families through some of the most difficult and meaningful moments of their lives.

This year marks 20 years of Four States Living Magazine’s Forty Under Forty issue.

At the Smith family dinner table, conversations don’t always begin with, “How was your day?” Instead, they’re often filled with discussions about lesson plans, student successes, journalism deadlines, classroom leadership, photography competitions, and the occasional string of educational acronyms that would leave outsiders completely lost.

What began as a Christmas gift has quickly grown into an entrepreneurial venture for four Pleasant Grove Middle School students. After receiving a 3D printer in December 2025, Zander Ames discovered a passion for designing and printing articulated toys and novelty gadgets.

A published poet and professor at Clark Atlanta University, brittny ray crowell grew up in and around Texarkana, Texas, as the youngest in a four-generation home. Her debut book, Cord Swell, is a collection is a memorialization of her ancestors, crafted in part from historical documents such as journals and obituaries. 

Homeschooling was not on my radar as a parent. Our family moved to the Texarkana area in the fall of 2013 for my husband’s career. All too quickly, it came time for our son to attend kindergarten—full day, five days a week—and we felt unsettled with the choices that lay ahead of us.

Aiden Kendricks, a sophomore at Texas High School and a dedicated member of the Tiger football team, took on a summer position at Big Dam Waterpark on May 23rd, initially as part of the kitchen staff. Caden Markham, the former assistant manager of operations at Big Dam Waterpark, motivated Aiden to enroll in the Ellis & Associates International Lifeguard Training Program.

Beginning in August, students at North Heights Community School will have the opportunity to participate in LifeWise Academy, a Bible-based character education program offered during “released time”—hours when students at public schools can go off-campus to receive religious instruction, with parental permission.