Daisy Museum
Rogers, Arkansas
Napoleon’s army had air rifles. Lewis and Clark carried one with them on their historic expedition across the United States. And in the 1983 film “A Christmas Story,” Ralphie famously asked for “a Red Ryder BB gun with a compass in the stock and this thing which tells time.”
That gun never existed — Daisy’s Buck Jones model is the one that had the compass and the sundial — but Jean Shepherd, the movie’s writer, insisted he had a Red Ryder with a compass and a sundial, and he insisted on keeping it that way in the script. Daisy obliged, making several Red Ryders with the added features for filming, said Joe Murfin, vice president of public relations for Daisy and chairman of the Daisy Museum board.
People are often surprised to learn the air rifle manufacturer began in 1882 as the Plymouth Iron Windmill Co., he said. In 1958, Daisy moved its headquarters from Plymouth, Michigan, to Rogers, Arkansas, a move that promised room to grow and plenty of workers.
Rogers is still home to Daisy headquarters, which today includes its administrative offices and an assembly operation. Although most Daisy guns are made overseas, some of Daisy’s military training guns and competition rifles are still made in the United States and assembled in Arkansas. The plant employs 65 to 100 people, depending on the time of year, Murfin said.
“Daisy is a big name, but it’s a small company,” he said.
Although groups can’t tour the assembly operation, they can tour the Daisy museum, which is about a mile from headquarters. There, visitors learn about the history of Daisy, including how Daisy got its name, and see nearly every model Daisy ever made.
Every five years, Daisy puts out an anniversary edition of Ralphie’s Red Ryder gun, which is available only through the museum.
Terra Studios
North Little Rock, Arkansas
Terra Studios’ signature piece, the Bluebird of Happiness, came about in the early 1980s when one of Terra’s artists was messing around and made a little brown bird. The artist’s wife noted all the bluebirds that nested on the property and suggested he start making glass-blown bluebirds.
The bluebirds were picked up as a local mail-order item, and “one thing led to another, and the bluebirds just took off,” said Val Gonzalez, executive director of Terra Studios and Using Art to Create a Better World, the studio’s new nonprofit organization.
Bluebirds are found only in North America, and they’re synonymous with spring, as well as a symbol for hospitality, love and friendship, “so we just kept that sentiment,” she said.
Terra Studios’ glass furnaces are fired up from mid-March through December and are shut down in January and February. When they’re on, groups can watch a glass artist make the bluebirds as well as the Pink Bird of Hope and other glass pieces.
“People really love it,” Gonzalez said. “They love to see how quickly it takes shape and turns into something recognizable.”
In addition to touring the studios, groups can sign up for art demonstrations or take hands-on classes to learn how to dye silk scarves, make jewelry or create wire wrappings. There are wood, pottery and painting classes, and visitors can also make a birdhouse out of clay, which the studio fires and ships to each participant’s door.
Visitors can also wander around the studio’s 10-acre park, which is dotted with sculptures, murals and fountains, or stroll through the 7,000-square-foot studio that features work by 110 local artists who range in age from 14 to 90.
