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🛍️ Vintage Market Days — Shop vintage and vintage-inspired art, home decor and clothing today through Sunday at the Benton County Fairgrounds. Get tickets for $5-$10.

🎨 Gallery hop — Take a shuttle to tour several of Fayetteville's art galleries from 11am-5pm Saturday. Register for free.

🎷 Sunset Sunday— This free event on the downtown Bentonville square includes live jazz and an art market. 5-7pm Sunday.

Your weekend plans: Free jazz, art galleries, shopping

Illustration of a beach chair made out of a calendar.

Make it a nice spring weekend, NWA.🛍️ <a class="gtmContentClick" data-vars-link-text="Vintage Market Days" data-vars-click-url="https://www.vintagemarketdays.com/market/nw-arkansas/index.php" data-vars-content-id="5d27bfa8-7aa8-4c03-89d5-1d3000f9f2c4" data-vars-headline="Your weekend plans: Free jazz, art galleries, shopping" data-vars-event-category="story" data-vars-sub-category="story" data-vars-item="in_content_link" href="https://www.vintagemarketdays.com/market/nw-arkansas/index.php" target="_blank">Vintage Market Days</a> — Shop vintage and vintage-inspired art, home decor and clothing today through Sunday at the Benton County Fairgrounds. <a class="gtmContentClick" data-vars-link-text="Get tickets" data-vars-click-url="https://events.humanitix.com/vmdnwa/tickets" data-vars-content-id="5d27bfa8-7aa8-4c03-89d5-1d3000f9f2c4" data-vars-headline="Your weekend plans: Free jazz, art galleries, shopping" data-vars-event-category="story" data-vars-sub-category="story" data-vars-item="in_content_link" href="https://events.humanitix.com/vmdnwa/tickets" target="_blank">Get tickets</a> for $5-$10.

Things to Do

Arkansas lawmakers will convene Wednesday to kick off the fiscal session to consider budget proposals for the state, including a boost in school voucher funding.

Why it matters: During fiscal sessions, the Arkansas General Assembly decides how taxpayer money is spent for state departments.

What we're watching: The proposed state budget includes up to $309 million for school vouchers, a $122 million increase from last year, plus $70 million if needed from state surplus money, the Arkansas Advocate reported.

Vouchers can be used for private school tuition or homeschool expenses. Arkansas has been phasing them in since the Legislature in 2023 passed the LEARNS Act, Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders' sweeping education bill, which included broadly expanding school choice.

The big picture: Sanders has proposed a nearly $6.7 billion budget, which would increase spending by about 3%.

Between the lines: Legislators have not ruled out a proposal for a 3,000-bed prison, the Arkansas Advocate reported, which Sanders has advocated for in Franklin County.

How it works: Lawmakers generally stick to only budget-related items during fiscal sessions because deviating from them requires a resolution to be adopted by two-thirds of both the House of Representatives and the Senate.

Fiscal sessions can last up to 30 days and can be extended for another 15 days.

Go deeper: Peruse the Legislature's website to see legislative agendas and bills that have been filed, as well as to watch meetings.

Arkansas Legislature to decide state budget

Illustration of a hundred-dollar bill masked by the shape of the state of Arkansas.

Arkansas lawmakers will convene Wednesday to kick off the fiscal session to consider budget proposals for the state, including a boost in school voucher funding.Why it matters: During fiscal sessions, the Arkansas General Assembly decides how taxpayer money is spent for state departments.

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Fayetteville's 30th annual Gulley Park concert series is coming up for those who want to spend their Thursday nights with free live music plus food trucks, an art market and other local vendors.

🧒 Zoom in: June 18 is "Kidz Night" starting at 6:30pm, and the festival will include obstacle course inflatables, a bounce house, face painting and yard games.

🕖 If you go: Music starts at 7pm each night.

Mark your calendars: Gulley Park concert series

Illustration of a sun listening to headphones and smiling. 

Fayetteville&#x27;s 30th annual <a class="gtmContentClick" data-vars-link-text="Gulley Park concert series" data-vars-click-url="https://www.fayetteville-ar.gov/515/Gulley-Park-Summer-Concert-Series" data-vars-content-id="8886cbf3-e096-478c-a5be-5cf1fb1049cf" data-vars-headline="Mark your calendars: Gulley Park concert series" data-vars-event-category="story" data-vars-sub-category="story" data-vars-item="in_content_link" href="https://www.fayetteville-ar.gov/515/Gulley-Park-Summer-Concert-Series" target="_blank">Gulley Park concert series</a> is coming up for those who want to spend their Thursday nights with free live music plus food trucks, an art market and other local vendors.🗓️ The lineup includes:

The Fayetteville City Council meets tonight and could make several changes to the city's farmers market regulations including:

🍻 Allowing alcoholic beverages to be sold.

🥕 Expanding the Saturday market to the east along Mountain Street. The market currently takes place along the four streets on the downtown square.

🗓️ Allowing for Tuesday night markets from 2:30-10pm.

🎄 Extending the market season, which runs from April to Thanksgiving, to begin in March and end on Christmas.

💰 The council will also vote whether to change the city's policy to allow for payouts of more than $100,000 for water and wastewater damage if the city's insurance adjustor deems the claim valid.

A resident recently requested the city pay about $130,000 after the resident's home and belongings sustained sewer damage, but city ordinance only allowed it to pay up to $100,000. The council can make the new ordinance, if approved, retroactive to apply to this claim, according to a memo from city attorney Kit Williams.

📍 If you go: 5:30pm at City Hall or online.

The Agenda: City Council to consider farmers market expansions

Photo illustration of Fayetteville City Hall with lines radiating from it.

Photo illustration: Axios Visuals. Photo: Alex Golden/Axios

The <a class="gtmContentClick" data-vars-link-text="Fayetteville City Council" data-vars-click-url="https://fayettevillear.portal.civicclerk.com/event/1636/files/agenda/4225" data-vars-content-id="a84b4cee-298c-41fe-9f4c-881bc7da963f" data-vars-headline="The Agenda: City Council to consider farmers market expansions" data-vars-event-category="story" data-vars-sub-category="story" data-vars-item="in_content_link" href="https://fayettevillear.portal.civicclerk.com/event/1636/files/agenda/4225" target="_blank">Fayetteville City Council</a> meets tonight and could make several changes to the city&#x27;s farmers market regulations including:🍻 Allowing alcoholic beverages to be sold.

Data: Surrogacy360; Map: Alex Fitzpatrick/Axios

Without a federal law, surrogacy in the U.S. is governed by a patchwork of state regulations that can determine everything from whether agreements are legally binding to who is recognized as a parent at birth.

Why it matters: More Americans are turning to surrogacy to build their families, making ethical, legal and cultural tensions harder to ignore.

U.S. clinics reported more than 11,500 gestational carrier cycles in 2023 — nearly seven times as many as in 2004, when the American Society for Reproductive Medicine began tracking the data.

How it works: A surrogate carries a pregnancy for intended parents — typically via in vitro fertilization (IVF) with an embryo that uses a donor or the intended mother's egg.

That's called gestational surrogacy, and the surrogate can be referred to as the gestational carrier.

It's an option for people who want biological kids but can't — or can't safely — carry a pregnancy.

Data: Society for Assisted Reproductive Technology via American Society for Reproductive Medicine; Chart: Axios Visuals

Major differences between state laws include:

How a surrogate must be compensated (if not considered "altruistic").

Who becomes the legal parents of a child born via surrogate.

Whether genetic surrogacy (when the surrogate uses her own egg) is even allowed.

Some highlights of what's on or not on the books in Arkansas, according to Surrogacy 360, include:

Gestational and genetic surrogacy contracts can be enforced in court, but the law limits which intended parents can enter an enforceable surrogacy contract.

State law does not address whether a surrogate can be paid beyond reimbursement for expenses.

Intended parents must be married to each other to enter an enforceable surrogacy contract and can only do so when the intended father is a genetic father.

The question of whether same-sex intended parents can enter into enforceable surrogacy contracts hasn't been explicitly addressed, but they should be able to if they are married and one is the genetic parent.

An unmarried biological father may enter an enforceable surrogacy contract, and an unmarried woman may enter an enforceable surrogacy contract using an anonymous sperm donor.

The bottom line: Often, surrogacy agreements happen across state lines, so multiple state laws might need to be considered.

More families turn to surrogacy, navigating uneven state laws

See which laws are on the books in Arkansas.

map of legal status of surrogacy agreements

Without a federal law, surrogacy in the U.S. is governed by a patchwork of state regulations that can determine everything from whether agreements are legally binding to who is recognized as a parent at birth.Why it matters: <a class="gtmContentClick" data-vars-link-text="More Americans are turning to surrogacy" data-vars-click-url="https://www.axios.com/2026/03/29/surrogacy-popular-numbers" data-vars-content-id="d2f04254-b3f0-41d7-a8bf-553741d93ccf" data-vars-headline="More families turn to surrogacy, navigating uneven state laws" data-vars-event-category="story" data-vars-sub-category="story" data-vars-item="in_content_link" href="https://www.axios.com/2026/03/29/surrogacy-popular-numbers" target="_self">More Americans are turning to surrogacy</a> to <a class="gtmContentClick" data-vars-link-text="build their families" data-vars-click-url="https://www.axios.com/2025/05/02/future-of-fertility-demographics" data-vars-content-id="d2f04254-b3f0-41d7-a8bf-553741d93ccf" data-vars-headline="More families turn to surrogacy, navigating uneven state laws" data-vars-event-category="story" data-vars-sub-category="story" data-vars-item="in_content_link" href="https://www.axios.com/2025/05/02/future-of-fertility-demographics" target="_self">build their families</a>, making ethical, legal and cultural tensions harder to ignore.

A choropleth map categorizing U.S. states by legal status of surrogacy arrangements. Gestational and genetic surrogacy is enforceable in 15 states, Gestational surrogacy is enforceable in 14, and surrogacy is unregulated in 15.

Alex Golden

Featured stories

Your weekend plans: Free jazz, art galleries, shopping

More families turn to surrogacy, navigating uneven state laws

Mark your calendars: Gulley Park concert series

Arkansas Legislature to decide state budget

The Agenda: City Council to consider farmers market expansions