January starts the Thoroughbred racing season at Oaklawn Park. Oaklawn begins its second century with exciting stakes races, including the Racing Festival of the South. The last six days of the season bring some of America's top thorougbreds to the $600,000 Oaklawn Handicap, the $500,000 Apple Blossom, ending with the $1,000,000 Arkansas Derby in April. Notable horses to race in the Arkansas Derby are Curlin, Smarty Jones, Gayego, and Lawyer Ron.

Mid February through early March is Daffodil Days at Garvan Woodland Gardens with over 150,000 daffodils as they introduce spring; the park is 210 acres on Lake Hamilton. Pack a lunch, take a camera, and enjoy this full day's outing. Do be sure to make your way out the latter part of March, beginning of April for the Garvan Woodland Gardens 101,000 Tulip Extravaganza.

By the second week of March, you can expect to see radiant pink bloom on every tree that lines the fountain.

The National Park Sunday afternoon nature walks are a great way to digest that enormous southern breakfast. The walks are during the months of March & April. As you stroll through historical Hot Springs you recognize the ghost of the past in the architecture and the preservation of the slow march of time in this small southern town. Relics surround you, the past is far more tangible than the future. It is easy to imagine the residents and visitors of yesteryear, bustling on the sidewalks, wearing laced up shoes, broad brim hats and hoop skirts. This town once thrived as a destination for people seeking the health benefits attributed to the natural hot springs. The main street of town is lined with bath houses established at the beginning of last century.