City of Bentonville celebrating 150th anniversary with community blood drive

The City of Bentonville is celebrating its 150th anniversary with a community blood drive.People can donate Thursday and Friday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at Bentonville City Hall or at Northwest Medical Center.Mayor Stephanie Orman said the goal is to have 150 people donate blood.”The blood that we’re collecting will stay in the area. We know the needs of the hospital and one of the really easy things that we can do as the public and give back is come in, let us give you snacks and drink and take the blood and be able to give that back to our community,” Orman said.Orman said if 150 people donate blood, it would be enough to help up to 450 people in Northwest Arkansas.Walk-ins are welcome, but the city urges donors to sign up for an appointment beforehand.After 150 years, Orman said she thinks the original residents of Bentonville would be proud of the progress the city has made.”If you look back 150 years ago and you see sort of the the geography and what was here, you know, you had dirt roads, you had one traffic signal, those sort of things. I think that they would be really impressed with the innovation, the can-do attitude, the community, the come together that you see in Bentonville,” she said.Every person who donates blood will get a free t-shirt and will be entered in a drawing for two Kansas City Chiefs tickets for the game happening on Dec. 31, 2023.