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Craven Foods, a grocery store on Highway 16 at Fairfield Bay, promptly installed a “wine and beer cave” after Van Buren County went wet in January, but was not successful in getting one of only two liquor store licenses for the county. (
Gwen Moritz)
Van Buren County, long part of a wall of dry counties in north-central Arkansas, has spent the past six months transitioning to a wet county, bringing an increase in sales tax revenue and excitement.
More than three dozen volunteers spent months collecting enough signatures to get the question on the Nov. 3 ballot. After the initiative survived court challenges, nearly two-thirds of county voters said yes to package alcohol sales for the first time since 1941.