Marion residents will tell you that it’s the community spirit that makes a difference. It’s the community that turns out every year to stage and attend fund raising dinners and festivals, that volunteers to help finish the new football stadium in time for the first home game, and that gets together for block parties and car pools.

It’s the community where the Methodist church opened its doors and shared its premises with the neighboring Baptist congregation when the Baptist church burned to the ground. It’s the community where the volunteer fire department worked to earn a Class IV insurance rating, the best rating of any community in Arkansas served by a volunteer department. It’s a community where volunteers put up playground equipment in city parks, where more volunteers are coaching softball and baseball and football.

It’s our community spirit that makes the difference.

It’s a community where social seasons are marked by the Methodist turkey dinner, the First Assembly spaghetti dinner, and the first and last days of school. It’s a community where children come home from school and head outdoors to play, secure in the knowledge that if they’re out of their parents’ sight, a neighbor will be looking after them.

It’s a community that’s experienced tremendous growth, and is poised on the edge of even greater growth.

It’s a community that 12,000 people are pleased and proud to call …..”home.”