Inventing the Amazeum
In Northwest Arkansas, Curiosity Found Its Home
Every dream starts with a question, and for the Amazeum, it was this: Why doesn’t Bentonville have a children’s museum? Jim Demaree, inspired by his mother’s work founding a museum in Missouri, couldn’t stop thinking about what such a space could mean for Northwest Arkansas. When he brought the idea to Ed Clifford at the Bentonville Chamber of Commerce, the response was clear: the community needed this. That simple conversation planted the seed for what would grow into one of the region’s most cherished resources.