Weiner

Weiner in Poinsett County is just over 20 miles southwest of Jonesboro and is known primarily for its rice farming and duck hunting. The Arkansas Rice Festival has been held in October annually since 1977.

When the first homesteaders arrived in the late 1860s, the area was prairie land surrounded by forests, so the settlement initially was called West Prairie. After the St. Louis and Southwestern Railroad was constructed through the area in 1881, a depot was established called Weiner, named for a St. Louis, Missouri, railroad official. Ultimately people also began referring to the town as Weiner, and all the businesses shifted to locations along the tracks. Weiner officially became the name of the post office in 1884 and the town was incorporated in 1907.

Since before the turn of the 20th century, hunters from other states have been attracted to Weiner. A private duck-hunting preserve in the Weiner area was featured in 1956 on a national television program, “Wide, Wide, World,” and a photograph from the location depicting more than 500,000 ducks in flight and on the water was widely circulated. At that time, it was referred to as the “Duck Capital of the World.” Duck hunting is still popular, although the number of ducks has decreased from the earlier years.