Roscoe Joyner News Today

The small city of empty storefronts and vacant lots that is Dumas has seen its population drain away steadily over the decades.

DUMAS, Ark. -- The small city of empty storefronts and vacant lots that is Dumas has seen its population drain away steadily over the decades. But each spring, people of the diaspora have made their way along two-lane country roads, driving through cotton fields and catfish farms and finally into Dumas for Hood-Nic, the community's big "neighborhood picnic," which serves as an informal homecoming.

Dumas, Ark., has been shrinking steadily, but the diaspora returned each year for a festival that united scattered friends and family. Organizers say its future is now uncertain.