Move to NWA?

This isn't your usual pro/con question about moving.

I'm a 33F single. I grew up at Lake of the Ozarks & Springfield, MO but for the last 11 years I've been living in Austin. I love it here. I bought a house a few years ago, I have a wonderful group of friends, and the wellness/yoga community here is vibrant. Overall I'm happy here (with the exception of complaints about the dating scene but that seems to be everywhere).

However, my mom lives in Holiday Island and she's battling lung cancer. I've been driving back and forth every few months but it's tough. I want to be closer to her, and NWA seems like a place where I could have that and live a happy life. We've spent a considerable amount of time there because she gets treatments in Rogers.

Can anyone speak to the wellness community, social activities, and just the people in general? I'm a very social extroverted person and love making new friends. I don't drink/party often, so having social activities / wellness or fitness-focused gatherings around me is important.

How easy is it to build a social circle? What’s dating like in your 30s? Also, is the area predominantly liberal or conservative?

I’ve been looking at rentals in Bentonville — I’m drawn to the downtown area and the nearby parks but open to other suggestions on location. On this page people mention concerns about population growth and infrastructure issues, but having lived in Austin, I’m no stranger to those challenges. Traffic doesn’t bother me much anymore; it’s just part of life.

Ultimately, I'm just wondering if this would be a place that I'd be happy in. I know living less than an hour away from my mom would make me more at-ease, but I want to know if day to day life would be fulfilling for me here too.