Thrifty and nifty

LITTLE ROCK — There's nothing to do. And even if there was something to do, you don't have any money anyway. We can help! Well, we can't give you cash, but we can provide you with an idea or 50 of discount diversions in the central Arkansas area. 1. Make s'mores. No campfire? A barbecue grill, stovetop, George Foreman apparatus or microwave will do. 2. Fly a kite. 3. Enjoy a sunset (it's like sunrise, only better: You can sleep in!). 4. Do No. 3 from the Junction Bridge you keep saying you'll check out but never do. 5. Let it snow at a shaved ice stand. The more tropical the name of the stand, the more impressive your padded summer vacation report can be. (Tell everyone you went to Hawaii. They don't have to know it was only for a small, blue, cotton-candy snow cone.) 6. Need some more ice, ice, baby? Sonic sells its celebrated pellets, which offer all sorts of party possibilities, for under $2 per bag. 7. What's better than catching a fairly recent flick on the big screen for $1 (the admission for most movies at Cinemark Movies 10, 4188 E. McCain Blvd., North Little Rock, 800 326-3264. Admission is $1.75 Friday-Saturday after 6 p.m.) Seeing it for 50 cents! That's the early-bird special price of admission at the first matinee Monday-Friday and the price on Monday for people in groups of three or more. 8. Or make your own movie festival at home. Those RedBox $1 DVD rental machines - located at Mc-Donald's and Wal-Mart (for locations and titles or even to make reservations, visit www. redbox.com) - make it simple and cents-ible. 9. Park it. North Little Rock's Burns Park, one of the nation's largest city parks, offers all kinds of cheap and free fun like playgrounds, a dog area, sporting areas, hiking and biking trails and horseshoe pits. Other activities - like riding the rides at Funland on the weekends for $8 - do have admission. Call (501) 758-1424 or (800) 643-4690. 10. Park it some more. Beyond Burns and bigger, betterknown parks there are plenty of smaller ones - for example, Little Rock's Web page (www.littlerock.org/park srecreation/parks/) lists more than 50 of them - that you've either never seen or haven't visited in ages. 11. What allows kids to be creative, keeps them occupied and limits any mess to outside? The cheapest baby sitter ever: Sidewalk chalk ($1). 12. Bargain shop. Be surprised at how far $5 - OK and a little more for tax - can go at a dollar store (jump rope, balloons, coloring book, beach ball and candy), or Target's dollar section (Hello Kitty sandwich box, Disney Princess lunch bag, cute thank-you notes, memo pad and lip gloss). 13. Enjoy a free concert. When there is a performance at the Riverfest Amphitheatre (like Kenny Loggins, Aug. 21 or Bob Dylan, Aug. 26), hang around the River Market District or across the river on the north shore. 14. Have your cake. Cupcakes on Kavanaugh - 5625 Kavanaugh Blvd., Little Rock, (501) 664-2253 - creations sell for $2.50 to $3. Ma we recommend the summer Strawberry Short "Cup" Cak 15. Have your cake with s ice cream. Indulge in h made gelato ($2.95 small, $4.5 in as many as 20 flavors acros at ZaZa - 5600 Kavanaugh Blv Rock, (501) 661-9292. 16. Have yet more ice cream ... well, real dairy frozen yogurt. Waffle Cone Wednesdays at TCBY mean 99-cent midweek treats. To find the nearest location, visit www.tcby.com. 17. Blow bubbles. 18. Wash your car (hey, if it's just going to sit there in the driveway and not be used, it might as well look good). t's cheaper than having it detailed ... and oing to a water park for that matter. 19. Finally use one of the four baskets you got at your wedding: Go on a picnic. 20 Go camping. Cheaper and better than driving off to some distant woods is roughing it in your own backyard. When you inevitably get hot, bug-bitten and bored and think the whole thing was a really horrible idea, you can go right back inside. 21. It might not be too late to make friends with someone who has a pool. But if it is, swimming at the outdoor pool of the Jim Dailey Fitness & Aquatic Center - 300 S. Monroe St., Little Rock, (501) 664-6976 - costs a mere $5 for adults, $3.50 for senior citizens, $3.50 for those ages 16-19 and $2.50 for children under 16 with a parent. 22. Doggy paddle. The above fitness center traditionally closes its pool with a dog swim party and plans to do so this year. They don't have a date set just yet, but give them a call in a few weeks. 23. Make all your travels more tolerable by first researching gasoline prices in your area at Web sites like Gasbuddy.com (keeping in mind that the $3.64 price reported early in the day by a person with a screen name like dustmonkey might be $3.80 by the time you show up. So call ahead). 24. Brag about your cheap gas finds to friends when they're fretting about fuel prices. "Oh really? I only paid $3.61 at the D&J Mini Mart!" 25. Think Christmas. It's not too early to start decorations browsing. At least Garden Ridge - 11801 Chenal Parkway, Little Rock, (501) 219-1144 - doesn't think so. 26. Catch up on your summer reading. Right there in the Barnes & Noble - 11500 Financial Centre Parkway, Little Rock, (501) 954-7646; 4000 McCain Blvd., North Little Rock, (501) 771-1124 - where no one seems to mind if you sit around all day borrowing books and magazines. (It would be nice if you at least bought coffee; and it's summer, make it an iced one.) 27. Of course the reading - and all kinds of special events and the Internet access, etc. - are always free at the library. That is, once you settle up on those fines from 1992. 28. See where the wild things are - for free. The Little

Rock Zoo - 1 Jonesboro Drive, Little Rock, (501) 666-2406 - is offering free admission to children under 12 (normally a $6 fee) through Labor Day. 29. While at the zoo, don't miss the dogs. Hot dogs are $1 during the summer. 30. Roam around Argenta, North Little Rock's downtown, which is coming into its own thanks to shops, galleries, restaurants and the Certified Arkansas Farmers Market. 31. Speaking of farmers markets, visit either the one in North Little Rock or downtown Little Rock some Saturday. Buy the most exotic ingredient and host your own Iron Chef competition with friends. 32. Check out the H.U. Lee International Gate and Garden in downtown Little Rock. Said one of our writers, "It's almost like going to Korea for a minute." 33. Duck into the Peabody Little Rock hotel - Three Statehouse Plaza, Little Rock, (501) 906-4000 - and mingle with birds of a feather. The free red-carpet duck parade is at 11 a.m. and 5 p.m. daily. 34. Walk the Big Dam Bridge, which offers a beach boardwalk feel when the sun goes down. As one writer put it: "Really, it's the kind of thing you'd expect to buy a ticket to do." 35. Knock back a cold one - or more. On Saturdays, Diamond Bear Brewery - 323 Cross Street, Little Rock, (501) 708-2739 - offers free tours, which includes free samples of beer and root beer. 36. Do some wine-ing. Colonial Wine & Spirits - 11200 W. Markham St., Little Rock, (501) 223-3120 - offers free wine tastings from about 1-7 p.m. Tuesday-Saturday. 37. Have a grape time. Some restaurants offer half-price wine nights on less busy evenings. For example, Lilly's Dim Sum - 11121 N. Rodney Parham Road, Little Rock, (501) 716-2700 - sells its bottles at 50 percent off on Sundays, and Johnny Carino's - 1600 Pleasant Ridge Road, Little Rock, (501) 225-3434; 221 Warden Road, North Little Rock, (501) 758-8226 - does the same on Wednesdays. 38. Have some cheese with your wine. One writer reported this find at the Heights Kroger - 1900 N. Polk, Little Rock, (501) 663-4748: "The recently added fancy cheese case is like buying gold, but you can nibble all sorts of cheeses-on-toothpicks it would take a fluent knowledge of 12 languages to pronounce. And there's a bucket of odd trims of this and that for under $3." 39. Another fine source for free samples, The Fresh Market in Pleasant Ridge Town Center, 11525 Cantrell Road, Little Rock, (501) 225-7700. 40. You might have missed the "Hot Color Cool Glass" exhibit that just closed last week, but there are still cool things to see (and cool air conditioning to feel) in the Arkansas Arts Center - 501 E. Ninth St., Little Rock, (501) 372-4000 - where admission (except for special exhibitions fees) is free. 41. Score bargain baseball tickets. Get $3-off coupons at Arby's and Exxon locations to see the Arkansas Travelers play. For a schedule and ticket information, visit www.travs.com or call (501) 664-1555. For an even more frugal view, try watching

the game for free through the fence in back of the left-field scoreboard. 42 Little Rock's 2nd Friday Art Night (www.2ndfridayartnight.com) gallery walk continues to be one of the city's best bargain nights out on the second Friday of each month. Enjoy food, drink, art and socializing all for the price of free. 43. Low-rent hot tub: Fill up the kiddie pool and leave it in the sun all day. 44. Get ready for some football. "Football: The Exhibit" is back in the game at The Museum of Discovery through August, exploring the science of the sport. Wait until the second Sunday of the month when admission is free (otherwise it's $7-$8). Call (501) 396-7050 or visit www.amod.org. 45. Google the "Couch-to-5K" nineweek running plan. If you start now (preferably indoors), you'll be all set for the Race for the Cure on Oct. 11. 46. What's better than driving your own car and spending a fortune? Looking at other people's cars for free. Cruisin' in the Rock, the monthly show of muscle cars, street rods, classic cars, trucks and motorcycles, takes place Aug. 15 at Little Rock's River Market. Call (501) 370-3201 or visit www.cruisinlittlerock.com. 47. President Clinton's birthday is coming up, which means you get a present: free admission (regularly it's $5-$7) to the Clinton Presidential Center in Little Rock on Aug. 16. Call (501) 374-4242 or visit www. clintonlibrary.gov. 48. These days it costs less to dine and see a production at Murry's Dinner Playhouse - 6323 Col. Glenn Road, Little Rock (501) 562-3131 - where Guys and Dolls is currently playing, at least for kids 15 and younger, who will be charged $10 instead of the regular $22 through Aug. 24. Adults still pay the regular $28-$32. 49. Ride the trolley - more formally known as The River Rail. Rides range from free (for children ages 4 and younger) up to $1 for adults. For more detailed fare information and a route map, visit www.cat.org/rrail or call (501) 374-5354. 50. Arts and crafts time! Turn this very newspaper section into a pirate hat.

Staff writers Jennifer Christman, Laura Brown, Celia Storey, Denise Dorton, Kyle Brazzel, Jack Schnedler, Jack W. Hill, Eric Harrison, Ellis Widner, Irene Wassell, Kelly Brant, Ron Wolfe, Samantha Friedman and Werner Trieschmann contributed to this report.

Have an idea that we missed? E-mail: jchristman@arkansasonline.com