RUSSELLVILLE — Betsy McGuire, executive director of Main Street Russellville, said it’s premature to talk about the Great American Main Street Award, for which Main Street Arkansas encouraged Main Street Russellville to apply.
“We are in the very early stages of preparing a preliminary application,” she said. “The next step is meeting with the MSA staff to coordinate the information needed for the preliminary application, which will determine whether or not we become a finalist.”
The award, which is given by the National Trust for Historic Preservation Main Street Center, would be a “huge honor” to win, McGuire said.
In the meantime, she said, a few particularly exciting events and community efforts are coming up in Russellville.
Russellville’s Downtown Master Plan is coming along.
“We are hoping that during their Aug. 18 meeting (today), the Russellville City Council will approve the balance of funding needed to contract with the Walker Collaborative to undertake development of a master plan,” she said.
The project, a collaboration between the city and Main Street Russellville, was issued March 6 and includes a variety of projects related to urban design and architecture; land-use analysis and planning and building codes; public open space and linkages; the development of a corridor along El Paso Avenue between downtown and Arkansas Tech University; and more.
Russellville’s quarterly Downtown Art Walk is planned for Sept. 2.
“We have some of t he most amazing artists,” Mc-Guire said, “and their works (will be) on display during our quarterly events.”
One of those artists is Doyle Young of Dardanelle.
His work is displayed at the Frame Shop and Gallery in downtown Russellville.
Young also regularly shows his work at galleries in Hot Springs and has a contract with Greg Thompson Fine Art in North Little Rock.
“That is a really high-profile gallery,” Young said. “He has incorporated my work into the Best of the South show that he’s having right now. I’m hanging on the walls with some really big names, and that blows me away.”
McGuire stressed that the fall walk will feature several avant-garde works by a few undiscovered local talents in the River Valley area.
Festivities are also planned for the 20th annual Downtown Fall Festival and Chili Cook-off on Oct. 29.
The daylong celebration will remind visitors of an old fashioned downtown carnival, McGuire said. In addition to the chili cook-off, events will include a car show, an omelet breakfast, an old-fashioned pie contest, arts and crafts, 5K and 1K runs, and more.
Looking even further ahead, 2012 is the 20th anniversary of the Main Street Russellville program.
“It will be a banner year for us as we roll out ‘The Next 20!’” McGuire said.
Staff writer Caroline Zilk can be reached at (501)804-2701 or czilk@arkansasonline.com.
River Valley Ozark, Pages 57 on 08/18/2011