Three blocks of Seventh Street in Little Rock’s downtown area Saturday had “more people than you’ve ever seen walk on this street before,” one observer said of an effort to boost urban revitalization, particularly downtown.
The observer, James Meyer of studio Main, said he hoped Saturday’s event could inspire people to make a vibrant Seventh Street a permanent reality.
Seventh Street, from Cross Street to Izard Street, was transformed from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. Saturday into a walkable and bikeable commercial and community space to show patrons what that stretch of downtown could look like with some investment.
The event, this year called Pop Up in the Rock, featured live music, a beer garden, several shops, food trucks and area vendors on Etsy, a website for craft makers to sell their creations. The Box,a burger joint, was also open, though it’s normally closed Saturdays.
The street was also given bicycle lanes on each side, while existing fences erected between sidewalks and parking lots were decorated with arranged fluorescent tiles.
“We’re just here supporting local merchants,” said Sue Mitchell, a sales worker at Frances Flower Shop, which moved a table and flowers into the vacant 1023 building next to The Box. She said she and her co-workers at the 1222 W. Capitol Ave. florist wanted to help bring businesses back downtown.
Mitchell stood in the doorway and called to passers-by, “Wanna sign up for some free flowers?”
The event, put on by studioMain and the Little Rock Regional Chamber of Commerce’s Create Little Rock, is in its second year and has already helped spur change, such as bicycle lanes on South Main Street, where the event was held last year.
“We weren’t the driving force by any means,” Chris East, a studioMain founder, said of the bicycle-lane additions, “but we helped it along.”
East said he hopes people continue to move back downtown, where they don’t have to drive everywhere.
Buckley O’Mell, vice president of advocacy for the chamber, said that the goal of the event was to promote urban revitalization throughout the city. He also said that stretch of road was selected for its strong potential with Goodwill Boutique and Vino’s restaurant as anchors for the event.
“It’s a neat area,” O’Mell said, and event organizers wanted to call attention to it.
“I love downtown,” said Victoria Crumpton, founder of cycling group Heels on Wheels. “It could be great.”
Crumpton’s organization, along with Bicycle Advocacy of Central Arkansas, set up a storefront in a Hugg & Hall mobile storage unit donated for the day.
She and fellow Heels on Wheels member Stacy Tierney said they wanted young people to see Little Rock as a bicycle-friendly city and an attractive place to move to because of it.
Tierney said the city had been supportive so far of bicycle lanes and that Heels on Wheels wanted to support the event for continuing to emphasize bicycle lanes.
“The more people cycling, the better,” Crumpton said. “I think it’s going to be big here in Arkansas.”
“There’s so much more that needs to be done,” she added.
O’Mell said more young people are looking to ride their bicycles to work and are interested in paths and lanes that are more functional than recreational. After last year’s event, bicycle lanes were placed on Main Street from Roosevelt Road to I-630.
“I think more and more you’re going to see younger people moving into town who are going to want to have this kind of option,” he said.
Arkansas, Pages 14 on 10/27/2013