Food truck festival returns downtown
The Main Street Food Truck Festival will take place Saturday downtown after the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure.
The event, which runs from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., will feature 30 food truck vendors, live music, art vendors and beer gardens. Early bird specials will be offered to racegoers from 8-10 a.m.
All food vendors will accept credit cards.
The festival, in its fourth year and sponsored by the Downtown Little Rock Partnership, will be set up along Main Street from Fourth to Eighth streets.
Parade to celebrate LGBT community
Groups are planning the city's second Pride Parade for Oct. 5.
The parade will begin at 2 p.m. at the intersection of Third Street and World Avenue. Participants will begin lining up at 1 p.m. The group will travel through downtown before ending at the Clinton Presidential Center, where a festival will last until 8 p.m.
The free festival will include live music, food trucks and a kids zone.
"This event will give LGBT [lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender] Arkansans the opportunity to celebrate who they are and feel accepted, as well as the opportunity to see the many organizations, businesses, civic and religious leaders, and community [members] who are committed to equality," a news release said.
The event is sponsored by Central Arkansas Pride, PFLAG (Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays) Little Rock, the Center for Artistic Revolution and the Diamond State Rodeo Association.
City develops plan for old golf course
The city is citing preliminary improvements in its plan to convert the former Western Hills Golf Course to outdoor recreation fields, but noted that the plan is still in its concept design stage.
The city has acquired 5 acres of contiguous land on the west side of Western Hills Park, which adds a wooded section, and is preparing to assess the grounds where the golf clubhouse was demolished.
Next on the list of improvements is to build a fence along Western Hills Avenue, install surveillance cameras and set up signage to contain cars to parking lots.
Discussions have centered around the 127-acre park being divided where the portion closest to the Western Hills neighborhood would be available for a community garden, trails, pavilions and fishing. The eastern portion near University Avenue would be for soccer fields, a Frisbee golf course and parking lots.
The city has promised $1 million for the project over 10 years from proceeds from the 2011 voter-approved sales tax increase.
Neighborhood group plans event, lecture
The Quapaw Quarter Association is scheduled to present its Greater Little Rock Preservation Awards next week.
Awards will be given at the annual membership meeting at 6 p.m. on Oct. 7 at Ron Robinson Theater in the River Market District downtown.
Carolyn Newbern will receive the group's most prestigious recognition, the Jimmy Strawn Award, which goes to someone whose efforts toward architectural heritage "are an inspiration to the entire community."
The association will also begin raising awareness about midcentury modern architecture in the city at the event with a lecture from Ethel Goodstein-Murphree of the Fay Jones School of Architecture. The lecture is titled "Rock-n-Roll, Poodle Skirts and a White I-Beam: The Preservationist's Guide to Loving the 1950s and its Architecture."
The meeting will be preceded by a 5:30 p.m. reception.
Other award recipients are the Argenta Branch of the William F. Laman Public Library System, Stone's Throw Brewing Company, the William J. Clinton Foundation, Donna Thomas and the Wright Avenue Neighborhood Association, and J. Chandler and Co.
In addition, Rachelle Walsh will receive the Peg Smith Award for volunteer work.
Metro on 09/28/2014