Our Town

Little Rock notebook

Robinson Theater's movie series opens

The Ron Robinson Theater downtown has kicked off its summer movie series.

The series began last week with a showing of Monty Python and the Holy Grail on the film's 40th anniversary. There are 17 more movies scheduled through August. Another fall/winter series has 11 movies scheduled from September through December.

Tickets are $5 each, except for the Harry Potter marathon scheduled for July 26 through August 1. Those tickets are $7 each, or $40 for an eight-movie pass.

The theater "has the great advantage of state-of-the-art technology in a space that produces the feeling of an old-time grand movie theater," a news release said.

The movie series will show children's flicks, classic movies, independent films and documentaries. Concessions will be at sold at every showing, and beer and wine will be available for screenings after 5 p.m.

A full list of showings can be found at www.cals.org/ron-robinson-theater.aspx.

For holiday, market opening Thursday

The Little Rock Farmers Market, typically held on Saturdays, will be moved to Thursday this week to avoid conflicts with July 4 celebrations.

The market, at the River Market Pavilion downtown, will open at 7 a.m. Thursday and close at 3 p.m.

Normal schedules will resume the following Tuesday. The regular schedule of the market is every Tuesday through August 25 from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. and every Saturday through Oct. 31 at the same times.

New show features museum Tesla coil

The Museum of Discovery will debut a new show of its Guinness World Record musical bipolar Tesla coil Saturday.

The coil, named after its inventor, Nikola Tesla, creates high-voltage electricity at a high frequency visible to the eye.

The museum's coil will emit electrical discharges to a variety of songs. The coil shares the Guinness World Record classification as the world's most powerful with a Tesla coil at the Hands On Regional Museum in Johnson City, Tenn.

The Little Rock museum's coil has 200,000 volts of electricity and was built by Goodchild Engineering in Arizona and donated to the museum by Richard Mathias, founder and president of Tesla Coil Museum Exhibit Program LLC.

"This world-record Tesla coil will literally illuminate the work of this pivotal inventor and help the Museum of Discovery successfully fulfill its mission of igniting a passion for science, technology and math in our very interactive, hands-on environment," said Kelley Bass, the museum's chief executive officer.

Tickets to the museum are $10 for adults and $8 for ages 1 through 12. It is an additional $2 for the Tesla coil show.

Public input sought on housing needs

Neighborhood meetings are planned for Monday and Tuesday to seek input on prioritizing community needs in the areas of home investment and housing funds.

The meetings are part of the city's planning process for a Five-Year Consolidated Plan and 2016 Action Plan.

The plans will outline funding and programming to be accomplished through several home programs for which the city receives federal funding. The programs are the Community Development Block Grant, the Home Investment Partnership and the Housing Opportunities for Persons With AIDS Program.

"The purpose of these planning meetings is to hear concerns and needs for funding as it relates to community development and housing in the City of Little Rock," a news release said.

The first meeting is 6 p.m. Monday at the West Central Neighborhood Resource Center at 4200 John Barrow Road, Suite C.

Tuesday's meeting is at 6 p.m. at the Wright Avenue Neighborhood Resource Center at 1813 Wright Ave.

Residents also are being asked to complete an online survey. The link is https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/ZF526BW.

Metro on 06/28/2015

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