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Depot to serve as hub for Russellville festival

Russellville’s Historic Missouri Pacific Train Depot will be busy Saturday during the city’s Downtown Fall Festival & Chili Cookoff.
Russellville’s Historic Missouri Pacific Train Depot will be busy Saturday during the city’s Downtown Fall Festival & Chili Cookoff.

RUSSELLVILLE -- A big challenge for many communities across the nation is how to make downtown as vibrant as it once was. Russellville's Downtown Fall Festival & Chili Cookoff, set for Saturday, reflects that ongoing effort in the Arkansas River Valley city of 28,000.

With cooler fall weather coming, a bowl of hot chili is a tempting prospect -- the more so if it is prepared with prize-worthy skill. On the festival's food front, there's also a pie contest. And the day begins with an omelet breakfast.

A highlight among activities for youngsters is a pumpkin decorating competition. The rules make it clear that the pumpkins should not be carved. The idea is to decorate them to represent a favorite book or movie character, superhero or princess -- while using recycled material if possible. Other activities include a children's Halloween costume contest, a parade of decorated wagons, pony rides and a dog show.

Headquarters for festivities is the city's Historic Missouri Pacific Train Depot. Opened in 1917 to replace the original 1880 station, the structure houses a railroad museum as well as the offices of Main Street Russellville, the nonprofit organization working to revitalize downtown.

Designed in Mediterranean style, which was popular a century ago, the depot retains its original stucco paneling. Four rooms inside contain a museum's worth of railroading memorabilia from the decades before the last passenger train stopped here in 1960.

In the erstwhile station master's office, the timepiece on the west wall is an eight-day railway clock dating to 1910. It still gets the required winding once a week. The shoeshine stand on display was operated for 40 years by Ruben Pope.

Southern law and custom in the Jim Crow era specified separate waiting rooms for white and black passengers. In the larger room once set aside for whites, the transom hardware is original. In the former space for blacks, which now houses the offices of Main Street Russellville, the mirror in the restroom is thought to be the original. Its back is stamped: "Made by Char. T. Abeles & Co., Little Rock, Sept. 11, 1916."

There's a railroad motif to nearby Stoby's, 405 W. Parkway Drive, which serves its famous cheese dip and other fare in a former parlor car and adjoining depot-theme building. Before entering the restaurant, customers can toot a train whistle. Inside, a model train runs on an elevated track.

A cuisine rarely found in Arkansas can be enjoyed at La Salvadorena, 416 S. Knoxville Ave. Cheerful members of the El Salvadoran staff serve flavorful dishes from their Central American homeland as well as Mexican fare. The bowls of steaming soup are hearty enough to make a filling meal.

On the western fringe of Russellville, the changing colors of fall foliage provide an added attraction at Lake Dardanelle State Park. Its visitor center features a complex of sizable aquariums showcasing some of the aquatic species that make the lake a popular venue for fishermen.

Southeast of the state park, the Arkansas River Visitor Center overlooks federally operated Dardanelle Lock and Dam. Exhibits at the center tell the story of how the final 445 miles of the formerly raging Arkansas River were tamed after World War II with 18 dams built by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

Russellville's Historic Missouri Pacific Train Depot, 320 W. C St., is normally open 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday-Friday. It will also be open during Saturday's festival. Admission is free. For details on the depot and the festival, visit mainstreetrussellville.com or call (479) 967-1437.

For information on the Arkansas River Visitor Center, call (479) 968-5008 or visit swl.usace.army.mil. For details on Lake Dardanelle State Park, call (479) 967-5516 or visit arkansas.com.

Weekend on 10/27/2016

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