Paper hails design of city's new plaza
Argenta Plaza's design earned a prominent mention in the Art & Design section of the Sept. 13 New York Times as being among 11 urban parks opening this fall that strike a balance between "architecture and nature."
The $5.36 million public plaza features oxbow-shaped berms that were meant to reflect the oxbow lakes prominent to the North Little Rock area nearest the Arkansas River, a design inspiration credited to Susannah Drake, a landscape architect and founder of DLANDstudio in Brooklyn.
North Little Rock's Taggart Architects and New York City's Renfro Design Group collaborated with DLANDstudio on the plaza's design.
The article describes the plaza as a "new town square" for "a small city that aspires to become a magnet for young tech workers." Other projects featured were New York projects in the Bronx, Brooklyn and two in Manhattan, plus urban park designs in Washington, D.C., China, Norway, Germany, Morocco and Australia.
Argenta Plaza also will include front porch-type swings, jetted fountains, a 50-foot-long cascading water wall and a 40-foot projection screen. It will be lined with trees native to Arkansas.
The plaza's grand opening is Nov. 30 as part of North Little Rock's Northern Lights festival.
Sub group chapter seeking members
A membership drive for the USSVI Razorback Base, a chapter of the United States Submarine Veterans Inc., will be at noon Oct. 26, at the Arkansas Inland Maritime Museum in North Little Rock.
The museum, 120 Riverfront Park Drive, just east of the Main Street Bridge on the Arkansas River in downtown North Little Rock, features the World War II submarine Razorback and the Hoga tugboat, the latter which was present at Pearl Harbor during Japan's attack Dec. 7, 1941.
The Razorback Base, or chapter, is the largest inland base of the national submarine veterans organization. The national organization has more than 13,000 members, according to information from the maritime museum. Anyone who has qualified on a U.S. submarine is eligible to join as a regular member.
Free hamburgers, hot dogs, chips and drinks will be available to submarine veterans and their families on the day of the membership drive. The Razorback Base will pay the first year's dues for any new members who register during the event to join the group, according to a museum news release.
More information is available by contacting the maritime museum at (510) 371-8320 or emailing info@aimmuseum.org.
Library to screen country music film
Excerpts from Country Music -- A Film by Ken Burns will be screened on Saturday, then again on Oct. 5 and Oct. 12, at the William F. Laman Public Library, 2801 Orange St.
The programs will include movie snacks and book talks about Johnny Cash: The Life and It's a Long Story: My Life by Willie Nelson.
Burns' eight-part series chronicles the origins and growth of country music. The series began airing Sept. 15 on AETN.
Shopping center to host shredding
A free recycle and document shredding drop-off event will be 10 a.m.-1 p.m. Oct. 5 at the Rose City Shopping Center, 4109 E. Broadway, sponsored in part by the Rose City Neighborhood Association.
Arkansas Records Management will be on site to shred any sensitive documents or records. Recyclable items, free of food contamination, also may be dropped off for proper recycling.
There will be free hot dogs and drinks available to participants.
Fire Department sets annual event
The North Little Rock Fire Department's annual Firefest will be 5 p.m.-8 p.m. Oct. 8 at the McCain Mall parking lot.
In the event of rain, the event will be rescheduled for Oct. 10.
There will be live music, plus appearances by Sparky the Fire Dog and McGruff the Crime Dog.
Also on display will be an Arkansas Game and Fish Commission Aquarium, fire apparatus from departments throughout central Arkansas and a Kids Combat Challenge.
The event will be free and open to the public.
Metro on 09/22/2019