1 HOWLING GOOD TIME
Main Street is going to the dogs for the second annual Barkus on Main Mardi Gras pet parade, Sunday along the Main Street Creative Corridor in downtown Little Rock. Noon will see the opening of a beer garden by Rebel Kettle Brewing Co. and a hurricane station, gumbo, crawfish boil, beads and music by jazz trumpeter Rodney Block. The Mardi Gras dog parade begins at 2:30 p.m. at Seventh and Main streets, traveling north on Main to Fourth Street. There will be prizes for Best Pet/Owner Look a-like Costumes, Best Dressed Pet, Best Small Dog Costume, Best Large Dog Costume, Most Original Costume, Best Float and Judge's Choice. Spectator admission is free; participating in the parade will cost you $30 per pet. Presenter is Hounds Lounge Pet Resort & Spa. Call (501) 375-0121 or visit barkusonmain.com. Then head down the street to the Mardi Gras Block Party in the 300 block of Main; hosts are Soul Fish Cafe, Brewski's Pub & Grub and CJRW. See story on Page 4E.
• The annual SoMa Mardi Gras Parade and Festival, noon-3 p.m. Saturday on Main Street from 24th to 12th streets, will feature bands, floats, costumes and beads. It's free. Email soma@southsidemain.org.
2 HITMAKERS
The Music City Hit-Makers -- Nashville songwriters Chris DeStefano, Marcus Hummon and Rivers Rutherford -- perform and share the stories behind some of the hits they've penned for country music stars (including Kenny Chesney, Carrie Underwood, Blake Shelton, Lady Antebellum and Kelly Clarkson) with the Arkansas Symphony Orchestra and conductor Geoffrey Robson, 7:30 p.m. Saturday and 3 p.m. Sunday at Robinson Center Performance Hall, 426 W. Markham St. at Broadway, Little Rock. It's part of the orchestra's 2017-18 Acxiom Pops Live! season. Sponsor is the University of Arkansas at Little Rock. Tickets are $15-$65, $10 for students and active duty military, free to the Sunday matinee for K-12 students with a paying adult. Call (501) 666-1761, Extension 100, or visit ArkansasSymphony.org.
3 HISTORY
More pieces of history have found a temporary home at the Clinton Presidential Center, 1200 President Clinton Ave., Little Rock. "The Great Exhibition: Exploring the Louisiana Purchase and Its Impact on Arkansas" includes original documents, objects and a portrait related to the Louisiana Purchase, on display 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday-Saturday, 1-5 p.m. Sunday through March 4. Admission is $10; $8 for retired military, college students and ages 62 and older; $6 for children 6-12; free for active military and children under 6. (501) 374-4242. The center celebrates the exhibit with an evening of conversations with historians and authors, music by fiddler David Greely and living history with the Early Arkansas Reenactors Association, 5 p.m. S̶a̶t̶u̶r̶d̶a̶y̶ Feb. 11.* Admission is free but reservations are required. Call (501) 748-0425 or visit wjcf.co/fusion18.
4 HISTORIC PHOTOS
"Delta: Rediscovered," an exhibit photographs by Dayton Bowers of early life (circa 1880-1924) in Arkansas' White River Delta, opens with a 2nd Friday Art Night reception (including music and refreshments), 5-8 p.m. Friday at the Butler Center for Arkansas Studies, 401 President Clinton Ave., Little Rock. Exhibit curator Denise Parkinson will also screen a 9 -minute documentary film adaptation of her book, Daughter of the White River, which focuses on the history of Arkansas' River People and the death of Helen Spence. The exhibit will be up through April 28. Call (501) 320-5790 or visit butlercenter.org.
5 HOME (AWAY FROM HOME)
The Statehouse Convention Center, Markham and Main streets in downtown Little Rock, becomes a haven for recreational vehicles at the annual Arkansas RV Show, 10 a.m.-8 p.m. Friday-Saturday and 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Sunday. Admission is $6, free for children 12 and under. Call (501) 765-1423 or visit dgattractions.com.
6 (LAST) HURRAHS
Two shows at Little Rock theaters close out their runs this weekend:
• Final performances of The Call by Tanya Barfield, focusing on the ramifications of a childless couple's decision to adopt a child from Africa, are 7 p.m. today, 8 p.m. Friday-Saturday, 2 and 7 p.m. Sunday at the Arkansas Repertory Theatre, 601 Main St.. Tickets are $48 and $38; $20 students in advance, $15 student rush (day of performance). Call (501) 378-0405 or visit TheRep.org.
• Two actors (Duane Jackson and Michael A. Klucher) play the entire population of tiny Tuna, Texas, in Greater Tuna by Jaston Williams, Joe Sears and Ed Howard, 7:30 p.m. today-Saturday at Murry's Dinner Playhouse, 6323 Colonel Glenn Road. Doors and buffet open 90 minutes before curtain. Tickets are $35-$37, $23 for children 15 and younger; show only, $25 and $15. Call (501) 562-3131 or visit murrysdp.com.
7 HOWDY!
Cowboy crooners Riders in the Sky perform at 7:30 p.m. today at Arkansas State University's Fowler Center, 201 Olympic Drive, Jonesboro. Tickets are $35 and $25, $28 and $20 for senior citizens, students and university faculty and staff, $15 and $10 for ASU students with a current ID. Call (870) 972-3471, (870) 972-2781 (ASU1) or (888) 278-3267 (ASU-FANS) or visit tickets.astate.edu or fowler.astate.edu. See story on Page 4E.
8 HOME & GARDEN
More than 100 vendors will display lawn and garden supplies, plants, beekeeping equipment and more at the annual Home & Garden Show, 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Friday and 9 a.m.-3 p.m. Saturday at the Pine Bluff Convention Center, 500 E. Eighth Ave., Pine Bluff. There will also be seminars, how-to sessions and children's activities. Admission is free. Call (870) 534-1033 or visit facebook.com/mastergardenersofjeffersoncoar.
9 HIKES
Romantic strolls, stories and meals, all designed for couples, make up Hikes, Hearts & Hugs Weekend at Petit Jean State Park near Morrilton. Most of the activities, such as the Sunset Stroll and Fall for Cedar Falls, are free. But the Valentine's dinner at the Mather Lodge Restaurant, 5-8 p.m. Saturday, is $60 per couple, $30 for each additional person. Call (501) 727-5441 or visit petitjeanstatepark.com.
10 HULLABALOO
Quirky Eureka Springs is celebrating the forthcoming Fat Tuesday in a big way. At 2 p.m. Saturday, floats, bands, dancers, animals and Mardi Gras royalty will wind along Spring and Main streets downtown in the Eureka Gras Costume Day Parade. Admission is free. The weekend also includes special balls such as the Jokers' Masquerade Ball, 6 p.m. today at Inn of the Ozarks Convention Center, $30; and the Mayor's Ball, 6 p.m. Saturday at the Basin Park Hotel, $25. Visit eurekaspringsmardigras.org.
Weekend on 02/08/2018
*CORRECTION: The public event for the Clinton Presidential Center’s new exhibit, “The Great Exhibition: Exploring the Louisiana Purchase and Its Impact on Arkansas,” will be at 5 p.m. Sunday. An item in the Weekend Ten gave the wrong date. Call (501) 748-0425 or visit wjcf.co/fusion18.