HOT SPRINGS -- Old Time music and a renowned Hot Springs artist will be part of the inaugural Arkansas Heritage Festival in Hot Springs Village later this month.
Charlie Moore, founder of the Arkansas Highlands Folk Project, said the festival's organizers asked him to help with the two-day event set for Aug. 27-28. Admission is free and open to the public.
"My responsibility is getting music lined up" for Aug. 27, Moore said, noting they will play Old Time music that day, while the following day the festival will feature "more contemporary" music, which is being lined up by someone else.
Moore said three acts will perform the first day and will have the stage from 10 a.m.-5 p.m., and each act will perform twice. The performers are solo act Ken Tillery, Rackensack Folklore Society and the Arkansas Highlands Stringband.
He performs in the Arkansas Highlands Stringband with Tom Sartain, Jenny Sartain and Judy Warner. The group formed earlier this year and held its first concert in April.
Moore said the group is excited to play at the festival, noting, "We are, we've been practicing."
The performers will all play music that originated between the 1800s and the 1930s. As part of the upcoming festival, the Lifelong Learning Institute of Hot Springs Village and the Hot Springs Village Property Owners Association recently announced the opening of an exhibit of artwork by Longhua Xu of Hot Springs that runs through the month of August.
Like the Arkansas Heritage Festival itself, the art exhibit is free and open to the public.
"It's a real honor to have an artist of Longhua's stature as a month-long highlight for the Arkansas Heritage Festival in August. His paintings at the Woodlands will underscore the rich heritage of our state. No one captures the soul of Arkansas better than Longhua does in his artwork, which makes it a perfect centerpiece for the Festival," Larry Wilson, Heritage Festival director, said in a news release.
The Arkansas Heritage Festival is co-sponsored through a grant from the Division of Arkansas Heritage, and according to the release, will include Arkansas culture, entertainment and history. Sites around Ponce de Leon Center in Hot Springs Village will include Woodlands Auditorium, Grove Park and Festival Tent outside the Ponce Center.
The exhibit of more than a dozen large works of art at the Woodlands is titled "The Soul of Arkansas." His subjects include slices of Arkansas life such as animals, farmers, gardening, woodcarving, musicians and family gatherings, with subjects ranging in age from children to grandparents, the release read.
For more information about the Arkansas Heritage Festival, visit https://www.arkansasheritage.hsvlli.org/
Moore said attendees need to preregister to make getting inside the Village gates easier. He recommended those interested in attending search for the festival's website and "print off an entry pass."
He said he is looking forward to listening to the other performers and is also excited to see an exhibit by Longhua Xu.
"Longhua Xu, he'll have an exhibit in Woodlands Auditorium. I've heard several people say they are coming to hear music and see his exhibit," he said.