LITTLE ROCK — Extensions for two temporary entertainment districts were approved Tuesday during a meeting of the city Board of Directors, clearing the way for open containers of drinks in the areas during specific time frames that extend into the summer.
One district is in the section of Main Street known as SoMa just south of Interstate 630 near downtown Little Rock, and the other is on Kavanaugh Boulevard in the Hillcrest neighborhood.
The establishment of temporary entertainment districts mainly allows people wearing identification wristbands to drink from open containers of alcoholic beverages in public.
The individuals who petitioned the city for the extensions to the Hillcrest and SoMa entertainment districts were Steve Shuler, food blogger at Rock City Eats and chairman of Hillcrest’s HarvestFest, and Gabe Holm-strum, executive director of the Downtown Little Rock Partnership, respectively, according to city records.
Hillcrest’s entertainment district will be in effect from 4-9 p.m. on April 1, May 6 and June 3.
The dates coincide with the planned First Thursday events in the neighborhood, which gained temporary entertainment district status on two dates earlier this year to boost the neighborhood’s shop-and-sip events held on the first Thursdays of February and March.
The Hillcrest entertainment district runs along Kavanaugh Boulevard between North Monroe Street and Walnut Street, as well as south from Kavanaugh Boulevard onto parts of two side roads, North Palm Street and Beechwood Street.
The Main Street district’s operational hours are from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. every day except Mondays from March 18 through June 18. The district encompasses the half-blocks east and west of Main Street between 12th Street and 17th Street.
An entertainment district was in effect in SoMa last year amid the covid-19 outbreak, but the time frame for the temporary district ended Dec. 31, the city’s planning and development director, Jamie Collins, told the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette earlier this month.