It was May 1981. Little Rock voters had just defeated a sales tax increase proposed by Mayor Webb Hubbell, but a brand new Riverfront Park was christened downtown beside the Arkansas River anyway. The city was marking the sesquicentennial of its incorporation, and part of that yearlong party was a bigger and longer version of its 3-year-old summer festival, Riverfest.
What had been 2 ½ days of art and music at Murray Park became a 4 ½-day multidisciplinary community fest with several venues.
But the setting here was Murray Park, where an estimated 15,000 to 20,000 visitors overwhelmed a shuttle bus system. Attractions included Harold and Arnold, the "attack pigs" at the "Put a Pig in His Place" dunking booth, where visitors tried to drop Pulaski County deputies into a vat of mud.
Elsewhere in the park, according to the photo caption published May 24, 1981, in the Arkansas Democrat, Al Taylor volunteered to let Bill Fulton slice an apple on his belly in a display of martial art prowess. Photographer James Allison recorded that the men were part of a karate group from Northside YMCA.
Was it karate? In the 1980s, Arkansans tended to call every martial art karate or judo. And was the sword sharp enough to slice an apple? If you know more details, please email cstorey@adgnewsroom.com.
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Thank you and a tip of the helmet to readers Nancy Baskin, Jim Britt, John Hall and Joseph Weber III for identifying the lead rider in our Sept. 20 "Remember when" photograph.
Joe Weber Jr., aka Bicycle Joe, was a founding member of the Arkansas Bicycle Club. A World War II veteran of the U.S. Army Air Corps, he worked for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Baskin recalls that he regularly biked from his home in east Little Rock to work in the Federal Building downtown.
"I remember the first time I rode with Mr. Weber, I thought, 'I can't even stay up with this old guy.' He motivated me to get in better shape," Baskin says.
After he died on Sept. 10, 1993, a 100-mile bike tour he pioneered was renamed the Joe Weber Arky 100. The 50th anniversary edition of the Arky will roll out at 8:30 a.m. Oct. 10 in Sheridan. Route options include 25, 50, 62 or 100 miles on country backroads with pretty scenery.
More information is at bikereg.com/50160.