The grounds of the Historic Arkansas Museum will come alive Oct. 29 for its major fundraiser, Candlelight Gala 2022.
Back after a two-year hiatus caused by the covid-19 pandemic, the event will give partygoers the chance to experience what the area was like in the days of yesteryear: A blacksmith will show off his skills. A basket weaver will create a masterpiece. And there will be more.
"We imagine our historic grounds alive with traditional trade and craft," according to the invitation to the party. "The printer. The woodworker. The weaver. Guests will take part. They will print on the press, cook over the hearth, spin at the wheel. ... "
James M. “Butch” Warren is chairman of the museum's commission and chairman of the event. Erin Finzer, associate vice chancellor of academic affairs at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock, is vice president of the museum's foundation board of directors and is party chair of the event. Both are lovers of history and the perfect duo to lead the Candlelight Gala.
"History is important, period, especially Black history," Warren says. "Black history is interwoven into American history and it cannot be separated.
"It is not lost on me that I am president of the foundation board ... and we are sitting on grounds where enslaved people used to be. The antebellum house is still here. ... History is beautiful, it's pretty, but it is also nasty and ugly and we don't need to run from that. It needs to be preserved."
For Warren, serving the museum also is a family affair. Jonathan Q. Warren, compliance counsel at Stephens Inc., is president of the museum's foundation and has been a supporter of the museum for more than 30 years.
Finzer, who teaches Latin American literature and culture, grew up in Batesville and remembers seeing the museum grounds when the family took road trips to Little Rock.
"It is important to the state because it provides a lot of educational experiences, not only to schoolchildren but for people aged 9 months to 90 years," Finzer says. "It reminds us that Arkansas has a history and we have roots here."
Formerly known as Arkansas Territorial Restoration, the museum, located in the heart of downtown Little Rock, is the state's primary collector of Arkansas-made decorative, mechanical and fine arts. On its grounds is the oldest known building still standing in Little Rock -- the 1827-era Hinderliter Grog Shop. Other structures original to the site are the 1840s McVicar and Brownlee houses, and the 1820s reconstructed Arkansas Gazette print shop. The Plum Bayou Log House, an 1830s plantation house from Scott, was moved to the site.
In 2001, a new museum center with gallery exhibition space, an atrium, performance theater and education and research wing opened to the public. In 2005, the museum added an 1850s farmstead on a half-block of downtown Little Rock and reproduced the backyard of the Brownlee House to include the 1850s kitchen, a smokehouse with root cellar, an outhouse and raised gardens. In 2011, the museum installed a blacksmith shop on the farmstead grounds.
Partygoers will have the opportunity to wander the grounds during the Candlelight Dinner. Finzer promises an elegant evening with a bourbon bar and a bourbon-theme menu. Arkansas Democrat-Gazette columnist Rex Nelson will serve as the night's emcee.
Silent and live auctions will be had with the live auction portion focusing on "experiences," Warren says. Some of the more unusual live auction items include a barbecue/Delta road trip with Nelson; and an overnight bird-watching excursion looking for the rare roseate spoonbill, which can only be spotted at certain times of the year.
"How often do you get to go ride with Rex Nelson and hear all of the great history that he has and [have him] take you to Jones Bar-B-Q in Marianna or Rhoda's tamales [in Lake Village] or Craig's Barbeque in DeValls Bluff?" Warren asks.
Finzer will offer to take a winning bidder on a taco tour of southwest Little Rock. As someone who is fluent in Spanish, she knows her way around a taco food truck.
The night also includes a wine pull. For a $20 donation, a partygoer is guaranteed to take home a bottle of wine valued at between $20 and $150, or possibly more.
As the world slowly emerges from the effects of covid-19, Finzer and Warren are offering a choice of attire -- cocktail or black tie.
"We have been planning this gala since November," Warren says. "So by the time it hits, this will be a year's worth of work. At the early stages when we were talking about the dress, I didn't want to dress up. I was opposed. People have been working from home in T-shirts and shorts. People are not going to want to dress up. And then I came around because people want to dress up and people want to get out and be seen and be fancy again.
"I am going to rock my tux. But I may wear my tennis shoes with it because my tux shoes are too uncomfortable," he laughs.
More information about the Historic Arkansas Museum's Candlelight Gala is available at arkansasheritage.com/ events?agencies=HAM.
Jonathan Q. Warren and Erin Finzer will welcome guests to Candlelight Gala 2022, the Oct. 29 event supporting the Historic Arkansas Museum. The theme of the party is Living Craft and will celebrate Arkansas-made artworks. (Arkansas Democrat-Gazette/Cary Jenkins)CORRECTION: Jonathan Q. Warren is president of the Historic Arkansas Museum Foundation Board of Directors and his father James M. “Butch” Warren is chairman of the Historic Arkansas Museum Commission. Their titles were reversed in an earlier version of this story.