Women Making History – City Director Lucy Dixon

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Lucy Dixon was elected to the initial Little Rock Board of Directors in November 1957.  She previously had served for six years on the Little Rock School Board.

Mrs. Dixon is the only woman to have served on both the governing boards of the City and the school district.  Mrs. Dixon chose not to seek a second term and left the City Board on December 31, 1960.

Mrs. Dixon is the first woman to be elected to a City position without her husband having previously held that position.

Her father had a lumber business, in which she worked off and on throughout her lifetime. She served not only as an officer of the business, but had a desk at the office and participated in the daily business.  She was also very active in Methodist Woman functions in Little Rock and Arkansas.

New shows, and returning favorites in 2019-2020 Celebrity Attractions season at Robinson Center

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The five shows in the Celebrity Attractions 2019-2020 Broadway season in Little Rock were announced. They include four musicals and one play.  Two returning titles and three which will mark their debuts in the Little Rock market.

Up first is Jimmy Buffet’s Escape to Margaritaville. (November 1 – 3, 2019). It features many of Buffet’s standards as well as some original songs he wrote for the show.

Next is Wicked. Returning to Little Rock for the first time since 2013 (and the first time in the renovated Robinson Center Performance Hall), Wicked will kick off 2020 when it plays from January 1 through 19.

Waitress made Broadway history when it became the first musical with an all-female creative team.  With songs written by Grammy nominee Sara Bareilles, it is inspired by Adrienne Shelley’s film of the same name. It will be in Little Rock from February 21 to 23 of 2020.

The Play that Goes Wrong lives up to its title. It concerns a troupe of actors performing a murder mystery where everything that could go wrong does. Repeatedly. It is a long-running hit in both London and New York.  It will be in Little Rock on March 28 and 29 of 2020.

Finally, the Memory will Live Again as Cats returns to Little Rock. It has been several years since this Andrew Lloyd Webber-T.S. Eliot musical has been at Robinson Center. It will be there from June 5 to 7 of 2020.

The Yarn presents True Stories of Resilience from Our House

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No photo description available.

Our House has the great honor of hearing, seeing, and experiencing the inspiring stories of thousands of people each year who are working hard to make a better life for themselves.

On Thursday, March 14, at 7pm, The Yarn is hosting an event to provide opportunities to hear some of these stories—
-stories of perseverance, resilience, & transformation
-stories told with great power and great heart
-stories told by people who have something to say.

It will be at Cranford Co. located on the Main Street Creative Corridor, 512 Main Street.

Tickets are available here.

Little Rock Look Back: 19th Century Mardi Gras in LR

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In the era immediately after the Civil War, Mardi Gras was a major event in Little Rock.  By the 1870s, newspapers would have stories for several days about preparations for parties and parades which would be followed by coverage summarizing the events.

For instance, the Ash Wednesday 1877 edition of the Arkansas Gazette carried a front page story that discussed Mardi Gras in New Orleans and Memphis.  Inside the paper there were a series of stories about the downtown Little Rock Mardi Gras parade.  It started at Markham and Rock Streets.  Because of the crowd assembled for it, organizers had to reroute the parade that afternoon.

Among the entries were the Fat Men’s Club, Butchers’ Benevolent Association (which rode on horses), the Mystic Krewe, and several trade groups.  In addition there were many people who marched along in masks.  The unnamed writer bemoaned the fact that the masked revelers’ clothing had no theme.

On Thursday, February 15, 1877, there were stories about some of the Mardi Gras balls which had taken place two nights earlier.  The paper’s deadline probably was earlier than the parties ended, which is why they were not in the paper until two days later.  Among the various events were the Knights of Pythian Ball at the Grand Opera House, the aforementioned Fat Men at a special pavilion set up in the Main Street Cotton Shed, the Mystic Krewe at O’Haras Hall, and the Cosmopolitans at Concordia Hall.  There were other events that the writer was not able to attend due to lack of time.

Some of the venues also played host to balls in advance of Mardi Gras.  The February 10 Gazette previews some events set for Friday and Saturday night.

By the start of the 20th Century, Mardi Gras was no longer a major social event in Little Rock.  But while it lasted, it was quite the production.  It appealed to all classes and races of Little Rock’s citizenry. Though most of the events were segregated, the parade did allow for African Americans to participate as well as the white revelers.

Help the Little Rock Zoo name new baby Sloth Bear

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Photo courtesy of Little Rock Zoo

The Little Rock Zoo is proud to announce that a healthy female sloth bear cub was born January 9, 2019.  The proud parents are mother, Kali, and father, Sahaasa.

In celebration of our newest addition, the Zoo is hosting a naming contest.  Zoo staff have selected three names from which to choose. The public is invited to vote by online poll.  The voting will end Friday, March 8, 2019, at noon.

Choices are:

  • 1) Zaara (Arabic), which means bright as the dawn;
  • 2) Rani (Hindi), which means princess;
  • 3) Geeta (Hindi), which means pearl or song.  The name Geeta is in honor of Geeta Seshamani, co-founder and Director of Wildlife SOS, an Indian conservation group whose goal is to protect and conserve India’s natural heritage, forest and wildlife wealth.

The cub is one of only 34 sloth bears currently held in AZA zoos in North America and is an important individual in the survival of this population. The cub is bottle-fed every three to four hours to help her continue to grow and thrive; she is healthy and progressing well, according to Zoo staff.

The bear’s birth comes as a recommendation of the American Species Survival Plan® known as SSP.  The SSP Program, developed in 1981 by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA), helps to ensure the survival of select species in zoos and aquariums, which are either threatened or endangered in the wild. Native to the Indian subcontinent, sloth bears are listed as a vulnerable species, meaning one that is likely to become endangered unless the circumstances that are threatening its survival and reproduction improve.  Their vulnerability is mainly caused by habitat loss or degradation of their home. Experts estimate fewer than 20,000 sloth bears survive in the wilds of the Indian subcontinent and Sri Lanka.

Women Making History – LR City Council member Carolyn Craig

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Carolyn Conner was elected to the Little Rock City Council in April 1931. She was initially elected to fill out the remaining year of her husband’s term on the Little Rock City Council. She received 551 votes, or 61.6% besting two male candidates.

She was not the first woman to run for City Council.  In 1924, Mrs. George M. Waller challenged Charles M. Connor (no relation to Carolyn Conner).

In 1932, Carolyn Conner was reelected and would continue to serve on the council until April 1942, winning a total of six elections.  Mrs. Conner was the first woman to be elected to any City of Little Rock office.  She was also the first to chair a council committee, leading the Civic Affairs Committee from 1933 to 1935. On October 16, 1933, she was chosen as Acting Mayor becoming the first woman to lead the City of Little Rock and preside at a council meeting.

In December 1939, she also became the first female alderman to be arrested for contempt of court along with eleven of her male colleagues.  The judge did not send her to jail, though he did the male aldermen.  At the end of the day their sentences were suspended.

In April 1941, Mildred Craig joined Mrs. Conner on the Council after being elected to finish out her husband’s term.  Their service marked the first time there were two women on the City Council.

Little Rock Look Back: A. M. “Sandy” Keith

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On March 4, 1924, Alexander M. “Sandy” Keith was born.  He would serve as Little Rock’s sixty-third mayor in 1979.

Growing up in Little Rock, he graduated from Little Rock Catholic High and the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. He served in World War II as Lieutenant (jg) United States Naval Reserve.

Keith was a certified public accountant, who during his career worked mainly with the firm, Keith, Allen & Pickering. In addition, Keith spent more than a dozen years in public service in Little Rock. Elected to the Little Rock City Board of Directors in 1971, Keith served three consecutive terms.

He was elected Mayor in 1979, wishing to serve only six months in the post, when the ordinary term of office for the Mayor was two years. So he resigned the position after six months. (His grandfather, also known as Alexander M. Keith, served two terms on the Little Rock City Council in the 1800s.)

Following his twelve years on the Little Rock City Board of Directors, Keith was appointed to the Pulaski County Board of Equalization.

During his career, Keith also served as president of the Arkansas Society of Certified Public Accountants, and was a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants Council. He also served on the Arkansas Board of Accountancy. In addition to these, Keith served as Chairman of the St. Vincent’s Infirmary Facilities Board, and as a director of the Benton Savings and Loan. He was a member of the Economic Opportunity Agency, Pulaski County Board, and the Little Rock Advertising and Promotion Committee.

At his death in 2008, he was survived by his wife, Leah, three children and six grandchildren.