Tag Archives: Department of Parks Heritage and Tourism

Arkansas Chamber Singers highlight Old State House Museum’s December 2nd Friday Art Night

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The Old State House Museum has something festive lined up for December’s #2ndFridayLR – the Arkansas Chamber Singers will be here to share holiday joy!

The group will perform at 7 p.m. during Second Friday Art Night and then have additional concerts at 3 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 14, and 3 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 15.

This season brings a heightened sense of Revelry, Reflection, and Revelation, and the singers will bring music celebrating this ‘most wonderful time of year!

All three performances are free, but reservations are required for the Saturday and Sunday concerts. Get your tickets today before they sell out!

Free Admission! Snacks and alcoholic beverages are also free.

15th EVER Nog-Off takes place at Historic Arkansas Museum tonight!

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Eggnog lovers everywhere, rejoice! It’s your favorite time of year!

The 15th Ever Nog-off, Historic Arkansas Museum’s friendly competition for the best eggnog in town, returns to bestow goodwill, joy, and a touch of whisky to all who gather.

Tonight, Friday the 13th!, from 5pm to 8pm at Historic Arkansas Museum.

Cleanse your palate and sharpen your pencil as you ready yourself to sample several festive eggnogs creatively prepared by local nog-ologists, and offer your critique and coveted vote. The nog with the most nods receives the People’s Choice Award.

Awards up for contention:

  • The Taster’s Choice Award – awarded by the celebrity panel of eggnog aficionados with this year’s judges being Ashlei King of Fox16, Rusty Mathis of Ben E. Keith Foods Mid-South and Kevin Shalin of The Mighty Rib
  • The People’s Choice Award – awarded to the eggnog as voted on by the evening’s attendees
  • The Not Your Great, Great, Great Grandfather’s Eggnog Award – awarded by attendees to the best “untraditional” eggnog
  • The Egg, No Nog Award – awarded to the best non-alcoholic eggnog as determined by a panel of “emerging tasters”

This year’s competitors include:

  • Allsopp & Chapple Restaurant + Bar
  • Arkansas Pioneers Association
  • The Capital Hotel
  • Little Rock Marriott
  • Loblolly Creamery
  • Mocktail Mo
  • The Root
  • Stone’s Throw Brewing and The Pizzeria
  • South on Main

This is a FREE event!

1917 Female Telephone Operators’ strike in Fort Smith is topic of Old State House Museum Brown Bag lunch

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Today (December 13) at noon at the Old State House Museum, Kyra Schmidt, a graduate student at the University of Arkansas, will present her research about the female telephone operators’ strike in 1917 in Fort Smith.

Schmidt earned two bachelor’s degrees (one in history education and one in Spanish) from Southwestern Oklahoma State University and is currently working on her Master of Arts in History.

She specializes in minority politics with a focus on women’s labor movements in the 20th century and children in the Civil Rights Movement. Her presentation is entitled “Hello Girls on Strike: The Federal Government, Southwestern Bell Co., and the Strike That Turned Fort Smith Upside Done.”

Admission is free. Guests are welcome to bring their lunch, and the Old State House Museum provides drinks.

Holiday Open House this afternoon at Old State House Museum

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It’s the most wonderful time of the year … to visit the Old State House Museum! Celebr ate the holidays with the museum during Holiday Open House on Sunday, Dec. 8, from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m.

The museum will look its best with plenty of holiday décor, and local music groups, like the Sweet Adelines and Little Rock Central High Madrigals, will create a festive atmosphere. Visitors can participate in hands-on holiday activities and enjoy yuletide treats.

Admission is free, and a trolley will be available to take visitors between Old State House Museum, Historic Arkansas Museum and Mosaic Templars Cultural Center, as well as the Arkansas Governor’s Mansion, at no charge.

FREE 52nd Annual Christmas Frolic today at Historic Arkansas Museum

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Join Historic Arkansas Museum for the 52nd annual Christmas Frolic! It is today, December 8, 2019, from 1pm to 4pm.

Through living history performances, live demonstrations and hands-on activities, this event is an opportunity for adults and children of all ages to celebrate Christmas as it was in the 1800s. Activities occurring throughout the day include:

Holiday crafting such as making ornaments, holiday cards, wax seal letters, fabric wreaths, holiday sachets and pomander balls.

Music and dancing with Sugar on the Floor, Lark in the Morning, Arkansas, Ricky Russell, Arkansas Country Dance Society and the Aeolus Recorder Group.

Living history with Early Arkansas Reenactors Association.

Demonstrations at the Blacksmith Shop and the Woodruff Print Shop.

Holiday pictures on the pleasure wagon.

Scheduled readings of “The Night Before Christmas.”

Food and beverages will be served including traditional Scottish shortbread, mulled cider, ginger cake, gluten free and allergy friendly gingerbread cookies and snickerdoodles, and reindeer food to take home.

This is a FREE event!

Isaac Hayes is topic of Old State House Museum Brown Bag lecture today

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Some people would remember Isaac Hayes Jr. as a songwriter. He won an Academy Award for the musical score for “Shaft, and “Soul Man” (written with partner David Porter) was one of the most influential songs of the 20th century.

Some people would remember Hayes as a soul singer. His solo albums “Hot Buttered Soul” and “Black Moses” topped the R&B Charts.

Some would remember Hayes as an actor from his roles in “Truck Turner,” “Escape from New York,” “It Could Happen to You,” “Rockford Files” and others. He also voiced the part of Chef in “South Park.”

Arkansan Chris Cockrell, who worked as Hayes’ producer and road manager in the 1990s and early 2000s, remembers Hayes as a grandfatherly figure. “I really admired the man. [Hayes had] integrity and honesty in a business where that isn’t the norm.”

Cockrell is going to share some of his favorite stories about the versatile entertainer during a special Brown Bag Lunch Lecture at 12 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 14.

Admission is free. Guests are welcome to bring their lunch, and the Old State House Museum provides drinks.

Artober – Patterns….Quilts at Historic Arkansas Museum

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Stitched Together: A Treasury of Arkansas Quilts

Rocky Mountain Road by Elizabeth Rogers Manning and Martha Manning. part of Historic Arkansas Museum collection.

October is Arts and Humanities Month nationally and in Little Rock. Americans for the Arts has identified a different arts topic to be posted for each day in the month.  Next up is Patterns.

One way to highlight patterns is to look at some in the Stitched Together exhibit at Historic Arkansas Museum. Quilting is a skill that was carried to the New World by immigrants.  However, in the almost two and half centuries since the colonies became states, quilting has evolved into a uniquely American tradition.

Quilting is all about patterns, sometimes repeating, sometimes in response. But it is all about patterns.

Here are a few from the exhibit:

The first features my favorite fabric pattern: PLAID!

Log Cabin, a pieced quilt ca. 1950 by Clara Baker.  Part of Historic Arkansas Museum collection.

 

Signature. Made by members of the Women’s Missionary Society of Lonoke County. 1907. Part of the Historic Arkansas Museum collection.

Star of Bethlehem and unnamed pattern. Pieced and appliqued quilt. Mary Jane Vincent, ca. 1860. Part of Historic Arkansas Museum collection.