Weekend Entertainment Roundup for October 3, 2024

FUN

SoMa 501 holds its second annual Fiesta en SoMa, celebrating the area’s Latino cultures, 4-10 p.m. Friday along Little Rock’s Main Street between 12th and 15th streets. The fiesta features music and dance, art, street vendors, food from various Latin American countries and a kid zone. New this year: a Tamale Taste-off in the Bernice Garden, 1401 Main, with area tamale creators competing for trophies and cash prizes of $500 and $250; sampler tickets are $15, via somalittlerock.com/donate/tamale-taste-off-ticket. somalittlerock.com/fiestaensoma.

The annual Turkish Food Festival takes place 10 a.m.-7 p.m. Saturday at the Arkansas Culture and Dialog Center, 1501 Market St., Little Rock; the menu includes kebabs, Turkish baklava, other sweet and savory pastries, breads, gyros, shawarma, salads, stuffed grape leaves and lahmajoon (Turkish pizza). Admission is free; we’re presuming the purchase of food items will cost money. TurkishFoodFest.com; facebook.com/events/870335128345692.

Meanwhile, another food-related festival won’t be taking place this weekend — Harmony Health Clinic, for which it is a major fundraiser, is postponing the World Cheese Dip Championship and Foam Fest, originally scheduled for Saturday at North Little Rock’s Dickey-Stephens Park, until spring 2025 “due to numerous unforeseen circumstances.”

MUSIC

Little Rock Public Radio is hosting the Tiny Desk Contest 2024 Arkansas Showcase, 6 p.m. Saturday at The Hall, 721 W. Ninth St., Little Rock. Three groups perform: Conway rock band Sonder Ponder, Bella Vista duo Auralai and Rogers band Mr. Orange. ualrpublicradio.org/arkansas-tiny-desk-2024.

The second annual Depaul USA in Arkansas Evening of Jazz features the Grady Nichols Band, the Rodney Block Collective, the Jonathan Karrant Trio and Cyrus Chestnut, 6-9 p.m. at the Venue at Westwind, 7318 Windsong Drive, North Little Rock. Proceeds from the $50 tickets benefit the organizations for the homeless that Depaul USA serves. (501) 265-9241; thevenueatwestwind.com.

Central Arkansas Steinway & Sons opens its “Close Up!” Steinway Salon Chamber Series with a “Brahms Retrospective,” 3 p.m. Sunday at 14901 Beau Vue Drive, Little Rock. Pianist Jaeyeon Park plays Brahms’ Intermezzo, op. 117, No. 1. Park and cellist David Gerstein team up for the Cello Sonata No. 2 in F major, op.99. And Park, violinist Kiril Laskarov and cellist Jacob Wunsch perform the Piano Trio No. 1 in B major, op.8. (501) 940-1562; steinwaylr.com/close-up.

Camerata Little Rock, a new professional ensemble with a rotating roster of members of the Arkansas Symphony Orchestra and Little Rock and Conway music educators, performs its inaugural concert at 7:30 p.m. Saturday at Trinity Episcopal Cathedral, 310 W. 17th St. The program, titled “Corelli’s Legacy,” includes works by Corelli, Geminiani, J.S. Bach and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Admission is free.

COMEDY

Comedian, actor and radio host Corey Holcomb, on his 20-show “Joke King Tour,” performs at 8 p.m. Friday at Little Rock’s Robinson Center Performance Hall, 426 W. Markham St. LiveNation.com and Ticketmaster.com.

THEATER

Argenta Contemporary Theater, 405 Main St., North Little Rock, kicks off its “My Fair Lady” with preview performances at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday-Thursday; thereafter, 7:30 p.m. Friday and Oct. 15-19, 2 and 7:30 p.m. Saturday and 2 p.m. Oct. 13. Leading a cast of 20, Karen Q. Clark plays Cockney flower seller Eliza Doolittle and Greta Robinson plays Henry Higgins, the linguist who “re-creates” her. argentacontemporarytheatre.org.

Continuing area exhibits:

“Two Minutes to Midnight and the Architecture of Armageddon,” photographic essays on the Cold War by Jeanine Michna-Bales and Adam Reynolds, on display through Jan. 5 at the MacArthur Museum of Arkansas Military History, 503 E. Ninth St., Little Rock. (501)-376-4602; littlerock.gov/macarthur.

And “Commanding the Screen: The American Presidency in Film and Television,” continues to offer a look at material from more than 30 movies and television shows portraying fictional and real-life U.S. presidents, through March 23 at the Clinton Presidential Center, 1200 President Clinton Ave., Little Rock. clintonpresidentialcenter.org/exhibits.