FUN
Trick-or-treating, games and fun family activities in a safe environment are at the center of the annual Big Boo!seum Bash, with 14 participants in eight downtown Little Rock locations, 5:30-8:30 p.m. Thursday.
This year’s list of participants and host locations:
◼️ Old State House Museum, 300 W. Markham St., partnering with the Arkansas State Archives.
◼️ Historic Arkansas Museum, 200 E. Third St.
◼️ Witt Stephens Jr. Central Arkansas Nature Center, 602 President Clinton Ave., with the Little Rock Zoo.
◼️ Museum of Discovery, 500 President Clinton Ave.
◼️ MacArthur Museum of Arkansas Military History, 503 E. Ninth St., including representatives of Historic Curran Hall and the Jacksonville Museum of Military History.
◼️ Arkansas Museum of Fine Arts, 501 E. Ninth St.
◼️ Firehouse Museum & Hostel, 1201 Commerce St., with representation from the Central Arkansas Library System.
◼️ Mosaic Templars Cultural Center, 501 W. Ninth St., with representation from the Little Rock Central High School National Historic Site.
Admission to all locations is free. The host is the Greater Little Rock Museums and Cultural Attractions Consortium; sponsor is the Little Rock Convention & Visitors Bureau.
Costumes are encouraged. Visitors can pick up a free Big Boo!seum game card at any of the eight sites and get it stamped by each of the 14 participants’ stations; completed game cards will go into a drawing for a chance to win a Google Chromebook tablet or a goody basket.
Visit LittleRock.com.
Paranormal Expo
The MacArthur Museum of Arkansas Military History, 503 E. Ninth St., Little Rock, hosts the annual Arkansas Paranormal Expo, 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Saturday-Sunday. Each day will feature presentations on topics including Bigfoot, “Deep Water Alien Residents,” “The Bell Witch Haunting,” “Demonology & Exorcism, What Is True or Fantasy,” “Cryptids of Arkansas” and “The 50th Anniversary of S.E. Missouri UFO Flap.” There will be vendors outside and inside the museum, with food trucks, raffle and psychic readings available. Admission is $10 each day, free for children under 12; take dog or cat food for CARE Pet Adoption and receive a free raffle ticket. Proceeds benefit the museum; since 2011, the expo has raised more than $70,000 for the museum. Call (501) 376-4602 or visit arkansasparanormalexpo.com.
Spa City Water Festival
Hot Springs National Park hosts the Hot Springs Water Festival, 10 a.m.-2 p.m. Saturday on the Arlington Lawn, 239 Central Ave. near Bathhouse Row. The festival celebrates the national park’s water resources, including 143-degree-Fahrenheit thermal springs, cold-water spring systems and several waterways and the people and organizations that help to protect them. Booths will feature spring water taste testing, watercoloring arts, water science demonstrations and outdoor activities. Visitors can meet the scientists, rangers and volunteers who help protect the park’s thermal water. Admission is free. Call (501) 624-2701 or email [email protected].
Beans and outhouses
Music, pinto beans cooked in huge pots and served with cornbread and “people-powered potty” teams wheeling outhouses down Main Street are the main attractions for the 42nd Bean Fest and Championship Outhouse Races, Friday-Saturday in Mountain View. Vendors open their booths for an Artisans Market on the courthouse square, offering handmade goods from local and regional crafters. Music includes folk, bluegrass and gospel performers starting at noon on the square and continuing into the evening at Washington Street Park. Bluegrass band The Finley River Boys perform at 7 p.m. on the courthouse stage.
Early Saturday, bean chefs, many in costume, light the burners under 30 large cast-iron pots loaded with 1,000 pounds of pinto beans on the west side of the court square, serving up cups and cornbread to attendees starting at noon. Judges will determine the best pot of beans and best decorated cooking area.
Around 1 p.m., costumed teams of drivers (steering from their potty seats) and pushers will parade their peripatetic privies in front of the courthouse, prior to the race on Main Street, competing for gold, silver and bronze toilet seat awards and cash prizes. Bluegrass band Stringed Union will perform on the courthouse stage Saturday night. Call (870) 269-8068 or visit mountainviewarkansas.com.
MUSIC
Cello concerto et al.
Cellist John-Henry Crawford, winner of the 2019 IX International Carlos Prieto Cello Competition, joins the Conway Symphony Orchestra and conductor Israel Getzov to perform the Cello Concerto No. 1 by Camille Saint-Saëns, 4 p.m. Sunday at the University of Central Arkansas’ Windgate Center for Fine and Performing Arts, 2150 Bruce St. at Donaghey Avenue, Conway. The program also includes the world premiere of “Roundabouts” by composer-in-residence Paul Dickinson, the “Light Cavalry” Overture by Franz von Suppé and the Symphony No. 3 by Franz Schubert. Tickets are $30-$60, with discounts for UCA faculty; $15 for children with paying adult and UCA students. Call (501) 470-7572 or (501) 269-1066 or visit conwaysymphony.org.
Ashley McBryde performs arrangements of her own songs with the Delta Symphony and conductor Neale Bartee Sunday at Arkansas State University’s Fowler Center in Jonesboro. (Special to the Democrat-Gazette)
Symphonic McBryde
Grammy winner and Arkansas native Ashley McBryde performs her own songs, arranged by Tom O’Connor for symphony orchestra, with the Delta Symphony and conductor Neale Bartee, 7:30 p.m. Sunday in Riceland Hall at Arkansas State University’s Fowler Center, 201 Olympic Drive, Jonesboro. Tickets are $50-$120. Call (870) 761-8254 or visit deltasymphonyorchestra.org/tickets.
‘Organic’ memorial
Organist John Coble, director of music and organist at First Presbyterian Church in Athens, Ga., since 2013, will perform works by Felix Mendelssohn, Georg Böhm, J.S. Bach, Dan Locklair and Louis Vierne in a recital, 7 p.m. Friday at Christ Episcopal Church, 509 Scott St., Little Rock. The program focuses on works that were significant to organist Raymond Martin (1921-2018), professor of music at Agnes Scott College in Decatur, Ga., and organist at the Lutheran Church of the Redeemer in Atlanta. Sponsors are Arts@Christ Church and the Central Arkansas chapter of the American Guild of Organists. Admission is free; donations will be accepted. Call (501) 375-2342.
Tennessee Mass Choir
The Tennessee Mass Choir performs at 7 p.m. Thursday at Hendrix Fine Arts Center, Phillips Community College-University of Arkansas, 1000 Campus Road, Helena-West Helena. It’s part of the Warfield Concerts series. Admission is by free ticket. Visit warfieldconcerts.com.
Sylamore Special performs Saturday in the Fall Next Generation Concert at the Ozark Folk Center State Park in Mountain View. (Special to the Democrat-Gazette)
Next Generation Concert
Ozarks youth bluegrass and old-time music groups perform for the Next Generation Concert, 7 p.m. Saturday at the Ozark Folk Center, 1302 Park Ave., Mountain View. The lineup includes Sylamore Special; Taller Than You, featuring national hammered dulcimer championship runner-up Ben Haguewood; Ozark Strangers, featuring state fiddle champion Truett Brannon; 5 South, featuring state fiddle champion Kailee Spickes; and The Parker Unit, featuring 13-time state fiddle champion Mary Parker and two-time national mandolin championship runner-up Gordan Parker. Also performing: the Music Roots Ensemble, the Ozark Folk Center Square Dancers and string band Whoa Mule. Tickets are $15, $8 for children, $35 for a family pass (two adults and children under 18), $2 more day-of. Visit OzarkFolkCenter.Ticketleap.com. The concert is on the periphery of Mountain View’s Bean Fest and Championship Outhouse Races.
THEATER
‘Harvey’ goes to college
The Lyon College theater department stages “Harvey” by Mary Chase, 7:30 p.m. Thursday-Saturday, 2 p.m. Sunday in the Holloway Theatre on the Lyon campus, 2300 Highland Road, Batesville. Weston Derden plays Elwood P. Dowd, a gentle, easygoing and probably alcoholic fellow whose best friend is an invisible 6-foot-tall rabbit. Tickets are $5, $3 for senior citizens and non-Lyon students, free for Lyon College students, faculty and staff with a valid ID. Call (870) 307-7075 or email [email protected].
“Still Life with Red Blood Cells” by Al Garrett, “The Sun, The River, The Bridge, Time, Etc.” by Warren Criswell, an untitled pottery piece by Gail Batson, “Delta Town” by Kirk Montgomery and an untitled abstract by N. Scott are part of “Treehouse Treasures: A Collector’s Collection Part 1,” on display Oct. 25-Jan. 18 at Little Rock’s Cantrell Gallery. (Special to the Democrat-Gazette)
ART
‘Collector’s Collection’
“Treehouse Treasures: A Collector’s Collection Part 1” goes on display with a 6-8 p.m. reception Friday at Cantrell Gallery, 8208 Cantrell Road, Little Rock. The exhibition, up through Jan. 18, consists primarily of works by area artists, including Gail Batson, Kennedi Benjamin, Bob Crane, Warren Criswell, James Hayes, Beverly McLarty, Kirk Montgomery, Carol Spencer Morris, LeeNora Parlor and N. Scott, from the collection of original gallery owner Helen Scott, who is downsizing her home. Gallery hours are 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Tuesday-Saturday or by appointment. Admission to the gallery and reception are free. Call (501) 224-1335 or visit cantrellgallery.com.
Teen Art Gallery
Teens can submit original two-dimensional artwork no larger than 24-by-24 inches by Nov. 1 for “My Inner Mind,” the inaugural exhibit for the new Teen Art Gallery at the Laman Loft at the William F. Laman Public Library, 2801 Orange St., North Little Rock. All forms of two-dimensional art, including painting, drawing, photography and other media, are eligible except for submissions that feature sexually explicit content or graphic violence. Teenagers interested in participating must have a valid North Little Rock Public Library System card. Submit artwork by emailing [email protected] with name, birth date, your 14-digit library card number, the exhibit title (“My Inner Mind”), title of the submitted piece and as an attachment an image of the artwork in .jpg or .png format. Artists whose work has been selected will be notified via email during the first week of November with details on how to bring their artwork to the Loft for display. The gallery will feature artwork selected by a committee of library staff and a local artist. For more information or to obtain a library card, call (501) 758-1720 or visit NLRlibrary.org.
ETC.
Potluck & Poison Ivy
Sybil Hampton, educator, civil justice advocate and one of the first Black graduates of Little Rock Central High School, headlines Potluck & Poison Ivy, 7 p.m. Thursday at the Joint Theater and Coffeehouse, 301 Main St., North Little Rock. Doors open at 6. Tickets, including dinner, are $35. There’s a cash bar. Visit potluckandpoisonivy.org.
AUDITIONS
‘Frog and Toad’
Actors Theatre of Little Rock holds auditions for the musical “A Year With Frog and Toad” (music by Robert Reale, lyrics and book by Willie Reale, based on characters created by Arnold Lobel), 6 p.m. Monday at Quapaw Quarter United Methodist Church, 1601 Louisiana St., Little Rock. Auditioners will be provided with songs and script “sides” from the show and should come dressed and prepared to move for a dance call and for “environmental and improvisational group activities.” Auditioners must be 18 or older as of Dec. 1. All roles are paid. Roles are available for a diverse company (race, gender identity, body type, age and ability). Callbacks, if necessary, will be announced for a subsequent date. Video submissions are available. Register by emailing [email protected]. Find a character breakdown, plot summary and more information at actorstheatrelr.org/auditions.
