Museum’s Big Day Is Here

Fran Yount with Vista Productions configures electronics to broadcast and record Thursday while setting up on the Bentonville square for Crystal Bridges’ opening day celebration at 10:30 a.m. today.
Fran Yount with Vista Productions configures electronics to broadcast and record Thursday while setting up on the Bentonville square for Crystal Bridges’ opening day celebration at 10:30 a.m. today.

— After more than five years of anticipation, the excitement was palpable on the downtown square Thursday as people prepared for today’s public unveiling of the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art.

The museum will open at 12:30 p.m. after a kickoff celebration on the square honoring American veterans and officially marking its public opening.

Visitors from around the world milled around the square Thursday as workers set up a black stage and scaffolding flanked by two vertical signs that proclaim, “America’s next great museum is here.”

It was hard to find much dissent from that grandiose sentiment this week. Twitter feeds gushed with awe-filled descriptions from museum members who were welcomed for a sneak peek of the museum Wednesday and Thursday. Signs with the Crystal Bridges logo stating, “We’re glad you’re here,” dotted lawns and hung in store windows around Bentonville.

“The day everyone has been talking about for five years is finally here,” said Mayor Bob McCaslin.

Kickoff events begin at 10:30 a.m. with a performance by the Bentonville High School Choir, followed by a Veterans Day ceremony at 11 a.m. with a presentation by Bentonville resident and National Guard Col. Troy Galloway. Vocal performers scheduled include opera soprano Leona Mitchell and singer and composer Joanne Shenandoah.

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MEN IN MOTION Ryan Brazell, right, and John Brecht, both of Fayetteville, move boxes Thursday while setting up the stage on the Bentonville square for Crystal Bridges’ opening day celebration at 10:30 a.m. today. Go to crystalbridges.org for more information on the museum and how to obtain tickets.

Guests set to speak about the museum include founder Alice Walton, executive director Don Bacigalupi and architect Moshe Safdie. Former President Bill Clinton is expected to speak via video in honor of the museum’s opening.

The event is projected to draw thousands of people to the square.

“Wherever you go, you can feel the excitement,” McCaslin said. “If Wednesday’s tour is any indication, I’m afraid to estimate tomorrow’s crowd.

“Many people that would have never thought to visit here otherwise will visit Northwest Arkansas and experience our unique hospitality. None of it would have happened were it not for the generosity of Alice Walton and her family of gifting the public with this museum.”

City workers were out in force on and around the square this week preparing for visitors, putting finishing touches on landscaping and adding bricked-in kiosks with maps of Bentonville. A street sweeper roamed avenues every night this week “to keep things spiffed up,” said Mike Churchwell, transportation director.

The contractor working on East Central Avenue agreed to move equipment off the street so both lanes would be accessible from the square to the turnoff to Crystal Bridges on J Street. The bright orange barrels and netting still line the road, but Churchwell said the contractor promised to tidy up the construction area.

Cheri Jones with Vista Productions looked on Thursday as co-workers prepared the stage and tested audio for today’s events. She said was glad the weather looked to be cooperating.

“Earlier in the week, it would have been a different story,” Jones said.

At one point in the audio tests, a deputy received a message from Circuit Judge Robin Green’s court to ask the crew to turn off the music as it was inhibiting the first day of testimony at the Michael Shane Winters’ murder trial.

The Police Department has prioritized about a dozen officers for the event on the square, as well as additional bike patrol officers on the museum’s trails, said Chief Jon Simpson. He said he was aware of one group that plans to protest at the opening.

OccupyNWA plans to hand out leaflets near the museum, said Fernando Garcia, who is affiliated with the protesters.

“This is not against Walmart, not against the museum and not against art,” Garcia said. “We are picketing that the museum costs over $1 billion at the same time that workers are seeing a rise in health care costs, earning poverty wages and having to use tax funded social services.”

Simpson said the officers are aware of the protest event and will “react to that as needed.”

“We are hoping for an uneventful event,” Simpson said.

The optimism among city leaders remained high, despite the protest announcement.

“Bentonville will be a different city after tomorrow,” said Kalene Griffith, director the Bentonville Visitor’s Bureau.

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