Parking at a Premium

Officials Plan For State Basketball Tournaments, University Game

— School district and University of Arkansas officials are preparing for a flood of visitors this week with the 7A boys and girls high school state basketball tournaments in town.

The tournaments begin at 1 p.m. Wednesday and run through Saturday at Fayetteville High School.

Parking will be at a premium, especially on Saturday when the Razorbacks men’s basketball team takes on the Kentucky Wildcats at 3 p.m. at Bud Walton Arena. High school games are scheduled at noon, 1:30 p.m., 6 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. Saturday.

Public parking will be available all four days in student lots north of the high school between Bulldog Boulevard and Harmon Stadium and south of the high school’s performing arts center at Buchanan Avenue and Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard, according to a district news release. Parking in the lot southwest of the high school at Garland Avenue and Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard will be by permit only. Parking attendants will be stationed at the high school’s front two parking lots to provide directions and assistance.

The high school will dismiss students at 2 p.m. Wednesday and Thursday and at 3 p.m. Friday to help free up nearby parking spaces.

University officials have agreed to provide free parking in Lot 56, a roughly 1,400-space lot at Razorback Road and Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard, during the high school tournaments. National Guardsmen will have golf carts to escort people who need special assistance.

Parking in the 2,150-space Harmon Avenue Parking Garage, about a half-mile from the high school at 380 N. Stadium Drive, is free and open to the public Saturday, according to Andy Gilbride, spokesman for the university’s Transit and Parking Department.

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