Northwest Arkansas has a lot going on -- so much, in fact, it can be hard to keep up. For example, did you know one of the area's most popular theaters went through re-branding this year; an Arkansas native displays his internationally recognized works in a fine arts gallery; and an intimate restaurant allows a local chef to prepare fresh foods on a weekly changing menu? Those things all happen on the same street in downtown Rogers.
"At the moment, we're still kind of on the outskirts of the main action of downtown," says Heirloom chef and owner Jason Paul.
FAQ
A Night on the Fringe
WHEN — 6 p.m. Thursday
WHERE — Second Street in downtown Rogers
COST — $70
INFO — chelseasmith@edcool… or 936-5851
Heirloom is one of the businesses participating in A Night on the Fringe, an evening highlighting what Second Street has to offer.
"A lot of people are still discovering Rogers and hopefully they'll leave this event and tell their friends, 'There's this really cool restaurant we need to go eat at,' or 'Oh, the theater is really cool.' We always want to help our neighbors out, so we were excited to be involved."
Thursday will be the second run for the event, which is the brain child of Chelsea Smith, gallery director at the Ed Cooley Fine Arts Gallery next door to Heirloom. Smith says she was chatting with Joseph Farmer, executive director at Arkansas Public Theatre, some months back about a way to bring more people to their side of downtown. What they came up with resembles an "art crawl," she says.
"We really wanted to highlight the best of downtown Rogers and the emerging art scene," Smith says. "With what Jason is doing at Heirloom and what Ed is doing on an international scale [at the gallery], we were looking for ways we (the businesses) could all get involved. It's been a completely grassroots effort."
A Night on the Fringe begins at Heirloom for a menu sampling, then moves next door to the gallery for wine and a private showing. The next stop is dessert of cupcakes and ice cream at Kirby's Kupcakes followed by tickets to a performance of "Other Desert Cities" at APT. Smith says she and the other business owners have plenty of ideas for expanding the monthly program, including a family-friendly evening during the production of "Mary Poppins" at APT this summer. Limited tickets are available for each event to keep the experience intimate.
NAN What's Up on 04/01/2016