HARRISON -- Harrison's downtown entertainment district opened Friday and all went well, said Matt Bell, executive director of Explore Harrison.
"There was not one single issue -- not one," he said. "It was very uneventful but eventful at the same time."
It was a soft opening of sorts. Bell said he's shooting for June 1 for the permanent opening.
Bell said the plan was for the entertainment district to be open from 4:30 to 11 p.m. seven days a week. During that time, adults can legally walk from one participating business to another carrying an open container of alcohol in a special cup.
But those times may change to exclude Sundays. Bell said the Hotel Seville has closed, and it was the only business downtown that would have been open on Sundays and serving alcoholic beverages.
Mayor Jerry Jackson said the Harrison City Council voted 5-3 in September to approve the entertainment district, in part because of a request from Russell Tucker, co-owner of Rapp's Barren Brewing Co. of Mountain Home.
Tucker said he has purchased a building at 101 N. Main St. on the downtown Harrison square. He plans to renovate the 111-year-old building and open a microbrewery and gastropub there next year.
Tucker said it wasn't essential to have an entertainment district in Harrison, but it'll help.
"I look at it as an ingredient in a recipe," he said. "You can still make bread without salt, it's just not going to be quite as good."
Tucker said downtown Harrison has a lot of potential.
"It just needs a little nudge," he said.
Bell said two businesses, the Lyric Theater and Commerce Mall, applied to participate in Friday's entertainment district. He said the Lyric Theater is the only business in the entertainment district that serves alcoholic beverages for now.
So far, two other businesses -- Luxe on Rush, a boutique, and Buffalo Chateau, a party venue -- have applied to participate when the entertainment district opens permanently.
"The square needs some life kicked into it," said Roger Orr, owner of Buffalo Chateau. "People have been going to Branson and having their drinks. I'm glad that Harrison is finally coming into the latest century."
Orr said Friday night was fun on the downtown square, with live music and food trucks.
"I spoke with five or six couples over 75 years old that had a beer in their hand walking around and they thought it was the greatest thing ever," he said. "So I think it's fantastic."
The rules for Harrison's entertainment district can be found at https://bit.ly/455iMfb.
Among the rules: no outside alcohol can be brought into the entertainment district and no drinking in the courtyard square.
Sam Boyd said he went to the downtown entertainment district on Friday night, and all seemed well.
For 23 years, Boyd was pastor at Harrison Church of the Nazarene. He opposed the entertainment district, but now he serves on its oversight committee, at the mayor's request.
"I always will be against it," Boyd said of the entertainment district.
At a meeting last October, Boyd told city officials they were shooting at skunks.
"It's better to shoot at the moon and miss it than to shoot at a sunk and hit it, and they're shooting at skunks right now," Boyd said in a telephone interview on Tuesday, recalling the October meeting. "I said, 'Ladies and gentleman, you're shooting at skunks because this ordinance stinks.'"
But on Friday night, skunks were scarce.
"I was very glad to see that everything was done very good and orderly," said Boyd. "That's the best we can hope for, what took place Friday night."
Boyd said 100 to 150 people were on the downtown square listening to live music. He said he saw about 15 to 20 of them carrying beverages in special entertainment district cups.
Arkansas Act 812 of 2019 allowed cities and towns to establish entertainment districts, and several have been established since the law passed, including one in Mountain Home, which Tucker said was the state's first entertainment district.
According to Arkansas Code Annotated 14-54-1412(b)(A), "A city, a municipality, or an incorporated town that creates a designated entertainment district under this section shall set by ordinance reasonable standards for the regulation of alcohol possession within the boundaries of the designated entertainment district."