Update (Tuesday, Oct. 9): The Downtown Arkadelphia kickoff event has been postponed to Oct. 23 at 4 p.m. in light of native Matt Turner’s passing this weekend.
Sunday, Oct. 7: The Downtown Arkadelphia program will host its kickoff event — a ribbon cutting to symbolize the focused movement toward downtown revitalization — at 4 p.m. on Tuesday, Oct. 9 in front of Southern Bancorp on Main Street.
“Many students have expressed to the community that there is nothing for them to do in Arkadelphia,” said Nicole Porchia, the student success coordinator at Ouachita and a member of the Downtown Arkadelphia board. “This is an event for all students to come out and enjoy the Arkadelphia downtown area and even receive discounts at most restaurants and retailers.”
Porchia also said that the Downtown Arkadelphia board’s main focus is to revitalize the downtown area while offering activities and entertainment for local families and college students.
From 4:30 – 7:30 p.m., a number of local retailers will offer promotions for shoppers and participants. Restaurants Slim & Shorty’s, Dino’s and the Honeycomb are offering 25 percent discounts off of food that evening. To take advantage of these discounts, students will need to bring their student I.D. to the Downtown Arkadelphia booth on Main Street and pick up a ticket for the night. Students can also collect signatures from store owners on their ticket and enter their names once for every signature to win a cash prize of $500 dollars or a gift basket valued at $600 dollars.
Ouachita’s director of career services Lauren Land, has been involved with the formation of this program. Brooke Zimny, assistant director of communications, and Rene Zimny, assistant director and grant coordinator of international recruiting, designed the Downtown Arkadelphia logo and Rebecca Jones, assistant professor of communications, will have one of her spring classes design a promotional campaign for the Downtown Arkadelphia program.
“We want to find out what students are looking for in terms of retail and restaurants,” Land said. “What would make Arkadelphia feel more like a ‘college town,’ what would keep them in town [as opposed to] driving to Hot Springs for the night.”
Land said that the Downtown Arkadelphia program wants college students to feel at home in Arkadelphia and be proud to live here and to invested in the community.
“The purpose of this initiative is to spur downtown revitalization and bring attention to our existing and future retailers and restaurants,” Porchia said. “Being [a Ouachita] alumnus, I am glad to be serving on a board that is focused on revitalizing the downtown area for local families and college students to enjoy during their time of leisure.”
Downtown Arkadelphia also plans to host and lead quarterly events in the downtown area in the future. These include, but are not limited to, art walks, movie showings on Main Street, extended hours for retailers and restaurants as well as holiday open house events.
For more information on Downtown Arkadelphia, contact Land at landl@obu.edu. For updates, promotions and other benefits, follow Downtown Arkadelphia on Twitter at
@downtowndelph.
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