Our Front Porch welcomes the community

RUSSELLVILLE — Our Front Porch, a traveling nonprofit project sponsored by Traveling Arts Fiesta, will welcome the community at Dog Ear Books, 301 W. Main St., from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday as part of the Downtown Russellville Fall Fest. The Front Porch aims to provide a platform where folks can practice hospitality and civil conversation. This event is free and open to the public.

Official porch hostesses Girl Scout Troop 4016, under the leadership of Barbara McCutchen, will open the Front Porch. A full itinerary is planned on the porch, including readings performed by the Pope County Library’s River Valley Writers, a children’s story time, contra dancing, a jam session with the String Theory Band and Tales from the Oakland Cemetery. An adult story circle is scheduled for 2 p.m. that will be facilitated by local neighbors and will begin with stories of faith. A croquet competition will occur at 1 p.m. on the Arvest lawn next to the porch.

A fine-art exhibit will display the works of Arkansas artists Tim Jacob, Angela Davis Johnson, Suzannah Schreckhise, Jeannie Stone and Lourdes Valverde, each of whom have created works to reflect the themes of connectedness to home and to people and the word neighbor. Artist Tim Jacob will demonstrate his unique acrylic puddle-painting method. A video installation inside the bookstore embraces visitors onto a virtual front porch, where folks from around the state share recollections of Arkansas front porches of yesteryear. Visitors are invited to choose a rocking chair and sit a spell.

Two historic neighborhood walks will depart from the porch. At 1 p.m., the Rev. Jerry Linton will lead a 3.2-mile historical tour of the African-American experience that will include a stop at Central Christian Church (formerly Edwards Chapel Christian Church) and now on the Arkansas State Register of Historic Places; New Prospect Missionary Baptist Church; Latimore House; the James School; and the Reed Cemetery

At 4 p.m., Chinelos de Morelos of Dardanelle will lead the third annual Dia de Los Muertos parade (.7 miles) to the Historic Oakland Cemetery, where Arkansas Tech University Theatre students will perform vignettes collected from the lives of the inhabitants, and the ATU Department of English and World Languages will offer crafts for children. Ballet Folklorico de San Augustin will also perform at the cemetery.

For more information, call (479) 747-0210 or visit www.ourfrontporch.space or Facebook: Our Front Porch Project.