CRAWFISH BOIL draws crowd, vexes Fayetteville police, UA officials.

FAYETTEVILLE — A University of Arkansas, Fayetteville spokesman called it “disappointing” to see an image on social media of an outdoor gathering that police said involved about 20 people Friday at an off-campus apartment complex that caters mostly to students.

The Fayetteville Police Department responded to a report of the gathering at 5:35 p.m. at an apartment of The Cottages on Hollywood in south Fayetteville, said Sgt. Anthony Murphy, department spokesman.

“Officers encountered approximately 20 people engaging in a crawfish boil,” Murphy said, adding that officers warned participants about the need to adhere to social-distancing practices and left.

“While this was neither university-organized nor on campus, it is disappointing,” UA spokesman Mark Rushing said Saturday in an email.

The university is “working with city authorities and others to look into this situation and hold students accountable to our student code of conduct,” Rushing said.

When asked to confirm whether the university will be contacting students who were at the gathering, Rushing said, “I hope that was explicit.”

The Cottages provides “modern, off campus student apartments” near UA, according to the complex’s website.

As for the gathering, “we could issue a citation, but we haven’t up to this point,” Murphy said.

The occupants will not receive merely a warning if such a gathering occurs again while social-distancing policies are being enforced, he said.

A spokesman for The Cottages said the gathering was in violation of Gov. Asa Hutchinson’s order prohibiting gatherings of more than 10 people.

A statewide health directive published March 26 prohibits social gatherings of more than 10 people “in any confined indoor or outdoor space” as a way to stop the spread of the covid-19 respiratory illness.

The directive says the prohibition does not apply to gatherings “in unenclosed, outdoor spaces such as parks, trails, athletic fields and courts, parking lots, golf courses, and driving ranges where social distancing of at least six (6) feet can be easily achieved.”

The Cottages spokesman said that “we are doing all that we can to ensure our community is safe and informed, but we also recognize that — much like the majority of places across the country — individuals must follow common-sense measures of their own to further protect themselves and minimize the spread of covid-19.”

The gathering gained public attention through a photo of the crawfish boil that Olivia Trimble, 33, of Fayetteville posted about 6 p.m. Friday on social media.

Trimble said she lives about a quarter of a mile from the gathering, and she and her husband were driving to get groceries when they saw the people in close proximity to one another.

“My intent was not to blast the attendees, because I didn’t take pictures of their faces,” Trimble said. “It was to draw attention to the fact that people are dying, and we have folks here in town who won’t do the bare minimum, which is to not gather.”

“When the city is just desolate in most places, it’s very noticeable. It’s a huge contrast to drive past this place and see that,” she said.

Her posts also caught the attention of gathering participants, some of whom reacted adversely to Trimble’s social media posts, she said.

“They confirmed that they were there and that they were having a great time, and from then it got abusive — colorful,” Trimble said.