Book about Fort Smith seeks to shed light on city’s history

FORT SMITH, Ark.—The Fort Smith Bicentennial committee announced April 3 a book called "Bridging Borders and Time: A Bicentennial Portrait of Fort Smith" will go on sale soon.

U.S. Army troops landed at Belle Point on Christmas Day 1817. A series of events will be held with quarterly segments throughout the year to recognize the city's arts and culture, western heritage and future. The third quarter is blocked off for "Homecoming."

Sales of the 248-page commemorative book start April 10, the Southwest Times Record reported. It has a prepublication price of about $40, with free shipping and is being produced by Bookhouse Group Inc. of Atlanta.

Orders will be taken through mid-July and the book will be printed in October, Fort Smith Mayor Sandy Sanders told reporters April 3 at the UAFS Blue Lion. The book will include photos from "nationally prominent photographers" who visited the city to "reveal loved corners of Fort Smith and perhaps places and events many people never knew about," a news release states.

Megan Raynor, committee chairman for the "Homecoming" quarter of the city's yearlong bicentennial celebration beginning in December 2017 said that a portion of the year is to encourage those who have lived in Fort Smith to "come back and visit home" and prompt current Fort Smith residents to "find the treasures" they have.

Some of the events planned in that third "Homecoming" quarter in 2018 include a fort building contest at Chaffee Crossing Historic District, the Unexpected street art festival and the Lincoln Alumni Reunion. Both Northside and Southside high schools will also be holding reunions in October to coincide with each school's homecoming, Raynor pointed out.

As part the grand finale to the "Future Fort Smith" quarter, an attempt will be made to unseat Grand Rapids, Michigan, as the Guinness World Record holder of "largest lip dub event." It will take more than 5,000 people lip syncing to surpass the 2011 record setters. Lansing, Michigan, tried in 2012 and failed.

Bradford Randall, committee chair of the "Future Fort Smith" quarter said a series of videos will be released throughout that fourth quarter of 2018. The videos will depict aspects of Fort Smith's transportation, technology, education and daily life.

"Each video will incorporate Fort Smith's rich history into a vision of the future as told by the people," Randall noted.

Ford Motor Co. has agreed to loan self-driving cars for the fourth-quarter events, he added. The future Interstate 49 corridor and the Arkansas College of Osteopathic Medicine are also involved.

Jim Perry, committee chair for the Arts and Culture quarter that begins the whole year of celebrations, said there is a need for a programmer and organizer for a film festival that includes some of the many films that have included Fort Smith, like "True Grit." The local Malco has agreed to host it, Sanders said.

"This is the celebration event of a lifetime," Sanders said.