What a year! We had tons of fun with you in 2023, and also saw major advancements in some of the Downtown Partnership’s long term work to improve the heart of our city. We’re taking the week to look back and celebrate as we prepare for even more success next year!

Downtown Master Plan

Downtown will look very different in the next three years as major investment projects are complete, and we begin implementing steps from our Downtown Master Plan. This year we’ve seen incredible participation in the effort to set a course for Little Rock’s future. We can’t wait to see where it leads!

Advocacy

You may know us for our exciting events or the magnificent murals we bring downtown, but our organization also advocates for better policy at the local, state and even federal level! This year we were part of a coalition who worked to successfully improve the historic tax credit program at the state legislature. Now, thanks to that effort, the Boyle building is undergoing a $35M renovation after sitting vacant for decades!

Ambassadors

We’ve been working for years to bring a full-fledged ambassador program to keep downtown Little Rock safe and clean, and this year that effort paid off! Thanks to an investment by the city and the Little Rock Convention and Visitors Bureau, a Block by Block team is working 7 days a week to greet people, walk you to your car, pick up trash and more! Learn about the program and how you can request service: Ambassador Program | Downtown Little Rock (downtownlr.com)

Public Art

Public art brings new energy to our neighborhoods, and this year we added some amazing art projects through our public spaces committee from Drew Merritt’s Rock Town Distillery Mural, to Lisa Krannichfeld's women on Chester Street! We also partnered with the Arkansas Department of Parks, Heritage and Tourism on a Food Hall of Fame mural and completed ENTRA by Jonathan Cortes-Rrodriguez (with some help from our friends at @studioMAIN). The Haiku project expanded thanks to Lyon College art student @EmileeGrace, and we helped @muckrock find a spot for her first work in Arkansas!

Events

Events bring people together downtown to enjoy the heart of our city, and we had a ton of fun with you all this year. Beautiful weather brought crowds to SoMa for SoMardi Gras and 501Fest. Y’all came up with some hilarious costumes for Barkus on Main, and the Main St. Food Truck Festival was packed with flavor and fun. We had a blast bringing local art to Capitol Plaza for @2ndFri After Hours. Snoop and Britney helped us throwback the Main Street Mall to the 90s, and we started showing Movies in the Pocket Park before moving up to the rooftop at 6^th & Scott! We shredded with Little Rock’s best amateur guitarists at Guitar Wars with the Central Arkansas Library System, and continued our Dia de Muertos celebration with CALS and the Mexican Consulate, drawing record crowds to learn more about our friends and neighbors. We wrapped up the year with cookies, cocoa, and a new 32-foot Christmas tree at our Bright the Night event. Planning is already underway for next year’s events, let us know if you’d like to join a planning committee to help us make 2024 the best year yet!