Good morning.
September shows up Tuesday, but the late-August heat is sticking around. Fort Smith is still forecast to hover around 100 degrees through Thursday, so if part of your week involves being outside, plan with the heat in mind.
This week's best information is not one giant event. It is a handful of useful things that would be annoying to find out about a day too late: a downtown grant deadline Tuesday afternoon, a packed Board agenda Tuesday night, book-sale clearance Monday, and a Fort Chaffee story Friday that I would rather tell you about now than after it happens.
Let's get ahead of it.
WEEK AT A GLANCE
SUNDAY
📚 Half-price non-fiction books at the Main Library, 1–5 p.m.
MONDAY
📚 Book-sale clearance by the bag, plus Literary Trivia at 5:30 p.m.
💧 Final day for two Fort Smith Library donation drives.
TUESDAY
🏙️ Downtown mini-grant applications close at 5 p.m.
🔬 UAFS Research Den starts at 6 p.m.
🏛️ Fort Smith Board of Directors meets at 6 p.m.
WEDNESDAY
👨👩👧 A free Parent Workshop with food and childcare starts at 6:30 p.m.
THURSDAY
✏️ Free figure drawing at RAM starts at 5:30 p.m.
FRIDAY
🧳 From Saigon to Fort Chaffee starts at 6 p.m.
TUESDAY IS DOING A LOT
Downtown mini-grant applications close at 5
If you own a building or business inside the Main Street Fort Smith district and have been kicking around an improvement project, this is the deadline to know about.
Main Street Fort Smith's FY27 Mini-Grant Program will award up to $15,000 total in 50/50 matching grants. Individual awards are typically $1,500 to $7,500, and eligible projects can include façade work, exterior paint, masonry, awnings, signage, lighting and accessibility improvements.
Applications are due Tuesday at 5 p.m. Projects have to receive approval before work begins.
Last year, $11,000 in grants helped leverage more than $80,000 in private investment downtown. So for the right property or business owner, this can be a meaningful chunk of a real project.
The Board has a full agenda that night
At 6 p.m., the Fort Smith Board of Directors meets at the Blue Lion.
The agenda is long, but these are some of the items worth knowing about before Tuesday night:
Four land-use and zoning cases involving North 32nd Street, Vicksburg Street, Kelley Highway and Massard Road.
Two FL02 wastewater items totaling about $3.32 million in construction and engineering work.
A $1.53 million street overlay and reconstruction contract.
$919,000 for lagoon cleaning at the Lake Fort Smith and Lee Creek water treatment plants.
Creekmore Park items involving the pool pump house and operation of the tennis center.
There is also a public hearing involving part of North N Street and an alley, plus an executive session for an update regarding a cybersecurity event.
The meeting begins at 6 p.m. at the Blue Lion, 101 N. 2nd St. As always, the agenda can change.
Research Den is the other 6 p.m. option
UAFS is bringing Research Den to The Bakery District from 6 to 7:30 p.m.
UAFS describes it as a casual event where people can talk with researchers about their work, and September's edition spotlights student researchers.
The university still has not listed the students or their research topics, so that is as specific as we can responsibly get. If you like the idea of walking in and asking students what they are actually studying, now we at least know what the event is.
MONDAY IS A LIBRARY LAST-CALL DAY
The Friends of the Fort Smith Public Library non-fiction sale moves into clearance Monday, with remaining books priced by the bag.
The library has not published Monday's clearance hours or bag price, so if that is the reason for your trip, I would check before making a special run.
Then at 5:30 p.m., Dewey's Café hosts Literary Trivia Night. It is free and open to school-age kids, teens and adults.
Monday is also the last day for two August donation drives:
All Fort Smith Library locations are collecting cases of individual 16-ounce bottled water for the Next Step Day Room.
The Miller Branch is collecting classroom supplies for teachers at Cavanaugh, Cook and Beard elementary schools.
WEDNESDAY: A PARENT NIGHT WITH THE LOGISTICS COVERED
Harvest Time's Parent Workshop runs from 6:30 to 8 p.m. Wednesday at its Fort Smith campus.
The workshop is faith-based and focuses on helping children develop a lasting faith, with practical ideas for building that into everyday family life.
Registration is free. Food is provided. Childcare is free, and children's check-in begins at 6 p.m.
If the logistics are usually what knocks a weeknight parent event off the schedule, they have at least handled the big ones here.
THURSDAY: FREE FIGURE DRAWING AT RAM
The Fort Smith Regional Art Museum starts its fall Drawing From the Figure series Thursday from 5:30 to 7 p.m.
Artist and educator Amy Holmes Scoggins leads the class using a live, clothed model. It is for ages 16 and up, all supplies are provided, and the class is free.
The series continues Sept. 17, Oct. 1 and Oct. 15 if this week does not work.
FOUNDING SPONSOR
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A FEW MORE THINGS WORTH KNOWING
Van Buren: 3D art classes start Tuesday
Arts On Main starts its fall 3D Art Classes Tuesday from 5:30 to 7 p.m. The class is for ages 7 to 13, costs $15 per session, and works through sculpture, modeling and mixed-media projects.
An adult Wednesday night option: Mahjong & Martinis
River Valley Mahj is hosting a three-hour American Mahjong social night at 906 Cocktail and Cigar Lounge from 6:30 to 9:30 p.m.
Tickets are $30 and include one drink featuring Rock Town Distillery spirits. Tile sets are provided, basic game knowledge is recommended, and players should bring a 2026 NMJL card.
Worth the drive for Broadway fans
The Outsiders opens Tuesday at Walton Arts Center in Fayetteville and runs through Sunday, with eight performances across the week. The musical won four 2024 Tony Awards, including Best Musical, and Walton Arts Center recommends it for ages 10 and up.
Tickets are still available for multiple performances.
LABOR DAY WEEKEND, BEFORE IT SNEAKS UP ON YOU
A Fort Chaffee story told by someone who lived it
Doug Nguyen was a child when he and his mother fled Saigon and came to Fort Chaffee during Operation New Arrivals.
Friday night, he will share that story at the Chaffee Crossing Media Center. The evening also includes a film by Natalie Vuong, a University of Houston student.
From Saigon to Fort Chaffee: Untold Stories from Operation New Arrivals runs from 6 to 8 p.m. Friday at 7801 Ellis Street in Fort Smith. Admission is a $5 donation at the door.
This is exactly the kind of local event that is easy to hear about afterward and wish you had known about beforehand.
If Labor Day weekend needs a road trip
PBR Thunder Days runs Friday through Sunday at Thunder Ridge Nature Arena in Ridgedale, Missouri.
Friday has an airshow, a Chris Janson performance and PBR Teams competition. Saturday's bull riding is followed by Miranda Lambert. Sunday wraps up with an afternoon session.
Tickets are still available through PBR. Sunday is the useful time to tell you about it if you need to plan the drive.
THE FULL CALENDAR
Looking for more?
We picked the highlights. The full Sweet Home River Valley calendar has everything we've found happening around Fort Smith and the River Valley.