KATV Channel 7 - The Spirit of Arkansas: Christmas Frolic Kicks Off the Holiday Season

Christmas Frolic Kicks Off the Holiday Season

LITTLE ROCK -- Continue your family tradition or start a new one at Historic Arkansas Museum's 43rd Annual Christmas Frolic and Open House, Sunday, December 5, 1 – 4 pm. Since 1967, the Frolic has delighted kids and grown-ups alike, teaching them the Virginia Reel and other pioneer dances in the museum's Hinderliter Grog Shop (c. 1826), the oldest standing building in Little Rock. The Frolic is free and open to the public.

Guests to the 43rd Annual Christmas Frolic and Open House will enjoy all the great things they've come to expect each year—frolicking with the Arkansas Country Dancers in the Hinderliter, hot cider and ginger cake in the 1850s Log House Farmstead, demonstrations by the Early Arkansaw Reenactors Association, children's pioneer games, art projects for the kids and a chance to step into the museum's historic houses. This year, visitors will be able to look inside the Woodruff Print Shop reconstruction. This will be the first public viewing. Architect Aaron Ruby, who headed the reconstruction project, will give tours of the building. Music at the Frolic includes members of the Aeolus Recorder Konsort, playing in the museums galleries and Lark in the Morning, playing Celtic music on harp, fiddles and dulcimers. The Arkansas Country Dance Band will accompany the dancing and a fiddler will roam the grounds.

The historic 1840s Brownlee House backyard will come to life with a cast of Living History characters, including portrayals of Robert Brownlee, Tabby (whose last name is unknown), neighbors and an itinerant Methodist minister. Inside the Museum Center, visitors can learn how to make pomander balls with apples and cloves, in addition to other arts and crafts projects. In the galleries, for a special treat on the day of the Frolic only, train collector Bill Albright will run several of his model trains on tracks and talk to visitors about his hobby.

The Museum Store, stocked with fun and educational toys, games, instruments, books and Arkansas-made arts, crafts and music, will be open for holiday shopping during the event. Free gift wrap is available. All store proceeds support the museum's activities and programs.

Historic Arkansas Museum's regular hours are 9 a.m. – 5 p.m. Monday through Saturday, 1 – 5 p.m. on Sunday. Admission to the galleries and parking are free; tours of historic grounds are $2.50 for adults, $1.50 for senior citizens, $1 for children under 18. The Historic Arkansas Museum Store is open 10 a.m. – 4:30 p.m. Monday through Saturday, 1 – 4 p.m. on Sunday.

Historic Arkansas Museum is an agency of the Department of Arkansas Heritage, which was created in 1975 to preserve and enhance the heritage of the state of Arkansas. Other agencies of the department are Arkansas Arts Council, Arkansas Historic Preservation Program, Arkansas Natural Heritage Commission, Delta Cultural Center in Helena, Mosaic Templars Cultural Center and Old State House Museum.