ENTERTAINMENT: ‘Headless Horseman’ dances across AMFA stage; Conway hosts RetroFest

FUN

Dogtown Throwdown

North Little Rock’s Main Street between Broadway and Fifth Street closes down for Dogtown Throwdown, 4 p.m. Friday to 10 p.m. Saturday, which is being labeled “Fall Feast.”

Friday’s schedule opens with the Inaugural Argenta Mural Walk, two guided tours through the Argenta Arts District, with artists on site, 5:30 and 6 p.m. Whoa Dakota performs at 7 on the steps of Argenta Library, 420 Main.

On Saturday, Argenta Library hosts a Children’s Business Fair, 10 a.m.-2 p.m. The North Little Rock Animal Shelter Mobile Adoption Unit sets up from 10 a.m.-1 p.m., with a noon Blessing of the Animals by Argenta United Methodist Church. Argenta restaurants will offer champagne and mimosa specials, noon-2 p.m. Flyway Brewing, 314 Maple St., hosts a 2-6 p.m. Vintage Market. Chris “Bucket” Shelton performs at 5 p.m. outside Blackberry Market, 315 Main. And Black River Pearl performs at 7 on the stage next to the library. Visit argentaartsdistrict.org or northlittlerock.org/argenta-events.

In conjunction with the Downtown Throwdown, the Central Arkansas Fermenter is putting on Little Rocktoberfest 2025 — in North Little Rock, 6-9 p.m. Saturday at Argenta Plaza, 520 Main. Sample the latest beers from local Arkansas craft breweries and check out the work of area homebrewers at the Homebrew Exhibition. Tickets are $25, $40 VIP (includes early admission), $10 designated driver; proceeds benefit Women’s Own Worth, which empowers survivors of domestic violence and violent crime by helping them reclaim their self-worth and independence. Visit littlerocktoberfest.com.

Conway RetroFest

RetroFest Arkansas, billed as “the ultimate celebration of all things retro,” dwells on nostalgia — including video games on classic arcade machines and vintage consoles, vintage clothing, TV and movie personalities and cars — at the Expo Center, 2505 E. Oak St., Conway, 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Saturday and Sunday.

Celebrity guests include Francois Chau (TV’s “Lost,” Shredder in “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Secret of the Ooze”), Bill Farmer (the voice of Goofy since 1987), Jason Marsden (Max Goof in “A Goofy Movie”), Ernie Reyes Jr. (Donatello’s stuntman in “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles”) and three voice actors in “Super Mario” video games: Kenny James (Bowser), Laura Faye Smith (Rosalina) and Samantha Kelly (Princess Peach).

Basic tickets ($31.25 each day, $17.37 for kids 6-12, free for kids 5 and younger) include entry to the vendor floor. VIP tickets ($58 each day) also provides early access to the vendor floor and entry to an After Party, featuring live music, food trucks and a live auction.

Weekend passes are $57.34, $29.60 kids 6-12, $90.24 VIP). Visit retrofestarkansas.com.

DANCE

‘Sleepy Hollow’ redux

Ballet Arkansas stages “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow,” a reprise of a production it premiered in 2019 with “heightened production values,” according to a news release, and without the original’s multimedia components, set to music by Francis Poulenc, Dmitri Shostakovich, Alfred Schnittke, Benjamin Britten and Arnold Schoenberg, 7 p.m. Thursday and Friday, 2 and 7 p.m. Saturday and 2 p.m. Sunday at the Arkansas Museum of Fine Arts, 501 E. Ninth St., Little Rock. There will also be a special children’s production at 10:30 a.m. Saturday. Tickets are $25-$50. Visit balletarkansas.org/tickets.

THEATER

‘High School Musical’

Wildwood Park for the Arts, 20919 Denny Road, Little Rock, stages “Disney’s High School Musical,” 7:30 p.m. Friday and Oct. 17, 2 p.m. Saturday and Sunday and Oct. 19 and 2 and 7:30 p.m. Oct. 18 in its 625-seat Lucy Lockett Cabe Festival Theatre. The show features music and lyrics by Matthew Gerrard and Robbie Nevil, Ray Cham, Greg Cham, Andrew Seeley, Randy Petersen and Kevin Quinn, Andy Dodd and Adam Watts, Bryan Louiselle, David N. Lawrence and Faye Greenberg and Jamie Houston; book by David Simpatico, adapted from the film. Tickets are $40-$50, $25 children 12 and younger. Call (501) 821-7275 or visit wildwoodpark.org.

Hump? What hump?

“Young Frankenstein” (music and lyrics by Mel Brooks, book by Brooks and Thomas Meehan, based on Brooks’ 1974 comedy film classic) is onstage through Nov. 8 at Murry’s Dinner Playhouse, 6323 Colonel Glenn Road, Little Rock. Show times are 7:30 p.m. Wednesday-Saturday (but 12:30 p.m. Wednesday matinees only Oct. 15 and 22), 12:45 and 6:30 p.m. Sunday. Buffet opens 90 minutes before curtain. Dinner and show tickets are $43-$47, $33 for children 15 and younger and for show-only. Call (501) 562-3131 or visit murrysdp.com.

MUSIC

Winds in space

Little Rock Winds opens its 2025-26 season with a concert titled “Outer Space,” music inspired by the cosmos plus some “Star Wars” tracks, 7:30 p.m. Thursday at Second Presbyterian Church, 600 Pleasant Valley Drive, Little Rock. Admission is $15, free for students. Visit lrwinds.org/tickets.

The program includes an arrangement of the opening segment of “Also Sprach Zarathustra” by Richard Strauss (the theme for the movie “2001: A Space Odyssey”); “Give us this day” by David Maslanka; “Mars” from “The Planets” by Gustav Holst; “Journey through Orion” by Julie Giroux; “Star Trek Thru the Years,” an arrangement by John Moss; music from the film score for “Interstellar” by Hans Zimmer; “Sempre Supra (Space Force)” by James W. “Jamie” Teachenor II and Sean Nelson; and movements 1, 4 and 5 from the “Star Wars Suite” by John Williams. Israel Getzov, entering his 11th season as music director, conducts.

Folk song program

The Arkansas Chamber Singers kick off their 2025-26 season with a program titled “Roots & Resonance: Folk Songs that Shaped American Choral Music,” 7:30 p.m. Friday at St. James United Methodist Church, 321 Pleasant Valley Drive, Little Rock, and 3 p.m. Sunday at St. Luke’s Episcopal Church, 4106 John F. Kennedy Blvd., North Little Rock. Lorissa Mason conducts. Admission is free. Visit arkansaschambersingers.org.

Classical meets metal

The Rock Orchestra, a 14-member ensemble currently on tour, brings its “Rock Orchestra by Candlelight” concert to Little Rock’s Robinson Center Music Hall, 426 W. Markham St., for a 90-minute concert, 8 p.m. Thursday. The “classical music and metal” program includes music by Metallica, AC/DC, Rolling Stones, Pantera, My Chemical Romance, Linkin Park, SOAD, Guns N Roses, Evanescence, Papa Roach and The Cranberries. Tickets are $50.70-$97.90. Visit Ticketmaster.com.

ART & EXHIBITS

2nd Friday Art Night

Downtown Little Rock museums and merchants are gearing up for October’s 2nd Friday Art Night, 5-8 p.m. Friday, including a Cumberland Art Block Party, which will turn Cumberland Avenue between President Clinton Avenue and Second Street into a pedestrian-only stretch with dance music, vendors and beverages from Stone’s Throw Brewing. The Bike Advocacy for Central Arkansas will host a bike valet and provide maps with suggested bike and walk routes.

Other 2nd Friday Art Night set-ups include:

◼️ At Historic Arkansas Museum, 200 W. Third St., music by Jacob Flores, craft beer from New Province Brewing of Rogers and Spooky Stories.

◼️ At the Old State House Museum, 300 W. Markham St., the continuing exhibit on documentary filmmaker Jack E. Hill plus music by the O-Matics.

◼️ On display at The Window on Sixth Street, 112 W. Sixth St., Eddie Love’s “American Myths & Practical Treasures” exhibit.

◼️ Nexus Coffee, President Clinton Avenue and Cumberland Street, will offer Halloween- and fall-themed pop-ups with artist-in-residence Allison Turcios, plus a fall seasonal drinks menu and a Halloween kids corner with themed books, crafts and games.

◼️ At Curran Hall, the official visitor center for the City of Little Rock, 615 E. Capitol Ave., the Little Rock Visitor Foundation and Quapaw Quarter Association will host graphic artist and designer Michael Puckett and singer-songwriter Stephanie Smittle. De Lulu’s food truck will be parked in the rear of the building. “We the People,” a traveling exhibit from the Arkansas State Archives about the Arkansas state constitutions, is on display.