Arkansas -Fort Smith (Jun 4, 2022)

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We headed to Fort Smith, Arkansas for the night. We stayed at the Fort Smith Brewery in a parking lot via our Harvest Host membership. The parking lot was an old train depot parking lot so we parked next to the railroad tracks. Luckily, the train was not running.

The long parking lot were we and another RV parked overnight. You can see the railroad tracks on the left.

One of the reasons we stopped here was to see the Elvis Presley memorial at the Chaffee Museums where he got his first haircut when he joined the Army. It was a great stop and the host was great in telling us stories of the memorabilia. A funny story that host told us was that his brother just bought 20 buildings from this area and intends to create housing and businesses. So there may be growth in this area soon.

The museum is free and is housed in two buildings. One is all about Elvis and the other is all about Fort Chafee’s history.

Recreation from the actual photograph taken.
Funny letter that some wrote President Eisenhower not to cut Elvis’ hair.
Now Lorraine can say she had a photo with Elvis. lol
These barber chairs were brought into the Elvis’ museum and reporting are the chairs that Bonnie and Clyde got their hair cuts in. According to their wiki:  “The three rendezvoused with Buck and Blanche, and hid in a tourist court near Fort Smith, Arkansas, nursing Parker’s burns.”
This is the second building for the Museum.
After this visit, we toured the Fort Smith area and found some great murals. “The Unexpected is a downtown revitalization project created by 64.6 Downtown. The project began in 2015 and has transformed downtown Fort Smith into a world-class destination for urban and contemporary public art. The growing collection of permanent/semi-permanent outdoor art now includes more than 30 pieces by highly sought-after international artists such as D*Face, Ana Maria, Askew, Okuda San Miguel, Bordalo II, Maser, Hoxxoh, and many others.”

First was the OK Foods silos: South D Street and Wheeler Avenue. “It’s hard to talk about the murals in Fort Smith without bringing up the ones on the OK Foods silos. Towering 100 feet on the south and east faces of the massive grain silos, Australian artist Guido van Helten turned the images of Fort Smith natives Gene Beckham, Kristina Jones and Edward Paradela into an icon for the city. And with Beckham’s having died Dec. 7, it’s a fitting place to offer a tribute as well.” Please look at Guido page to see his incredible international work. We definitely will be looking for them again.

There was a security guard at this mural because of the work being done. He mentioned that many people come to this to take pictures.
A few from the street showing all three murals.
Massive otter on the streets of Fort Smith, Arkansas. In town for the excellent Unexpected Street Art Festival, the globe-trotting Belgian artist spent three days up high on his cherry picker to create another one of his adorable monochrome creatures. 
 D*Face completed a mural in Fort Smith, Arkansas, an effort that took five days. Painted for the Unexpected event curated by Just Kids, the piece entitled Badlands features a cowboy astride a horse rendered in the British artist’s comic inspired style. He further states – “This is a bandit’s life, it comes and goes and them the breaks.”
Great mural on the side of a building. Jaz and Pastel, Rapto Divino En Fort Smith (The Divine Rapt in Fort Smith) 2016
Close up of the right side of the mural showing the chicken (?) head.
By HoxxoH at 509 Rogers Avenue.
By Ana Maria Ortiz.
Artist: D*FACE

So that wraps up our quick trip to Fort smith. Of course, there are hundreds of murals and we selected only a few. We hope you enjoyed.

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