Episode Transcript
[00:00:14] Speaker A: Hi, everybody, and welcome to another edition of the Southern Fried Podcast, a production of the Arkansas Democrat Gazette. I'm Rex Nelson, senior editor of the Democrat Gazette, and we're doing something that we do every at least once a year, and I love it.
We bring in Gina Gamberling from the Little Rock Convention and Visitors Bureau. We've got her board chairman, Nick Roy. Nick with a long time history in the hospitality business here in Little Rock. And we're going to talk about all that's going on at the lrcvb, because there is a lot going on. But here's where I wanted to start today.
You know, we throw that term out, tourism.
And Gina, people automatically, obviously, just think of visitors coming in from out of town, coming in from out of state to Little Rock, and yet your organization is involved in so much. And we'll get into the River Market redevelopment. We'll get in, you know, all of the parking garages downtown, local meetings that are held at the State House Convention center, shows at the Robinson center that I think a lot of people don't realize. What you do is not just for visitors. Visitors are great. They help the Little Rock economy a lot, but it's quality of life for those of us who live here. So you serve visitors and residents both?
[00:01:46] Speaker B: Absolutely. Rex, I'm so glad that you recognize that.
Obviously, our main mission will always be to attract visitors, the leisure travelers, the groups, the conventions, meetings, sporting events. But we also, in the last few years, we've really switched. Our dynamic is looking at what can we do for our residents.
It is the visitor economy, the impact that the visitors do bring in, you know, helps support our quality of life. All the things that we enjoy here, the Robinson center, all the sights and attractions and the things to do and supports our restaurants and our retail as well. So we do provide and really assist in that quality of life, specifically at lrcbb, because we do manage those fac downtown, the Robinson center, the Convention center and the River Market Oppenheimer.
[00:02:36] Speaker A: Absolutely. Nick, you're. You've worked downtown many years, and we talk about downtown a lot on this podcast. But what the Convention Visitors Bureau, again, does it operate so much downtown that it is one of, if not the key player for downtown Little Rock? I think it would be safe to
[00:02:58] Speaker C: say, you bet, you bet. And one of the things that I think you can agree on is, you know, over the past few years,
[00:03:08] Speaker A: the
[00:03:08] Speaker C: trajectory of Little Rock has really been looking up. And from my standpoint of being here for more than a decade, it's very great to see Us coming, coming in an upward trajectory again, that's a big deal.
[00:03:28] Speaker A: It really is. And like I said, I've been writing about it a lot because there just is so much going on. And we will get to some of the individual things that you guys are involved in. But first of all, I want to go back because we've done shows in the past, Gina, on your tourism master plan, which was done in 2023, that was really set a long term roadmap for your organization.
So talk about two years into this now, if you're where you really wanted to be two years into that plan.
[00:04:05] Speaker B: We released that plan In January of 23, I believe now, and we're on, just finished our third full year. Right away when we released the plan, we came out with a very aggressive business plan for that year. And each year we follow it up with a new business plan, talking about what are our priorities and our goals and objectives and why for each year. And you know, we touch all kinds of things in that master plan, from product development, tourism, infrastructure, place, making, our marketing efforts, of course, how can we enhance the visitor experience optimization and utilization to be sure we're managing that convention center and the Robinson center correctly and we have the right business mix.
So that master plan is really, really complex indeed. But we've tried to piece it out. Every year we pull it out. We don't, you know, it doesn't, it doesn't gain dust on the shelf like so many plans do, that we actually put a business plan to it every year.
[00:05:08] Speaker A: Yeah. So we are two years into that now, and we're really as people. Nick started to get the vaccine in 21.
We're really now about five years out from the worst of the pandemic into your industry, the hospitality industry.
Have we seen partial recovery, full recovery, or are we never gonna get back to where we were before the pandemic?
[00:05:43] Speaker C: What we've seen in hospitality is the first year, right after Covid, everybody came back home.
[00:05:51] Speaker A: Oh, yeah.
[00:05:52] Speaker C: And then it trailed off for a couple of years and now we're back to full recovery and doing even better.
[00:05:58] Speaker A: Oh, wow, that's great to hear. That's great to hear. So, for instance, percentages of rooms filled across the city citywide are pretty good, right?
[00:06:09] Speaker C: You bet, you bet, you bet.
[00:06:11] Speaker A: That. That is very encouraging. Now, again, I talked about, we've got individual, individual projects going on, so let's, let's hit on some of them.
First of all, and I've got to admit, I hadn't been down there lately to do the work back in the fall. Gina. I would walk from here at Capitol and Scott down to the Doubletree every Monday because I give a presentation to the Little Rock Touchdown Club in the fall. So I'd have to go around the construction of B. Finley Vinson Plaza every Monday. So it's been since December. So I've got to get back down and see all that's going on. But talk about that project to start with, which is a neat project right out there adjacent to the Robinson Center.
[00:06:56] Speaker B: Yes. Very excited for that project. I overlook that project every day from my office.
[00:07:01] Speaker A: That's right. You're right across the street.
[00:07:02] Speaker B: I think our whole team at lrcbb, we're project managing that project because we look down on it every day.
We did have to do a little bit additional waterproofing that we didn't expect when we pulled the bricks up.
But that plaza was original from 1970s.
We were expecting a little bit of that. But they're setting forms right now. We expect to start pouring concrete either later this week, first of next week.
And we plan for an opening end of April, 1st of May to keep on the weather. So very excited about that project. The Vogel Schwartz Sculpture Group, they are donating a sculpture to the project. So we're excited about that as well.
[00:07:48] Speaker A: Oh, that's great to hear. And it's interesting you had mentioned them because I was going to work the Finley Vincent Plaza in with the sculpture garden.
Jane Rogers, Dean Compueras at least once a year like to take me to lunch and get me down there and show the updates that they have done there. But between the plaza now what we've got out in Riverfront Park.
I also last year went down there with Little Rock attorney and one of my favorite Arkansas historians, John P. Gill, to see where his law firm had donated to open up where you could see the actual Little Rock better than before. So I know there's a lot of focus and we'll get into the River Market project.
But a lot going down down at that end of Riverfront park between what you're doing at the plaza, what the sculpture garden continues to do, opening up the Little rock, et cetera.
[00:08:51] Speaker B: And we've been very intentional on the plaza. As far as you know, when you're at the Doubletree, when you're at the plaza, sometimes you don't know how to get to the park.
[00:08:59] Speaker A: Exactly. It can be difficult.
[00:09:01] Speaker B: A lot of our bollards are lighting will lead people to the park and where the walkway is over to the Riverfront Park.
[00:09:11] Speaker A: Absolutely. That that. That is exciting to hear. Now, one of the things that I have mentioned before, and I'm so glad to see the. The Finley Vincent Plaza being redone, Nick, is that way back.
This would have been, gosh, 1991, when I was editor of Arkansas Business, I did a big story on Mr. Benson, and he really described the building of what's now the Regents Building downtown. And, you know, he. I'll never forget his quote. He said, you know, I could get good catfish, I could get good barbecue, but, you know, we'd bring clients in here, we'd bring people from out of town, and we just didn't have what you really call fine dining. Thus Jacques and Suzanne's on the top floor of that building.
The people he brought in, literally from around the world, went out, started their own restaurants. And back to you being in the hospitality business. We talked about lodging rates, but I think that was really a start of an outstanding culinary scene. And Little Rock, I think, continues to be known and starting to get more and more national attention around the region, around the country, even as a place that really punches above its weight class for a city this size when it comes to food, too.
[00:10:40] Speaker C: You bet. You bet. And Mr. Vincent was, you know, I was reading up on him when we started.
Started doing this project, and it's amazing what. What he brought to Little Rock and his vision for Little Rock. And you're seeing some of those things coming to fruition even now.
And he. He was sure a capstone. And. And Little Rock.
[00:11:04] Speaker A: Oh, oh, absolutely. So, again, thank. Thank you for redoing that plaza, Gina, and thank you for making sure Mr. Vincent's name lives on, because what a capstone he was. Now, things that people don't think about. I do, because I write about a lot about how trashy our state, not just our city, but too much trash along the roads, our whole state. But you have continued Gina and adopt a street program, and you guys now have four adopted streets in the city.
[00:11:41] Speaker B: Yes, that. That was a project our. The LRCBB and our team took on National Travel and Tourism Week, I believe it was four years ago now, coming out of COVID when things just weren't looking as pretty.
[00:11:53] Speaker A: Yeah, exactly. They were.
[00:11:56] Speaker B: And we thought it was very important that we give back to the community as well as help the visitor experience. And we thought that was a great.
Aligned nicely together. So we do four. We have four areas across. All across Little Rock, not just downtown.
[00:12:13] Speaker A: All of the. And I wanted to make that clear. I mean, your tax obviously covers all the whole city and you're responsible for the whole city.
[00:12:21] Speaker B: Yes.
[00:12:21] Speaker A: Even though we're focusing this program a bit on downtown.
[00:12:24] Speaker B: Sure, sure.
And our team really enjoys going out and doing that. We choose a Friday every couple months that we go out and we clean those areas. We come back for a team lunch.
So it's just been a great give back project from lrcb.
[00:12:40] Speaker A: Absolutely. Now let's come back downtown and let's talk about the River Market.
So much talk about the need of a refresh of Oppenheimer Hall.
You know, I think that you get in trouble first of all when you get on social media too much. But I think that some of the.
We've seen some overreaction on businesses that have come and gone in the River Market district. And Gina, one thing I try to explain to people is that the River Market district and I wrote about it again from the start, going back again to when I was editor of Arkansas Business. We had the Little Rock 2000 plan back in 1991, but that President Clinton Avenue through there was never conceived to be. And I think a lot of people don't get this to be a Bourbon street, to be a Beale Street. Yes, it would have entertainment for your convention goers at night, but it was also a cultural district and we've had great success. We've just seen $31 million spent on the main library branch there's which is huge thing we have.
You know, the Museum of Discovery is doing great. We saw the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission, but their nature center down there.
So it wasn't just to be bars and nightclubs. We've got fine dining whether it's Sunny Williams or Cash there.
And what we've seen basically change over, go out of business are some more of the, the nightclub centered, bar centered businesses. But boy, when you finish this renovation, I frankly don't have any doubt that any available space down there will be leased up pretty quickly. But I would say if you look at the big picture, which includes cultural institutions, that the River Market actually is doing quite well right now as a district.
[00:14:53] Speaker B: You know, I, I agree. I live downtown, I work downtown. I spend most of my time in the downtown area. And even on a Saturday and Sunday walking through the River Market, there's always people, a lot of them visitors. We have tours and intelligence platforms now that will tell us the percentage of visitors versus residents in certain areas of town.
But also a lot of residents, people from Little Rock that come down to enjoy the district Riverfront Park. Yep, I do. You know, lrcvb, we continue to Host some events. Jazz in the park, we do in April's and April and September. We do the farmers market in the summers. We try and increase activity and things to do. Which leads us back to the group that we have an MOU with now to take over the River Market Hall. One of the things.
[00:15:45] Speaker A: And I wanted to go there next. Go ahead.
[00:15:47] Speaker B: One of the things we really, truly liked about them and what they've done in St. Louis, it's the. It's more than a food hall.
It is about the activations, the night markets, the things activities, the trivia nights, all the things that they do to bring people into their facility in addition to great food offerings.
[00:16:06] Speaker A: Oh, absolutely. So you set the stage. Tell us what we're going to see happen as that work starts, what we're going to see happen over the next couple of years, and then what the finished product is going to look like.
[00:16:22] Speaker B: Well, the finished drawings have not been complete, but the preliminary ones that I'm sure a lot of people have seen out in the media so far is that we will enclose the pavilions.
We're hoping for a rooftop option.
It will be open seven days a week. We'll have a center bar activity to it as well, with about 15, 13 to 15 vendors.
[00:16:45] Speaker A: Oh, that's exciting. And they're going to focus on local. And they.
[00:16:49] Speaker B: Yes, they want. They want all local.
[00:16:51] Speaker A: That's inside.
[00:16:52] Speaker B: If you get to St. Louis, go visit their facility there, the Foundry. It's fabulous.
And then one of the enclosed pavilions would be for special event space, so they could host events there. But also people could rent that space.
[00:17:06] Speaker A: Yeah. Yeah. That is really exciting.
Nick, tell me your vision. What do you. What do you see that $25 million project? What do you see that doing for the neighborhood as a whole?
[00:17:18] Speaker C: You know, I've always said that so goes downtown, so goes Little Rock.
[00:17:23] Speaker A: Absolutely. It's the heart.
[00:17:24] Speaker C: And we've spent, you know, this. This didn't just come about a few months ago. We've been on this project for five, six years trying to find the right person to come in and do this the right way. And like you said, once you get the quality in and once you get people that are gonna be flocking in, then all the other businesses are gonna start coming back and leasing these empty spots.
And then downtown's got a whole different look.
[00:18:00] Speaker A: Yeah, absolutely. And again, Nick, you know, I'm not doing your all's job of promoting, but just telling the facts as I see them working downtown every day. And I have written Some columns lately. Even before this project, there is a whole lot going on. I mean, I looked out my window on the third floor of this building for months, and I watched the Bowell Building redone. That was a $35 million project. I watched the Tech park across the street being expanded. That's construction. I walk out and look the other way now, and I see Central Arkansas water doing a multimillion dollar redo. Thankfully, they're staying downtown. I see Christ Episcopal Church doing remodeling on that same block.
There's a lot of construction going on.
[00:18:56] Speaker C: There's activity everywhere.
[00:18:58] Speaker A: Yeah.
And then as we take it over to an area you're well familiar with on the other side of the interstate, into what we now call the East Village, we will soon have the Wingate campus opened up with artists. Artist studios in it, which I think is going to bring all kinds of new restaurants, bars, galleries, other things to that neighborhood. There's a major expansion of the Clinton Presidential Library planned. So again, a lot on the board also. If you expand that direction and as
[00:19:33] Speaker C: you drive through East Village now, you see so much construction just popping up and going on and. And all the things that started are really thriving.
[00:19:42] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:19:43] Speaker C: And it's. It's great to see.
[00:19:44] Speaker A: Oh, it really is great to see. You know, when I was a. When I was a young sports writer here at the Democrat, if you go over there to AFCO Steel, there's an old office and it's got steel bars on the front. That was kind of a meet in three place at one time. It was called Eddie's.
And I can remember we would go over there and, boy, this is blue collar. We're over here in the industrial warehouse district. And now I drive down that whole street. It's all hip people a lot younger than I am hanging out down there.
[00:20:23] Speaker C: Cannot beat meeting three.
[00:20:25] Speaker A: No, it's hard.
You're exactly right.
It is hard to beat a good meet in three. So that picture, that's a big project. 25 million, Gina. But it fits into even bigger projects because they're still in the fundraising stage. But the Clinton center, for instance, I've heard figures of 200 million and upwards thrown around. So really some big things on the drawing board right now.
[00:20:54] Speaker B: The potential of the Clinton center expansion as well as the i30 park. Yeah, we can't forget about that piece. That's so important.
I think five years from now, downtown Little Rock's gonna look a lot different.
[00:21:06] Speaker A: Yeah.
And to go back and we talked about this in past shows, but you're Talking about big spending, and this was about $160 million. But the redo of the old Arkansas Art center into the Arkansas Museum of Fine Arts, that really upped the game, I think, for all of downtown. Do you agree? Because that is truly a world class facility.
[00:21:31] Speaker B: Absolutely. And the visitors that come into the facility as well as it's such a great place for residents with the classes and the art classes and things, the offerings. They have performances and things.
They do a great job there with all their special events.
[00:21:46] Speaker A: Yeah. And again, that was done, Nick, by.
By an architect named Jeanne Gang. She is now working on the Clinton center expansion.
I watched a profile of her on CBS Sunday Morning a while back. She was a winner of one of the MacArthur Genius Awards, as they call them. I mean, this is one of the world's literally hottest architects doing multiple projects in downtown Little Rock. It's pretty exciting for a city of 200,000 people.
[00:22:19] Speaker C: Exactly.
And Little Rock is becoming more and more of a destination every single day.
[00:22:25] Speaker A: Yeah. So more of a destination every day as you look ahead to the rest of 2026, Gina. And look ahead to future years 2027, 2028. Talk about how the master plan guides where we're headed next and what you have planned next.
[00:22:44] Speaker B: Sure.
You know, one of the things we haven't touched on yet are the renovations at the State House Convention.
[00:22:51] Speaker A: And I was going, I was going to, because I want to say it's fun to talk about shiny new projects like what we're going to do in the River Market, but the things you've always got.
You compete for conventions with every other city in America, in essence. And you've got to keep up what you already have.
[00:23:11] Speaker B: We do. And that facility, although it's aged, it looks absolutely beautiful inside.
[00:23:16] Speaker A: So talk about some of the renovations that have been done lately.
[00:23:19] Speaker B: Sure. In the last couple years, I think we're going on around 10 million. By the end of the project, we'll be at about 15 million.
[00:23:25] Speaker C: Wow.
[00:23:26] Speaker B: Pretty much all of the building has been renovated. The governor's halls, the exhibit halls on the lower level look absolutely fabulous if you've not been down there.
The new artwork, the LED walls and the atrium, all, all new flooring in the atrium, new restrooms. Things you don't see like the technology and the technology upgrades, security upgrades.
This summer and fall, we will be going through. It's going to be, you know, a little challenging, possibly going through the process, but we do need to replace both sets of our escalators.
Those are a hefty price Tag as well. And once those get done, we'll finish up with the Governor's Halls.
Sorry, not the Governor's Halls. The Wally Allen Ballroom.
[00:24:10] Speaker A: Right, right.
[00:24:11] Speaker B: As well as the carpeting up there, as well as a lot of the windows in that area. And once that's done, which is hopefully a year from right now, the whole Statehouse Convention center will basically be brand new.
[00:24:23] Speaker A: Yeah, that's great to hear. We started the show, Nick, talking about how the work that the Little Rock Convention Investors Bureau does is not just about bringing visitors in, providing quality of life for residents. And one of the things, again, as somebody who works here in downtown every day, usually walks to lunch. I mean, I'm all over downtown Monday through Friday.
I didn't want to end the show without talking about the Ambassadors program, which your organization helps fund along with the city of Little Rock. These people who are making sure it's safe downtown, they'll walk people to their cars, making sure it's clean downtown, picking up trash, cleaning up graffitis.
I just think that has been an absolute game changer for the feel down here and the way the place looks down.
[00:25:16] Speaker C: Exactly. And then bringing the tax dollars in from outside has. Has really enhanced the way of life downtown. You know, we.
We as an organization are focused on bringing visitors in, but, you know, we help the residents and, you know, we're resident centric. Not just trying to get visitors to come in, but also listening to our residents down, you know, in Little Rock.
[00:25:45] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah.
I think back, though, Gina, just as a side note that when we had our big winter storm at the end of January, those ambassadors were probably saying, I didn't sign up for cleaning a sheet of ice off of all the sidewalks downtown. That had to be tough. Tough work, I'm sure.
[00:26:04] Speaker B: Yes.
[00:26:05] Speaker A: But again, the look of the place, and we talk about you adopting streets, but the look of the place is just better to me. With those people out there every day, you can tell the difference, can't you?
[00:26:19] Speaker B: Thank you for those accolades. We do have to pass on. That was a downtown partnership.
That was one of his dreams.
The A and P commission in the city made that reality.
[00:26:32] Speaker A: Yeah, but you stepped up financially and made it happen.
So thank you. And I'm one of those. I'll lobby you while I've got you here, Nick. Chairman. But I'm one of those who would love to see us double the number of ambassadors out there.
I would love to see that happen.
And a lot of it comes back. I talked about feeling safe and security is so much. I mean, Your hotels. You know how important that was, that people feel safe. They feel that their car's safe at night and so forth.
And I often think that Little Rock, when we talk about downtown. I'm coming back to downtown again.
We've had a lot that's really driven by social media that really does not fit the fact. And maybe we just need to do a better job telling our stories because like I said, I'm down here every day. I usually work late at night. I didn't leave late o' clock last night and walk to my car. And if you were to reach social media, you'd think there were cars flying up and down, shooting at each other day and night. And it's just not the case.
[00:27:44] Speaker C: I think it's more perception than reality.
[00:27:46] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:27:47] Speaker C: And we've got to do a better job of getting that out.
[00:27:51] Speaker A: But having even the mere presence of those ambassadors, that helps change that perception, does it not, Gina? People's minds and seeing people walking up and down doing work.
[00:28:02] Speaker B: Yes, absolutely. And I think it's perception. You know, of course, being a downtown person, as I am for the most part, we did just recently do a visitor profile study which was talking to visitors that had come to Little Rock in the past couple of years. We did a resident sentiment study. Both of those. The piece of safety was above the national average.
[00:28:26] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:28:27] Speaker B: And those questions on safety, cleanliness.
We bring customers in, convention customers, meeting planners looking at Little Rock as a destination to choose their convention or meeting. And we bring those planners in and they fall in love with Little Rock.
[00:28:42] Speaker A: That's great.
[00:28:43] Speaker B: We all bring our family and friends. Maybe in a transplant.
[00:28:47] Speaker A: I know that you feed them well. Among other things. It comes back to that culinary.
[00:28:51] Speaker B: Exactly.
[00:28:51] Speaker A: They leave full and happy.
[00:28:53] Speaker B: Yes. And family and friends that come in. You know, people love Little Rock when they come to visit.
[00:28:58] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:28:59] Speaker B: So we just need to do a better job of telling our story, you
[00:29:02] Speaker A: know, because I've been lucky enough to be invited along to meet some of them. But one of the things, it's not just meeting planners and convention planners that you bring in. You bring in out of state journalists who write what end up most of them that I've seen talk about falling in love. Really positive stories about Little Rock after they're here. You do that also under your name.
[00:29:29] Speaker B: That is a piece of our marketing communications team. And we've been very successful in that, I think last year we hosted nearly 30 travel writers and influencers throughout the year from all over the United States.
We had some great national press in travel And Leisure, Southern Living and Convention South.
So we continue to do those.
Have those efforts going as well.
[00:29:54] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:29:54] Speaker A: Well, as I feared, we're about to run out of time. It goes way too fast. But, Nick, I'll close.
Where would you like? And where do you see Little Rock in these areas? Let's say five years from now, ten years from now.
[00:30:13] Speaker C: I would just, I would like to see us just keep growing at the pace and trajectory we are on. And I think, you know, we've missed a big, big spot on the visitor experience center. And that's, that's going to be another game changer for us.
[00:30:32] Speaker A: Talk a little bit about that. I don't make time for that.
[00:30:35] Speaker C: Take on that.
[00:30:36] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:30:36] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:30:38] Speaker B: About a year ago, Nate Coulter with Central Arkansas Library Systems approached me. He said, gina, I think I have a perfect spot for a visitor center for you.
And we've always said if it's not the perfect spot, it's maybe not worth the investment.
But Concordia hall, which is right across from the Market, River Market Hall.
[00:30:57] Speaker A: Right.
[00:30:57] Speaker B: That space was available once they moved and $31 million expansion was complete. And the library system that had all their movement.
So we will start construction in the next couple weeks of what we call the visitor Experience center, which is also a resident residence experience center.
We can't tell too many of the secrets. It's going to be something unlike most visitor centers.
We will have local artisans there. We'll do some samplings. We invite you to come down. Maybe the next show here, sometime this summer will be open. You can do it down there.
[00:31:33] Speaker A: Absolutely.
[00:31:34] Speaker B: And really see the facility. We want it to be someplace not only for our visitors, but our residents can come down and enjoy.
[00:31:43] Speaker A: Thanks for mentioning that. I meant to get that skipped over it, Dick. So that's another thing well worth mentioning that's happening in the River Market or will be happening in the River Market district. All right, Gina, back to that big picture. Five years from now, ten years from now, where do you see everything going?
[00:32:00] Speaker B: You know, it's time for us to start talking about an expansion of the convention center. Will that happen next year? Three years, even five years?
Possibly not, but it's time for the conversation to start. You know, we need to start looking at funding. We need to look at what our competitive set and do some competitive analysis. So we'll start some behind the scenes work on that.
[00:32:22] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:32:22] Speaker B: We continue to cheerlead the need for sports facilities.
[00:32:26] Speaker A: Absolutely. That's a whole nother show. As you know how strongly I believe in that it is.
[00:32:31] Speaker B: And although Our sales team is still pretty successful in attracting some sports events. We have two big national things coming up at the convention center this summer. Well, this spring and summer with the Master weightlifting National championship, that's going to be at the convention center, as well as the US Taekwondo season.
So we attract sports facilities, but we. If we. Sports events. But if we had those facilities that were targeted just for sporting amateur sports, we could be a lot more successful.
[00:33:05] Speaker A: Yeah. Yeah. Nick, I was afraid when I said five years from now, 10 years from now, what do you see?
I was afraid Gina's gonna say, I see myself retired at that. You know, good people aren't allowed to retire in Little Rock, so it's not allowed. Gina, you're doing too good a job.
[00:33:21] Speaker B: Well, thank you.
[00:33:22] Speaker A: All right. So much going on, Little Rock. I'll get you back soon because I think a year is too long to wait. But really looking forward to the new food hall, everything else, the completion of the Findlay Vincent Plaza, the visitor center in Concordia Hall. I could go on and on, and we'll. We'll. We'll dig deeper as we go forward on those projects on a future show. Gina Gimberling and Nick Roy were our guests. They come from the Little Rock Convention and Visitors Bureau. We've been talking Little Rock today on this edition of the Southern Fried Podcast, a production of the Arkansas Democrat Gazette.
[00:34:06] Speaker B: Ram.
