The Harlem Globetrotters will roll into town today and tickets are still available for those who don’t want to miss out the iconic exhibition basketball team.
Doors open at 6 p.m. and the show starts at 7 p.m. in Wildcat Arena at El Dorado High School, 2000 Wildcat Drive.
Beth Brumley, executive director of Main Street El Dorado — who is presenting the show with Delek — said approximately 200 tickets remain for general, reserved seating at $25 and 40 Magic Passes are still available for an additional $20.
The Magic Pass is a pre-game, interactive event that will take place on the court between players and fans 30 minutes prior to doors opening for the general public. The Magic Pass will last 25 to 30 minutes.
Fans who participate in the Magic Pass event must purchase a game ticket and a Magic Pass ticket.
Online sales — www.mainstreeteldorado.org — end at 10 a.m. today for game tickets and Magic Passes. Starting at 5 p.m., game tickets and Magic Passes may be purchased at the door, if any are still available at that time, Brumley said.
“They released some additional Magic Passes, so we have some left,” she added.
Patrons who do not have Magic Passes will not be allowed to enter the arena until 6 p.m.
After the show, the Globetrotters will sign autographs and take photos with fans.
Brumley said plans for the event are going smoothly and Main Street is hoping to replicate the success of the last Harlem Globetrotters’ appearance in El Dorado in 2017. The event drew a sold-out crowd, Main Street reported then.
The Globetrotters were founded in 1926.
With its signature theme, a whistled version of “Sweet Georgia Brown,” the team travels worldwide and wows audiences with a blend comedy, crowd interaction, awe-inspiring athleticism and basketball skills, including dazzling displays of ball-handling, high-flying dunks and tricks.
Two El Dorado natives — former Major League Baseball player Lou Brock and the late Reese “Goose” Tatum, who played professional baseball in the historic Negro leagues — are part of the Globetrotters’ 84-year-old player roster.
For more information, call the Main Street office at 870-862-4747.
Field trip
Main Street is working to develop public-art projects for downtown El Dorado — one of which calls for a field trip with city officials and members of the El Dorado Advertising and Promotion Commission.
The group is organizing a trip to Sulphur Springs, Texas, which lies on the northeast edge of Texas and is the halfway mark between Texarkana and Dallas.
During a regular monthly meeting Feb. 11, Main Street board members discussed ongoing efforts to develop a crosswalk painting project and to add murals and ambient sound to the city’s Central Business District.
Brumley said the Main Street Design Committee is considering the area of Washington and Elm for crosswalk-art, which has become a popular trend in urban landscape design and has been incorporated into traffic/pedestrian safety measures in cities across the country.
Main Street is working with the El Dorado Historic District Commission to develop design guidelines for crosswalk art and murals that would likely fall within the city’s commercial historic district.
Certificates of Appropriateness are required from the EHDC for most exterior projects that are proposed within the commercial historic district, which covers much of downtown El Dorado.
Brumley said planning for a mural project would involve several steps and could be costly.
“You would have to get RFPs (requests for proposals), a COA from the historic district … We would have to raise the money and there would have to be work done to the building and depending on who does it, it could cost up to $35,000 to $40,000,” Brumley said.
Main Street board president Greg Withrow asked if any grant funds were available for such a project and Brumley said, “In 2021 for sure.”
Main Street is also working to raise money for an ambient sound system. A bid for the project came in at $35,000 in early 2019.
Enter Sulphur Springs, Texas, a town that is similar to El Dorado in population and geographical size, Brumley said.
“They have a lot of things going on that we’re looking to have downtown with the murals, ambient sound, (public) restrooms. It just has a nice, cool little vibe. I wish I could take our city officials on a field trip so they can see what we’re talking about,” Brumley said Tuesday. “Their outdoor look is real similar to ours, except where we have a courthouse on our downtown square, theirs is more open.”
The idea is now starting to take shape, with a day trip tentatively scheduled for Feb. 26.
Main Street reached out Tuesday to the members of the El Dorado City Council and A&P commission to garner interest in taking the three-hour drive to tour Sulphur Springs.
The A&P commission has a $500,000 revenue surplus and is considering projects on which to spend the money.
“I hope to get a tiny, tiny piece of it for ambient sound,” Brumley said.
Bruce Butterfield, a member of the Main Street Advisory Board, noted that the sound system could be used for advertising and promoting El Dorado.