The Hanna Building at the First Methodist Church of El Dorado transformed into a bustling downtown on Saturday thanks to the El Dorado Service League's first ever Mini Main Street event.
The event was planned to give local students the opportunity for a peek at adult life through role-playing.
Local businesses who sponsored the event financially were able to either build their booth or have ESL members build it. The booths were based around the business itself, and participants at the event went from booth to booth, learning and getting hands-on experience with day-to-day jobs.
A variety of businesses- construction and auto repair, medical, publishing, banking - were represented. Participants could learn about vehicle maintenance at the Auto Lube Express or Slater Repair booths, get some hands-on experience with caring for (stuffed) animals at the Pitard Animal Clinic booth or play dress-up for theater at the South Arkansas Arts Center booth.
Other participating businesses included Family Care of South Arkansas; All About Flowers; Hog Wild Bins and Bargains; Edward Jones; Stars Cinema; Brookshires; Project Pack and Stack; Dr. Ashley Plummer; Ideal Construction; El Dorado Insider; F.A.C.T. Inc; and Roseburg.
The event ran from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturday and Mattie Keaster, the ESL member who served as committee chair for Mini Main Street, said the turnout for the event was great.
"I know we've sold probably 100 tickets just here today, just people walking in. And we sold 600 tickets before, so we've had a lot of kids come in and out. For it to be the first annual, and for it to be an event that takes some imagination to understand, we've had a really good turnout," Keaster said. The event should return for its second annual showing, she continued, based on the turnout.
Tickets for the event were $2.
"[The funds] will go into our general fund, which is used for if a kid needs clothes, or if a school counselor reaches out and a family needs groceries - making sure kids are taken care of," Keaster said.
More information about the ESL can be found on their Facebook page.
Local children who participated in the ESL's Mini Main Street event went from booth to booth, role-playing various aspects of the adult business world. At the First Financial booth, participants learned about a bank teller's job. (Matt Hutcheson/News-Times)