It's a boy!

James and Christine Kaelin brought their handsome new "son" by our office last month. It didn't take five minutes to confirm that, yes, although the Kaelin's first downtown celebrity miniature horse, Peaches, will always be remembered, a new star has arrived to carry on her work of being simply irresistible.

As Lynn began shooting his first pictures in our front yard, people began appearing out of nowhere to ooh and aah over Patches. Employees of a business across the street declared a company-wide break to come over en mass and pet the little guy.

James and Christine beamed, and though he was only 4 weeks old, Patches took right to all the attention.

"That's my little man," proud "papa" James declared.

"It's nice to have our family back together," Christine added. "Just give me about three days and he'll be our spoiled rotten baby, like Peaches was. He'll be everywhere we go."

Until they found Patches at a miniature horse ranch in Crawford County last month, James and Christine were in quite a quandary. After their beloved 9-month-old Peaches was killed earlier this year by a car on the Garrison Avenue sidewalk where their carriage ride business is located, they were promised the expected foal from Peaches' pregnant mother.

An areawide contest was held for kids 18 and under to name the "new Peaches." The judges chose "Patches," which was submitted by Sherita Boursh of Fort Smith.

But after the contest was over, and the mother horse got her milk for the baby, but no baby, she was taken to a vet who made a startling discovery. The mare had either lost the baby, had a false pregnancy, or had just recently become pregnant. Bottom line - there would be no baby horse from her this year.

"You can't imagine how depressed I was," Christine told me the day they got the news. "Knowing that we were going to have a baby again was all that was keeping me going."

Then the Kaelins heard about a month-old foal available at Rebel Creek farm near Alma.

"When we got there and found the farm was located on Peach Drive, we figured that must be a sign," Christine said. "Then as soon as we saw him we knew we had our Patches."

New downtown theater, arts center back on track

Plans for turning a former office building into a $1 million performing arts center in downtown Fort Smith are back on the drawing board, Youth Arts Coalition board member, Dwight Curry says.

Original renovation plans for the 20,000-square-foot building were for two non-profit performance groups – the Youth Arts Coalition and Western Arkansas Ballet.

"But the further down the road we got, the more we realized there was not going to be enough space for what both organizations wanted to do," Curry recently explained. "Western Arkansas Ballet has since made a very successful transition to a new space that has allowed them to expand from two to three studios, and that has worked out very well. Sometimes when groups try to dream together it ends in a split that isn't good. But we have happy endings all around now."

Revised plans for YAC's Center for Creative Arts will increase seating in its centerpiece theater from 180 to about 350. There will also be more space for rehearsals, dressing rooms and storage. Although YAC is the resident company, the theater will be available for use by other community groups, producers and promoters.

"This opens up a huge number of possibilities," said Curry, who directs the popular and elaborate YAC musicals each year that showcase the talents of area students. Those major shows are presented at the Fort Smith Convention Center. But YAC and other groups' smaller theatrical or music productions, including choice concerts by outstanding musicians, will be a good fit for the theater.

An art gallery and a regular exhibition space will also be important features of the building's redesign, which includes a catering kitchen for those hosting shows, receptions and other events there.

Curry said revised drawings for the renovation should be ready this month, and work can begin as soon as the remaining $500,000 is raised. Donations and proceeds from ticket sales for the YAC productions funded the $460,000 purchase price, but now YAC is avidly seeking donations, grants and/or a major corporate benefactor.

"Our building's working title is Center for Creative Arts, but we would have no qualms about naming it the Reynolds, Arvest or Tyson Center for the Arts," Curry admitted. "We hope to be far enough along with the renovation to hold auditions and rehearsals there for our next big show, The Beauty and the Beast, which will run April 1, 2 and 3 next year."

 

Linda Seubold, editor of Entertainment Fort Smith Magazine, can be reached at lindaseubold@efortsmith.com. Read her archived columns and articles online.

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