Mobile Market To Serve Little Rock Neighborhoods

Starting this week, Little Rock’s brand-new Mobile Market will hit the streets, bringing fresh, affordable food to neighborhoods across our City with limited access to grocery stores. We joined our partners in this transformational effort last week to cut the ribbon on the Mobile Market.

This 44-foot trailer is stocked with grocery staples: fresh options like produce, milk, and bread, as well as shelf-stable foods.

The new Mobile Market is an innovative partnership between the City of Little Rock, the University District Development Corp., and UA Little Rock, with support from a wide-ranging coalition of community partners and stakeholders.

The market is one way we are working to eliminate food deserts — those areas identified as having limited access to supermarkets and fresh food — and to reduce food insecurity. This addresses a critical need, and we are committed to finding other new ways to ensure all residents have access to fresh, nutritious and affordable food.

The Mobile Market’s first stop is Tuesday, March 24, at Buffington Towers, 224 E. 7th St.. It will be at Madison Heights, 1401 Madison St., on Thursday, March 26. Both stops are from 10:30 a.m. until noon.

Dates and locations for the Mobile Market have been set through the month of April.

The City of Little Rock launched the Mobile Market initiative with $850,000 in American Rescue Plan Act funding, and the City selected the University Development District Corp. to operate the program.

Our Food Desert Task Force and Food Commission, led by City Director Kathy Webb, were the driving forces behind this transformational solution that will benefit our residents, and we appreciate their leadership.

We are also grateful to our partners like GES, Inc., which owns and operates Edwards Food Giant and Edwards Cash Saver, the American Beverage Association, Pulaski Heights United Methodist Church, the Arkansas Minority Health Commission, the Arkansas Community Foundation, and the Little Rock School District.

At our ribbon-cutting event last week, we celebrated with residents from across our City who played a role in the Mobile Market and its launch. We are grateful for the broad community support that will make a real difference in the lives of residents who need access to fresh food.

LRCVB Launches “Love You Some Little Rock” Campaign

The Little Rock Convention and Visitors Bureau is our partner in sharing Little Rock’s story to the world, and last week, LRCVB announced a new vision for spreading the word about our City with the launch of its “Love You Some Little Rock” marketing campaign.

This strategy focuses on Little Rock’s meaningful history and culture, its vibrant music and arts scene, excellent dining, and abundant outdoor recreational opportunities. It tells the City’s story to potential visitors through digital advertising, social media, and more. Its focus is to remind visitors of what we already know: Arkansas’s capital city is a great place for leisure travel, meetings and events.

The “Love You Some Little Rock” campaign is based on research about what visitors and meeting planners are looking for when they are selecting future destinations. It highlights our City’s quality of life and place through authentic stories.

We are grateful to LRCVB President and CEO Gina Gemberling and her entire team for helping celebrate the best of Little Rock. While we are often referred to as a well-kept secret, through this campaign and the efforts of all of us that love everything about Little Rock, we can work to ensure we are a secret no longer.