The vision Go Forward Pine Bluff set five years ago for the area of Sixth Avenue and Main Street became reality Wednesday.
Hundreds showed up for the grand opening of Simmons Bank Park despite the mid-morning warm weather for the ribbon-cutting ceremony of the two-story building that is The Magnolia Food Market and Bar. The complex is the centerpiece of the park funded by approximately $4.5 million in Go Forward-raised money through grants and donations and approximately $4 million in taxes, according to Go Forward CEO Ryan Watley.
“It complements all the work done, and today it highlights all the work,” Watley said of the park’s opening. “It took a lot of coordination, dedication, working with different stakeholders.”
Former councilwoman and Go Forward board member Irene Holcomb is credited with the slogan of the new park: “A center of culture and commerce.” Nabholz Construction built The Magnolia, located next to an old drive-thru branch of Simmons on land the bank provided to Go Forward. Murals by local artist Greg Newsome complement the location.
The Magnolia highlights local vendors such as Oasis Catering, Distill Bar, Mexico Lindo and Collins’ Kitchen which have set up shop at the building, complete with an outdoor grill and upper-deck seating with flatscreens. A pop-up kitchen allows vendors to be trained and start working on restaurant opportunities.
Independent reporting for Pine Bluff & Jefferson County since 1879.
A fifth vendor, Lamar Stith’s Kulinary Kreations, has yet to come online at The Magnolia, according to Watley.
A delay in construction, according to Watley, pushed the grand opening a year past its previously announced date. But once the ribbon was cut, locals hurried into The Magnolia to check out Pine Bluff’s latest menus.
The Pine Bluff Urban Renewal Agency owns The Magnolia, and agency director Chandra Griffin said the opening was a long time coming. A soft opening of The Magnolia was held Tuesday night.
“We had roughly about 75 people in and out,” Griffin said. “All the vendors were open and they all had tasting menus, and one of the vendors had about five or six items for one tasting menu.”
Some food truck operators are committed to serving at Simmons Bank Park, and rental space for hosting a wide variety of events is available until a vendor occupies it, Griffin said.
The city raised money through a five-eighths-cent tax sponsored by Go Forward that was defeated in two 2023 elections.
First-year mayor Vivian Flowers said the hard work of Urban Renewal and Go Forward are celebrated in the opening of the park.
“I have always focused on doing things in a united way, and I think even at the end of Mayor (Shirley) Washington’s leadership and her term – her first term – she talked about being able to do both when it comes to Go Forward initiatives as well as the Delta Rhythm and Bayous,” Flowers said, mentioning the recently developed cultural district downtown. “It is an appropriate reflection of what unity looks like that just a couple of months ago, we saw the Delta Rhythm and Bayous park, and now we see the ribbon-cutting of Simmons Bank Park.”
Flowers said she looks forward to developing the newfound cultural corridor of Pine Bluff all the way to the Jefferson County Courthouse. A Streetscape project of Main Street is ongoing.
Should The Magnolia not be successful commercially, Urban Renewal will be responsible for a reformatted plan, Watley said. But he said the technical assistance needed to help the businesses there be successful is provided.
“I think it’s important to remember Urban Renewal, as Dr. Watley mentioned, is a creation of state and city legislation,” Flowers said. “It’s basically an independent city department, to some extent. It’s a quasi-public-private entity that allows us to do what city government can’t do, but it belongs to the city. Everything that belongs to it belongs to the city, and I think we have to remember that and take ownership of it, not only in fiduciary responsibility but in pride for what we have happening today.”
