Local Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity members reported a decent turnout for the 2008 End of the World GreekShow Saturday night, but said more people would have shown had circumstances not pushed the event to a date two weeks earlier than usual.
City and county workers were prepared for a grand turnout of step show and party participants, as police officials were in full force and hotels and restaurants prepared for a saturation of customers.
Police hadn't reported an unusual rise in crime as of 3 a.m., Sunday, and about half the city's hotels reported rooms still available.
Byron Ross, faculty adviser for University of Central Arkansas' Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity, which hosts the GreekShow, said that competing events Saturday at college campuses in Pine Bluff and Fayetteville made for a smaller number of tickets sold at Conway in 2008, even though at least 4,100 persons were estimated to have attended the show.
This month's citywide AAU basketball tournament, partly hosted by UCA, was the primary reason for the 2008 event being moved to the first weekend in April instead of the usual third weekend, which is a date Ross said participants around the state and country normally expect.
Of 19 Conway hotels contacted at 2 a.m., Sunday, 10 desk attendants said their businesses had no rooms available. Days Inn only had four rooms left, and an attendant at Super 8 said she only had two "Jacuzzi suites" available for $130 each.
Wendy Holbrook, UCA associate dean of students, said at midnight she thought university and city officials' plan for a "decentralized" party scheme had for the most part succeeded, though turnout at the UCA-sanctioned party following the step show was admittedly low.
After 8 p.m., Saturday, the area around Bruce Street on UCA campus was calm following the step event. As the 10 p.m. start time for UCA's afterparty at the Farris Center approached, more persons were walking from than toward the Farris building. Holbrook said no more than 100 persons showed up to the afterparty, which UCA had promoted as "The Party," at which officials were prepared to begin turning partygoers away once the Farris building reached a maximum of 2,000 occupants.
University police officers greeted what few partygoers came through the front entrance of the Farris building with a pat-down search, after attendees walked past signs posted outside that said, "Notice: You will be searched." At midnight, university police reported no notable events other than a quickly overcome trash can fire at Arkansas Hall, though traffic away from campus became congested on Harkrider Street as persons with plans to attend a party sponsored by Kappa Alpha Psi and Phi Beta Sigma fraternities scrambled for places to park near a rented warehouse site at Harkrider and Bruce streets.
City and county law enforcers were prepared Saturday night for a repeat of 2007 End of the World night, but no unusual threat to public safety materialized. The GreekShow created no problems on or around the university in 2007, but last year gatherings along Oak Street and at other locations choked roads and resulted in 38 arrests, of which some were for incidents involving gunfire.
No greater criminal activity than the average Saturday night was reported, according to police and sheriff's commanders. A few cars cruised Oak Street and at times as many as 10 cars gathered at Oak gas stations, but by midnight Oak was quiet, and it remained so through the night. Traffic was heavy for a time near Harkrider and Bruce streets because of the warehouse party, where law enforcers had to direct traffic. However, 2008 featured none of the congestion of the order which in 2007 prevented some emergency vehicles from reaching their destinations.
Lieutenant Danny Moody of Conway Police Department reported no serious incidents directly related to End of the World activities, either UCA-sanctioned or otherwise. Chief of Police A.J. Gary said that widespread advertising arranged by the step show's organizers discouraged persons from coming to the city expecting a party on Oak. City police's renting of Conway Roller Rink, the site of a well-attended and at times dangerous private party in 2007, also played a major role in discouraging a party atmosphere, Gary said.
A head-on collision at about 11 p.m. injured several on Amity Road. Ptrl. Sherri Durham of CPD said evidence at the scene indicated that a man was driving alone when he crossed the center line in a Buick LeSabre sedan and struck a silver Lincoln Towncar. Two Arkansas State Police troopers were involved in a high-speed chase in the Lakeview Acres subdivision near Beaverfork Lake, minutes after the head-on accident. A female suspect was arrested after a foot pursuit, Moody said.
In a 3 a.m. incident at Walgreens on Oak, a man was found assaulted and was transported to Conway Regional Medical Center with non-life-threatening wounds. Officers at the scene said the man was apparently hurt elsewhere and walked to the store for assistance.
Law enforcers benefited from the assistance of Faulkner County Sheriff's Office's unit of reserve deputies, whose commander, Randy Higgins, said at the scene of the wreck on Amity that he thought 2008 traffic congestion was considerably lower, though his officers would be watching for intoxicated drivers throughout the night.
