Group raising money for Levon Helm memorial through GoFundMe

The Levon Helm Legacy Project has launched a GoFundMe page to fund a memorial statue in downtown Marvell of musician Levon Helm, an Arkansas native who died in 2012.

The project is a “labor of love,” for “a group of Levon’s closest Arkansas friends, family and fans,” according to its website.

As of Wednesday morning (July 26), the group had raised $4,020 of its $25,000 goal, according to the GoFundMe page.

Helm is best known as a drummer and singer for the Canadian rock group The Band. He was also an actor, appearing in the 1980 biographical film “Coal Miner’s Daughter” and the 2007 film “Shooter.”

The money raised through GoFundMe will go toward restoring his childhood home and the bronzing of a clay bust of Helm that was created by Arkansas artist Kevin Kresse, in addition to the placing of the sculpture in a permanent memorial display in Marvell, according to a press release from the project.

The memorial is planned to be next to his childhood home, which was relocated from Turkey Scratch to its current spot on Carruth Avenue in Marvell.

Also this year, a stretch of highway on U.S. Route 49 from Marvell to Helena was dedicated as the Levon Helm Memorial Highway in June.

“It was Levon’s wish to keep the music playing on,” longtime friend and project organizer Anna Lee Amsden said in the release. “We want to create this memorial in Marvell to preserve his legacy and honor the lasting contributions that he made to both music and film.”