I remember the first time I went to a First Fridays was in October of 2004 and it was one of the first times I hung out with Carolyn and Ashley. We were all done up, as three hot single girls would do for a night out on the town. The art walk was so much fun checking out the exhibits and the guys, running into people we knew, listening to the street music, drinking wine or having Carolyn pulling out her flask (ha!) and munching on the carrots, hummus, cheese, etc. During that time we we usually ended up at Sticky Rice afterwards to have more drinks and fun times. It became a monthly routine for a whole group of us to go to First Fridays for a couple of years until we got too busy with our lives and professions. I went to FF a couple of months ago and was surprised by how big it had gotten with the food vendors, the little market in the alley, and all of the people walking the streets and the gallery’s. It was a bit overwhelming and for myself I missed how low key it used to be. I understand it is best for the area and the businesses to make it bigger but does that mean it will be better? I guess that will take some evaluating over the next month with the closing of FF. I do hope that it will not be shut down for good and the local arts community can find a solution to the problems they have been experiencing. If not, at least some of us have great memories of the culture and fun First Friday’s Art Walk provided. Further information can be found here.
