The streets of downtown Las Vegas will fill with art, culture, and people this Friday, just as they have done once a month for nearly two decades.
First Friday celebrates its 19th anniversary this week. The monthly event in the Arts District draws thousands for a night of food and drink and the chance to visit local artists, entertainers and performers. Its community and economic impact are critical to a recovering city, said Corey Fagan, executive director of the nonprofit First Friday Foundation, which hosts the monthly festival.
“Art has the special ability to overcome all barriers and to find this commonality between people from all over the world,” said Fagan. “First Friday it belongs to the local church. It belongs to you. And it’s a place where you can just meet your friends and discover art and see the creative geniuses who live here in our city. “
The event went dark for about a year amid coronavirus pandemic restrictions, but returned to the Charleston Boulevard area in April. Fagan said a steady surge over the summer showed her that residents want to be where the action and culture are.
The outdoor festival brings between 12,000 and 24,000 people to the area, depending on the season. Many are ready to support local arts and small businesses. Some of the 100 or so local artists and sellers make most of their rent from First Friday sales, she said.
The economic activity goes beyond the stands. Doug Rotondi, operations manager at 18Bin bar-restaurant, said they are tripling the staff to keep pace with increased pedestrian traffic and festival night revenue.
“It’s our lifeline,” said Rotondi. “It creates an exposure that we normally wouldn’t have. It economically enhances the area in an integral way. I don’t think we could survive without First Friday because it gives people a reason to go downtown. “
First Friday started out as a limited company in 2003 with the assistance of a large donor, Fagan said. When financial support waned, the organization became a non-profit in 2012. Revenue now comes mostly from sales at the event – such as First Friday Bars – and government and arts grants. In return, the foundation creates grants for artists and promotes artistic education through financed excursions for students.
Some Arts District companies participate in the charity’s action. CraftHaus Brewery hosted an artist challenge where 14 artists submitted designs for a 32-ounce beer can. The winner’s art was on the can for three months, and one dollar from each sale went to the First Friday Foundation, said CraftHaus co-owner and founder Wyndee Forrest.
“We thought it was an easy partnership since CraftHaus is in the Arts District and First Friday supports the arts,” Forrest said. “If you really look at craft beer, it’s art, only in liquid form.”
Community support is key to keeping the event going, said Las Vegas Mayor Carolyn Goodman. The city’s involvement helps create a safer and more organized festival, she said.
“If you think of the public-private partnership as an event on the first Friday, it can’t be done without considering public safety, through transportation and logistics of how to move people through an event or area,” said Goodman called called .
This year’s October event coincides with the four-year anniversary of filming the Route 91 Harvest Festival on October 1, 2017. Goodman will speak at the city’s memorial ceremony in neighboring Las Vegas Community Healing Garden, and First Friday will broadcast her speech briefly in the festival grounds After 10 p.m., festival staff will also hand out electric candles and observe a minute’s silence for the victims, Fagan said.
The event will commemorate the first Friday of 2017 on October 6th of this year. Fagan remembered not knowing if it was right to keep the festival going, but ultimately chose to encourage community rather than fear. She remembers looking around the crowd and seeing the support between everyone as a sign of the city’s resilience.
“We were face to face with people and everyone looked the same, like, ‘You’re my brother. You are my sister, you are my neighbor, my family, I have you. We’re stuck together, ‘”said Fagan. “And here we’re going through the same thing again during COVID.”
McKenna Ross is a corps member of Report for America, a national utility that places journalists in local newsrooms. Contact them at mross@reviewjournal.com. Follow @mckenna_ross_ on Twitter.
