After a month hiatus, First Friday is back. According to the map, love is in the air, but all I can see is my breath, as it was terribly cold last night. This month featured 28 venues, 9 of which had music. Many of the usual suspects hosted like Anthology, City Lights, Urban Vibe, and The Vintage Theater. The weather didn’t seem to deter too many people, as many of the places I visited seemed to have a decent crowd from 6-9 pm.
During the customary happy hour at Backyard Ale House, I mapped out my course, trying to hit as many spots as possible over the short three hours. I started with Fidelity Bank, who had soda, three kinds of sandwiches (a turkey pesto, sausage, cheese and marinara, and a roast beef and provolone), and pizza. Michaela Moore, a jazzy, female, Frank Sinatra-type singer was the entertainment. Across the street at Creedon’s Flower shop, there was ceramics by Jeff Kutrack, chips, pretzels, and dip.
Heading North, the Laura Craig Galleries had some wine, chips and salsa to go with their variety of paintings, pots, and sculpture, while the Crazy Pineapple only had their fashion accessories, as did Duffy. The Keys was hosting some kind of party, as many people were dressed up when I was there. “Destructive Criticism,” photos by Jenn Grey were on the wall while I had perogies, dripping in butter and onions.
Well-Heeled had a crudités, wine, and cookies, while the real party seemed to be at Vintage Theater. Eat Fresh, Eat Local brought sandwiches, cheese, fruit, veggies, a corn chowder soup from Eden Café (a vegan concoction which was well-spiced and contained no dairy, making it lighter yet still satisfying), wine, pizza, pumpkin cookies (unlike the chowder, the lack of butter and eggs made them dry and lacking taste), homemade brownies (the darkest and most moist of any the whole night) along with a video of local farming, and plenty of schwag for purchase.
Urban Vibe hosted handcrafted jewelry making with chips, dip, drinks, and sandwiches to nosh upon. Just down the street, Nada & Co. had a variety of cheeses and crackers while the staff showed off a assortment of men’s ties. Windsor studio had floral paintings by Jan Mikulski and homemade cookies, pastries, and treats by one of the staff’s mothers.
The Connel Building, which seemed more like an in-process renovation area, showed contemporary oil paintings, sculpture, ceramics, and electronic music with a crudités, wine, cheese, and fruit tray. Anthology Books, along with Marquis Art and Frame, had a mixture of paintings, books, and calligraphy work with cheese, crackers, and some store-bought cakes. A little ways away at the Artworks Gallery and Studio, paintings and photography were matched by some middle-eastern appetizers. Hummus, stuffed grape leaves and olives were accompanied by cheese, cookies, strawberries dipped in chocolate, along with wine.
I ended my night at the AFA Gallery and City Lights Church. The former had a myriad of paintings with a combination of homemade and store bought cookies and desserts with wine, while the latter had coffee (a welcomed belly-warmer), cookies, and cakes.
As always, I had a wonderful time and am already counting the weeks until I can do it again. First Friday is a great place to meet friends and make new ones. I can’t encourage people enough to get out and support this monthly event, despite the weather. I could have titled this post F5 and added “fun” and “fantastic,” but I think three ‘F’ words are enough.
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