First Friday De Facto

Friday's First Friday, which was not officially a First Friday, managed to attract a decent-sized crowd to the Arts District in downtown Las Vegas despite the confusion that erupted last month when one group of organizers said the event was canceled until October.

That announcement set off waves of indignation within the neighborhood as many venues vowed to keep the monthly event going in some form because many of the neighborhood's galleries and nightspots rely on First Friday crowds to stay in business.

As the sun went down and temperatures dropped Friday, a steady stream of cars and pedestrians made their way to the intersection of Main Street and Casino Center Boulevard or points nearby. There weren't the throngs of people First Friday has become associated with, but for many attendees, that was just fine.

"It's a little lighter," said Sarah Flake, who has sold handmade stuffed creatures for her business, Flaky Friends, at First Friday for the past 14 months. But the crowd was more "arts minded," she said.

She usually sells at the street fair at the center of First Friday, but this time around there were no blocked-off streets to make room for artists' tents. She had a booth at the Arts Factory instead.

Whirlygig Inc., the nonprofit that normally organizes the street fair, hires security and makes all the arrangements for bands and the like, struggled with the expense of the event, especially as attendance grew and security costs skyrocketed. The two-month hiatus is meant to give members time to formulate a long-range funding plan, and Flake said the break should be a "wake-up call."

Her street fair booth was always free, and while that's good for artists, it's no way to keep an event viable.

"They've got to figure out how to make a buck on this," she said. "We're getting away with murder selling for free."

Some attendees said they would be fine with keeping this month's First Friday as a template for future ones.

"We like it," said Joshua Klepel, a longtime attendee of the event who wasn't happy about it becoming a fenced-in festival with heavy security to keep an eye out for misbehaving youngsters.

"It used to be a lot better. It was more art and less little kids getting high."

His friend Elder Martinez agreed and said the people who support the event will show up no matter what.

"It's like a human reflex," he said. "It's First Friday. Go downtown and see what's going on."

By early evening, what was going on consisted of knots of people moving up and down Casino Center, checking places such as the Box Office, Cornerstone Art Gallery, the Gypsy Den, the Arts Factory and Artifice. Each venue had plenty of customers, while outside a handful of street musicians played and a contingent of police officers looked relaxed as they watched from street corners.

Crystal Garcia maintained a different kind of watch outside the Arts Factory as she manned her Lucky Liquor Co. cart and sold drinks to go. She admitted she was worried when the original First Friday cancellation message came down.

"But it's gotten busy, and so far it's looking good," she said between customers. "This looks like a good one."

Contact reporter Alan Choate at achoate@reviewjournal.com or 702-229-6435.