Slow days over, First Friday ready to grow again

It's been a long winter, but First Friday is finally coming out of hibernation.

For the past three months, downtown Las Vegas' monthly arts and culture festival has been operating on a scaled-back, do-your-own-thing basis.

Feb. 5, however, marks First Friday's full-fledged return.

Themed "Back to Our Future," the event will run from 5 to 11 p.m. in the area surrounding Casino Center Boulevard and Art Way. (The family-friendly KidZone will operate from 5 to 9 p.m. in the adjacent Boulder Plaza, near Boulder Avenue and First Street.)

At its height, First Friday has attracted tens of thousands to the downtown arts district, but February's restart won't occupy the "full-scale" footprint — complete with street closures — of the largest gatherings, according to Joey Vanas, executive director of the First Friday Foundation.

"February is traditionally not one of the biggest months," he points out.

Instead, much of the February action will center in and around the Arts Factory and Art Square, with about 30 artists and artisans expected to occupy booths outside established galleries.

More than 30 food trucks and vendors also will participate in the First Friday return.

And the event's dance-centric Dance DepARTment — featuring performances and how-to demonstrations — will move to a new First Street location, just north of Coolidge Avenue, Vanas notes.

The nonprofit First Friday Foundation, which took over the festival last June, has "had a lot of great, positive feedback" regarding its return, he says. "People are excited to see some activity — and so are we."

Las Vegas Mayor Carolyn Goodman received questions about First Friday's absence.

"I love the fact that it's coming back," she says. "There's a closeness and sense of energy" at First Friday.

"That's what downtown is about," she adds.

With February's return, organizers "are trying to refocus on the art component of First Friday," explains Marlene Reid, owner of Art Square's Unhinged Etc. Gallery, who chairs the foundation's 17-member board of directors. "We needed a return to First Friday's arts-based roots."

To Vanas, however, "it depends on how you define art."

Despite some complaints from the public that "there's too much music, street performances and dance," that "people are looking more for the visual arts," organizers "don't discriminate in terms of creativity," he contends. "All creativity is a form of art."

But there's one familiar First Friday component that won't return in February: the eco-focused Green Street.

"That's something we really loved over the years," Vanas says, "but the added cost and production time and energy" proved too much for the nonprofit event. (Vanas hopes a presenting sponsor will step in to revive the environmental programming.)

Overall, First Friday's return is "very important to downtown Las Vegas," says Nancy Deaner, director of Las Vegas' Office of Cultural Affairs.

For one thing, "it's a huge branding tool for downtown," she contends, attracting "disparate groups" from such suburban areas as Summerlin and Henderson's Green Valley "who might not come downtown" otherwise.

Board member Cindy Funkhouser, who founded First Friday 13 years ago, notes the range of festivalgoers — "from the very young to families to people in their 70s and 80s" — as one factor in the event's success.

"It actually gives me joy to see, now, second generations" taking part, she adds, citing a student who is majoring in art because of First Friday.

Although First Friday's been around since October 2002, an "influx of new people still happens," Vanas says. "People will say, 'This is so amazing — we've heard about it for years but we've never come down here.' "

Because "so many people haven't found their way to the arts district and downtown" yet, he points out, First Friday motivates people to visit and gives local artists the chance to "expose their work to the world."

First Friday also "provides a huge economic stimulus" for local businesses, he says — impacting not only galleries, food trucks, bars and restaurants but tent and barricade providers, pop-up parking operators and others.

"As a business owner, we certainly missed the numbers" of people First Friday attracted, Reid says of the recent bare-bones events.

Yet even during First Friday's transition, when "there was maybe a disappointment that there (wasn't) the whole street activation," she recalls, "we still had a ton of people saying, 'We can't wait to see what's going to happen.' "

From Goodman's perspective, "it's about that connection of people" during First Friday, a connection that gives downtown Las Vegas "the feeling of a small-town gathering spot."

First Friday's transition to a nonprofit organization — and away from the financial support of Zappos CEO Tony Hsieh and fellow downtown boosters — represents "the best chance of First Friday really moving forward," according to Deaner.

"Different people from different areas" represented on the board of directors, from gallery owners to gaming representatives, "spreads the stake," she says. "Everyone understands the importance of downtown."

And even after three low-key months, "the good news for us for First Friday, when it does happen people get excited and go," Vanas observes. "There's a greater demand because it has been around for 13 years. The familiarity means people will come back."

As for what they'll be coming back to, "the question of survival is an everyday question," he admits. "And maybe it always will be."

Which leads to another question: Without Hsieh and others providing financial support, Vanas wonders, "do the rest of us care enough to put their resources where their mouths are?"

Read more stories from Carol Cling at reviewjournal.com. Contact her at ccling@reviewjournal.com. Follow her on Twitter: @CarolSCling