Adam Barrington works on a piece of art near Bud's Glass Joint at a First Friday earlier this summer. (Photo by Diana Lustig)The monthly First Friday event has quickly become less about food and art and more about Roosevelt Row's growing community. There are currently more than 70 galleries, venues and studios participating.
This is not including all the restaurants, coffee shops and bars that are regularly flooded with business from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. on the first Friday of each month.
Plenty of pop-up vendors, street performers and hidden gems lie in the spaces between popular hangouts. Take artist Alexi Devilliers, who designs steam punk fashion robots and lamps using tin cans, or "Soda Can Tab Guy," Chicago. The possibilities are endless.
Historic bungalows on the connecting Fifth and Sixth streets are repurposed into hip cafes, secondhand boutiques and art studios, among them Cellar Door Vintage, MADE Art Boutique, Lawn Gnome Publishing & Bookstore and the popular Jobot Coffee.
Roosevelt Row (RoRo) is also host to several contemporary art galleries, including Modified Arts, Eye Lounge and MonOrchid, which display new art each month.
Erin Carroll has owned Songbird Coffee & Tea House on Roosevelt with her husband Jonathan for just over a year. Well, "a year, a month and three days," Carroll said. But who's counting?
This will be the business's 13th First Friday. The coffee house, which shares open space with art gallery MonOrchid, is a hotbed during the event.
"We've had long lines; it gets tremendously busy," Carroll said. "... I think it's just more about being out for the event and the energy of it all rather than specifically art or the coffee."
Meanwhile on Fifth Street, First Friday veteran John Sagasta shares a similar experience.
"I've been down on the street about eight years," Sagasta said.
The owner of Jobot Coffee and Melt, a new ice cream parlor, said he enjoys the varied clientele that First Friday brings to new business in his neighborhood.
"It's nuts," Sagasta said. "We've heard that there's like 20,000 people in this area right here. I mean, it looks like it. It's packed."
Sagasta said he appreciates the monthly upsurge, but he wishes people would visit their favorite First Friday hangouts throughout the rest of the month.
"I always look forward to seeing the crowds," Sagasta said. "What I would like to tell everybody is stuff is open month round, you know what I mean? Not just First Friday."
Melt, just a couple steps away from Missconstrued Boutique on Fifth Street, serves ice cream from noon to midnight every day of the week, but it is not the only new business that will be benefiting from First Friday's crowd.
Red Hut Coffee opened its doors just in time to serve frozen yogurt and coffee on the corner of Seventh and Roosevelt streets. Owners Gayle and David Marsh hope to cater to commuters, offering a drive-up service to those exiting the highway nearby.
Owners of the popular food truck Short Leash Hot Dogs, Brad and Kat Moore, opened their first restaurant near Roosevelt and First streets in July. Another food truck transition, Pizza People moved into a brick and mortar location across the street from the Burton Barr Central Library.
There will also be new street art showcased on Friday, particularly a mural spanning across the eastern wall of Roosevelt Community Church and Carlos Rivas' expansive painting hidden near First and Washington streets.
Reach the reporter at aovnicek@asu.edu or follow her on Twitter @aovnicek
